In 1989, a seemingly normal, loving family in Beverly Hills, California, made national headlines… On a quiet Sunday evening, Jose Menendez, a well-known and influential businessman, and his wife, Kitty Menendez, were brutally murdered. At first glance, the Los Angeles Police Department had been under the impression that the shooting was a mafia hit.¹ However, months after the killings, the LAPD received a tip about the true culprits behind the shooting of Jose and Kitty Menendez, only to find that it was none other than their sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez.²

Contrary to popular belief, the brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, did not kill their parents for money. Their motive for killing their parents goes much deeper than that. The upbringing of the Menendez brothers was not easy. Jose Menendez, their father, had abused and tortured Lyle and Erik their entire lives. However, the dynamic between the three of them wasn’t spoken about until one night. The Menendez family was having a nice dinner at home when a fight arose between Lyle and Jose Menendez. This fight escalated to the point that Lyle had to storm out of the dining room and into his room, where Erik followed. Amidst their conversation, Erik revealed to his older brother, Lyle, that their father, Jose Menendez, had continued to rape and molest Eric, even though Lyle had been under the impression that the sexual abuse had been put to a stop. When Lyle realized that his brother was still being abused in that way, he felt an unknown wave of anger wash over him, and at that moment, he realized that he would pick his brother over his parents from that day forward.³ Shortly after Lyle found out what his father was still doing to Erik, Lyle still felt overcome with anger, and out of a fit of rage he confronted their father, Jose Menendez; he told him that his behavior towards Erik needed to end and he threatened to go public if it didn’t stop. Jose responded, walking away angrily, saying one word, “Okay,” and leaving the room with an unsettling feeling.⁴

A week following the revelation, the Menendez household had an eerie feeling. Then, a relaxed Erik was laying on a couch in the movie room watching the infamous Billionaire Boys Club, which is based on a story that mirrors events of the Menendez brothers’ lives. During a rather influential scene, Lyle Menendez came inside after a refreshing swim, and the two of them sat in utter shock, realizing that something similar had happened to other people. They exchanged a few words with one another. Erik looked over to Lyle and said, “Do you think it would work?” Lyle responded with, “If we do it right…maybe…I mean, we could finally be free.”⁵ Following that interaction, Lyle and Erik then began to plan how they would achieve their freedom from their parents. 

The Menendez brothers started by going down to San Diego to look at what kind of guns to buy and how to do it without any trace back to them. Ultimately, they needed both of their IDs to actually purchase a firearm. Luckily enough, the brothers were able to find a gun store in San Diego that allowed them to use one ID in order to purchase the firearms. The ID that they used happened to be that of a friend of Lyle’s, whom Erik had been using as a fake ID for a few months, since Erik was only 18 years old at the time. The firearms of their choosing ended up being Mossberg shotguns, which are known to be one of the most lethal shotguns. In order for their plan to be free from their parents to work, the brothers had to learn how to properly use their firearms. Lyle and Erik went to a shooting range to learn how to shoot and to perfect their aim. Although the brothers bought the guns with the intent to be free from their parents, they also intended to use them for self-defense, which is what the Menendez brothers ultimately did.⁶

After some time, the Menendez family prepared for a private boat trip to observe sharks. Initially, the boat trip was supposed to be during the day; however, after a fight arose between the brothers and their father, the boat trip was moved to the night. It was speculated that the parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, were under the impression that the private boat trip meant just them and their sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez. Given the tension between the family, it’s understandable that the brothers were in fear for their lives. The brothers thought this because of the threat that Lyle had previously made to their father about going public with the continued molestation of his brother. Considering the parents had initially assumed that the boat trip was private, it gave them the impression that it could be the perfect opportunity to keep Lyle and Erik from going public about the molestation and abuse. Fortunately, Jose and Kitty Menendez were wrong, and the crew of the boat was there as well, thus explaining their shock and disappointment on the boat trip.⁷ The brothers had been cautiously avoiding their parents throughout the trip due to their feeling unsettled about how things were between them and their parents.

A couple of nights after the boat trip, when the Menendez family came home, another fight arose, where their mother, Kitty Menendez, revealed that she also knew about the molestation of Lyle and Erik. In fact, she would even participate in the molestation of Lyle at a young age, like their father, Jose. Rather, instead of defending her sons and trying to protect them, she drowned herself in pills and liquor to distract herself from her own shame. Kitty Menendez would blame her failing marriage on her sons for “taking her husband away from her.” After this revelation, the boys quickly realized it was either their lives or their parents. The fight ended with the parents menacingly walking into the movie room and closing the doors whilst staring down their sons, Lyle and Erik. This resulted in leaving Lyle and Erik in a panic and more in fear for their lives than ever, especially once they realized that their parents stored guns in the movie room, making this the night that changed everything.⁴

Lyle and Erik quickly ran to their rooms to grab their shotguns, then went to Lyle’s car to grab the bullets and load their firearms, then proceeded to go back inside their home. They entered the front door and went straight into the movie room, blowing the doors wide open to find their parents sitting on the couch watching television. Their father, Jose, was confused, and their mother, Kitty, showed concern and worry. Lyle aimed and shot first, then Erik shot. Due to the close proximity of the shots, the damage to their parents had been extreme. In total, Lyle and Eric had unloaded two rounds of their Mossberg shotguns into the bodies of their parents, causing their bodies to appear maimed and partially dismembered.⁴ After their firearms had run out of ammo, Erik walked back to the car, set his shotgun down in utter shock, and Lyle followed him and reloaded his shotgun, then went back inside and unloaded the rest of his bullets into their parents. The brothers then quickly left the scene to attempt to create an alibi.

At first, the boys went to the theater to try and buy tickets for the earlier showing in order for it to show that they were at the movies during the time of the shooting. However, unfortunately, they were unable to secure those tickets, and then went to a local restaurant and stayed there for hours, making a big scene until they closed, so people around them could testify that they saw Lyle and Erik Menendez out in public, seemingly perfectly fine. Later that night, when the boys came home, their street seemed completely normal and oblivious to what had happened just a few hours before. Lyle and Erik then casually walked into their house only to “discover” that their parents had been brutally murdered. That is when Lyle decided to call 9-1-1 and visibly appear and sound distraught as if he had just found his dead parents. Minutes later, a swarm of police cars and ambulances arrive at their house, weapons drawn, shouting, and telling Lyle and Erik to get down while they are exiting their house. Both brothers acted distraught and in shock, telling the policemen that they were the ones who made the call. Due to the time in society that they were in, the possibility of the brothers being the ones that killed their parents had been low to none, hence the reason why the police didn’t think to check for any gunpowder residue on Lyle and Erik’s wrists and instead had them sit in the backseat of the police cruiser. That night, in the backseat of the cruiser, Lyle and Erik realized that they were finally free from the control and abuse that they had to endure from their parents their entire lives.⁴

A few weeks passed, and Lyle was thriving and in the best shape mentally that he had ever been. Meanwhile, Erik was being eaten alive by guilt and shame for what he had done. With the guilt consuming his entire being, he decided to seek out his old therapist, Dr. Oziel. While in his therapy session, he confessed to murdering his parents with his brother Lyle, he confessed under the impression of total patient-therapist confidentiality. Unknowing to Erik, Dr. Oziel had left and called his mistress, Judalon Smyth, and told her about his newfound information about the truth behind the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez. After Dr. Oziel called his mistress, he went back into the room where Erik was waiting, and they both decided to call Lyle and have him come into the office. Shortly after Lyle arrived at the office with Erik, they began talking everything out and decided to continue to see Dr. Oziel regularly. After a few sessions, Dr. Oziel began to record them as a way of keeping himself safe by having that type of collateral. Dr. Oziel’s mistress began feeling unsettled and unsafe with having that information, so Dr. Oziel allowed her to stay with him and his family. However, as time passed, she began to overstep her boundaries, causing his family discomfort. This made Dr. Oziel have to kick her out, thus resulting in Judalon Smyth going to the police to give them a tip about the Menendez investigation.⁴

After Judalon’s tip to the police department, they then gathered enough information needed in order to attain a warrant to search Dr. Oziel’s house for the tapes of Lyle and Erik Menendez confessing to the murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. It didn’t take long before the Menendez brothers went to trial; however, the trial wasn’t a quick case; it led to a mistrial, and due to the controversy and publicity of the trials, Lyle was deemed unfit to take the stand in the second trial. This is due to Lyle conversing with a woman named Norma Novelli, who had tricked Lyle into thinking she was writing a book with him about everything that happened, when in reality she was writing a book about him and gave it the perspective that he had been lying about everything. Due to this, the Menendez Brothers were found guilty and have been incarcerated ever since.¹²

Recently, concerning the Menendez Brothers and their case, the LA District Attorney is seeking the possibility of release and parole for the rest of their lives.