Why Menendez Brothers killed their parents

 

On August 20, 1989, it was one of those days that the rich town of Beverly Hills would never forget. Abducted from their lavish mansion house, José and Kitty Menendez were found brutally murdered in such a manner no one could have ever dreamed it would happen. The shock was even greater when it was revealed the killers were their sons, Lyle and Erik Menendez. However, the motives are one of American history's most intricate and much-discussed true crime cases. Greed? Fear? Or something worse?

 

The Menendez family was the American Dream. José Menendez emigrated to the United States as a teenager after escaping from the Cuban Revolution. He started from the bottom, from serving dishes to being an important head in an entertainment business. He married his wife, Mary Louise "Kitty" Anderson, former beauty queen and teacher, and they built a luxurious life in Beverly Hills for them. Friends and family suspected something much darker. José is autocratic and controlling, forcing Lyle and Erik to live with the pressure of his moodiness. Kitty battled alcoholism and mental illness.

 

Lyle and Erik entered the family room where José and Kitty sat, watching TV. The brothers prepared themselves with two 12-gauge shotguns. To begin with, they attacked their father, shooting at his head from behind, nearly decapitating him. Kitty was alerted by the noise but was trying to run and slid over her blood. The brothers fired several more times at Kitty as she crawled across the floor. The brothers gave her one final shot, which severed off her face.

 

At first, it seemed like a mob killing. But since there were no signs of robbery, it looked more like a planned murder rather than pure senseless violence. However, as the investigation followed, it shifted its attention to brothers. Within the next six months, Lyle and Erik 'inherited' their parents' money and started spending it wildly, amounting to about $ 700,000. The brothers' lives started to be pursued by the police as their pattern of deception and carelessness was discovered.

 

He began consulting a psychologist, Dr. Jerome Oziel. During one of their therapy sessions, Erik had confided in him about the murder, describing how he and Lyle had planned and committed the murders of his parents.

 

Dr. Oziel recorded the sessions, including a confession. The police obtained the tape after his girlfriend heard it. Lyle was apprehended outside the Beverly Hills family house on March 8, 1990. Three days later, Erik, who played in a tennis tournament, turned himself into the police in Israel.

 

When the trial finally began in July 1993, it was a sensationalized affair with constant media reports and full live coverage on Court TV. The brothers were motivated by money because their father's estate was estimated at about $14 million, which they stood to inherit. They liked to spend money, so it seemed this was the motive they had for murdering their parents.

 

But the brothers had an altogether different story to tell. They said that there was no greed involved but that it had been years of abuse at the hands of their parents. The brothers testified before the judge in court that their father had sexually molested them both since they were young boys. Lyle testified that his father began molesting him when he was six years old and continued doing so for years. Erik also had some related stories, as if maltreatment continued until the time they were killed. They described their father as the tyrant ruler of the homestead who strictly ruled it, while their mother was a woman turning her eyes blind to all that was terrible around the home.

 

The defense said that the brothers did what they did out of fear and desperation rather than greed. They claimed that on the night of the murders, they believed their parents were going to kill them to cover up the abuse. The defense brought in witnesses, some of whom were family members, to testify concerning how abusive the situation was at the Menendez house. She remembered sexual abuse being discussed by Lyle with his friends when they were just little kids. Friends claim that José was an extremely domineering father who strafed his sons, pushing them really hard.

 

Supporters of the brothers said why couldn't they have just run away instead of killing someone. Still, the defense argued that José had a tight mental hold over his sons and made them feel so grounded that they would not leave him, and it was years of emotional and physical control by their father that led them into this kind of mindset through which they thought they had no alternative.

 

The trial split public opinion. Some people saw the brothers as victims who went through terrible experiences and finally lost control. Others thought that they were rich kids who fabricated a story of abuse to justify their awful crime. Some people did not believe their sad testimonies in court and branded them fake.

 

After six months of serious court cases, this trial ended without a decision by the jury. They requested a retrial. During the trial, the defense counsel could not introduce evidence of abuse. Judge Stanley Weisberg ruled that there was not enough evidence before him for him to declare that José had sexually abused his sons. The second trial in 1995 was filmed.

 

In this instance, the prosecution focused on the tale of greed. The brothers had planned their murders very consciously for them to collect money from their parents. They discussed buying the shotguns, making the crime scene a mob hit, and the callous way they murdered their parents. This forced the defense to stop focusing on the abuse. Lyle and Erik were sentenced to life imprisonment in March 1996 for the first-degree murder convictions. Both also received an unconditional denial of their likelihood of parole.

 

The case of the Menendez brothers is very much discussed even though the two brothers plead guilty. Many are demanding their release, arguing that the justice system ignored the abuse they suffered and the mental pain they went through. Many think that they acted in self-defense, not being inappropriately greedy. Maybe that new evidence surfaced in May 2023 that might have given the case another round. A letter from Erik, one written to a cousin in 1988, revealed that he mentioned his father homosexually raped him. Also, Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, said he was homosexually raped by José Menendez in the early 1980s at RCA Records while José was working as an executive there. By the disclosures, debates resurfaced on whether the brothers' claims were true and whether their trial was fair.

 

Prosecutors said the brothers were just after money and made up the abuse to get sympathy. They furthered that even if there was abuse, it was not a reason good enough to explain the cold-blooded murder of their parents. The prosecutors had evidence to show how the brothers had pre-planned the murders for days; they had bought the shotguns and were trying to hide their crime. To many, the violence of the crime—multiple gunshots, shooting their mother while she was on the floor—even implied a kind of anger that went beyond mere protection for oneself.

 

The defenders of the brothers believe that the case reveals to the world what long years of abuse can do to a person's mind. They argue that this was a case of violence caused by years of fear and anger when they felt truly threatened. Some psychologists who were tasked to analyze the case argue that, indeed, the twins were telling the truth about having been abused, and justice did not really scrutinize everything that made them do what they did. Some reports on the twins-Lyle and Erik-show characteristics of mental illness associated with trauma, such as depression and PTSD, which make it a complicated issue.

 

So, Why did the Menendez brothers kill their parents? The fact never will be known. Were they simply greedy, seeing an opportunity to steal their parents' fortune? Or were they victims of an abusive household who acted in a misguided attempt to flee their torment? The Lyle and Erik Menendez case indicates that when people appear to be filthy rich and highly successful, there is always the ugly truth lurking behind them.

 

Still, the case remains controversial for them. While they are serving their life sentences, their lawyers filed, in May 2023, to reopen the case based on a new evidence letter by Erik detailing abuse and allegations against their father by former Menudo member Roy Rosselló. This raises the question of whether they acted out of a reason of abuse rather than greed. The petition alleges that they acted in "imperfect self-defense," which could reduce the crime to manslaughter. Given their current convictions of first-degree murder, they are serving life sentences without parole, although their legal team is pushing for this to change. The Los Angeles District Attorney's office is investigating these claims, yet the brothers remain convicted.