This article contains discussion surrounding the real-life crimes of Jeffrey Dahmer, including pedophilia, sexual assault, and murder.
Netflix’s new true-crime series Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story has a complex non-linear structure, making the complete timeline in chronological order harder to grasp from the show alone. The Netflix drama explores the life of one of America’s most notorious serial killers. Nicknamed the Milwaukee Cannibal, Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991, targeting both men and boys. The show also follows the lives of some of his victims and their families, showing them before their encounters with the killer and examining the aftermath Dahmer's crimes against them.
The Netflix series, created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, stars Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer. Peters, who has appeared in numerous seasons of American Horror Story, is no stranger to playing murderous and sinister characters. Though most critics seem united in their praise of his acting, the reality of the murders portrayed in Netflix's Dahmer has sparked an important true crime debate and led some critics to question the ethics of the series. The timeline of the show complicates this, as while the true-crime series explores the stories of the victims and their families, it also uses time jumps to show elements of Dahmer's childhood, leading to criticisms that the series humanizes the serial killer too much.
Though this kind of non-linear structure is not uncommon, Dahmer's unpredictable time jumps can be difficult to follow. Moreover, by solving one true crime show problem and commendably including the stories of the victims and their families, the show creates a new problem by adding a host of characters to its confusing structure. To make matters more complex, the full Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story timeline can be hard to keep up with due to consistencies with labeling the years it covers. Particularly in the later episodes, the show fails to clearly acknowledge the passage of time and on occasion deploys unhelpfully vague “one year later” title cards, rather than giving audiences a specific date. With all that in mind, here are the events depicted in the Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story timeline in chronological order.
1959 - Lionel and Joyce Dahmer Have a Son
In 1959, a pregnant Joyce is revealed to have various mental health conditions and Lionel becomes concerned that the variety of medications she is on might affect their unborn baby. This begins a sequence exploring Dahmer's childhood, though Monster leaves out details of the true story from this formative time. Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story episode 6 opens on the 1960 birth of Tony Hughes, a future victim, who develops permanent deafness as a baby after a reaction to antibiotics.
1966 - Lionel Connects With Jeffrey Over Taxidermy
A six-year-old Jeffrey returns home to discover that his mother has attempted suicide. His mother and father have a very poor relationship and frequently argue with each other. Jeffrey captures some tadpoles and later kills them by pouring motor oil into their jar. As the documentary Don't F**k With Cats exemplifies, animal abuse is common among serial killers. Jeffrey and Lionel find a dead opossum under the house. Jeffrey shows a great deal of curiosity about the deceased creature. In an attempt to encourage his withdrawn and quiet son, Lionel encourages this fascination with corpses and bones. The Netflix TV show then shows the pair begin to look for roadkill together to dissect and taxidermy at home.
1977 - Lionel and Joyce Get A Divorce
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A teenage Jeffrey realizes that his is gay. He starts working out and collects fitness and bodybuilding magazines. He also discovers after a fishing trip that he has a fetish for viscera. Dahmer establishes during this time that, despite a certain fondness for telling jokes and doing pranks, Jeffrey is unpopular at school, has poor social skills, and is considered weird by his classmates. Dahmer does well to explore Jeffrey's troubled and lonely early years and in doing so avoids one thing that serial killer movies regularly get wrong. Jeffrey fantasizes about rendering a local male jogger unconscious and sexually assaulting him. He conceals himself in some bushes intent on attacking the runner but does not carry out his plan. Lionel and Joyce enter into bitter divorce proceedings. Joyce wins custody of Jeffery's brother David. Jeffrey does not deal well with the divorce.
1978 - Jeffrey Commits His First Murder
Because of the divorce, Lionel and Joyce move out of the family home and Jeffrey is left alone for several months. Jeffrey develops and increasingly severe drinking problem. Jeffrey picks up a hitchhiker named Steven Hicks. He promises to give him a lift to a concert, but persuades him to hang out at his house first. Jeffrey murders Steven by hitting him with a piece of gym equipment and strangling him. The Netflix show then has Jeffrey break down Steven's body and scatter his remains around his parents’ property. Soon after, Lionel gets together with his new wife Shari and brings her to meet Jeffrey in Ohio. In August 1978, Jeffrey enrolls in Ohio State University. However, largely because of alcohol abuse, he soon drops out.
1979 - Jeffrey Enlists in the U.S. Army
Though Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story spends little time covering this period in his life, in 1979 Jeffrey trains to become a medical specialist in the U.S. Army. It is during this time that he becomes familiar with tranquilizers.
1981 - Jeffrey Moves in with His Grandmother
Due to Jeffrey’s drinking, he is given an honorable discharge from the military. He moves to Miami Beach, Florida and finds work in a delicatessen. His alcohol problems continue to be an issue, and he soon runs out of money. In September, he phones his father and asks to return home to Ohio. In December 1981, Lionel sends Jeffrey to live with his grandmother Catherine in West Allis, Wisconsin. This period makes up a significant portion of the Netflix true-crime series. Jeffrey works a number of jobs, including work at a polish butcher and a blood donation center. During his time at his grandmothers, Jeffrey steals a mannequin from a department store and brings it home to his grandmothers house, using it sexually. She soon discovers it and, much to Jeffrey’s annoyance, throws it away. In early 1982 Jeffrey is arrested for indecent exposure at Wisconsin State Fair Park.
1987 - Dahmer Kills Three Men In His Grandmother's House
Jeffrey begins drugging and assaulting gay men in a Milwaukee bath house. After one man nearly dies of an overdose, Jeff is blacklisted by the proprietor. In November 1987, Jeffrey kills his second victim Steven Toumi in the Ambassador Hotel in Milwaukee. Dahmer is able to smuggle the body out of the hotel in a large suitcase.
The Netflix series then sees Jeffrey attend the funeral of an 18-year-old boy named Daniel Ciczek. He returns to the grave later and unsuccessfully attempts to dig up the coffin and has to stop because the ground is too hard. From 1987 onwards, Jeff habitually drugs and kills people in his grandmother’s house. Dismembering them in the basement and taking their body parts out in trash bags. Jeff later admits to experimenting with the bodies, boiling parts and soaking others in acid. Jeffrey kills three men in his grandmother's home; Richard Guerrero, Anthony Sears, and James Doxtator.
Catherine becomes increasingly suspicious around this time. She notices the unpleasant smell coming from the basement and discovers a small satanic alter made by Jeff. Jeffrey brings Ronald Flowers to the house and drugs his coffee. However, Jeffrey is unable to kill this particular victim as he is interrupted by his grandmother. Since his involvement with Jeffrey Dahmer's story, Ronald has appeared in a documentary about his experience claiming that if it was not for Catherine, he would have been killed. Jeffrey abandons Ronald on a bus, and he ends up in the hospital. Ronald goes to the police, but they take no action against Dahmer who denies the allegations. During this time, Jeffrey sexually assaults Somsack Sinthasomphone. Jeffrey is charged and sentenced to one year in prison. However, the judge is dismissive of the Laotian family and is lenient with Jeff, wanting to give him a “second chance”.
1991 - Jeff is caught and arrested
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In May 1990 Jeffrey moves into 924 North 25th Street, Apartment 213. During his time here, Dahmer kills at least 11 further victims. The majority of these men came from minority groups and their disappearances were routinely ignored by the Milwaukee police. The Netflix series changed and omitted parts of the story in this aspect, failing to include many of the victims.
After a chance encounter outside a liquor store, Dahmer lures 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone, the younger brother of his earlier victim, to his apartment by offering him money to pose for pictures. He drugs the boy, in an attempt to turn him into a compliant zombie, attempts to lobotomize him with a power drill. Konerak wakes up and, half-conscious, attempts an escape. Despite encountering neighbors and being checked over by the police, Konerak is returned to Jeffrey, who claims to be his boyfriend. The police ignore next door neighbor Glenda Cleveland's request to check the boy's age and don’t thoroughly search the apartment, which is suggested to be due to their discomfort surrounding Jeffrey’s sexuality. Despite being suspended, the police officers who returned Dahmer's victim were reinstated.
Monster: The Jeffrey Damher Story spends a considerable amount of time introducing aspiring model Tony Hughes. Jeffrey befriends Tony after meeting him at Club 219 and, after spending some time together, murders him in his apartment. Tony’s family strike up a community effort to search for him after the police fail to offer sufficient help.
Meanwhile, Glenda Cleveland repeatedly reports suspicious noises and odors coming from Jeffrey’s apartment to the police and her landlord. The police routinely fail to send anyone to the building. However, her reports to her landlord are successful and Dahmer is handed an eviction notice. Jeff meets Tracy Edwards at Club 219 and brings him home intent on killing him.Tracy manages to fight Jeff off and escape the apartment. He alerts the police who, upon searching the apartment and making some gruesome discoveries, finally arrest Dahmer.
The Netflix show then sees the police interview Jeffrey, who is very co-operative and tells them where they can find the remains of many of his victims. These kinds of interview, like those held between Ted Bundy and Bill Hagmaier, often form the backbone of true-crime films and series. In Ohio a forensic team discover Steven Hicks’s remains at the Dahmer family home.
In August 1991, Reverend Jesse Jackson travels to Milwaukee to meet with the local black community and discern how discrimination played a part in the repeated failures of the Milwaukee police.
1992 - Jeffrey’s Trial and Sentencing
The Jury rejects the defense's plea of insanity, ensuring that Jeff will end up in prison. The families of the victims give moving impact statements. Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences. The Oxford Apartments where many of the murders took place are torn down.
1994 - Christopher Scarver Kills Jeffrey
In prison, Jeff regularly receives fan mail and money from admirers. Jeffrey begins to enjoy his new-found fame, taunting other inmates with chicken drumsticks and ketchup. Dahmer's eventual killer, Christopher Scarver, disgusted by this behavior, researches his crimes in the prison library. After reading about Dahmer’s crimes, Scarver sees himself as a vessel of holy vengeance for the serial killer's victims. One inmate attempts to slash Jeffrey's throat in the prison choir, but fails to kill him.
The Dahmer family receive a great deal of media attention. Jeff and Lionel are interviewed on TV. Lionel releases a book entitled A Father's Story, which does not sell well despite good reviews. The victim’s families pursue various courses of legal action. Shirley Hughes leads a group in filing a civil suit against the Dahmers to prevent them from profiting from the deaths. Local real estate magnate Joseph Zilber buys all of Jeffrey's possessions and burns them to prevent them being bought and sold as collectors items. The Netflix series shows Jeff become interested in the idea of divine forgiveness, and decide to get baptized. The ceremony is performed on the same day that fellow serial killer John Wayne Gacy (recently featured in Conversations with a Killer) is executed.
While cleaning a gymnasium Christopher Scarver beats Jeffrey to death with a piece of gym equipment. In the subsequent proceedings, Joyce and Lionel go to court over what should be done with Jeffrey's brain. Joyce hopes that the brain can be studied to determine what was wrong with Jeffrey, while Lionel wants it cremated with the rest of him. Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story ends with a judge, in the spirit of moving on, ordering Jeffery Dahmer's brain to be cremated.