JEFFREY Dahmer’s dad hallucinated that he’d seen his notorious serial killer son in the months before he died at 87, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.
The Milwaukee Cannibal’s father Lionel died in a hospice not far from his home in rural Ohio, a source close to the family said on Tuesday.
An employee at the Medina County Health Department confirmed they had been notified of Lionel’s death.
The retired research chemist’s health had been failing and he was hospitalized repeatedly over the last year.
He was also hit hard by the death of his second wife, Jeffrey’s step-mom Shari, 81, at a care home in January.
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Lionel is survived by his younger son David, 56, and David’s two kids.
A source close to the family said: “I was told early this morning that Lionel died in a hospice. He just faded away.
“He had been in the hospice since October after his health deteriorated and he was taken to hospital in Medina, Ohio.
“Lionel had heart issues and took medication for that."
The source went on: "In his final months he was heavily medicated and had hallucinations about seeing Jeff.
“He was incoherent and asking if people had seen Jeff. He said that Jeff had come to see him.
“He also asked about Shari, it was almost as if he was trying to remember happier times."
The source explained that Lionel's health started to really decline after Shari passed away in January.
“It was slow at first but he didn’t want to get up and move as much," they said.
“It was almost as if he was ready to go.
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"There are plenty people out there who have a lot of respect and admiration for Lionel because of what he went through with Jeff and how he dealt with it.
“It’s a very sad day for those who cared about him.”
STANDING BY HIS SON
Lionel famously stood by his son after he was unmasked as a murderer and sex offender.
He became a media personality in his own right after writing a book about his experiences with Jeffrey called A Father’s Story in 1994.
He told Oprah Winfrey that year: "We’ve gotten very close since his arrest.
"I still love my son. I’ll always stick by him — I always have."
Lionel was also famously interviewed by the late TV legend Larry King alongside Shari in 2004.
Jeffrey was sentenced to 16 terms of life imprisonment after he murdered and dismembered 17 men and boys in Wisconsin and Ohio between 1978 and 1991.
Many of his later murders involved cannibalism, necrophilia and the preservation of body parts.
The murderer and sex offender was beaten to death at 34 by an inmate while in prison in Wisconsin in 1994.
Jeffrey’s reign of terror has horrified and fascinated the public in the decades since then.
Netflix released controversial hit drama series Dahmer - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story last year.
Created by heavy-hitting Glee and American Horror Story producer Ryan Murphy, it reached number one on the streaming giant’s platform in its first week after being released.
Veteran Six Feet Under actor Richard Jenkins played Lionel on the show.
It went on to become Netflix’s second most popular English-language series of all time, behind Stranger Things.
The following month Netflix also released true crime docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.
The U.S. Sun’s source said that the renovated interest in his son took its toll on Lionel.
The insider said: “The fallout from the Netflix show and docuseries last year affected him.
“People started showing up at his house and he got phone calls at random times of the day about it, so that stressed him out.
“He was worried for his safety.”
Jeffrey's younger brother David was seen for the first time in decades in September in pictures obtained exclusively by The U.S. Sun.
David looked unrecognizable as he was spotted near his home in the suburb of a major US city, which The U.S. Sun decided not to reveal.
Pics showed David sporting a full orange tracksuit reminiscent of his older brother’s infamous pictures in a prison jumpsuit.
He was also photographed cycling while wearing Lycra and yellow-tinted glasses reminiscent of his infamous brother’s aviator-style lenses.
It came shortly after new details about his tense relationship with the serial killer emerged in a documentary
The brothers had issues while growing up together as they competed for the love of their late mother Joyce, retired FBI profiler Dan Craft said in an interview for the Fox Nation docuseries My Son Jeffrey: The Dahmer Family Tapes.
The U.S. Sun's insider said at the time: "To my understanding, Joyce favored David because David acted and looked more like her.
"He was more like Joyce in their personalities than Jeff was.
"She was an alcoholic, as was Jeff in later life.
"But her mannerisms were more like David, who was more outgoing and talkative than his brother.
"Jeff was more like Lionel, he was more reserved and thought things through, or at least when he was younger it seemed that way.
"When Joyce took off with David after her marriage with Lionel ended, Lionel only had Jeff to dote on.
"Jeff reminded Joyce of Lionel and that’s one of the reasons why she didn’t take Jeff with her after the divorce."
The U.S. Sun also exclusively revealed that Lionel's wife Shari had died in January this year.
A source said that Shari had passed away at a nursing home near her and Lionel's home in Seville, Ohio.
She was understood to have passed away due to complications related to health problems she had suffered in recent years.
Shari was thrown into the limelight after her step-son’s horrendous crimes emerged following his arrest in 1991.
She stood by Lionel as he struggled to come to terms with what his son had done.
An employee of Medina County Health Department said on Tuesday: “We have been notified of the death of Lionel Herbert Dahmer, who was born on July 29, 1936.
“We are waiting for a copy of his death certificate to be sent over to us so we can register the death.
“It was so recent that I would imagine we won’t see that for a couple of days.”
An attorney who had represented Lionel said: "I have no comment at this time."
