Jeffrey Dahmer Netflix Series Slammed by Victim’s Cousin: It’s ‘Retraumatizing’

Speaking out. The cousin of one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims slammed the new Netflix series, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which stars Evan Peters as Dahmer, in multiple tweets the day after the show premiered on Wednesday, September 21.

“I’m not telling anyone what to watch, I know true crime media is huge rn [right now], but if you’re actually curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are pissed about this show. It’s retraumatizing over and over again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?” wrote Eric Perry, whose cousin, Errol Lindsey, was among at least 17 men and boys who were raped, murdered and dismembered by the prolific serial killer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 1978 and 1991. 

Perry also included a side-by-side comparison video of the impact statement made by Lindsey’s sister, Rita Isbell, during a 1992 sentencing with a scene from the Ryan Murphy-created Netflix series, in which actress DaShawn Barnes portrays Isbell. 

“Like recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and murdered her brother is WILD. WIIIIIILD,” Perry continued in a follow-up tweet.

Noting that he “did not expect” his original tweet – which has since garnered over 400,000 likes and over 65,000 retweets on the social media platform – to “get this much attention,” Perry went on to claim that Netflix never notified his family prior to the show’s premiere.

“It’s all public record, so they don’t have to notify (or pay!) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did,” he alleged, adding in another tweet, “So when they say they’re doing this ‘with respect to the victims’ or ‘honoring the dignity of the families,’ no one contacts them. My cousins wake up every few months at this point with a bunch of calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show. It’s cruel.”

This isn’t the first time a victim’s family member has spoken out about Dahmer’s horrific crimes being brought to light in the public eye.

Janie Hagen, whose brother Richard Guerrero was killed by Dahmer, talked to her local Fox affiliate in 2012 after it was revealed someone created a Dahmer-inspired walking tour of Milwaukee to retrace the steps of where he found and killed his victims. 

“[My brother] was only 21. I have a son that’s 21 now. I can only imagine what my mother went through. That was her child. That was her baby,” she said at the time. “My mind is like a VCR — it pauses and rewinds and it always takes me back to that courtroom.”

Dahmer, who was determined legally sane to stand trial in January 1992, was killed in prison by a fellow inmate in 1994 just two years after he was ordered to serve 15 consecutive life sentences in prison (he later received a 16th life sentence) for his crimes. 

Eric Perry and a rep for Netflix did not immediately respond to In Touch’s request for comment.