It was the trial that shocked America, now 30 years later the real-life story of two brothers who killed their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion is hitting the headlines again.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted of shooting their father and mother Jose and Kitty Menendez multiple times at close range on 20 August 1989. They were 21 and 18 at the time.
A Netflix dramatization of their story – which has drawn accusations of “dishonesty” from Erik Menendez – is currently number one in the streamer’s viewing chart.
The same platform will be putting out a documentary next month.
So, what was the Menendez brothers’ crime, and why are people so fascinated by it?
The crime, trial and punishment
On 20 August 1989 Lyle and Erik Menendez shot their parents, Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, multiple times at close range in the family mansion in Beverly Hills, California.
While the brothers initially told police they found them dead when they got home, they were eventually tried for their murder.
An initial attempt to try each brother individually in front of separate juries ended in a mistrial after both juries failed to reach a verdict.
A second trial saw the brothers tried together.
Erik Menendez (L) left and his brother Lyle (R) in front of their Beverly Hills home in November 1989. Pic: Getty
The defence claimed the brothers committed the murders in self-defence after many years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their father, with no protection from their mother.
They said they had feared for their lives after they threatened to expose their father.
The prosecution argued the murders were motivated by greed, and they killed their parents to avoid disinheritance.
Evidence of alleged abuse from their defence case was largely excluded from the joint trial by the judge.
In 1996, seven years after the killings, a jury found the brothers guilty, and they were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder.
They were sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Erik and Lyle Menendez, now aged 53 and 56 respectively, are currently in prison in San Diego, California.
To this day, both brothers say their actions stemmed from abuse at the hands of their parents which they say they had suffered over many years.
The Netflix drama
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story stars Oscar-winner Javier Bardem as Jose, Chloë Sevigny as Kitty, and Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez as the Menendez brothers.
Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story. Pic: Netflix
It attempts to explore the crime from different perspectives – both from the brothers’ and parents’ point of view.
Many viewers have commented on the graphic and violent nature of the show, which is both gory and gruesome.
Viewers have also been critical of implications the brothers had an intimate relationship.
Bardem, who plays the father Jose Menendez, said he was able to separate art from his personal life when working on the show.
“I’m a true believer in the fiction, in the imagination, in the joy of playing something without being taken by it,” he said.
Cooper Koch, who plays Erik, said he used recordings from the real-life trial to inform his performance.
“I just read everything that I could. I watched the entire trial. I slept with that trial on. So, like, I went to sleep listening to Erik [Menendez] and Leslie [Hope Abramson – the lawyer who defended the brothers] on the stand.”
What does Erik Menendez say?
The day after the show came out on Netflix, one of the real-life brothers, Erik Menendez, criticised the show, calling it “dishonest” and “inaccurate”, and hitting out at what he called “blatant lies” that made up the characterisation of his older brother Lyle.
In a statement shared by Erik’s wife Tammi on X, he said: “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show. I can only believe they were done so on purpose.”
He went on to accuse the show’s creator, Ryan Murphy, of “bad intent”, and said the show put back the cause of male sexual assault victims by many years.
He also asked: “Is the truth not enough?” and thanked people for their support.
How has Ryan Murphy responded?
Murphy, who made the first series of Monser about US serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, responded to the comments, saying Erik had not actually seen the show, and that it was his obligation as the show’s creator to portray both sides of the story.
(L-R) Javier Bardem with Ryan Murphy at the Monsters premiere in LA. Pic: AP
Murphy told Entertainment Tonight: “It’s really hard, if it’s your life, to see your life up on screen…
“There were four people involved, two people are dead, what about the parents? We had an obligation as storytellers to also try and put in their perspective based on our research, which we did.”
Murphy was also the showrunner behind Glee, Pose, The Watcher, Feud, American Horror Story, Hollywood and Ratched.
It’s not the first dramatization of the crime, which has previously been made into three TV movies and inspired an episode of US police procedural Law And Order.
The Netflix documentary
Hot on the heels of the Netflix drama, the streamer has a factual film on the way – but this one seems to have the approval of the Menendez brothers.
Directed by Argentinian filmmaker Alejandro Hartmann, the documentary The Menendez Brothers will stream on Netflix from 7 October.
The project promises to “offer new insight and a fresh perspective on a case that people only think they know”.
It will feature extensive audio interviews with Lyle and Erik Menendez, lawyers involved in the trial, journalists who covered it, jurors, family, and other informed observers.
A new development
In 2023 a documentary which aired on Peacock titled Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed featured claims from former Puerto Rican boyband member Roy Rossello, who claimed the brothers’ father sexually assaulted him when he was a teenager.
Jose was a former executive at RCA Records.
Joseph Lyle Menéndez and Erik Galen Menéndez. Pics: Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility
Shortly after that documentary premiered, attorneys for Lyle and Erik Menendez filed a petition asking for a new trial, in light of the new evidence.
The LA county’s district attorney’s office told Sky News’ US partner NBC News they are investigating the claims and will have a response by 26 September.
The brothers’ defence team also say they’ve uncovered a letter that Erik Menendez had written to his cousin that was dated months before the murders, where he talked about what he said was abuse from his father and being afraid of him.
The defence team say this should warrant a new trial because it’s information they didn’t have when the case was first presented to a jury.
