Jeffrey Dahmer’s dad sat down with Dr. Phil to discuss the missed opportunities in which he came close to exposing his son’s killing spree, but stopped short of uncovering the truth behind the signs that were creeping up.
TMZ obtained clips of Lionel Dahmer’s interview with Dr. Phil, which will span over a 3-day special that will air during the last week of November. The video interview reveals that Lionel missed two significant opportunities to uncover the gruesome truth behind his son’s life, but for various reasons, the reality of Dahmer’s life remained sealed shut, according to the outlet.
Lionel told Dr. Phil about a mysterious wooden box that Dahmer kept in his room while living with his grandmother in Milwaukee. During this time, he had already begun committing various murders.
“When I made the visit to Milwaukee I saw this box in the closet in his room. I said I’m gonna open it and I started going down to the basement to get a tool to open up the box, and he kept complaining that he couldn’t even have one foot square of his own property to do with what he wants,” Lionel said to Dr. Phil.
“And I said I’m gonna open it anyway, find out what’s in here because that’s what I thought it was, something related to pornography,” Lionel told Dr. Phil during his interview.
“And in fact he convinced me to just wait. ‘Wait till tomorrow dad,'” he said and I’ll open it for you then, but just don’t do anything now,” Dahmer reportedly said to Lionel claiming he didn’t want to disturb his grandmother who was nearby. He conceded and opted to leave the situation alone for the night.
Lionel went on to inform Dr. Phil that there was actually a severed human head in the box the whole time. He said Dahmer used the time he had gained that night to remove the head and fill the box with porno magazines in time to show Lionel what was inside, according to TMZ. (RELATED: Dear Kay, I Find Jeffrey Dahmer Attractive. Is That Normal?)
Lionel told Dr. Phil he wished he had pressed the issue further that same night, as he would have stumbled across the severed head and likely would have been able to prevent other murders, according to TMZ.
He also indicated that he believed his son began his dark murderous path when he became obsessed with mutilating animals as a young boy. Lionel said Dahmer would mutilate animals and get a sexual thrill from playing with their organs. He admitted that in hindsight, the signs of a murderer lurking within his son did exist, but were not recognized, according to TMZ.