What Happened To Jeffrey Dahmer's Brother David
By LESLIE VELIZ
History - Science
The recently released Netflix series "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" has created a lot of buzz around Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer who killed 17 male individuals within a 13-year span. While the series primarily delves into the killer’s childhood and his relationship with his family, which includes Jeffrey’s younger brother David Dahmer, there’s very little information available about David or his life.
David Dahmer, born in 1966 in Doylestown, Ohio, was the second and last child of Lionel and Joyce Dahmer. Jeffrey's parents divorced in 1978, accusing each other of "extreme cruelty and gross neglect of duty." The divorce fractured what little relationship Jeffrey had with his brother, as David moved to Wisconsin with his mother shortly after.
Neither did David visit his brother in prison, nor did he show up at Jeffrey’s trial. In a conversation with Larry King, when asked if Jeffrey loved his brother, Lionel confessed, “he loved him. But many times, he just tolerated him because — because his younger brother was so expressive and active that sometimes he got on his nerves."
When Jeffrey was arrested in 1991, David had just graduated from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, and in a bid to distance himself from his serial killer brother, David decided to change his name; he has never discussed his older brother or given interviews. However, Lionel and his second wife, Shari, opened up about David saying, "He has a career … and a family."