01x08 - Lionel

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story". Aired: September 21, 2022.*
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The story of one of the most notorious serial K*llers in the United States, largely told from the points of view of his victims.
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01x08 - Lionel

Post by bunniefuu »

No.

Uh, could I see him?

Guess I really done it this time, huh?

Mm.

- Sorry, Dad.

- No, it's okay.

It's okay. It's okay. Come on.

Take a seat.

Because we got, uh

I gotta I gotta We

We

I don't know where to begin.

How's Grandma?

Oh, she's good.

She sends her love.

'Kay.

Did you ever get around to fixing that AC?

I don't know what to say.

'Kay.

Well

neither do I.

I didn't realize how sick you were.

You need help.

'Kay.

No, I mean

You know, like from a professional.

Because

I still think you can be treated.

You know what? 'Cause I

You know,

I have to hope you can get better.

Oh.

'Cause I just

I've just been trying

to think how this all happened.

'Cause I didn't raise you to be like this.

Yeah.

So why do you think you

Why'd you do it?

I don't know.

Okay. Well, see,

now, that's not gonna cut it.

- Well, sorry.

- Well, Jeff

I don't need you to say sorry.

I need to know why.

Because there needs

to be some responsibility here.

What you've done to the family,

to Grandma, to Shari and me.

Mm.

I mean, do you?

Do you have any idea how this all started?

I don't know.

I mean, I been thinking about it.

A lot.

You know?

So I used to

Well

Remember when you used to take me

to go and find roadkill

and we'd cut 'em up?

No, no, no.

You're not gonna lay this on me, no.

No.

'Kay.

It's not my fault.

I didn't do this.

- I was a good dad to you.

- I know.

I mean, I

What?

Ah

Uh

All I What I was doing was

I was showing concern for my son

who showed an interest in something.

It's okay, Dad.

You know, what you did,

I didn't teach you how to do that.

- Don't.

- You hear me?

'Kay.

I didn't do this!

That's Joyce Dahmer!

- Let's move.

- There she is!

Mrs. Dahmer!

Can we talk to you about your son Jeffrey?

How do you feel about

the crimes he's been accused of?

- Leave me alone.

- Know why your son ate people?

Why's he seem to target

Black and Latino gay men?

- Think these were hate crimes?

- I said leave me alone!

- Do you feel responsible?

- One more question.

Ah! My name is not Dahmer!

Thank you.

Isaac Richards?

Yes.

I'm Joyce Flint.

I have the results of your HIV test.

You're negative.

Jesus.

Ma'am, why are you crying?

It's just my

I'm just so happy you don't have

to give your mother any bad news.

Sweetheart?

Lionel, what are you doing?

Oh, I'm just, uh I'm up early.

You never came to bed.

I'm sorry, what did you say?

Honey

we need to talk.

Honey, you have to sleep.

This isn't healthy.

Well, my schedule's all messed up.

Well, you should

be using this time just to rest.

I can't rest, Shari.

Then we need to see a doctor

and get you some sleeping pills.

Jesus Christ

Because five nights in a row

of not sleeping is not healthy.

Yeah, that'll do it. Yeah, more pills.

That's just what this family needs.

You do know that pills are what started

this whole thing. You know that.

Just calm down.

How many pills you think she was on

when she was pregnant with him? Thousands.

She was, sleeping pills,

sedatives, seizure medication.

She didn't give him a f*cking chance.

Come on, you can't blame Joyce for this.

The f*ck I can't!

Because it's her fault!

She wasn't a mother!

She never even held him!

- Stop screaming!

- She scared the sh*t out of him!

And then she just left!

She got in her car, and she drove away,

and she left that kid

in that house all summer.

Well, where were you that summer, Lionel?

Oh, God No, I'm sorry.

I didn't mean that.

Oh, hey, we are in this together.

I should have checked up on him.

I didn't check up on him.

But you didn't know!

He's got my genes, Shari.

Half of that boy is me.

And I

I've had thoughts like him, I think.

I used to.

I used to

try to make expl*sives.

And I would use fireworks,

and I would tie a little army guy to them.

And one day, I brought

a homemade b*mb to school.

And I threw it out

the g*dd*mn window for Christ's sake.

Oh, honey, that's not the same thing.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, listen.

I had fantasies like him too, I think.

There was a neighborhood girl,

and she lived on our block.

And I tried to hypnotize her because

I don't know.

To get her to do whatever I wanted.

And I used to sit in church

and think of what it would be like

to k*ll someone, to m*rder them.

And, uh, I had nightmares about it

for a while, I did.

But it wasn't about how I'd

k*ll someone because it was about

how I'd already done it.

Knowing that I'd k*lled someone

and not knowing what to do.

But you didn't.

There is nothing wrong

with your genes, honey.

I mean, just look at David.

He's got half your DNA,

and he's a nice, normal kid.

Wouldn't you say?

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Aw

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

Oh my

Sir, you're not allowed to be here.

You can't go in there, sir!

Jeff! He's probably

asleep upstairs. It's so early!

- Leave her alone.

- You cannot be here.

- She's my mother.

- Get him out of here.

- You're scaring her. You have no right.

- This is a crime scene, sir.

Your son k*lled people

in this house, Mr. Dahmer.

- Understand that?

- You have no

He's cooperating with us. You know that?

She has dementia. You come here,

she can have a breakdown.

Jeff! You come down here.

- Sir?

- Please, just let me put her in her room.

We'll be out of your way.

Please. Please. Come on, Ma.

There's that queen.

Lionel?

Oh, yeah.

Um, okay.

Oh.

Oh.

Uh it's your move, Ma.

Today,

the city of Milwaukee is hurting.

Jeffrey Dahmer's heinous crimes

have not only shocked the nation.

They've inflicted a painful

and devastating wound on this community.

Now, some folks have asked me,

"Reverend, why are you

going out to Milwaukee?"

"Dahmer's been caught."

"Aren't you just

stirring up more division?"

To those folks, I say,

"I come here today not to sow division,

but the call for accountability."

Dahmer's crimes

weren't committed in a vacuum.

Many people,

including officers of the law,

turned a blind eye,

which is why he was able

to do what he did for so long.

But you're lucky

you've got a strong leader

in Police Chief Arreola.

The chief told me he's planning

to launch a thorough investigation

into what went wrong,

especially that incident

involving that young boy,

Konerak Sinthasomphone.

But let me be clear.

We are not content

to simply listen to words,

comforting words.

- Okay!

- Yes!

Words like "healing,"

"cooling down,"

"coming together."

Those are all code words

that mean exactly the same thing.

"Let's sweep this under the rug."

We will not be satisfied.

We will not rest

until the conditions no longer exist

that would allow someone

like Jeffrey Dahmer

to m*rder 17 young men,

many of them Black and brown.

We will not rest until justice prevails

for all citizens in this city.

We will not rest until empty words

are replaced with decisive action!

We will not rest! We will not rest!

This isn't fair, Chief.

You can't suspend us.

We did nothing wrong.

Nothing wrong?

You returned an underage boy

back to a serial k*ller

that would eventually k*ll him.

You didn't check

his identification or his age.

You ignored witnesses.

You didn't do

a background check on Dahmer.

We didn't see a need

to do a background check.

If you had, you'd have seen that Dahmer

was on probation for child molestation.

Look, the kid

looked like an adult, all right?

We thought it was

a boyfriend-boyfriend thing.

So I guess that's why you had

to get "deloused" after the incident.

That is what you told dispatch.

We have it on tape.

That was a joke.

Then there's Glenda Cleveland,

Dahmer's neighbor.

She claims that she called

multiple times about him,

but you ignored her request.

Whose side are you on?

This isn't about sides.

You boys screwed up.

And I'm under a lot of pressure.

I have the mayor,

the community, Jesse Jackson,

the whole damn country's

breathing down my neck.

- I have to do something.

- You're our police chief.

You're supposed to have our backs.

You'll both be on paid leave until

the panel finishes its investigation,

after which we'll make

a final determination.

You know what?

Our union reps are gonna fight this.

You can't fire us. Trust me.

We will be here long after you.

Did you think

Jeffrey Dahmer was going to eat you?

Yeah.

I did.

He said he was going to eat my heart.

Harrowing stuff.

His name is Tracy Edwards,

the man who was almost

Jeffrey Dahmer's final victim.

Thank you, Tracy, for telling your story.

Our next guest is a childhood friend

of Jeffrey Dahmer's

who agreed to come on the show

on condition of anonymity,

and he's got a story

that's a Geraldo exclusive.

We'll call him Nick.

Thank you for coming on the show.

Thank you for having me.

I understand you had

a sexual relationship with Jeffrey Dahmer.

How did you meet him?

We were on the yearbook staff together.

Jeff wasn't yearbook staff.

And where did

this sexual activity take place?

At his house.

Did you meet his family?

Oh, yeah,

he had a stepmother who was like

She was like the stepmother from hell,

screaming at him all the time

It's just It's just all lies.

That's Lionel Dahmer's second wife, Shari.

And, um, he said to me,

he told me that he was

sexually molested by his father.

I'm not watching this.

Nick, Jeffrey Dahmer told

That's not true, Lionel.

No, it's not true! None of it's true!

Well, sweetheart, what can you do?

I don't know. I I don't know.

I gotta do something.

What?

You're on the cover

of Newsweek and People magazine.

Wow.

Okay.

You think I could take these with me?

Just to read?

No, you can't.

Mm.

What do they say?

Well, what do they say?

It's not good, Jeff.

They're saying

you're the Milwaukee Cannibal.

People want to k*ll you.

They want you dead.

Well fine. I want that too.

No, no, no, no, you don't.

Wisconsin doesn't have the death penalty.

Well, they're talking about bringing

it back, though, because of me, right?

No, no, Jeff,

just get that out of your head. No.

Look,

it doesn't help anybody

for you to spend the rest

of your life in prison.

Okay? You need help.

And there's really

only one way we can do that.

That's right, yeah. Uh

For you to get the help you need,

so we can understand this,

we have to convince the judge

that you're insane, Jeff.

But I'm not insane.

Well, at the time of the killings then.

- Hmm. No, I wasn't then, either.

- Oh, jee Come on, Jeff.

I mean, you k*lled people, you cut 'em up.

You had sex with them.

You had to stop dismembering them

so you could masturbate on them.

But I wasn't crazy.

It was just like a a compulsion.

Right, okay, so you had a compulsion,

which means you couldn't stop.

Yeah, Jeff. Come on.

Come on, you talked about demon

You said that you were possessed.

And you said that you'd wake up

and you didn't remember what you did.

'Cause I was blackout drunk, Dad.

That's why I didn't remember some stuff.

But I knew what I was doing.

Didn't want to, but

couldn't help myself.

I'm not insane.

No. Jeff, no. No.

You're not gonna say that in court.

You just You're not.

Because, uh

we got something now, okay?

We got a legal precedent.

Uh, there's a previous case that's

He's very similar to yours.

And it wasn't far from here.

Uh, what

what this guy did, it's just very similar.

It was a while ago,

back when I was a kid.

This was in Plainfield.

- November 16, 1957.

- Fifty-seven. Mm-hmm.

The owner of a hardware store,

she disappears.

Now, no one knows where she is.

Her son tells the police

that a man by the name of Ed Gein

had been there the evening before.

So they go to his house.

Nobody's there.

So they walk around the back

and find a shed.

Oh my

Jesus Christ.

And there's the woman's body.

All cut up, hanging from the rafters.

So they arrest him.

He doesn't say a thing.

For 30 hours straight,

he just sits there.

Finally, he pipes up.

I'd like an apple pie

and a slice of cheese.

Then he starts talking.

They search the house.

They find the woman's head

in a burlap sack,

and there's just body parts everywhere.

Bowls made out of people's skulls.

He had skulls on his bedposts.

He upholstered his chairs

with human skin.

And, uh, just like you,

Jeff, you know, you said you, um

tried to dig up a body once.

Yeah, just once.

Yeah, well, turns out this guy,

he did it like 30, 40 times,

digging up bodies.

Oh, wow.

They looked in the coffins.

They were empty.

And And he went into a kind of a daze

when he did these things,

and then he would kinda wake up and

and he couldn't remember what happened.

Did he have sex with the bodies he dug up?

Okay. Okay. Jeff, here, Ed Gein Okay

The point is

he k*lled a lot of people too, okay?

And there's no denying that.

But, um, he entered a plea of not guilty

by reason of insanity, and didn't

spend the rest of his life in prison.

He spent the rest of his life

in a hospital,

getting the psychiatric help

that he needed.

You see?

We can do the same thing for you, Jeff.

Hmm.

Well, that That does sound familiar.

What?

Uh

I've read about him.

You know, it was a comic book

I read about him, I think.

I'm sorry. Did you say a comic book?

Yeah, it was one of those, uh,

Weird Tales ones or something.

Spooky stuff.

I remember the cover, I think.

A f*cking comic book.

I mean Well, now we know

where the fault lies, the whole culture.

- Yeah.

- Who writes a comic book like that?

- That's something

- Mr. Dahmer.

You've got to understand

the weight of what it's like

representing somebody like Jeff.

We got to stay focused here.

We hold fast

and stick with the insanity plea.

So, we do that, do we still

have to go through the whole trial?

Yeah, and I think we will lean into it.

We don't argue

the murders aren't gruesome. They are.

I think that helps our case.

The jury

has hereby determined

that Mr. Dahmer was of sound mind

and not legally insane

with respect to all of the 15 counts

of first-degree m*rder he's confessed to,

which means his victims' families

can rest assured

that he will be sent to prison.

Court shall recess till Monday,

at which time victims'

family members will be allowed

to make impact statements to the court.

And the defendant will be allowed

to make a statement of his own

before sentencing.

Court is adjourned

till Monday at 9:00 a.m.

So that's it. Huh? You're leaving? Huh?

What do you want me to say, Lionel?

Well, I would like you to take

some responsibility, maybe.

Lionel. Lionel.

- Responsibility? What does that mean?

- Just what it means.

So you're saying this is my fault?

No. No, he's not.

Yeah, well, as of now,

I'm taking the blame for this.

Have you read what they said about me?

I've not heard a word from you

about the awful lies

they're spreading about me.

I don't know what the hell you did

with him when I wasn't there.

Oh, is that right?

And you say I did this to him?

Well, it is not my fault,

you son of a bitch!

It's nobody's fault.

- You think I did this to him

- It's not about who's to blame.

when you were cutting up roadkill with him

in that f*cking garage, Lionel?

Yeah, just walk away, Joyce.

Just like you walked away from your son.

Lionel.

You still on those pills, huh?

- How many you f*cking taking? Huh?

- Lionel! Lionel! Stop it!

Stop it.

All right, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

God. Oh God, forgive me.

- I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

- It's okay.

I'm so sorry.

May I help you?

Ms. Straughter?

Yes.

- I'm Joyce Flint. I'm

- I know who you are.

Is your daughter Dorothy here,

Curtis's mother?

She's not. What is it you want, Ms. Flint?

Well, first, let me just say how

deeply, deeply sorry I am

for what happened.

For what my son

did to your grandson Curtis.

I realize there's nothing I can say.

It's unforgivable.

Why are you here, Ms. Flint?

I came here because

I was hoping to speak to you

or your daughter

as a mother.

To ask if

if either of you might be willing

to say something in court tomorrow

on behalf of Jeff.

On behalf of Jeff?

That the judge might consider

sending him to a mental facility

and not to prison.

You want us to forgive your son?

Ask the judge to forgive him?

No.

I feel for you, ma'am.

Truly, I do.

You want your truth as a mother

to be heard, I understand that.

But maybe now it's time for you

to listen to somebody else's truth.

You understand?

Let's hear

the first impact statement.

My family and I

came to this country by boat.

We were poor,

but we were hopeful.

American dream.

We believed in the American dream.

But now, we're living in a nightmare.

And it's all because of Jeffrey Dahmer.

He robbed us of our son, Konerak.

He robbed us of our dream.

My name is Shirley Hughes,

and I'm Tony Hughes's mother.

I would like to say

to Jeffrey Dahmer that

he don't know the pain,

the hurt, the loss,

and the mental state

he's put our family in.

But I'd just like to read a poem

that a good friend of my son's wrote.

"Why are you attacking me, Jeffrey?"

"I thought you were my friend."

"Why am I a victim

in your cruel and evil world?"

"Look at the tears roll down my face."

"See that each one is a cry for help,

and realize that I want to live."

"What have I done to you

to make you such a maniac,

to make you such a devil?"

Why did this happen

to a person like Eddie?

He gave so much and asked for so little.

All he wanted was a chance to be himself.

When you k*lled my brother, you k*lled

my mother and father.

I beg you, Your Honor,

don't let this man ever walk the streets

or see daylight again.

Good morning, Honor.

My name is Donald Bradehoft.

I'm the

For the Bradehoft family.

As much as love in our family closed,

my mother gave five beautiful kids.

We lost

He destroyed the baby of the family.

And I hope you go to hell!

I love this world.

You guys did a wonderful job.

Bottom of my heart, thank to God,

I got a lot of strength.

Thank you all.

God bless America.

I'll never get a chance again

to tell him that I loved him.

You took my mother's

oldest grandchild from her.

And for that, I can never forgive you.

"Mom, I'm gone."

"I know there's a dragon piercing

your heart day and night because of this,

but yet, I'm not far away."

"Two fingers and one thumb

means 'I love you' in sign language."

"When you cry, Mom,

place one teardrop outside

your window ledge,

and when I pass by,

I'll exchange it for one of mine."

"And then I'll always be with you."

"Two fingers and one thumb."

"Your son, Tony."

My name is Rita Isbell,

and I'm the oldest sister

of Errol Lindsay.

Je Whatever your name is, Satan.

I'm mad!

This is how you act

when you are out of control?!

Now, I don't want to ever have to see

my mother go through this again!

Never, Jeffrey!

Jeffrey, I hate you, m*therf*cker!

I hate you!

This is out of control!

Don't f*ck with me, Jeffrey!

I'll k*ll you, God damn it!

Look at me! Look at me, m*therf*cker!

Mr. Dahmer,

before I impose sentence,

I understand you have a statement

you'd like to read?

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor, it is over now.

This has never been a case

of trying to get free.

I didn't ever want freedom.

Frankly, I wanted death for myself.

This was a case to tell the world

that I did what I did,

not for reasons of hate.

I hated no one.

I knew I was sick or evil or both.

Now I believe I was sick.

The doctors have told me

about my sickness,

and now I have some peace.

I know how much harm I've caused,

and I tried to do the best I could

after the arrest to make amends,

but no matter what I did,

I could not undo

the terrible harm I've caused.

My attempt to help identify the remains

was the best that I could do.

And that was hardly anything.

I feel so bad

for what I did to those poor families,

and I understand their rightful anger.

I know I will be

in prison for the rest of my life

We're here outside

Milwaukee County Courthouse,

where just moments ago,

Judge Laurence Gram

sentenced serial k*ller Jeffrey Dahmer

to 15 consecutive life terms in prison,

one life term for each

person he's accused of k*lling.

You all right, Mama?

Yeah, I'm good.

We got that bastard. We got him.

And he ain't never getting out.

Guess I'm getting

what's coming to me, huh?

Oh, son.

- It's okay, Dad.

- Yeah.

We tried our best.

Listen, um,

I know we only have a few minutes,

so there's something I gotta tell you.

Um

Now, I've been looking everywhere

to find out

who is responsible for all this,

blaming everybody except myself.

And it's me. I'm the one to blame.

- Dad, you don't have to say that.

- Honey

Okay, shut up, Jeff.

Please just listen to me. Listen to me.

It's me. I did this to you.

All that stuff with the dead animals,

I shouldn't have done that.

I shouldn't have showed you

how to do that.

And your, uh, your fantasies

about k*lling people and stuff,

I should have made you feel like

you could tell me about that stuff.

You know?

Because I had those same feelings.

And I gave you that part of me.

And I never really

helped you enough when you needed it.

When you went to prison,

I wrote a letter to the judge.

I said, "My son needs help,"

'cause I knew you did,

but I just left it at that,

and that wasn't enough, and

I wasn't a good father.

I wasn't, 'cause I wasn't a good husband.

And you didn't feel safe.

I left you alone.

I can't believe

that I left you alone.

Oh, I'm so

I'm so sorry I left you alone.

Time to go.

And I'll I'll never forgive myself.

Okay, but I won't leave you again.

I promise, son.

I'll I'll make it up to you.

I'll visit you every week, and I'll call.

I've known this was coming

for a long time now.

There's so much I need to say.

But I find it impossible

to put into words

because it's all so horrible.

Words can't express the scale of my grief.

When I try to take responsibility

for the part I played in all of this,

it is simply too painful to do so.

But denying I had any part in it

is a comfort I can't allow myself.

Because I know it isn't true.

I failed you, Jeff,

and I'm sorry

I wasn't the mother you needed.

And I am no longer willing to live

with the guilt of that fact.

To all of Jeff's victims,

I cannot express to you

the magnitude of my regret.

So it's pointless to even try.

To my son David, please forgive me.

You've been able

to rise above all of this,

and I'm sorry that I'm not able to.

I love you and your brother.

I tried my best.

Sweetheart.

Hold on.

I'm in the middle of a chapter here.

When, uh, Jeff was

Remember that Christmas

before Jeff went in the Army?

Okay, but

Just one second. One second.

Oh, yeah,

how did I not know that writing a book

is what I should've

been doing the whole time?

I think I have a knack for it.

Lionel, I just got off

the phone with David.

She's okay.

But he said

that Joyce tried to k*ll herself.

Oh, Jesus.

Oh, Jesus.

She's okay, though?

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll call him.

Thank you, guys.

We're glad to be back on the force.

Thank you, uh, for all your support.

It's meant a lot, and, uh

it was nice to know

that somebody has your back.

- Yeah!

- Yeah!

- Thank you.

- Thanks.

- Good to see you, sir. How are you?

- Bobby!

I appreciate the call, Mayor.

Yes, so do I.

What happened?

Those two cops who let that Konerak boy

go back to Jeffrey Dahmer,

they've just been reinstated.

What?

A slap on the wrist and that's it?

Mayor said

they're gonna appeal the decision.

And if that fails?

Then we

fight the next fight.

And the next fight.

And the next.
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