Jeffrey Dahmer's Father Dies in Hospice Care at 87

The father of notorious serial killer and cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer has died. Lionel Dahmer passed away at the age of 87 from natural causes while in hospice care, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Lionel was being cared for in Medina County, Ohio, at the time of his death.

The local health department confirmed the news to The New York Post on Tuesday; however, the exact date of his passing is unknown. Jeffrey murdered and dismembered upwards of 17 men between 1978 and 1991, and was dubbed the Milwaukee Cannibal.

Despite his high-profile killings, Lionel always stood by his son's side.

“I still love my son. I’ll always stick by him – I always have," he told Oprah Winfrey in 1994. Lionel tirelessly defended Jeffrey over the years, bringing his mental illness and upbringing as the possible reasons behind his killings and blaming himself for missing the warning signs.

“At first, I couldn't fathom how he turned out to be this far down the continuum. I mean, we're all on a continuum, we all do bad things, we all sin,” Lionel told Dr. Phil. “He was at the extreme of the continuum. i couldn't at first understand how he could have done those things.”

The serial murderer's father visited his son in prison regularly up until Jeffrey died in 1994. He was beaten to death with a metal bar by fellow inmate Christopher Scarver nearly 30 years ago.

Last year, Lionel's caretaker told The Sun that the father of two would still get heated if Scarver's name came up.

“He is still very angry about it,” his caretaker said at the time. “As far as I know, and the last I talked to Lionel, he believes the guards looked the other way and let it happen.”

Lionel's death comes almost one year after his wife Shari's passing. She died in her nursing home on January 13.

Shari was Jeffrey's stepmother. Lionel divorced Joyce Flint, Jeffrey's biological mom, in 1978 when the latter was around 18. The two also shared a younger son, David Dahmer, who was spotted in September for the first time in decades. The Sun obtained photos of David, who it claimed changed his name to avoid being associated with his older brother.

Lionel wrote a book called A Father’s Story, which told his perspective on how Jeffrey wound up a killer. The family was recently thrown back in the headlines because of Netflix's controversial series about Jeffrey's crimes.

Lionel threatened to sue the streaming giant, claiming it glamorized Jeffrey's murders.