Jeffrey Dahmer’s Father and Stepmother Are ‘Proud’ of the Name ‘Dahmer’

Netflix’s new series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, explores the life of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Within the series, viewers get an inside look into his home life. As of September 2022, his father, Lionel Dahmer, and Lionel’s wife, Shari Dahmer, are still alive. And in 2004, the parents discussed feeling “proud” of their last name despite Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes.

What did Jeffrey Dahmer’s dad say about him?

Jeffrey Dahmer’s father, Lionel Dahmer, had two kids with Joyce Dahmer — David and Jeffrey Dahmer. According to The Tab, Joyce and Lionel got divorced when Jeffrey was just 18 years old, and Lionel remarried Shari Dahmer in 1978.

Lionel’s been quite open with his feelings about his son becoming a serial killer. A transcript of an interview with Larry King, provided by CNN, proves Lionel really loved his son despite everything that occurred.

“How was he to me? He was — I have things that he wrote from school expressing love,” Lionel told King. “And he told me that he loved me very much. And when Shari and I went and visited him at the prison, talked to him on the phone, he expressed how grateful he was for bringing us together, for sort of a rehumanizing ….”

Lionel also spoke to Charles Gibson on Good Morning America in the ’90s about why he believes his son became a killer. “I think there were several events in his life starting with the hernia operation, his concern about having his penis being cut off, which he expressed to his mother at the time,” he explained, according to Newsweek. ” … That, plus a blow to the back of the head, plus I don’t know, these various incidents, going around and getting roadkill.”

Lionel Dahmer and his wife, Shari Dahmer, are proud to have the last name ‘Dahmer’

Despite everything that happened with Jeffrey Dahmer, Lionel Dahmer and Shari Dahmer were still proud to have “Dahmer” as their last name.

“I’m proud of the name Dahmer,” Lionel told Larry King. “My father was a schoolteacher and a barber. He brought himself up from the bootstraps. His father and mother died at a very young age. I have a very good ancestry, and I’m proud of the name.”

While Lionel didn’t want to change his last name, he did note that he sometimes concealed it when in public. “The only thing is when we go out, sometimes we’ll give a different name so that — you know, at a restaurant, for example, so that we don’t cause a lot of people to change — you know, to move their heads around and look, and, Oh …,” he continued.

Shari also echoed the same sentiment. “I’m proud of my name,” she noted. “I used it in the business world. I use it still. I have no reason to deny who I am. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

Jeffrey Dahmer’s brother, David Dahmer, changed his name

While Lionel and Shari Dahmer aren’t ashamed of the “Dahmer” name, David Dahmer changed his name. David hasn’t made his name change public, and he also hasn’t spoken to the media about his life growing up with his older brother.

During their interview with Larry King, Lionel and Shari touched on David’s name change.

“Yes, he did change his name,” Lionel told King. ” … He’s happy.”

Were Jeffrey and David close as kids? “Jeff was older,” Lionel also shared. “So yes, they enjoyed themselves as brothers, but there was always that seven years’ difference in interests, so it — they weren’t as close as someone maybe that was one or two years different.”

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