The couple wed in 1963 and moved to New York. Still, such notions are undermined by the sense that Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed is deliberately avoiding a comprehensive reexamination of the case. Sept. 27, 201705:59. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story will premiere in 2024 After their arrest in 1990 and a second trial in 1996, the Menendez brothers became notorious media sensations. It was hard not to notice the money trail that led from the crime scene a $5 million estate that Elton John and Michael Jackson had each once called home to the brothers, who spent as much as. Prosecutor David Conn during his closing argument in the penalty phase of the trial. Erik Menendez holds a get well card he received from a fan. They are still in prison, and have become a sort of internet sensation on social media with the growing interest in true crime. They testified that they feared for their lives, after being subjected to years of sexual and physical abuse. were convicted of brutally killing their parents. The investigation eventually turned to Lyle and Erik. The officers who responded to the 911 call found Erik sobbing on the lawn before entering the crime scene. I know what he did to me in his house, he says. Hed met Kitty at Southern Illinois University before they had Lyle and Erik, raising the pair in New Jersey. Of course, there are people from America, but I also met people from Hungary, and from France, she told the newspaper. The battle for the tapes dragged out for 30 months, until the Supreme Court of California intervened. Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison for killing their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion more than 30 years ago. Smyth claimed Oziel recorded the brothers admissions on tape. The jury in Erik's case deadlocked on January 10, 1994; the jury in Lyle's case deadlocked two weeks later. Despite Rand bringing this to the attention of Lyle, Erik, and their attorney Cliff Gardnerand he and Ynclan making excited and optimistic pronouncements about what itll mean for the Menendez boys fateits not clear that this is enough to move the legal needle. After the verdict in their final trial and before their sentencing, the brothers sat down with Barbara Walters for one final interview. The story behind the Menendez Brothers | Updates & Recent News Here's When It Returns With New Episodes, Drew Barrymore Halts Segment After "Severely Old" Mac and Cheese Noodle Flies off Her Desk: "It's Rock Hard". 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The therapist reached out to Erik soon after the murders . , and early investigations focused on that possibility. Get all your true crime news from Oxygen. The duo committed the crime after years of sexual abuse suffering at the hands of their father. They were shot multiple times at close range with a shotgun and rendered unrecognizable. The first two juries (one for each brother) deadlocked, and a mistrial had to be called. They went home to get Eriks false identification he had so they could go to a bar, retired Beverly Hills Detective Sgt. He was focused, specific about what he wanted from business, very much in control. They were sentenced to life without parole. The Instagram account features a profile photo of the young brothers and has 238 followers. The streaming platform also shared that they have exclusive access to Lyle and Erik Menendez, who are still serving life sentences in prison, for a forthcoming documentary. He moved his family to California, eventually settling into a Beverly Hills mansion, But Jose also had to negotiate with some less savory business associates,. Jurors heard Lyle, just days before the double murder, confronted his father about him continuing to sexually abuse Erik, which erupted into Lyle threatening to expose the familys dark secret. Parents Jos and Kitty Menendez were shot multiple times with a shotgun in the den of their mansion. On August 20, 1989, a seemingly hysterical Lyle Menendez, then 21, called 911. In March 1996, both Lyle and Erik were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The therapy sessions continued and Oziel ultimately got both Erik and Lyle on tape, confessing to the murders. Opinions nationwide were divided over whether they deserved to live and die behind bars. In 1996 Lyle and Erik Menendez were each sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, but even today Hart views the homicides as a reaction to gross parental misconduct, rather than the work of cold, calculating killers. A Tourists Guide to Love Filming Locations: Where Was the Rachael Leigh Cook Movie Filmed? Others, like some of the detectives in the initial investigation, disagree. Menudo member alleges father of Menendez brothers raped him - USA Today The police said the crime was motivated by greed, since they were set to inherit their parents $14-million estate. On August 20, 1989, Jos and Mary Kitty Menendez were shot to death in their Beverly Hills home. All Rights Reserved. Boris Johnson insists lockdown lift IS on track as AstraZeneca vaccine rollout sparks roadmap delay fears, Naked Butt Squad models arrested in Dubai held boozy dry run photoshoot in plush ski resort six weeks earlier, Porsche worth 100,000 is spray painted with 'April Fool' and has its tyres slashed in celeb haunt Primrose Hill. At the retrial, which began in October 1995, the judge was much more restrictive in allowing the defense attorneys to focus on the alleged sexual abuse. After riding in a limo with Diaz and Jos, who looked like he wanted to devour me, and then being served wine that he now assumes was laced with a narcotic, Roys memory goes hazy and then outright blank. Thomas Edmonds told, The case returned to the spotlight in 2017, when Erik participated in a tell-all for a documentary while serving his sentence, appealing to a new generation navigated by social media and living against the backdrop of the, During the pandemic, the trial was streamed on Court TV, and with the new sets of eyes belonging to a generation more compassionate toward, Commentators also pointed out gender bias something the brothers had been publicly arguing since their trial and that there might have been a different outcome, had the defendants been female. For the next three years, a legal battle was fought over the admissibility of Dr. Oziels tapes. Lyle is the oldest brother, he was born in 1968, and his brother Erik was born in 1970. Roy Rossell, 51, says in the upcoming docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed that Jos Menendez molested him while he was a teenage member of the group in the mid-1980s. Or is there something so evil at the core of this family that the brothers actions might have been justified? Ex-Member of Menudo Says He Was Raped by Father of the Menendez Brothers Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time of the fatal shootings. Netflix announced the true crime series will be focusing on the violent case of the Menendez brothers, who were convicted in 1996 of murdering their parents. Per the LA Times, Jose was earning $500,000 a year. When I saw a clip of Erik testifying about the molestation by his father, I was shocked to say the least, Whynn told The Times in an email. 5 Lyle (left) and Erik Menendez Credit: AP:Associated Press Why did Lyle and Erik Menendez kill their parents? Ryan Murphys record-breaking anthology series Monster is coming back to Netflix with yet another gruesome season. Though Oziels disclosure violated doctor-client privilege, it was enough for investigators to take a closer look at the brothers. Lees ons privacybeleid en cookiebeleid voor meer informatie over hoe we uw persoonsgegevens gebruiken. Young people who were not alive at the time of the 1989 murders have been speaking out about the case, thanks in part to social media. Who Is Suspected Pentagon Leaker Jack Teixeira? Lyle Menendez on parents' 1989 murder: 'I still cry over my mother' - Today I believed every word he said, said juror Wendy Delahunt. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Born in Cuba to "well-to-do business people and star athletes," Jose was 16 when his parents sent him to the U.S. in the late 1950s, the Los Angeles Times reported. In compelling testimony lasting over a month, they emotionally described years of sexual abuse by Jose and Kitty Menendez. 1,717, This story has been shared 1,679 times. On August 20, 1989, the brothers brutally shot their parents multiple times in the den of their $5 million dollar family home in Beverly Hills, where they staged the murders to look like a mob hit. You can navigate days by using left and right arrows. He lived with a cousin in Pennsylvania before winning an athletic scholarship to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. 972, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Does 'Yellowstone' Return Tonight? It was those sessions that would lead to their eventual arrest. He worked his way up the ladder at a number of businesses. Lyle and Erik continue serving life sentences, regularly leading therapy groups behind bars. What you did was, you killed your parents and then began to spend their money. Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez leave the courtroom in Santa Monica, Calif., after a judge ruled that conversations between the two brothers and their psychologist were admissible as evidence; The gravesite of Jose and Kitty Menendez, still serving their life sentences miles apart to this day, eight-hour NBC mini-series starring Emmy winner Edie Falco, Both have gotten married while behind bars. I know.. This comes as explosive news to journalist and author Robert Rand and his colleague Nery Ynclan, who have spent years working to exonerate the Menendez brothers because theyre convinced that the siblings were wrongly convicted of first-degree murder rather than manslaughter, which would have saddled them with a lighter prison sentence. They went home to get Eriks false identification he had so they could go to a bar, retired Beverly Hills Detective Sgt. Menendez was affiliated with Menudo because he had signed the group to RCA Records. It was an enormous, shocking break in the casebut then it stalled, for years. In a sense, they had no choice but to be successful; Jos was known as a hard-driving father who would work his children to the bone in athletics and everything else. She even had an audiotape of the confessions. Kaitlin Menza is a freelance features writer. The Menendez Brothers' History of Sexual Abuse Is Complicated Erik had so much less self-confidence because everything he did was never good enough.. I want to be senator and be with the people of Cuba, said Erik. U kunt uw keuzes te allen tijde wijzigen door te klikken op de links 'Privacydashboard' op onze sites en in onze apps. He lived with a cousin in Pennsylvania before winning an athletic scholarship to Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.