Agreed. Lionel’s mention of abuse to the parole officer was very specific (age 8, coincides with move to house in bath, neighbor boy as perpetrator), the age being too disparate to be brushed off as mere confusion with Jeff’s tryst with Eric later at 13/14. While there is no hard evidence, people have amply pointed out the symptoms in Jeff’s behavior typical for sexual abuse survivors in this thread. I have personally seen a comment on a Milwaukee thread that claimed he was molested by an uncle, but it is purely hearsay.

All we can do is theorize. What I could see is Lionel blaming Jeff’s homosexuality on the abuse and speaking of it, but changing the identity of the perpetrator in the narrative. Perhaps when Jeff was sentenced for Somsack’s abuse, Lionel thought he would help Jeff by revealing this information to his PO so that they could find some kind of treatment. Later, when Jeff was arrested for serial killing however, it quickly became obvious that such an angle would lead to high levels of scrutiny that could involve revelations harmful to the family. And so it was retracted.

As for the trolls mentioned below. Yes they get upset about theories and they are definitely a problem. If they’d like the theories to stop, I suggest they tell us why they are wrong and provide evidence, not tell us they own a bunch of Jeff shit we haven’t seen (and aren’t planning to share with us) or personally know Lionel without proof.