Glenda Cleveland is the de facto hero of Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, the Netflix show about the notorious titular serial killer. While the string of events was ultimately tragic, with Dahmer claiming the lives of 17 men and boys during a killing spree that ultimately lasted around 13 years, Cleveland was commended for being the first person to alert the police about Dahmer, alerting them to his suspicious behaviours (even though they turned her complaints away, as we hear in the now-infamous 911 call that’s played at the end of Episode 2 of the show).
The Netflix show certainly doesn’t neglect Cleveland’s heroism in trying to get the police to investigate Dahmer more closely. In fact, as dramatisations are wont to do, it embellishes and exaggerates a few elements of Cleveland and Dahmer’s interactions.
Here we cover Glenda’s role in the show, how it differed from reality, and what happened to her following Dahmer’s conviction.
Glenda Cleveland: Facts vs Fiction
The Netflix show depicts Glenda Cleveland as being Dahmer’s next-door neighbour, who starts becoming suspicious of Dahmer due to the rotten smell entering her apartment through the vent she shares with him, as well as the sound of power tools late at night (which, for dramatic effect, become screams later in the show). Cleveland frequently interacts with Dahmer in the show, acting as his kind of nemesis, and events come to a head when she persuades the building manager to evict Dahmer from his apartment.
In one of the more intense moments of the show, Dahmer goes over to Cleveland’s apartment following his eviction notice, and offers her a ‘meat sandwich’ in the hope that she’ll retract her complaint. She stands firm, refuses to revoke the complaint (and, unsurprisingly, doesn’t want to eat the cannibal’s meat sandwich). Dahmer finally agrees to leave her apartment, but she is left visibly shaken after the chilling encounter.
Dramatic though the above events were, these finer details didn’t happen because Cleveland wasn’t in fact Dahmer’s next-door neighbour.
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In reality, Cleveland lived across the street from Dahmer. She didn’t have regular interactions with him, and never even directly crossed paths with him. She did, however, try to alert the police that something was wrong when her daughter and niece found 14-year-old Konerak Sinthasomphone half-naked and drugged in the street on June 30, 2025.
Cleveland wasn’t actually there when the two police officers returned Konerak to Dahmer, after he convinced them that the boy was in fact his 19-year-old lover. However, her daughter Sandra Smith and niece Nicole Childress were there for the whole thing and reported the incident to Cleveland, who subsequently became so concerned about the boy that she called the police to grill them on why they believed Dahmer’s claim that the boy was 19 years old. Here is the recording of the disturbing call:
As we now know, Dahmer murdered and dismembered Konerak that night. Cleveland tried calling the police several more times following his disappearance, and even went so far as to phone the FBI, but each time her calls or concerns were ignored.
What Happened To Cleveland After Dahmer’s Arrest?After Dahmer was caught, Cleveland became a major focal point for the media, and was widely hailed as the one person who tried to stop Dahmer while the police did nothing. Renowned activist and politician Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Cleveland in person (as depicted in the show), and said afterwards, “Police chose the word of a killer over an innocent woman.” With the vast majority of Dahmer’s victims being African-American, Jackson said that the case symbolised the dangers and injustices faced by black people in America.
In one interview, when a journalist asked Cleveland whether she felt Konerak was let down by the police, she answered:
“Yes, they did. He was definitely let down, he was let down as low as you may get, and that was to his grave. You can’t get much lower than that.”
Cleveland told another reporter that she ‘just wanted to get back to normal’ following the fallout from the Dahmer crimes.
According toher obituary in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, after Dahmer’s conviction Cleveland received several commendations for her attempts to draw attention to Dahmer. In the obituary, Jim Stingl wrote:
“Cleveland was honored formally by the Common Council and the County Board. Mayor John Norquist called her a model citizen. She received awards from local women’s groups and even the Milwaukee Police Department.”
Cleveland continued to live in her apartment on 25th Street all the way until 2009. Apparently, when one of her brothers questioned why she wanted to live near “that house on haunted hill,” she’d adamantly fire back “I’m not going anywhere.” For some time at least, Cleveland even stayed in touch with the family of Konerak Sinthasomphone, and attended one of his brother’s weddings.
Glenda Cleveland died of natural causes in 2011 at the age of 56, and is remembered as a caring and concerned citizen who was a bright light during a dark time in the history of Milwaukee.
NEXT:Dahmer: How Much Of The Netflix Show Is A True Story?
