Jeffrey Dahmer’s father Lionel has died at the age of 87

Jeffrey Dahmer's father Lionel has died at the age of 87.

The US Sun says the elderly man has been living a private life in Ohio for the past few years.

A spokesperson for the Medina County Health Department has confirmed the news to the outlet.

“We have been notified of the death of Lionel Herbert Dahmer, who was born on July 29, 1936," the spokesperson explained.

“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.”

Steve Kagan/Getty Images

Lionel was constantly asked about how and why his son ended up becoming one of the most infamous serial killers in modern US history.

Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 men and boys during a murder spree that lasted from 1978 until his arrest in 1991.

He raped and dismembered his victims – one of them was only 14-years-old – and also committed necrophilia, cannibalism, and kept trophies of his victims.

Upon his capture, police found photographs of mangled corpses in his home, as well as a severed head in the fridge.

He was given several life sentences and was kept in solitary confinement for the first year of his incarceration at the Columbia Correctional Institution over fears for his safety.

However, he was killed in 1994 after being beaten with a metal pole by a fellow inmate during a brief period of unsupervised work.

Curt Borgwardt/Sygma via Getty Images

During an interview with Good Morning America in the 1990s, Lionel was asked what he thought drove his son to commit those brutal murders.

He replied: "The closest I could come to why—to give some type of a causality for all this—is that I think it was a cumulative thing.

"I think there were several events in his life starting with the hernia operation, his concern about having his penis being cut off which he expressed to his mother at the time, I didn't even know about that until the trial in February '92.

"That plus a blow to the back of the head, plus I don't know these various incidents, going around and getting roadkill.

"All these things came to a cumilative ending and it hooked on, I firmly believe it hooked into his sexuality at age 14 or 15.

"There really were no overt signs.

"He wasn't foaming at the mouth or talking to himself in his sleep, or acting in a weird fashion."

Topics: Jeffrey Dahmer

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Senior Journalist at LADbible. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign. He is in charge of the LADbible Australia editorial content and social presence.

@stewartperrie