Is Lionel Dahmer still alive? His life today

When serial murderers like Jeffrey Dahmer emerge, people try to find explanations behind their depravity, perhaps in attempts to prevent the emergence of another serial killer. In Dahmer’s case, some speculated that the lack of affection from his parents, Lionel and Joyce Dahmer, contributed to his depravity. 

However, according to Carl Wahlstrom, a psychiatrist who evaluated Jeffrey, Dahmer had no quarrel with his parents. Wahlstrom told A&E:

“He said he had very loving parents. [And] that blaming [his] parents for these issues was completely off the mark. His parents seemed in the broad range of normal.”

However, Lionel Dahmer, as you shall find out below, partly blamed himself for Dahmer’s wickedness. 

Lionel Dahmer lives a secluded life with his second wife, Shari Dahmer

Lionel Dahmer, 86, lives a secluded life in Seville, Ohio, with his second wife, Shari. Dahmer married Shari following his bitter divorce from Jeffrey’s mother, Joyce. Lionel’s secrecy now contrasts with his numerous public appearances in the 90s. 

Dahmer talked about Jeffrey on several television interviews and in his book A Father’s Story. In his book, Lionel suggested that Dahmer inherited his wickedness from him. “As I began to confront Jeff’s childhood imaginings, it became clear to me that they had not always been wholly different from my own.” he wrote. 

Lionel said that as a teenager, he had dreams of killing people. These thoughts never manifested themselves, preferring to remain in his head where they affected nobody other than Lionel. 

Jeffrey’s interest in death showed through his love of anatomy, bones, and carcasses; Lionel’s showed through his obsession with fire and homemade bombs. “I felt like I was in control and I had some power. I was noticed,” Lionel told Stone Phillips. 

Lionel was haunted by the idea that Jeffrey inherited his depravity from his father. The older Dahmer wrote: “As a scientist, [I] wonder if [the] potential for great evil… resides deep in the blood that some of us… may pass on to our children at birth.”

Jeffrey learned the basics of anatomy and flesh preservation from his father. Lionel said he saw nothing odd about Jeffrey’s interest in science and would have intervened if he’d known about Jeffrey’s corpse-collection hobby. Lionel told Larry King:

“If I had known about the roadkill, that would’ve been a red flag. I would’ve done something immediately, intervened. But before that, there wasn’t really anything.”

Despite Jeffrey’s crimes, Lionel still loved him. “The naive parent in me still says I see an innocent, shy child, a defenseless vulnerable child who I wish I could help now,” he said.