Dr. Phil tells Inside Edition he and his team found “a treasure trove of information and insights” in the interview he conducted with Dahmer’s father, Lionel Dahmer.
Dr. Phil is giving insight into the warped mind of cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Dr. Phil's three-part special on the serial killer features a never-before-seen interview with Dahmer's father, Lionel.
“At first, I couldn't fathom how he turned out to be this far down the continuum. I mean, we're all on a continuum, we all do bad things, we all sin,” Lionel tells Dr. Phil. “He was at the extreme of the continuum. i couldn't at first understand how he could have done those things.”
Dr. Phil tells Inside Edition he and his team found “a treasure trove of information and insights” in the interview he conducted with Dahmer’s father. And though Lionel Dahmer was shocked by his son’s crimes, Dr. Phil says the serial killer’s dad was not shocked by the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer was different.
“He knew that his fixation on these dead animals and dissecting them was not normal, but he admits that he missed warning signs,” he says.
Dr. Phil's special comes in the wake of the blockbuster Netflix series on the notorious killer, in which Lionel Dahmer is shown introducing his young son to the art of taxidermy. The insinuation is that experimenting with dead animals at a vulnerable age may have triggered something in Dahmer.
Dr. Phil also interviews the sister of a Dahmer victim who famously unloaded on the killer at his sentencing in 1992.
“What did you feel a presence when you looked him in the eye?” Dr. Phil asks the woman.
“That I was face to face with Satan himself,” she replies.
