"Dahmer – Monster" Has Been Dubbed "Practically Unbearable" — Here Are 11 Things The Series Changed

Dahmer didn't actually wear his glasses in court for one good reason.

It's been a while since it was released, but everyone is still talking about Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. The Netflix original show details the horrific murders of young men by serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer in the years 1978 to 1991.

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The series has received praise for documenting the racism and homophobia within society that led to Dahmer not being jailed for over ten years. It also portrays how the Milwaukee Police Department kept failing to apprehend him.

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Although it's a drama and not a factual depiction of events, there are several points that vary considerably from what really happened, as well as some critical details that are left out entirely. Here are a few of them:

1. Although the first murder of Steven Hicks was unplanned, the series missed out that Dahmer had fantasies about picking up a hitchhiker and having complete control over him.

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In an interview with Inside Edition in 1993, Dahmer stated "I was coming back from the shopping mall back in '78. I'd had fantasies about picking up a hitchhiker, and taking him back to the house, and having complete dominance and control over him".

2. Glenda Cleveland was not actually Dahmer's next door neighbour. In real life, she lived in a separate building.

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According to Anne E. Schwartz – a crime reporter for the Milwaukee Journal in 1991 – Glenda lived in a different building at the Oxford apartments. "In the first five minutes of the first episode, you have Glenda Cleveland knocking on his door. None of that ever happened", she told The Independent.

3. In the series, we see a graphic scene of Dahmer taking three bags of blood home from the Milwaukee Blood Plasma Center he worked at and drinking the contents of one, but that didn't exactly happen.

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According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dahmer once tried a vial of blood on the rooftop of the centre but immediately spat it out.

4. Evan Peters wears glasses in court, but the real Dahmer never wore his while on trial for one reason in particular.

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His stepmother, Shari Dahmer, stated in 1992 that "he's not wearing glasses so that he can't see people. He panics". She was referencing the fact that Dahmer refused to wear spectacles in court in order to avoid seeing the jury and spectators.

5. John Balcerzak and Joseph Gabrish were two officers who had the chance to help 14-year old Konerak Sinthasomphone, one of Dahmer's victims. In the series, they are later awarded with "Officer of the Year" accolades, but this isn't actually what happened.

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Balcerzak and Gabris let Dahmer take Sinthasomphone back to his apartment after they were convinced he was Dahmer's 19-year-old lover. They were initially suspended after Sinthasomphone was killed, but were later reinstated to the force in 1994 after a judge ruled their firing as "too harsh".

6. During the trial in the show, Judge William Gardner requests that a child translate Sounthone Sinthasomophone's (Konerak's father) testimony at one point. In reality, none of the Sinthasomophone family were present for the trial.

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According to Anne E. Schwartz's book, the Sinthasomophone family never showed up to the hearing because they weren't even told it was happening!

7. It was Dahmer himself who decided not to go through with the killing of Ron Flowers.

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According to crime reporter Anne E. Schwartz's book, Dahmer didn't kill Flowers after drugging him as he weighed 250 pounds, and he wasn't sure whether he could move the body himself. However, in the series, it shows Dahmer's grandma interfering in his plans.

8. There were only two locks on Dahmer's front door.

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The series shows Dahmer's last potential victim, Tracy Edwards, frantically leaving the apartment and battling with several locks on the door. A police photo of the door actually shows that there were only two locks.

9. Allegedly, Tony Hughes knew Dahmer for quite a few years before he was murdered.

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On the show, the two meet in a gay bar and Hughes is seen heading back to Dahmer's apartment on the same night. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a friend of Hughes stated that the pair had been seeing each other for two years before his murder. 

10. Dahmer's father – Lionel – was a research chemist, and thought his son had taken an interest in his work. They did not dissect roadkill together as the series showed.

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According to The New Yorker, Lionel Dahmer didn't learn about his son's weird preoccupation with dead animals until his murder trial. They didn't – as the show implies – drive around looking for roadkill to dissect in the garage.

11. He also wasn't sued by all 17 of the victims families as in the series.

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Netflix depicts that after Lionel published his book – A Father's Story – all 17 families tried to sue him for royalties as he had not asked permission to use their life stories. However, according to the Orlando Sentinel, only two families attempted to sue the serial killer's father, saying he had "invaded their privacy by including them in his book."

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