Trigger warning: child abuse and sexual violence
On August 20th, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez shot their parents, Jose and Mary Louise (Kitty) Menendez, in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion. It was a case that stunned America; the media had a field day.
Erik, 18, and Lyle, 21, were not initially suspects in the murder. But the Beverly Hills Police Department eventually arrested them in March of 1990 after receiving a tip from Judalon Smyth. The two admitted to killing their parents—it seemed straightforward. However, the case and motive were nothing like how the media and prosecution portrayed them.
The media had most of America believing that the two boys were greedy, cold-blooded killers who had murdered for money and inheritance. Meanwhile, they revealed their deep, dark, traumatizing family secret—the sexual molestation they had endured under their father’s reign. They claimed they had murdered in self-defense after years of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse.
Lyle Menendez took the stand and talked about how his father had sexually molested him between the ages of 6 and 8—and how he, in turn, had imitated these acts upon Erik. He proceeded to give his younger brother a moving apology in front of the court. Erik disclosed that his father had put him through sexual torture from the age of 6 until the week before the murder. He elaborated on needles, pins, a mirror ritual, and other agonizing practices he endured. The media quickly labeled this ‘an act’ while dismissing solid evidence and testimonies of abuse presented. Andy Cano, Diane Vandermolen, and Marianne Cano all testified how the abuse was real and how there was, without a doubt, sexual molestation occurring in this picture-perfect family. When Erik was young, a family doctor confirmed that an injury to his throat was consistent with forced oral copulation. Yet, sources such as the LA Times and Vanity Fair never presented this information.
The brothers explained the series of confrontations that occurred the days before the murders that assured them that their parents had a plan to kill them. It began with Erik revealing the molestation he had been suffering through for 12 years to his older brother. This led to Lyle threatening Jose to go public with the information if he ever touched Erik again. Jose was furious and made it a point to let Erik know that he would not let Lyle ruin his public image. Following this confrontation, Kitty Menendez revealed she had known the entire time about the molestation. It was at this point that the Menendez brothers realized nobody was going to save them—their lives were in danger.
On August 18th, they drove down to Santa Monica in an attempt to buy handguns. They were informed of a two-week waiting period and later on settled on two Mossberg 12 gauge shotguns. The day before the murder, Jose and Kitty changed the family fishing trip time from broad daylight to nighttime. This gave more into the boys’ suspicions that their parents had plans to kill them, as they were a threat to Jose and Kitty’s image. However, the boat had other people, so Jose and Kitty could not carry out any such plan.
The night of August 20th, Jose Menendez told Erik to go and wait in his bedroom upstairs. This is what he would always say before he went to rape him. In fear and panic, the two brothers got the shotguns and ammunition from the car, walked in on their parents in the den, and began firing.
When the detectives arrived, they didn’t test the boys for gunshot residue. Thus, they didn’t arrest them. However, the guilt brought Erik Menendez to the brink of suicide. He eventually confessed to his therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. Oziel broke patient confidentiality and told his mistress, Judalon Smyth, who later told the police in March of 1990. While the police arrested Lyle, Erik was in Israel. He immediately caught a plane to Los Angeles after learning of his brother’s arrest and the warrant out for his own. He did not fight extradition or anything of the sort, and the police arrested him at the airport after landing.
After a five-month-long trial, the juries were deadlocked, and a mistrial was declared. During the second trial, evidence of sexual abuse and self-defense was limited, which was a setback the defense was not successful in overcoming.
In 1996, the jury reached a verdict. They found the Menendez brothers guilty of first-degree murder and murder conspiracy, sentencing them to life without parole. The two were sent to different prisons and could not see each other for 22 long years. They reunited at Donovan State Prison in 2018.
Despite being in prison, the two have found the love they deserve and are married. Lyle Menendez married Rebecca Sneed in 2003 after divorcing former model Anna Eriksson. Erik has been married to Tammi Menendez since 1999. He is the stepfather to her daughter Talia, who describes him as compassionate and charismatic. The brothers recently took part in their prison’s beautification project and enjoyed painting, meditating, reading, and working in hospice.
The Menendez brothers suffered gross injustice and vindictiveness of the media. Cold-blooded killers would not admit to committing murder, fly across the world to hand themselves to authorities, or be in the hysteric state that they were. Dr. William Vicary described Erik Menendez as a ‘basket case’ who was wracked with guilt, anxiety, depression, and trauma over the events in his life. In the first trial, Lester Kuriyama and Pamela Bozanich, the prosecutors, took a stand along the lines of victim-blaming and gaslighting. They asked distasteful questions revolving around homosexuality. They even asked whether the brothers were testifying to things that were a figment of their imagination and things they wish had happened to them. The justice system wronged Erik and Lyle Menendez. They were let down by the people who were supposed to protect them—their parents, their therapist, the state, and people of the country. It is the corruption and unfairness of the system that keeps these survivors stuck where they do not belong. It is the same system that kept them apart for 22 years for no rational reason, and in truth, the justice system continues to fail them. The DA, the jurors, the media, and most of America wanted to bring justice to Jose and Kitty Menendez, who never deserved it. Nobody brought justice to Erik and Lyle Menendez, the actual victims. This failing system sent Erik Menendez to solitary confinement after receiving a pot delivery despite him testing negative for drugs and having no previous drug-related experiences.
Erik and Lyle Menendez’s strength is an inspiration for thousands of victims of domestic abuse and sexual assault; they are not killers, but survivors who were victims of an unjust system. Their story is still being written. We must take action to bring them the justice and support they deserve.
For more information, visit @menendezjustice on Instagram.