Jeffrey Dahmer's Mother & Father Might Both Be Lying

The Dahmer parents (Lionel and Joyce) disagree as to what might have had a play in the development of their son, Jeffrey Dahmer's brutal tendencies. What does their body language tell us?

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC BY AMARIA:
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Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
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[notjustanotherbrickinthewall]

Parents are not to be trusted about questions like this. Parents will always say they did a great job. But here I am, having childhood trauma from my mother who thought she was the best mother ever.

[davidjbiscoe]

Jeffrey said he killed and kept the body parts because he didn't want them to leave. We know that his father was often away working and that he would walk out after rowing with Jeff's mum. His mum left him to fend for himself too. So for me the sense of abandonment drove his thoughts about having someone to keep in a zombie like state so they wouldn't abandon him

[LittleMissLanna]

This is frustratingly close to how my parents act. Mom gets offended and defensive while asking me if I'm 'still going to therapy', not out of concern for me, but because it makes her feel like she did something wrong. Otherwise, why does her daughter need to be 'fixed?' And while I understand why as a parent you would want to avoid the feeling of being responsible for something like this, it doesn't help you look any less selfish when that's all you hone in on. :|

[VeeLondon]

I’ve always been fascinated by Jeffrey’s mother in particular. There’s a lot bubbling under the surface with her, and she’s spent her whole life concealing it. Thank you.

[brittanywilcox]

We have to remember that back then it was considered wrong and disrespectful to question your doctor. Especially as a woman, it may have been normal for her to blindly trust a doctor's judgment. We would never dream of doing that today, but back then this was common. She could have amnesia around anything traumatic as well.

[junopierre]

Coming from a family with two abusive parents I have a feeling a lot went on in that household that we will never know. To people who didn’t know my family inside they would’ve thought we were spoiled and life was great. Pool and hot tub in the backyard, new clothes every new school year, a car to drive to and from school. Little did people know that there was years upon years of abuse at the hands of both parents

[SelanneFan]

I don’t trust either parent to be honest in their recollections. They both know they look bad, they’ll say whatever they can to try to look better. Of course they “don’t know” what happened to Jeffrey. Of course they don’t have any “answers”. Their truth makes them look bad, they won’t admit to anything.

[ThatsSoBeba]

His father actually had thoughts of killing people.. he just never acted out on his thoughts. His book is worth the read. Makes you wonder..

[zoe]

I would never expect a parent of someone like him to really tell the truth ever.

[grettageragi]

lionel said in one interview that he had the same urges & thoughts about murdering people & cutting them up. that has nothing to do with his wife’s pregnancy. and any father that would collect roadkill & cut it up with their son as a hobby is a loon

[HansonFan]

Yes please, do an analysis on their body language in the joint father-son interview!! 👀 As always, love your videos, thanks so much for the engaging content!! 🥰

[parice]

I don't remember the names of the medications I was on a year ago, I would be more suspicious if she remembered what she was prescribed 30 years ago than if she didn't. Those medical names can be complicated and at the time she wouldn't have had any reason to memorize them.
I find it very gross that they spend so much energy trying to blame this on the pregnancy and thereby on her. To me it's an antiquated attack and it's not even worth entertaining.

[SweetTacos]

As someone who works in a pharmacy and whose mother is a pharmacist so many people take medications and have no idea what they're called, what they do, what condition or illness they're for, etc. Many people just get it from the doctor and take it. Even if there was a severe reaction from the medication, some people don't care enough to remember. I will say the later part isn't as common though, the majority of people remember negative side effects of drugs they take

[Enigmaad]

In Jeffrey's interview he said the person to blame is himself not parents, society or pornography. While it's good he took responsibility for his actions I always found it weird how he stated his parents first. It's like he was quick to defend them. Something made him that way. I refuse to believe he was simply born evil.

[sbradley]

I think she had a hard pregnancy, took the medicine she was told to and is now being used by her ex husband as a scapegoat so she's down playing her "roll in this". I don't blame her, if she did what she was told to do by doctors then she did nothing wrong. I don't think drugs could be the only reason he turned out this way. So many kids have hard childhoods, parents who are prescribed drugs that could be damaging or who drink and do illegal drugs etc but they don't do the things he did.

[adoracle]

Dahmer did not get much affection or physical touch from his mother or attention from his father in childhood. could easily account for his obsession with abandonment.

[Julescampinos]

As someone who had a mother who was mentally abusive and neglective and a drug addict and abusive father, I've had nothing but deep sadness as a toddler to now, it's very VERY draining

[melodyvalentine]

I don't think it was the meds his mother was on. I think it was abandonment issues and his dad introducing him to death and dead animal bodies at such a young age. He became fascinated by it all and progressed to humans.

[klevver]

I wonder about the younger brother. I know he's very private and I think I remember something about him changing his name. I would just find it interesting to get a peek at the flip side of the coin. We know so much about Jeffrey but what about David his theory and experience.

[Nwaina]

he is not a monster. his parents completely f* him up. Imagine being so incredibly lonely that the only way you can get human intimacy or connection is by objectifying people and killing them to not ever be able to leave you. As incredibly sad and violent this is for the families i also do have compassion for Jef. He was a gifted young man whose parents abused him really bad.