Following the success of the Netflix true-crime series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer following its debut on the platform on September 21st, there has been no end of outcry and conjecture.
In a recent appearance on psychologist Dr. Phil’s show, Dahmer’s father revealed that there had been a few moments of opportunity to put an end to his son’s chain of horrific murders. Elsewhere, he unearthed some previously undisclosed details of the crimes.
Lionel Dahmer’s interview with the famed human behaviour specialist and TV host serves as part of a 3-day Dahmer special, which is set to air later this week.
In some preview clips exposed exclusively to TMZ, Lionel revealed that there had been two opportunities when he felt he should’ve realised something was wrong with his son.
Firstly, the 86-year-old discussed the days when Jeffrey was still living with his grandmother in Milwaukee. The troubled killer would bring his victims home and mutilate the bodies in the basement out of earshot from his increasingly anxious grandmother.
As seen in the documentary, Dahmer kept a mysterious wooden box in his bedroom that he implied could have contained homosexual porn. Alas, this was a cover for the severed human head that actually lay within.
When Lionel tried to open the box and look inside, it was locked. Although he could have easily broken into the box, Lionel explained that Jeffrey somehow bought himself a day in which he could then sneak out the severed head. Dahmer then replaced the head with porn magazines.
Speaking with Dr. Phil, Lionel confessed that part of him wishes he had addressed the issue that day. In giving his son a day to “get the key to the box,” he allowed the uncontrollable life of crime to continue for a few more years.
Lionel also explained that he was also thankful he didn’t open the box “because if I were to have opened that box and found what was in there, I would have lost it.” He later asked his son what he would have done if he had forced the box open. “The Jig would have been up,” Lionel quoted. “Or something unemotional like that.”
Later in the interview, Dr. Phil asked Lionel how he thinks his son ended up walking such a decidedly dark route of murder and mutilation. He humbly conceded that part of the issue could have stemmed from their father-son bonding sessions in which they practised dissection and taxidermy of roadkill.
Watch the first part of the Dr. Phil interview below.
