Who was the real Jeffrey Dahmer, the serial killer who’s portrayed in the new Netflix show ‘Monster’?
A new true crime documentary entitled Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story tracks the life of the ‘Milwaukee Monster’.
The true crime genre has become a fixation for millions of people around the world and streaming service Netflix has built a reputation as one of the most prolific creators.
A study from The Ringer in 2021 found that Netflix-own true crime documentaries had held the top spot on the daily most-watched for 12% of the days recorded. Netflix reaped huge interest from Making a Murderer, The Staircase, Tiger King, Amanda Knox and Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez and more is on the way.
The latest addition to Netflix’s deep true crime library is Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which premiered on Wednesday, 21 September.
The series follows the killings of Jeffrey Dahmer, played by Evan Peters, the infamous mass murderer who killed at least seven men and boys between 1978 and 1991.
Who was Jeffrey Dahmer?
The Netflix series focuses on the horrific crimes from the perspectives of the victims, utilising a point of view shooting style. Dahmer was convicted on 15 counts of murder and was sentenced to 15 life sentences in 1992, with an additional life sentence later added for a 1978 murder in Ohio.
Dahmer was beaten to death by a fellow inmate at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin.
As a young boy, Dahmer is thought to have suffered from a lack of attention at home and reportedly told friends that he was “unsure of the solidity of the family.” His parents, Lionel and Joyce, moved the family to Ohio in 1966 and a second son, David, was born in December of that year.
Two years later the family moved again, to an isolation home which stood in an area of woodland. It was here that Dahmer developed a fascination with dead animals and became practiced at storing the skeletons in jars of formaldehyde.
In school he was an average pupil, quiet but by no means an outcast. He graduated in May 1978, narrowly avoiding being expelled after a teacher caught him drinking beer in the school parking lot.
He later had a brief stint at Ohio State University before, at his father’s suggestion, enrolling in the United States Army. He was soon deployed to Baumholder, West Germany and is thought to have performed adequately initially.
However drinking became an increasingly significant problem for Dahmer and he received an honourable discharge in 1981 after his alcoholism caused his performance to deteriorate. After returning to civilian life he opted to move to Wisconsin, but quickly racked up a raft of convictions ranging from drunk and disorderly to public indecency.
As anyone who has seen the trailer will know, the crimes of the ‘Milwaukee Monster’ became increasingly depraved from then on. For the full story check out Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story on Netflix.