Almost everyone has heard about the tragic 1989 case of the Menendez brothers. Even more have heard of Ryan Murphy’s most recent 10-part Netflix series, ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.’ In the midst of these kinds of releases people tend to get taken away by the storytelling. Despite how entertaining these shows may be, it is extremely important to maintain a distinction between fact and fiction. Today, we will be covering strictly the facts.
The murders
On the night of August 20, 1989 the Beverly Hills Police Department received a 911 call from 21-year-old Lyle Menendez, reporting that his parents, José and Kitty Menendez, had been shot. When detectives arrived on the scene, 18-year-old Erik Menendez was hysterical and being comforted by his brother. When entering the house, police noticed multiple things: nothing was stolen, there were no signs of forced entry, and José and Kitty seemed to have known their killers
Alibis
Back at the police station, the brothers provided the police with alibis. They claimed that they had planned to attend the food festival, Taste of L.A., with one of Lyle’s friends after attempting to see movies but not being on time. These plans didn’t pan out and so they decided to head to The Cheesecake Factory with another friend, stopping at home to pick up Erik’s ID. This is when they walked into a “smoke-filled house” and discovered the bodies of their parents. During questioning, Lyle disclosed that his mother had been suicidal recently and when asked who he believed killed his parents he responded, “maybe the mob,” which caused the police to become a bit suspicious. With no concrete evidence to hold against the boys, Lyle and Erik were released without doing a test for gunshot residue.
After the murders
In the time following the murders, Erik and Lyle did anything but lay low. They spent around an estimated $700,000, none of which came from José’s $5,000,000 life insurance policy that the boys were not allowed to collect due to technicalities. In this time frame, Lyle returned to New Jersey, where he had previously been suspended from Princeton, test-drove a Porsche, and put a $300,000 down payment on a restaurant, while Erik hired a tennis coach. When questioned about their peculiar spending habits, Lyle responded “I don’t think it’s understandable. People react to it, to a traumatic event like that, in different ways.”
The confessions
Two months later, Erik began to suffer from extreme suicidal thoughts and nightmares. This led him to confess to committing the murders, on behalf of himself and his brother Lyle to psychiatrist Dr. Jerome Oziel on Halloween night of 1989. Oziel requested to start meeting with Lyle as well, and from then on he secretly recorded the sessions he had with the boys, only entrusting this information to his mistress, Judalon Smyth. However, in March of 1990, his affair with Smyth ended and she went to the police with everything she knew. On March 8, 1990, Lyle Menendez was arrested. Erik, who was in Israel at the time, flew home and turned himself in on March 11.
Trial 1
It took about two years for the trial to take place due to doctor-patient confidentiality technicalities restricting the reliance of Oziel’s tapes. In December of 1992 the boys were indicted on first-degree murder charges and the prosecution was seeking the death penalty. The trial began in 1993 and the brothers were tried with separate juries. This trial was highly televised, making Lyle and Erik Menendez household names. The prosecution claimed they killed for their inheritance, while the defense claimed the brothers murdered their parents in self-defense due to a lifetime of sexual abuse at the hands of their father, José Menendez. Lyle testified at the first trial and described the harrowing abuse in detail. He said that he had confronted José about his abuse of Erik and in response to this, José had said, ‘We all make choices in our life. Erik made his. You made yours,'” causing Lyle to fear for his life. Dr. Oziel also testified and he claimed that the Menendez brothers had mercilessly killed both of their parents. Diane Vander Molen, a cousin of the brothers, also gave testimony. She said that Lyle had told her about José’s sexual abuse at age 8 when she had been staying at their house for the summer and multiple other family members attested to José being coercive and controlling. After six months, the juries ended up deadlocked, evenly split between those who believed they killed out of self-defense and those who believed they had killed out of greed. This caused the first trial to end in a mistrial.
Trial 2
The second trial began in August 1995, and this time was not televised. Erik testified in depth about the terror and abuse that went on in his house at the hands of his father. He said that he and Lyle didn’t even kill their parents because of the abuse, they killed them because they were truly afraid that if they didn’t, José and Kitty would kill them first. Smyth also changed her perspective during this trial. She completely turned around and began to claim Oziel manipulated the boys into confessing. Additionally, a psychology professor from Cleveland State University further supported the defense by claiming Erik was acting entirely out of PTSD. Lyle did not testify during this trial because his defense switched from “imperfect self-defense” to “heat of passion.”
Verdict
The judge ultimately ruled that there was insufficient evidence that José Menendez abused his children. On March 21, 1996, Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted on two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and conspiracy to commit murder. They were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences that July.
Thoughts on the verdict
Lyle and Erik were very relieved to be able to live, and Erik’s only wish was that he and Lyle would stay together. However, he didn’t get his wish and Lyle was transferred to another prison.
Recently
Both brothers married, with Lyle divorcing and remarrying in 2003. In 2018 Lyle was transferred to the same correctional facility as Erik and they were finally reunited. Erik leads self-help groups and both brothers counsel other inmates who suffered from sexual abuse. In 2023 a habeas corpus petition was filed, claiming the shootings were manslaughter and not murder, due to a resurfaced letter Erik wrote to a cousin in 1988 that alludes to the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. Most recently, Ryan Murphy came out with his controversial television adaptation of the Menendez case, ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.’ This show sparked anger in many people about the inconsistencies and false information it was spreading, while some thoroughly enjoyed the show. Erik Menendez even met the actor who portrayed him in this show, Cooper Koch. However, the actor who portrayed Lyle, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, declined Lyle’s invitation to visit. Erik himself even put out a statement on this show and how it made him feel. You can read Erik’s full statement on the show below.
“I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.
“It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward – back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women. Those awful lies have been disputed and exposed by countless brave victims over the last two decades who have broken through their personal shame and bravely spoken out. So now Murphy shapes his horrible narrative through vile and appalling character portrayals of Lyle and of me and disheartening slander.
“Is the truth not enough? Let the truth stand as the truth. How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma. Violence is never an answer, never a solution, and is always tragic. As such, I hope it is never forgotten that violence against a child creates a hundred horrendous and silent crime scenes darkly shadowed behind glitter and glamor and rarely exposed until tragedy penetrates everyone involved. To all those who have reached out and supported me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Works Used
https://www.biography.com/crime/menendez-brothers-murder-case-facts
https://www.vox.com/culture/377218/menendez-brothers-netflix-documentary-abuse-claims-stories
