Former Milwaukee attorney Thomas M. Jacobson, who represented eight of the families of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims and fought to prevent the serial killer from profiting from his murders, believes that the funding of the memorial Ryan Murphy’s statement is not only too short, but emotionally too late. The loss of his Netflix series hurt families, but absolutely the wrong move.
“The memorial contribution by Ryan Murphy to the Dahmer victims sounds like an idea,” Jacobson told TheWrap. “Milwaukee wanted Dahmer’s memory to disappear, so there should be no memory of her devastation in the community.”
He offered the following option: “The only meaningful Dahmer victim’s family action on Murphy’s part would be a monetary consideration from Netflix’s profits for their exploitation and continued trauma.”
Murphy claimed on Thursday the production, Netflix’s highly-watched “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story,” had reached out to the victims’ families and friends and received no response (though several family members have said no didn’t even try to contact him about the series). He then suggested that they fund the construction of a monument in Milwaukee.
“Anything we could have done to make that happen, you know, I’d be happy to pay for it myself,” Murphy said. “I think something has to happen. And we’re trying to get people to talk about it. I think there’s some resistance because they think the park will attract people who want this horrible incident to happen.” Interested in paying tribute… but I think something needs to be done.
After representing eight of the 11 victims’ families at Dahmer’s trial in 1992, Jacobson continued to work diligently to see that Dahmer or his property never profited from his crimes And it’s horrifying to them that Netflix and Murphy are profiting from the story while re-traumatizing the families of the victims.
“All my efforts on behalf of Dahmer victim families were in line with my belief that network TV series, books, movies, trading cards, comic books, action figures, any and all Dahmer victims commercially exploit, all share profits. needs to be done to the victims and their families,” Jackson told TheWrap in an email.
He later said, “Netflix benefits, dahmer victims’ families hurt. This is not justice, this is not fair, this is not right.”
Read Jacobson’s full letter to TheWrap below.
The message has been edited for style and clarity
I saw your reporting of the Netflix series, “Monster – The Jeffrey Dahmer Murders,” and the reaction to parts of the series by Dahmer victim family member Rita Isbell. I was an advocate for eight Dahmer victim families following the murders of their loved ones, including the family of Rita Isbell, personally receiving judgments on her behalf against Jeffrey Dahmer for more than $80 million. Taking the serial killer’s confession at Columbia Correctional Prison, limited to questioning him only about the assets available to carry out the judgments, I came up with three sources for obtaining compensation for the victim’s family.
The first one I suggested to Jeff was to write and video-record his first-person story, giving all rights to the victims’ families, and all sales proceeds, shared equally with each victim’s family. I obtained a minimum million dollar contract for these rights from a book publisher and video recorder, which Jeff refused to sign.
Lionel Demar wrote “A Father’s Story” while receiving a $150,000 advance from William Morrow & Co. The forwarding of the book is dedicated to the two named Dahmer victims and their families. Lionel said: “I intend to donate a portion of the proceeds from this book to benefit the families of the victims.” Exploiting Damer’s victim families in this way in favor of Curry in favor of favorable book reviews and personal gain, Lionel Dahmer never contributed a dime from book proceeds to any of the victim’s families. I sued Lionel on behalf of the victims’ families for any book profits arising from this unauthorized exploitation.
The second discovery was that Dahmer received over $12,000 in monetary gifts from people around the world. The money was in his prison bank account, not the 12 cents an hour he received for his laundry, which was used to buy a myriad of personal items for himself. I decorated this Damer bank account several times, with the money divided equally by the families of the victims.
Third, my suggestion to Jeff was to turn over the rights to all of his personal non-exempt properties to be sold and that the proceeds be shared equally with all the victims’ families. Refusing to do so voluntarily, I removed all of Dahmer’s non-exempt property, both from his prison cell after his murder, and from Dahmer’s apartment, property confiscated by the Milwaukee Police Department after his arrest. Attached. After acquiring the rights to this Dahmer property, I announced my intention to hold a Jeffrey Dahmer auction to sell all items to the highest bidder.
Joe Zilber, a Milwaukee real estate philanthropist, approached me to buy all the property to destroy in order to avoid the need for such a horrific spectacle with unexpected negative consequences. I demanded $1 million dollars for all items, non-negotiable, eventually the victim’s family agreed to $407,225. Eleven victim families shared approximately $32,000 per family. My $85,000 legal fee was donated in equal shares to eight victim families, and more than $28,000 was accepted for community-based charities, in memory of the victims of serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. I didn’t even take a cent of the settlement for my legal efforts.
All my efforts on behalf of Damer victim families were in line with my belief that network TV series, books, movies. Trading cards, comic books, action figures, any and all Dahmer victims commercially exploited, all profits need to be shared with the victims and their families. I join Rita Isbell in her critique of the Netflix Dahmer victim exploitation and calling on Netflix to share a portion of the profits from their hugely commercially successful effort, with the Dahmer victim families.
Netflix gains, families of dahmer victims suffer. This is not justice, this is not fair, this is not right.
– Thomas M. jacobson
