Erik and Lyle Menendez’s Aunt Says Kitty ‘Should Have Left’ Jose Before Murders: ‘I Don’t Understand’

Erik and Lyle Menendez had one supporter in their corner despite murdering their parents Kitty and Jose Menendez: their aunt, Joan VanderMolen. In a new bombshell admission, Joan revealed her nephews tried to get their mom to leave Jose, but she refused.

Joan, 92, explained that Lyle, 53, and Erik, 56, promised to “take care” of Kitty if she left Jose, but her sister declined their offer. “There was a lot to be gained by sticking by your man,” she described in an interview with Vanity Fair published on Friday, October 11. Joan claimed that both she and Kitty suffered abuse from their late father, and, similar to Kitty, their mother remained with him.

“I don’t understand these women that can love people that are not gentlemen,” she said. “But they do. It’s amazing. Kitty should have left Jose long before [the murders].”

From the day Lyle and Erik were arrested for the murders of her sister and brother-in-law, Joan has remained by their side, advocating for their release from the San Diego prison where they are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

“I care so much about them. I’m shook up right now thinking about it,” Joan explained of Erik and Lyle. “The fact that they’re in the situation they are in. They didn’t deserve any of this. They were used and abused and there seems to be no end to it.”

Erik and Lyle were convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996. Prosecutors claimed that the brothers murdered their parents for their $14 million fortune. Meanwhile, the brothers have maintained that their motive for the double murder was the sexual abuse they had suffered at the hands of their father, although this evidence was not allowed in court.

“There was no defense whatsoever that would be allowed,” Joan explained. “There was no trial at all. Everything their lawyer said was shut dry down. [Attorney Leslie Abramson] couldn’t get anything [admitted into evidence]. It was like the abuse never happened. It wasn’t fair at all. I don’t know how the jury reached a verdict after a trial so nuts.”

Joan said that her nephews were “hopeful” and done “remarkably well” despite everything they’ve been through, adding, “You can’t find better people not just in prison but anywhere.”

More than 30 years after the brothers’ conviction, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced on October 3 that the case is being reviewed, with a new hearing scheduled for November 29.

“Today, what I wanted to be very clear, we have not conceded one way or the other, we are not saying that there was anything wrong with the original trial,” the district attorney said in a press conference. “We have been given evidence, we have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member talking about him being the victim of molestation.”

Gascón added, “We have also got evidence that was provided from the defense, by his lawyer, that one of the members of the Menudo band alleged that he was molested by [Jose Menendez].”