Sunday, August 20th 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot multiple times at close range with a shotgun while in their family mansion in Beverly hills. Lyle and Erik Menendez walked into the den of the family’s mansion and fired more than a dozen shots at their parents. A 911 call was made saying “Someone killed my parents”. This call was from Lyle Menendez. The brothers later told investigators they arrived at their home to find their parents shot to death. Official investigators suspected these killings may have been tied to Jose Menendez’s business dealings, but this theory was not the case.
Some time after their parents’ killing, the brothers appeared to be spending their parents’ money, lots of it. They spent the money on things like Rolex watches and bought real estate. This spending of their parents’ money raised questions about why they would spend their parents’ money months after the murder. Six months after the crime, police got a story from Judalon Smyth, the girlfriend of a psychologist who Lyle and Erik Menendez had been talking to. She told police she heard the brothers confess to the killing of their parents.
March 8,1990, Lyle Menendez was arrested outside the same mansion his parents were found dead in. Two days later, Erik Menendez surrendered at the Los Angeles International Airport. On July 20,1993, the trial of the brothers began. Even though they were tried together, they had separate juries. The brothers faced the possibility of the death penalty for being convicted of first degree murder. Lyle Menendez testifies at first trial, Lyle argues that he and brother killed their parents out of self defense, saying they thought their parents were going to kill them. Both brothers described how they were physically and sexually abused by their parents. Lyle testifies his father stopped sexually abusing him when he was eight. Erik said this abuse never stopped.
Many relatives, friends, and acquaintances of the Menendez family testified for the defense about incidents of physical and emotional abuse that they said they observed. These witnesses included family and friends who would have testified to specific abuse by Kitty and Jose. The evidence also included experts who would have explained what effect the abuse might have had on Lyle and Erik. Vander Molan is a cousin of Lyle and Erik Menendez. Vander spent her summers living in the Menendez household. “One night, I was in my room changing the sheets in my bed, and Lyle came in,” Vander Molen told ABC News. “He became very serious about asking me if he could sleep in the other bed next to mine and saying that he was afraid to sleep in his own bed because his father had been sexually abusing him.” After this conversation with Lyle, Vander immediately went to tell kitty Menendez what happened. Vander says by kitty’s reaction she was not believing any of what Lyle had said. Lyle had already gotten into the bed next to Vander and Kitty came in and yanked him by the arm, bringing him back upstairs. Brian Anderson, the brother of Kitty Menendez, had opposing claims in relation to the abuse. Brian Andersen dismissed allegations that his sister abused his nephews. That Erik and Lyle were abused by my sister Kitty is absolute insanity,” Andersen told ABC News. When asked why she has spoken out for the first time to support her cousins, Vander Molen said she wanted to defend them against the trial’s prosecutor’s claims that there had been no sexual abuse in the family. “I know for 100 percent that there was,” Vander Molen said. “Their privacy was everything to them. They were completely different people when nobody was around. And then Jose and Kitty would turn on the charm when they had people over, which wasn’t very often.” When asked why she has spoken out for the first time to support her cousins, Vander Molen said she wanted to defend them against the trial’s prosecutor’s claims that there had been no sexual abuse in the family.
“I know for 100 percent that there was,” Vander Molen said. “Their privacy was everything to them. They were completely different people when nobody was around. And then Jose and Kitty would turn on the charm when they had people over, which wasn’t very often.” The jury deliberated for days before finding Lyle and Erik Menendez guilty of first-degree murder. At the jury’s recommendation, the brothers were later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
As of Oct 24, 2024, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said he is recommending Erik and Lyle Menendez be re-sentenced for the 1989 killings of their parents. The case will now go to a judge for a final decision. Thes new evidence argues that Erik and Lyle Menendez should have been convicted for manslaughter and not first degree murder. The new evidence includes a letter that Erik Menendez wrote Cliff Gardner,one of the lawyers for the case to Erik’s cousin, Andy Cano, in December 1988, about eight months before the crime. The letter reads, in part, “I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. … Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. … I’m afraid. … He’s crazy. He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.” Gardner says this letter is proof that the abuse allegations were not made up. He says the letter was never presented at either trial, and that Andy Cano’s mother discovered it in storage within the last few years. The Menendez brothers’ attorney, Cliff Gardner, filed a Habeas petition in May 2023 citing the letter and Rossello’s affidavit as new evidence that proves his clients’ convictions should be vacated.”The boys were abused as children. They were abused their whole life. … And this is a manslaughter case, not a murder case. It’s just that simple,” Gardner said to “48 Hours” about the Menendez brothers. “My hope in the case is that the judge will realize that this new evidence is indeed credible and persuasive, and he’ll vacate the convictions.”If that happens, it would be up to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office whether to retry the case. In a statement, the district attorney’s office told “48 Hours” it is investigating the claims made in the Habeas petition. It is unclear when a judge will rule in the case.