Glenda Cleveland, Jeffrey Dahmer’s neighbor, is one of the few survivors in the horrific, real-life Jeffrey Dahmer case, and she is featured in the new Netflix limited series Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Cleveland continually made an effort to apprehend the serial killer by reporting his suspicious behavior to the police.
Cleveland issued several warnings, but the authorities consistently disregarded her calls, allowing Dahmer to carry out his murderous spree.
Who is Glenda Cleveland?
According to Digital Spy, Glenda Cleveland was a neighbor who resided in the same building as Dahmer’s flat. She was one of nine children reared by parents who emphasized the value of honesty and stepping up when someone needed aid on a farm in Mississippi. She reportedly told a reporter in 1991, “I don’t see any reason for individuals not caring for other people,” according to USA Today. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she worked as a data entry clerk until her position was eventually abolished.
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How did she try to stop Dahmer?
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Cleveland contacted the police about Dahmer on numerous occasions.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she called the police on May 27, 1991, after her daughter Sandra Smith and her niece Nicole Childress discovered a bleeding, naked, and unresponsive child who had been fleeing Dahmer on the street.
Dahmer admitted to the police that the youngster was his 19-year-old partner and that he was intoxicated. The boy was eventually revealed to be the killer’s 14-year-old victim, Konerak Sinthasomphone. The Seattle Times reported in 1991 that “they accepted Dahmer’s nonchalant assurance that the Laotian youngster was 19.” “They were dealing with a homosexual lovers’ argument,” the cops believed.
According to TIME, they described Sinthasomphone as a “intoxicated Asian, naked male” to their dispatch.
The New York Times reports that Dahmer was convicted of second-degree assault in 1989 for abusing Sinthasomphone’s older brother in 1988. According to the FBI, he was freed in 1990 after spending a year working at a work release camp and receiving a five-year probationary sentence, as was reported by TODAY.
According to TODAY, when Cleveland calls the police in Monster episode 2, the series appears to play the actual audio from the 911 call to the Milwaukee police department. Cleveland’s niece Childress subsequently described the incident in a book she authored in 2009 called “Divine Providence: Finding Purpose in the in Between,” saying Sinthasomphone was “butt naked” and that she could “know the officers were against her.”
Cleveland’s cause of death
Cleveland died in 2011, according to the the
Milwaukee police officers found Cleveland’s body after her concerned neighbors reported that they hadn’t seen her in a couple of days.
According to the Sentinel, Cleveland passed away at home from heart disease and high blood pressure. According to USA Today, Smith attributed it to her cigarette habit.
Cleveland received praise from the County Board and the Common Council prior to her passing, and Mayor John Norquist referred to her as a “model citizen” in his eulogy. According to The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, she was honored by the Milwaukee Police Department and earned other accolades from regional women’s organizations.
