This shocking criminal tale is hard to digest. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking over the harrowing true story of brothers Lyle and Erik Menéndez.
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00:00-"What was in front of you?"
00:02-"My parents."
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking over the harrowing true story
00:07of brothers Lyle and Eric Menendez.
00:09-"You reloaded?"
00:15The American dream turned nightmare.
00:17Following the Cuban Revolution,
00:19teenager Jose Enrique Menendez immigrated from his home country to the United States.
00:24-"Jose had come to the U.S. from Cuba."
00:26Attending Queens College on a swimming scholarship,
00:29Menendez worked as a dishwasher while earning his accounting degree.
00:32In 1972, Menendez became the Hertz Rental Company's Executive Vice President of U.S. Operations.
00:38He most notably oversaw Hertz's endorsement deal with O.J. Simpson.
00:46During the 80s, Menendez became the COO of Hertz's then-parent company, RCA.
00:51A year before RCA went defunct, Menendez accepted a new job as the head of
00:56International Video Entertainment, later renamed Artisan Entertainment.
01:00On the road to becoming a self-made millionaire,
01:02Menendez married former beauty queen and his college sweetheart,
01:05Mary Louise Kitty Anderson, with whom he had two sons.
01:09-"Lyle and Eric were their only children."
01:12Joseph Lyle Menendez was born in 1968, with Eric following two years later.
01:17On the surface, the Menendezes seemed like an idyllic family living the American dream.
01:22Something darker was brewing beneath the surface, however.
01:25-"If the judge finds this evidence credible,
01:27I think it is sufficient to give them a new trial."
01:29Although they wouldn't publicly discuss it until adulthood,
01:32Lyle and Eric claimed their father abused them mentally, physically, and sexually from a young age.
01:37-"Why did you kill your parents?"
01:41-"Because we were afraid."
01:42In 1976, Lyle confided in cousin Diane Vandermolen, who informed their mother.
01:48Kitty denied the accusations.
01:50-"She didn't believe me."
01:51Although the brothers say their mother was aware and ignored the abuse and later took part in it.
01:57Supposedly, Lyle and his mother inappropriately shared a bed shortly before he became a teenager.
02:02There were other signs that not all was well at the Menendez household.
02:06Upon graduating from high school,
02:08Lyle was accepted into Princeton after his father donated $50,000.
02:12Following his first semester, Lyle was suspended for plagiarism and ultimately dropped out.
02:17-"Jose Menendez rushed in to meet with the dean and to try to
02:20save his son, to try to stop the suspension, but his pleas didn't work."
02:26Despite their family's immense wealth, the brothers started committing, quote,
02:30hot prowls and burglaries, stealing $100,000 in cash, jewelry, and other items.
02:36-"The initial victims were the parents of some of their friends."
02:39Lyle and Eric were caught in a stolen vehicle, no less,
02:42but Jose made the issue go away by writing checks to their pilfered neighbors.
02:47Selling their house in Calabasas for $950,000,
02:50the Menendez's bought a new mansion in Beverly Hills for an estimated $4 to $5 million.
02:56The brothers were aware that their parents were considering taking away
02:59their inheritance around this time, but they claim this isn't what motivated what came next.
03:04-"There are people, a great number of people, who think that you two are spoiled brats.
03:10What do you say to them?"
03:11-"I don't know that there's anything I can say to them."
03:14The Murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez
03:17After years of alleged abuse, Kyle and Eric believed their father might kill them.
03:21-"I think the Menendez brothers were close because
03:24they were fighting the common enemy, which was their father."
03:27On August 20, 1989, the brothers confronted their parents in their den, armed with shotguns.
03:33Jose and Kitty were fatally shot multiple times.
03:36-"I think one of the Beverly Hills detectives described it as one of
03:40the most brutal crime scenes he had ever seen in his life."
03:43At one point, their sons retrieved more ammunition from their car
03:47before finishing off Kitty, who attempted to crawl away.
03:50Waiting to call 911, the brothers disposed of their guns and bloody clothes,
03:55purchased movie tickets, and tried tracking down a friend in Santa Monica to provide an alibi.
04:00Unable to find him, Eric and Lyle returned home,
04:03where the latter contacted the police at 11.47 p.m.
04:06-"Our feeling was not, we'll just explain what happened and it'll be okay.
04:12We were very stunned, and we felt that we would go to jail, obviously."
04:18The two told the authorities they had been at a Batman screening,
04:21unable to get into license to kill.
04:24Initially, the cops didn't view Lyle and Eric as serious suspects.
04:28-"They let him go back and get evidence without even thinking,
04:31hey, could it have been the kids?"
04:33The gruesome crime scene looked more like a mob hit with Kitty's face practically gone.
04:37-"It really was like a scene out of the Godfather movie."
04:40They grew more suspicious as the brothers went on an extravagant spending spree.
04:45-"They acted like they had won the lottery."
04:48The two stood to inherit at least $14 million and $500,000 from life insurance.
04:54In the subsequent months, Lyle purchased a Rolex, a Porsche, and multiple restaurants.
04:59Eric flew to Israel for tennis tournaments, bankrolling a full-time coach.
05:03Between overseas trips, courtside Knicks tickets and other lavish expenses,
05:08the brothers spent around $700,000.
05:11The authorities and some family members theorized that the brothers staged
05:15their parents' murders to look like an organized crime job, motivated by financial gain.
05:19Craig Signorelli was a friend of Eric's, together writing a screenplay in high school
05:24in which the protagonist murders his parents.
05:26-"A glove hand is seen gripping the doorknob and turning it gently.
05:30Good evening, mother. Good evening, father.
05:32His voice is of attempted compassion, but the hatred overwhelms it."
05:35Persuaded by the police, Signorelli tried to get Eric to confess while wearing a wire.
05:39While Eric denied any wrongdoing to Signorelli, the truth came out during a therapy session.
05:44-"But then, about six months later, police got a tip from an unlikely source.
05:50The girlfriend of a psychologist who Lyle and Eric Menendez had been talking to."
05:56After Eric pleaded guilty to the burglaries,
05:58the court ordered him to see Dr. Jerome Ozil in exchange for no jail time.
06:03Eric got back in touch with his psychiatrist following the murders,
06:06eventually telling him everything.
06:08Supposedly believing his family might be at risk, Ozil avoided telling the police,
06:13but he shared the brother's secret with his mistress, Judilon Smith.
06:17Once Smith went to the cops, they moved in on the Menendez brothers.
06:21-"On March 8th, 1990, after police got their hands on that tape,
06:25Lyle Menendez was taken into custody.
06:28Eric Menendez, who was out of the country at the time, surrendered to police days later."
06:33Arrests, trials, and convictions.
06:36While Lyle was arrested on March 8th, 1990, Eric played tennis in Israel.
06:41Robert Shapiro, who later represented OJ Simpson during his murder trial,
06:45arranged Eric's surrender in LA after three days.
06:48-"On March 26th of this year,
06:50Eric and Lyle Menendez were each arraigned on two counts of murder."
06:56Shapiro also attended Eric's arraignment,
06:58but the brothers' defense was subsequently handed to Leslie Abramson,
07:02who had won similar cases.
07:03-"The judges made a whole series of rulings in the case.
07:06I sit down with him and I say,
07:08this isn't going to be admissible, this isn't going to be admissible,
07:11this isn't going to be admissible."
07:12Although Lyle and Eric pleaded innocent,
07:14the prosecution had a taped confession from a session with Dr. Ozeal.
07:18With little doubt surrounding what the brothers had done,
07:21the defense leaned into the alleged abuse Jose and Kitty inflicted.
07:24-"Why they were killed is what the focus of all of our evidence will be on."
07:29In addition to hearing testimony from Lyle and Eric,
07:32cousins Diane Vandermolen and Andy Cano supported the brothers' claims.
07:36Not every family member was convinced,
07:38most notably Milton Anderson, Kitty's brother.
07:41-"I never saw anything in the home, never."
07:44The self-defense argument was hard to back up,
07:47especially considering how their parents died.
07:49Meanwhile, the prosecution remained adamant that money motivated the Menendez's.
07:54-"They said Jose Menendez told his sons he had removed them from his will,
07:59and based on their investigation, they suggested that after the crime,
08:03Lyle Menendez attempted to destroy a will on the family computer."
08:08Although Eric and Lyle were tried separately, both juries failed to reach a verdict.
08:12This mistrial reflected the divided public reaction.
08:16-"I know they did what they did because they were in fear of their life."
08:18Even those who believed the brothers had been abused
08:21were torn on whether they should be punished.
08:23In many respects, the media circus surrounding the Menendez brothers
08:26was a predecessor to the O.J. Simpson trial.
08:29Coincidentally, Eric's cell was adjacent to Simpson's after his 1994 arrest.
08:34Lyle, who also crossed paths with Simpson behind bars,
08:37felt the former football star should accept a plea bargain.
08:40Instead, Simpson was found not guilty on October 3rd, 1995.
08:45-"We the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant
08:48Orenthal James Simpson not guilty of the crime of murder."
08:51Not long after Simpson was freed, Eric and Lyle's second trial commenced,
08:55this time being tried together.
08:57-"At the retrial, which began in October 1995,
09:01one jury instead of two would hear the case."
09:04Given the controversial reaction to the Simpson verdict,
09:07Eric sensed that the district attorney would be even more determined to make an example of them.
09:11Whether or not this factored in, Eric and Lyle were convicted on March 20th, 1996.
09:16-"I hugged my brother. We cried. I said, look, we're gonna be okay."
09:20Four months later, they were sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
09:24September 1996 was the last time the brothers saw each other for 22 years,
09:29as they were sent to different prisons 500 miles apart.
09:32On the day of his sentencing, Lyle married pen pal Anna Erickson.
09:36Although this relationship didn't last, Lyle remarried longtime acquaintance Rebecca Sneed,
09:40while Eric tied the knot with author Tammy Ruth Sackerman.
09:44-"A kiss when you come in, a kiss when you leave, you can hold hands,
09:47and that part of it is very difficult and people don't understand."
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10:09The Menendez Brothers Now
10:10In 2018, the brothers shared a tearful reunion when Lyle was moved into Eric's housing unit.
10:16-"The two will now be able to see each other at meals,
10:19and during recreation periods at the prison."
10:22Although they had maintained contact via letters,
10:24this was their first face-to-face interaction in decades.
10:28Over the years, the brothers have appealed multiple times.
10:31Recently, they've pushed for their case to be re-evaluated,
10:34having uncovered a letter Eric wrote to Andy Cano highlighting the abuse before the murder.
10:39-"This is kind of out of the blue. One of my father's sister found a letter in storage."
10:45In 2023, Puerto Rican singer Roy Russello came forward,
10:49alleging that Jose had sexually abused him as well.
10:52Although many continue to doubt their innocence,
10:54Lyle and Eric have gained numerous supporters, even going viral on TikTok.
10:58Despite already being the subject of numerous shows and movies,
11:02the brothers remain in the zeitgeist,
11:04inspiring season two of the Netflix anthology Monster or Monsters.
11:08-"I need to know what's going on with you and the boys."
11:12-"Or I am in."
11:14While all signs indicate that Lyle and Eric killed their parents,
11:17their case is one with no easy answers.
11:20Which is why we're still talking about it 35 years later.
11:23Do you think the punishment matched the crime?
11:26Do you think the Menendez brothers should be released?
11:28Let's have a civil conversation in the comments.
11:30-"I'm just a normal kid."
11:32-"Oh, Eric, you're a normal kid who killed your parents."
11:36-"Yeah, I know."
11:37Did you enjoy this video?
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