MILWAUKEE — Another true-crime documentary surrounding Jeffrey Dahmer is headed to Netflix. This time, Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes, sheds a light on the unreleased recorded conversations between Dahmer and his defense attorney Wendy Patrickus, following his arrest in 1991.
"These tapes have never been heard before and are incredibly candid and compelling," said Joe Berlinger, the director, and producer of The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.
Joe Berlinger, who also directed the Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy tapes, says it took about a year and a half to create the Dahmer docu-series.
He explains the whole story is told through Patrickus' eyes where, during a confession that lasted 30 hours, Dahmer candidly describes his childhood, impulses, and killings to her in detail.
"He describes everything he did from his earliest childhood experiments with dead animals to the last moment when he was arrested by police. He spares no detail in talking about what he did," said Berlinger.
Through the documentary, Berlinger's main goal is to shed direct light on the racism, homophobia, and injustices that allowed Dahmer to kill for so long.
"The number of times he was allowed to get away with it, that the police did not do a thorough investigation, that they took the word over the white Jeffrey Dahmer over black witnesses," said Berlinger. "He was surprised that he had so many opportunities to keep killing and that's the great tragedy of this story."
And in doing so, he hopes it will serve as a teaching moment to help bridge the relationship between law enforcement and communities across the country, but especially right here in Milwaukee.
"We do see community relations with police with certain marginalized communities in Milwaukee is still not in a great place, so hopefully there are some lessons to be learned," said Berlinger.
The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes will debut on Netflix this Friday, October 7th.
