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Lyle and Erik Menendez have been serving life sentences for the brutal murders of their dad and mom on August 20, 1989, when the brothers—then 21 and 18—shot and killed José and Kitty Menendez inside their Beverly Hills mansion.
More than three many years later, the Menendez brothers received again within the highlight as the main target of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The 10-episode sequence reexamines the central query on the coronary heart of their case: had been they cold-blooded killers motivated by greed, as prosecutors claimed, or victims of years of bodily, emotional, and sexual abuse, because the protection argued—and because the brothers nonetheless keep?
On May 13, 2025, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic resentenced Lyle and Erik to 50 years to life, making them eligible for parole after serving greater than 35 years. Their parole listening to is scheduled for June 13, 2025.
With parole now on the desk, right here’s what to know concerning the Menendez brothers and their notorious 1993 conviction.
Lyle and Erik Menendez Had Promising Futures
At the time of their dad and mom’ murders on Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle was a pupil at Princeton, and Erik was an incoming freshman at UCLA. The brothers had grown up in Beverly Hills, having fun with a privileged life due to their rich dad and mom—Jose, a Hollywood government, and Mary Louise “Kitty,” a former magnificence queen.
Lyle and Erik Were Arrested Seven Months After Their Parents’ Murders
After Jose and Kitty had been discovered brutally shot to dying of their Beverly Hills mansion, Lyle and Erik spent cash recklessly, burning via an estimated $700,000 of their dad and mom’ wealth on vehicles, jewellery, and even buying eating places and cafes. But their eventual downfall occurred when Erik confessed to his psychiatrist, Jerome Oziel, who then shared the data along with his mistress, Judalon Smyth. Smyth knowledgeable the police, revealing that Erik had confessed to the murders in remedy and that there have been audiotaped recordings of the confession. The brothers had been subsequently arrested in March 1990, sparking a multi-year authorized battle over the admissibility of Oziel’s recordings.
“I never thought I believed in evil, but when I heard those boys speak, I did,” Smyth advised investigative journalist Dominic Dunne in 1990.
Lyle and Erik Were Convicted of First-Degree Murder
The brothers claimed at trial that their father—who was practically decapitated by a point-blank blast from a 12-gauge shotgun—was a violent pedophile. These allegations had been backed by testimony from two of the brothers’ cousins, Andy Cano and Diane Vander Molen, who stated Lyle and Erik had confided in them concerning the sexual abuse once they had been youngsters. As for his or her mom—who was shot 14 instances—the brothers stated she was an alcoholic who enabled and inspired her husband’s abuse.
Their first trial, which started in 1993, resulted in a deadlocked jury. In the second trial, the decide restricted testimony concerning the alleged abuse and barred the jury from contemplating manslaughter expenses as a substitute of homicide. Both brothers had been convicted on two counts of first-degree homicide and sentenced to life in jail with out the potential of parole.
“Erik and Lyle Menendez have been incarcerated for 34 years and six months, and I believe that they are in prison for killing their lifelong abusers,” stated Robert Rand, who has spent appreciable time with the brothers for the reason that crime and is the creator of The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation.
“The correct verdict for the Menendez brothers’ trial should have been manslaughter, not murder.”
Lyle and Erik Both Married While in Prison
Despite their brutal crime and life behind bars, there was no scarcity of girls within the Menendez brothers. Lyle married Anna Eriksson on July 2, 1996, however they divorced on April 1, 2001, after she found he was “cheating” on her with one other lady via a pen pal relationship (as conjugal visits aren’t allowed). In November 2003, Lyle married Rebecca Sneed, a former journal editor turned lawyer. They had been in touch for practically a decade earlier than marrying in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison. Despite their separation introduced in November 2024, Sneed continues to assist Lyle and advocates for his and Erik’s launch.
Erik additionally discovered love, marrying Tammi Ruth Saccoman on June 12, 1999, at Folsom State Prison.
Lyle and Erik Menendez Have Amassed a Huge TikTok Following
Nearly 35 years after murdering their dad and mom, a big variety of teenagers are calling the brothers’ sentence unfair and unjust. The account menendezsupporterrr—which calls for “Justice for the Menendez brothers”—has over 12.9M likes and 258.1K followers. Another account, ..menendezbrothers, states in its bio, “They are victims. don’t sexualize them,” and has 109.1K followers and 9.6M likes.