In 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez brutally murdered their parents in their Beverly Hills home. Then, they made shocking allegations of abuse in court.
Ted Soqui / Sygma via Getty ImagesThe infamous Menendez brothers , Erik and Lyle Menendez , pictured in court in 1994 .
When Jose and Kitty Menendez were shoot down in Beverly Hills on a summer night in 1989 , their violent death scandalise Los Angeles . But their roughshod murder was just the beginning . Before long , the blame for their execution was pinned on their sons , 21 - class - old Lyle and 18 - twelvemonth - old Erik , and the story of the Menendez brothers would soon captivate America .
In a trial filled with twists and twist — which play out on the nascent Court TV — Lyle and Erik admitted to polish off both of their parents on August 20 , 1989 . They deny , however , that they ’d kill their parents merely to inherit their billion . Instead , Lyle and Erik exact that they ’d killed Jose and Kitty after years of unceasing emotional , physical , and intimate abuse .
Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty ImagesThe infamous Menendez brothers, Erik and Lyle Menendez, pictured in court in 1994.
As a transfixed nation watched , Lyle and Erik Menendez described years of alleged ill-usage at the hand of their mother and father . The Menendez brothers sob on the stand , gave graphic descriptions of harassment and incest , and offered anecdote of their father ’s roughshod personality .
This is the account of the Menendez brothers and the murder of their parent .
The Menendez Brothers’ Privileged Upbringing
Brian AndersenErik and Lyle Menendez with their father , Jose , in an undated family unit photo .
As small fry , Lyle and Erik Menendez seemed to have it all . Born in 1968 and 1970 , respectively , the two boys grew up in a flush New Jersey suburb with their parents , Jose , a self - made Cuban immigrant , andKitty , a former beauty fagot . But the Menendez brothers subsequently claimed that their picture - everlasting childhood was all a facade — which hid some extremely dark truths .
Their father , who had climbed his way from washing dishes to becoming a successful amusement executive director , promote both Lyle and Erik heavily . grant to theLos Angeles Times , Jose wanted his boys to be tennis stars and even hired private jitney for deterrent example . He demanded excellence from both his Son and their coach-and-four , one of whom chuck up the sponge in frustration .
Brian AndersenErik and Lyle Menendez with their father, Jose, in an undated family photo.
Jose was vivid off the lawn tennis royal court , too . TheLos Angeles Timesreports that he expected his boy to be able-bodied to contain conversation about topics like international politics , and sometimes gave them hours - long lectures .
What ’s more , the Menendez comrade also later claimed that Jose sexually abused them . One of their cousin latertoldABC Newsthat when Lyle was eight years old , and she was 17 , he tell apart her that his Church Father had molested him . The cousin told Kitty but did n’t recollect that the boy ’s mother believed her .
And as the days move on , cracks began to show in the Menendez family . After they move to Southern California for Jose ’s work in 1986 , Erik and Lyle depart getting into fuss for stealing from their neighbor ’ homes . roll Stonereportsthat their crime spree enraged Jose to such an extent that he allegedly amended his will so his sons would have less . harmonize toABC , he was even reckon about removing his sons from his will entirely .
Los Angeles District AttorneyThe bloodied crime scene following Jose and Kitty Menendez’s murder.
But before Jose had a chance , he and his wife were brutally kill .
Inside The Murder Of Jose And Kitty Menendez
Los Angeles District AttorneyThe bloodied criminal offence scene follow Jose and Kitty Menendez ’s execution .
On August 20 , 1989 , a seemingly hysterical Lyle Menendez , then 21 , called 911 . “ They charge and killed my parents , ” he sobbed . Outside the family , his 18 - year - old brother , Erik , pule into the night as the police arrived .
As the Menendez comrade put it , they ’d spent the evening at the movies . Because Erik needed his I.D. for their next stop that night , they return to the kinsfolk rest home to pick it up — and found their parent all in .
KIM KULISH/AFP via Getty ImagesErik and Lyle Menendez speak to each other during a hearing in 1995.
“ Once we realized what had happened after we called the police force , ” Erik explained , allot to theLos Angeles Times . “ It started sinking into our heads : These are n’t just two people . These are our parents . ”
Jose had been tear at least five times on the sofa , sustaining a deathly combat injury to the head along with wounds in the arms and legs . Kitty , who apparently tried to fly from her assailants , had been shot 10 fourth dimension .
accord toRolling Stone , the Menendez brothers ’ sorrow seemed so genuine that police did n’t adopt communications protocol as they examined the crime scene . They did n’t screen the buddy ’ hand for gunfire residue and did n’t conduct a stately consultation until two months after Jose and Kitty ’s destruction . The gruesome threefold murder , it initially seemed , was a “ gangland - mode killing . ”
But as clock time go on , the Menendez Brother started to force out detective ’ intuition . Lyle and Erik burned through $ 700,000 of their Fatherhood ’s $ 14 million fortune in six months , spending lavishly on expensive railroad car , watches , tennis handler , and exotic vacations .
Detective Les Zoellerexplained to Oxygenthat investigators really lead off to suspect the chum when they learned that Erik had written a screenplay in which a character murders his parents to inherit their money . Investigators also noted that the Menendez crony had offered some uneven details about the nighttime of their parent ’ death , like seeing gun smoke in the air travel — something that would have go away shortly after shots were fired .
The authorities ’ suspicions were substantiate in a shameful fashion when the kept woman of a therapist named Dr. Jerome Oziel — who had been handle Erik — came forward with magnetic tape of both Erik and Lyle confessing to their parent ’ murders . In March 1990 , the Menendez brothers were arrested .
The Sordid Trials Of The Menendez Brothers
KIM KULISH / AFP via Getty ImagesErik and Lyle Menendez talk to each other during a listening in 1995 .
While arguments continued over whether or not Oziel ’s tapes were admissible in motor hotel , Erik and Lyle Menendez’strial trance the land . In 1993 , the sheath played out on the nascent Court television receiver — and brought the drama of the Menendez family straight into Americans ’ dwell room .
As the Menendez blood brother assure it , their parent ’ murder had issue forth after years and years of emotional , strong-arm , and intimate abuse . Not only were they “ punched and belt - whipped , ” but both blood brother also offered torturesome testimonial of intimate contumely at the hands of their father , Jose .
“ We would be in the privy , and uh , he would put me on my knees and … uh , have oral sex with him , ” Lyle testified , claim that the abuse live from the sentence he was six to the time he was eight . “ He tap me . ”
Erik also claimed that he ’d suffered sexual maltreatment at his father ’s men , telling the jury : “ He would have me give him unwritten sex , and he would lodge the needles or tacks into my thigh as he was doing this . ”
The chum also exact that they ’d had an incestuous family relationship with their mother , Kitty . Both said that they slept in her bottom as teenagers when Jose was go , and Lyle claim he would touch her “ everywhere . ”
Despite these revealing , the prosecution maintained that the Menendez brothers had kill their parent in moth-eaten stemma for their money . The California Supreme Court ruled that the taped confessions were indeed admissible in motor hotel , and police detective found that the brothers had bought the guns they used during the slaying with a steal I.D. What ’s more , Lyle had told a Quaker that he ’d deleted his father ’s repair will in short after his death .
Though both comrade ’ trials ended in mistrial in 1994 , they went back to court in 1995 for a retrial — where videotaping was banned — and they were each found guilty of first - level execution in 1996 . The Menendez brother were then sentence to life in prison house , where they stay to this daytime .
Where Are Lyle And Erik Menendez Today?
Though Lyle and Erik Menendez were doom to life sentence in prison house in 1996 — they were originally in separate prison but are now housed together in Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego — they ’ve continue to make headlines from behind bars . Both of the Menendez brothers have married , and they ’ve opened up to the media about their ill-famed crime .
“ I am the kid that did pour down his parents , and no river of tears has changed that and no amount of rue has exchange it , ” Lyle MenendeztoldABC Newsin 2017 . “ I take on that . You are often delineate by a few moments of your life history , but that ’s not who you are in your liveliness , you recognize . Your sprightliness is your entireness of it … You ca n’t change it . You just , you ’re stuck with the decision you made . ”
He and Erik have stuck with their story that they pour down Jose and Kitty because of sexual maltreatment and that a final fight preempt the murders .
Lyle , who said he was furious when he first learned that his father was also allegedly abusing Erik , explained , “ It was like I restrain my part of that form of devil ’s pact and [ my father ] did n’t . And my mother , you know , ‘ You let your kid wake up in the home of a tiddler molester every day . ' ”
But some of their family members reject to believe their allegement . Brian Andersen , Kitty Menendez ’s chum , toldABC Newsthat Erik and Lyle had acted out of greed , not because they ’d been abuse by their parents .
“ There was sure no indication of any kind that there was ever any abuse , ” Andersen insist . “ I think the motif was strictly money . ”
Whatever their motivation , the case of the Menendez brothers remains one of the most captivating dependable crime tales of the nineties . Theirs is a story of revenge , avarice , and fury . And it offers the persistent reminder that , at the end of the day , no one knows for sure what happens behind unsympathetic doors .
After reading about the Menendez brothers , discover the story ofRon and Dan Lafferty , the Mormon fundamentalist brothers who mutilate their sister - in - constabulary and niece . Then , memorise aboutJeff Pelley , the adolescent who allegedly vote out his family — and then give way to prom right after .
