Table of Contents
A Picture-Perfect Family Background
The Menendez family seemed to represent the American Dream. Jose Menendez, a self-made Cuban immigrant, rose the corporate ladder to become a successful entertainment executive. Kitty Menendez, his wife, was a former schoolteacher. Joseph Lyle, the couple’s first child, was born in New York on January 10, 1968. After Lyle was born, Kitty left her position as a teacher, and the family relocated to Gloucester Township, New Jersey, where Erik Galen was born on November 27, 1970. She committed herself to raising their two sons and running the household. Lyle and Erik Menendez grew up in luxury, attending prestigious schools and enjoying the benefits of affluence. Outsiders saw them as the epitome of success and pleasure.
The Murders
On the night of August 20, 1989, the mirage of the ideal family was broken. Josรฉ and Kitty were watching television in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion when Lyle and Erik entered, carrying Mossberg 12-gauge shotguns.
Lyle and Erik Menendez returned home and killed their parents in cold blood. The brothers used shotguns to kill their father, Jose, with a deadly headshot. Their mother, Kitty, attempted to run but was apprehended and shot several times. The crime scene was a gruesome reminder of the violence that had broken out in the household.
In a frantic attempt to cover their tracks, the brothers faked a break-in, phoned 911, and claimed to have discovered the bodies. Their desperate call, tinged with evident shock and anguish, initially misled the cops. However, as detectives probed deeper, inconsistencies in their explanation and subsequent behavior began to raise red flags.
The Aftermath of the Murders
In the weeks following the murders, Lyle and Erik’s actions were anything but those of grieving sons. They embarked on a spending spree, purchasing luxury cars and expensive watches and enjoying lavish vacations. This ostentatious display of wealth quickly drew the attention of law enforcement, who began to suspect the brothers were not as innocent as they seemed.
The Unraveling
As the investigation progressed, the Menendez brothers’ faรงade began to crumble. On March 8, 1990, Lyle Menendez was arrested. Erik, who had fled to Israel, turned himself three days later. The brothers were charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and the trial that followed would become one of the most sensational legal battles in American history.
For more information, check out our article on Degrees of Murder.
Why did the Menendez Brothers kill their Parents?
The First Trial
The first trial, held in 1993, was a media circus. The defense team, led by high-profile attorney Leslie Abramson, presented a shocking argument: Lyle and Erik Menendez claimed they had endured years of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse at the hands of their father. They painted Jose Menendez as a tyrant who subjected his sons to unspeakable acts. At the same time, their mother, Kitty, was portrayed as a broken woman who turned a blind eye to the abuse and even participated in emotional torment.
Lyle and Erik Menendez described in harrowing detail the fear and pain they endured, claiming they believed their parents were planning to kill them to prevent the abuse from being exposed. The defense argued that the murders were an act of desperation, a last resort for two young men pushed to the brink.
The jury, however, was divided. After months of testimony and deliberation, the first trial ended in a mistrial, with jurors deadlocked on whether the brothers were victims acting in self-defense or calculating murderers motivated by greed.
Explore some of the most notorious wrongful convictions in history, shedding light on how the justice system can sometimes fail.
The Second Trial: A Different Narrative
In 1995, the Menendez brothers were retried, but this time, the abuse allegations were primarily sidelined. The prosecution focused on the brothers’ extravagant spending and their perceived sense of entitlement. They argued that Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents to gain control of the family fortune, portraying them as spoiled, privileged young men who wanted it all without having to wait.
This time, the strategy worked. In 1996, Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a verdict that elicited strong reactions from the public and left lingering questions about justice and the truth.
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The Mendez Brothers Now
Lyle and Erik were imprisoned in separate prisons until 2018 when they were reunited and allowed to complete their sentences together in San Diego. Lyle is now 56, and Erik is 53.
Each brother married a non-incarcerated lady while in prison. Erik married his pen buddy, Tammi Saccoman, in 1999. In 2005, she published the book They Said We’d Never Make It: My Life with Erik Menendez, chronicling their relationship.
Lyle married Anna Eriksson, a former model who divorced him when she discovered he was writing to other women, and then Rebecca Sneed, a journalist-turned-attorney, whom he married in 2003.
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Are the Menendez brothers getting released?
Lyle and Erik Menendez have been imprisoned in California for over three decades for the 1989 murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Both were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in a case that captivated the nation’s attention. Now, the brothers are hoping that new evidence will reopen their case and free them.
The brothers Menendez admit that they murdered their parents. Instead, the issue of why they did it has long been the focusย of the case. They maintain that they killed them in self-defense and out of fear after a lifetime of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse at the hands of their parents.
One of their lawyers, Cliff Gardner, tells “48 Hours” that new evidence corroborates those longstanding claims and lessens their culpability. Gardner argues that Lyle and Erik Menendez shouldย have received a far less term and been released from jail long ago if they had been found guilty of manslaughter rather than first-degree murder.
What was the new evidence?
Gardner claims the new evidence includes a letter written by Erik Menendez to Erik’s cousin, Andy Cano, in December 1988, almost eight months before the crime.
Part of the letter states, “I’ve been trying to avoid Dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. โฆ Every night, I stay up thinking he might come in. โฆ I’m afraid. โฆ He’s crazy. He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.”
Andy Cano testified at the brothers’ trials. He stated that Erik Menendez told him at the age of 13, years before the murders, that his father was inappropriately touching him. Prosecutors at the trial claimed that Cano was lying.
Gardner claims that this letter is proof that the abuse allegations were not made up. He claims that the letter was never submitted at either trial and was discovered in storage by Andy Cano’s mother only a few years ago. Andy Cano died in 2003.
The letter is not the only piece of evidence that has emerged. Roy Rossello, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, has come out to claim that Jose Menendez sexually molested him as a kid in the early 1980s. At the time, Jose Menendez was an executive at RCA Records, and RCA signed Menudo to a recordingย contract.
Rossello is now 54 years old. He states in an affidavitย submitted in 2023 that he visited Jose Menendez’s home in the fall of 1983 or 1984. Rossello would have been 14 to 15 years old at the time. He says he drank a glass of wine and then felt like he had “no control” over his body. He claims Jose Menendez took him into a room and raped him. Rossello also claims in the affidavit that Jose Menendez sexually molested him on two otherย occasions, just before and after a performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York.
“When I first heard about it โฆ I cried,” Lyle Menendez told Morales. “For me, it was very meaningful to just have things come out that caused people to really realize, OK โฆ at least this part of what it’s about is true.”
In May 2023, Cliff Gardner, the lawyer for the Menendez brothers, filed a habeas petition, citing the letter and Rossello’s affidavit as new proof that the convictions of his clients need to be overturned.
“The boys were abused as children. They were abused their whole life. โฆ And this is a manslaughter case, not a murder case. It’s just that simple,” Gardner said about the Menendez brothers. “My hope in the case is that the judge will realize that this new evidence is indeed credible and persuasive, and he’ll vacate the convictions.”
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office would then decide whether to retry the case. The district attorney’s office told in a statement that it is investigatingย the allegations in the habeas petition. It is unclear when a judge will rule in the case.
Ahead of a court hearing next month, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascรณn announced on October 3 that his office is reviewing the Menรฉndez murder case and listed two more factors that prosecutors are considering.
During a press conference, Gascรณn stated that resentencing or even another trial would be an option. The hearing is scheduled for November 26.
FAQs
What was the motive of the Menendez brothers?
The Menendez brothers admitted to killing their parents but claimed their actions were the result of years of mental and sexual abuse.
Were the Menendez Brothers Adopted?
No, the Menendez Brothers were not adopted. Lyle and Erik Menendez were born to Jose and Kitty Menendez. They were raised in a wealthy household in Beverly Hills, California, before the tragic events 1989.
When do the Menendez Brothers Get Out?
The Menendez brothers, Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of their parents, Josรฉ and Kitty Menendez.
