The Untold Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez

WatchMojo

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.

Transcript

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."

09:53Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get

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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?

11:39Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,

11:41and be sure to subscribe and ring the bell to be notified about our latest videos.

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