19 Facts About The Real Erik And Lyle Menendez (And Their Trial) That You Probably Don't Know
By Nora Dominick,
25 days ago
This post contains mentions of sexual abuse and child abuse.
If you've been on Netflix recently, you've probably noticed there's a new #1 show in the US. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is the second season in Ryan Murphy's anthology series and yet another true crime show garnering widespread attention.
Miles Crist / Netflix / Everett Collection
The new series tells the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were convicted of murdering their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez. In 1996, they were found guilty and sentenced to life without parole.
The show details José and Kitty's murders, what Lyle and Erik did in the days following their parents' deaths, their trials, and more.
Netflix / Vince Bucci / AFP / Getty Images
So because Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is based on real people and a real case, here are 19 facts about Lyle and Erik and what exactly happened:
There are obviously major spoilers ahead for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story on Netflix.
1. First, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez were shot multiple times at close range inside their Beverly Hills mansion on Aug. 20, 1989. According to the LA Times , "15 blasts from two shotguns" were fired at the scene of the crime.
The crime scene was reportedly so gruesome that police initially suspected that it "had been perpetrated by mobsters." Per the LA Times, the police even characterized the murders as a "gangland-style killing."
Prior to his arrest, Lyle even pointed police toward Noel Bloom, José's former business rival, who repeatedly denied any involvement.
Netflix
2. Lyle Menendez called 911, reportedly saying, "They shot and killed my parents." In an interview after police arrived, Erik Menendez reportedly said, "Once we realized what had happened after we called the police, it started sinking into our heads: These aren't just two people. These are our parents."
At the scene of the crime, police also found that the shell casings from the shotguns were cleaned up from "the pools of blood on the Oriental rug and parquet floor."
Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
3. Following the murders, Lyle and Erik's behavior attracted the attention of the police, according to the LA Times . As depicted in the Netflix series, Lyle reportedly went on a shopping spree, even buying a Porsche Carrera for $64,000. According to Rolling Stone, the brothers apparently spent "an estimated $700,000."
He also reportedly bought "seven thousand dollars worth of clothes, and was seen cruising around Princeton, NJ, in a rented limousine, with a bodyguard."
According to CBS News , they also bought Rolex watches and real estate, plus invested in businesses.
Netflix
4. Six months after José and Kitty were killed, Lyle was arrested for their murder at the family's home in Beverly Hills. Three days later, according to the LA Times , Erik flew home from a tennis tournament in Israel and "voluntarily surrendered" at LAX.
At the time, the police believed the motive for the murders was that the brothers wanted to inherit their parents' $15-million estate.
Per the LA Times , there were even initial reports of a new will. As told by Lyle's friend Glenn Stevens, Lyle apparently returned to their family's home from Princeton at one point, and "[he] went there and erased [the new will]."
Los Angeles Times / Getty Images
5. Prior to their arrests, Judalon Smyth, the girlfriend of Dr. L. Jerome Oziel, a therapist the brothers were seeing, reportedly contacted the police and told them about the existence of recordings where the Menendez brothers "allegedly confessed to the murders of their parents" according to Vanity Fair .
Per Vanity Fair reporter Dominick Dunne, who covered the Menendez murders and trials extensively, Smyth even told the police that Lyle and Erik purchased the shotguns from a sporting goods store in San Diego.
The police found the tapes Smyth mentioned in a safe deposit box owned by Oziel.
Netflix
6. On the tapes heard in court, Lyle was reportedly heard telling Oziel, "There was no way I was going to make a decision to kill my mother without Erik's consent. I didn't even want to influence him in that issue."
According to transcripts from the trial, Oziel testified that Lyle and Erik recounted their "poor relationship" with their parents and confided that they had killed them.
Erik was reportedly heard on one tape, saying , "I hate myself for doing this."
Kim Kulish / Sygma / Getty Images
7. Leslie Abramson, Erik's lead defense counsel, fought to exclude Oziel's tapes from the trial but lost. Instead, Oziel became a central plot point in the Menendez brothers' first trial. Abramson reportedly got Oziel to admit that he never told the Menendez family that his license was on probation due to an inappropriate "dual relationship" where he exchanged construction work from a patient for therapy.
Abramson also reportedly asked Oziel about a lawsuit from 1990 that Smyth filed alleging that she was assaulted, raped, kidnapped, and medicated by Oziel.
At the time, Oziel and Smyth were having an affair, as Oziel was married.
Ted Soqui / Sygma / Getty Images
8. On top of that, the trial also apparently revealed that Oziel did not, in fact, turn the tapes over to the authorities but instead tried to extort money from Lyle and Erik by saying they should keep paying him because it would "be good for their defense" if they were ever on trial.
The LA Times reported in 1993 that Oziel's testimony at the trial was so bad it damaged his character permanently. They wrote, "For Oziel, it is his reputation that is on trial."
According to Vanity Fair , Oziel and Smyth's testimony was "such a circus" that they were not asked to attend the second trial.
Mike Nelson / AFP / Getty Images
9. The first trial made history in 1993 as it played out live on TV. According to Rolling Stone, the proceedings were broadcast on Court TV. Notably, the brothers faced the possibility of the death penalty if they were convicted of first-degree murder.
Ted Soqui / Sygma / Getty Images
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Steven Brill, a lawyer and journalist, said , “[The Menendez trial] probably had the effect, maybe good, maybe bad, of demonstrating that, even if you didn’t have a celebrity, if the circumstances were dramatic enough, people will be captivated."
10. Despite Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story implying that Lyle and Erik had an incestuous relationship, Lyle reportedly testified in court during the trial that they "never" had a sexual relationship. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Robert Rand, who wrote the book The Menendez Murders , said, "I don’t believe that Erik and Lyle Menendez were ever lovers. I think that's a fantasy that was in the mind of Dominick Dunne."
He continued, saying, "Rumors were going around the trial that maybe there was some sort of weird relationship between Erik and Lyle themselves. But I believe the only physical contact they might have had is what Lyle testified, that when Lyle was 8 years old, he took Erik out in the woods and played with him with a toothbrush — which is what José had done with him. And so I certainly wouldn't call that a sexual relationship of any sort. It’s a response to trauma."
Reporter Dominick Dunne, who covered the murders and trials for Vanity Fair, is portrayed by Nathan Lane in the Netflix series.
Netflix
11. During the first trial, the brothers claimed that they killed their parents in self-defense after testifying that they were sexually abused by their father, and their mother knew about it. Eventually, it was declared a mistrial, with the jury reportedly divided over whether the brothers "should be convicted of murder or manslaughter."
According to CBS News, Lyle testified that his father began sexually abusing him when "he was only 6 years old," with the abuse stopping when he was 8. However, Erik testified that the abuse "never ended" for him.
12. At their first trial, the brothers' cousin, Andy Cano, reportedly testified that he knew about the alleged abuse they faced, namely Erik, who confided in Andy when he was 13 years old. Erik reportedly wanted to know if what was happening to him was a "normal" father-son relationship.
However, at the time, the prosecutors reportedly suggested that Cano was lying.
13. When the second trial began in 1995, the prosecutors argued that the brothers lied about the abuse they experienced. They even reportedly coined their defense, "The abuse excuse." There were also no video cameras in the courtroom this time, and Lyle didn't even take the stand. This limited the "testimonies about the alleged sexual abuse," according to ABC News.
The state reportedly emphasized the "brutality of the crime" during the second trial.
14. In April 1996, Lyle and Erik were sentenced to life in prison "with no hope of parole," per the LA Times. At the time of sentencing, Lyle's lawyer, Charles Gessler, said, "It’s just a tremendous relief when you hear those words... 'life without parole.' Lyle is relieved because he wants to live."
The eight men and four women on the jury reportedly deliberated for 13 hours over the course of three days.
Ted Soqui / Sygma / Getty Images
15. At the time of their sentencing, jurors apparently said that the "abuse defense never was much of a factor in their deliberations," per the LA Times.
One juror told the LA Times in 1996, "We did think there was psychological abuse to some extent. I think most of us believed that. Sexual abuse? I don't think we’ll ever know if that’s true or not."
Speaking about sentencing them to life in prison, another juror said, "There was no way we could put them to death, even though that horrible crime happened and what they did was horrible. There were other good things about them that warranted life, them living."
Ted Soqui / Sygma / Getty Images
16. In 2018, after spending more than 20 years separated in prison, Erik and Lyle reunited . According to ABC News, the last time they saw each other was on Sept. 10, 1996, when they could see each other across a prison yard but didn't talk. Over the years, they were able to write letters while serving their life sentences but weren't permitted to talk on the phone.
They reunited at R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego and reportedly "burst into tears immediately" upon seeing each other.
17. In 2023, new evidence was found reportedly corroborating Erik and Lyle's claims of abuse and killing their parents out of self-defense. A letter written by Erik to his cousin, Andy Cano, in 1988 was found. Part of the letter reads, "I've been trying to avoid Dad. It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now."
The letter continues, with Erik writing, "Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. … I'm afraid. … He's crazy. He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle."
According to CBS News, the letter was reportedly discovered in storage "within the last few years" by Cano's mom following his death in 2003.
18. Alongside the letter, former Menudo band member Roy Rosselló alleged that he was sexually assaulted by José Menendez, thus also corroborating the alleged abuse Lyle and Erik testified about. As part of the 2023 docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed , Rosselló alleged that when he was 14 years old, he was drugged and raped by José while visiting his home in New Jersey .
In a clip from the docuseries, Rosselló says , "That's the man here that raped me. That's the pedophile."
José was head of RCA Records at the time the alleged assault took place.
Fotos International / Getty Images
19. And finally, in May 2023, the Menendez brothers' attorney filed a habeas petition, citing the letter and Rosselló's affidavit as new evidence. According to CBS News, the petition asks that Erik and Lyle's convictions be vacated.
Cliff Gardner, one of the brothers' appellate attorneys, told CBS News , "The boys were abused as children. They were abused their whole life. ... And this is a manslaughter case, not a murder case. It's just that simple."
Reportedly, if the brothers were convicted of manslaughter instead, they would have received a much shorter sentence.
They are both currently still serving life sentences.
Donaldson Collection / Getty Images
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here .
If you are concerned that a child is experiencing or may be in danger of abuse, you can call or text the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (4.A.CHILD); service can be provided in over 140 languages.
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