Rita Isbell, a relative of one of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims portrayed in the new Netflix series about the serial killerspeaks out about Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story.
Isbell’s brother, Errol Lindsey, was murdered by Dahmer at the age of 19. She made a victim statement during Dahmer’s 1992 sentencing, when the killer received 15 consecutive life sentences. The emotional moment is simulated in the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan created a limited series, which topped the streamer’s Top 10 list the week of its release on September 21.
“When I saw part of the show, it bothered me, especially when I saw myself — when I saw my name appear on the screen and this lady literally said what I said,” Isbell wrote in an essay for Insider. “If I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was me. Her hair was like mine, she had the same clothes on. That’s why it felt like I had to relive it all again. It brought back all the emotions I felt then.”
Isbell says she has not been contacted by Netflixand criticized the streaming giant for taking advantage of the tragic story.
“I feel like Netflix should have asked if we mind or what we thought about making it. They didn’t ask me anything. They just did it,” she continued. “I could even understand if they gave some of the money to the victims’ children. … the victims have children and grandchildren. If the show somehow benefited them, it wouldn’t feel so harsh and careless. It is sad that they are just making money from this tragedy. That’s just greed.”
She added: “The episode with me was the only part I saw. I didn’t watch the whole show. I don’t have to look at it. I lived it. I know exactly what happened.”
Netflix and Ryan Murphy Productions declined to comment.
Eric Perry, who identified himself as Lindsey’s cousin, also spoke about the series when the scene portraying Isbell’s victim statement was first shared on social media.
“I’m not telling anyone what to watch. I know the media on true crime is huge, but if you’re really curious about the victims, my family (the Isbell’s) are mad about this show,” he posted on Twitter. “It’s traumatizing again and again, and for what? How many movies/shows/documentaries do we need?”
Perry added of the scene with Isbell, “Like recreating my cousin having an emotional breakdown in court in the face of the man who tortured and killed her brother is WILD,” Perry wrote. “WIIIIIILD.”
After his message was answered, he replied that because the conviction is public, the family had not been notified.
“To answer the main question,” he said wrote in a follow-up thread“No, they don’t notify families if they do this. It’s all public, so they don’t have to notify (or pay) anyone. My family found out when everyone else did. So when they say they are doing this “with respect for the victims” or “respect the dignity of the families”, no one contacts them. My cousins are waking up every few months at this point with a bunch of phone calls and messages and they know there’s another Dahmer show. It’s cruel.” (Netflix’s Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes will also premiere on October 7th)
Between 1978 and 1991, Dahmer gruesomely murdered 17 men. According to the show’s description, “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story is a series that exposes these unscrupulous crimes, centered around the disadvantaged victims and their communities affected by the systematic racism and institutional failure of the police force that allowed one of America’s most notorious serial killers to keep his murderous spree in plain sight for more than a decade. continue. ”
Despite its stated purpose, the show has been criticized for its strong focus on Dahmer’s horrific behavior and framing the victims’ stories. As THR‘s foremost TV critic Daniel Fienberg notes in his review“Reducing most victims and their families to their pain is closer to exploiting that pain than honoring memories.”
While the ethics of retelling true crime stories without input from victims’ families can be debated, there is generally no legal requirement to contact them. No one owns facts, and you cannot slander the dead. Theoretically, in a situation like this, creators could acquire life rights from family members. Sometimes this gives them access to information that was previously not public. But often they’re attractive because they provide some assurance that creators won’t face a lawsuit—which can be a risk when people or events are fictionalized in otherwise based on real-life stories—or the optics of unfortunate subjects or their survivors.
Murphy, who has an overall deal with Netflix, co-created the series starring Evan Peters with his longtime production partner Brennan. The pair exec produces along with Alexis Martin Woodall, Eric Kovtun, Peters, Janet Mock and Carl Franklin.
Rashad Robinson, president of the nonprofit Color of Change, is an advisory producer and has spoken about his role on the series, saying he worked with Murphy to highlight the victims’ stories. “I wanted to make sure that we really improved the deep understanding of the systemic racism in the Milwaukee Police Department, that we really improve all the ways the police failed at every stage, the stimulative structures that a blond-haired, blue-eyed man is constantly trying to help people. to kill and harm, especially black and brown people,” he said in an interview with Netflix’s Tudum team.
On Twitter, Robinson noted, “11 of Jeffrey Dahmer’s 17 victims were black. And although neighbors filed multiple police complaints against him, they were ignored.”
Peters added“It is called The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, but it’s not just him and his backstory. It’s the consequences; it’s how society and our system failed to stop him multiple times because of racism and homophobia.”
Rounding out the cast are Richard Jenkins and Molly Ringwald, who play Dahmer’s father, Lionel Dahmer, and stepmother, Shari; Penelope Ann Joyce as Dahmer’s mother, Joyce; Michael Learned as Dahmer’s grandmother, Catherine Dahmer; and Niecy Nash as Dahmer’s neighbor, Glenda Cleveland, who tried multiple times to report his behavior to the Milwaukee Police Department.
In his review of the 10-episode series, Fienberg praised the second half of the series, but questioned whether audiences would stick with the Dahmer-centered first half to get there. He wrote“If you go through another editing process, there’s an intelligent interrogation of Jeffrey Dahmer’s crimes, the real people who were affected and the consequences here. It is often lost or obscured.”
Ashley Cullins contributed to this report.