“I stumbled across the newspapers by accident,” Jamie-Lee recalled. “At the time, I didn’t even know what ‘cannibal’ meant. But when I was 13, I started reading the articles—and that’s when it all clicked. Still, by then, my dad had already manipulated me. He painted himself as the victim and his girlfriend as the monster. He had completely brainwashed me into believing his version of the story.”

As a child, Jamie-Lee Arrow felt like she was living two separate lives. Her mother’s home was “loving and normal,” a place of comfort and stability. But visits to her father’s house plunged her into what she now calls “the dark side.”

“There was no light—literally or emotionally,” she recalled. Her father filled his days watching gruesome horror movies and crafting eerie voodoo dolls. He warned her never to tell her mother.

“It felt like demons and the devil were just part of everyday life,” Arrow said. “That world became normal to me. But I never spoke a word of it. I kept it all buried inside.”

There were days when Jonsson seemed like the perfect father—affectionate, attentive, and full of love. But his demeanor could shift in an instant. His sudden mood swings left Arrow reeling, unsure of what version of her dad she would face. Without explanation, he would sometimes send her back to her mother’s home, saying simply that he “couldn’t deal with” her. 

“Sometimes, I wish I could go back and give my younger self a hug,” she reflected. “My hope in sharing my story has always been to show people that no matter where you come from or how broken you feel, healing is possible. Whether you’re battling PTSD, trauma, or addiction, I truly believe everyone has the strength to find their way out of the darkness.”

My Father, the Cannibal is now available to stream on Max. Catch new episodes of Evil Lives Here: The Killer Speaks Sundays at 9 p.m. on ID.