On august 20 of 1989, José Menendez and his wife, Kitty Menendez, were shot to death, in the living room of their luxurious house in Beverly Hills, while they were watching TV.
The case was one of the most famous in the 20th century, and after allegations, trials and judgments, their sons Lyle and Erik Menendez were found guilty for the murder.
The brother’s shot their parents on a sunday night, they left the house and only came back two hours later. The intention was to create evidence that, in the local time, they weren’t at the crime scene.
They came back and called the police, screaming and crying, announcing that they found their parent’s bodies and asking for help.
What the court said and how the investigations worked
José was a very powerful and successful businessman, it was possible that someone killed him for the money. Later on, some police officers and deputies from the case tought it was a little weird the way the brothers acted after their parents death, buying cars, throwing parties, Erik even payed a tennis coach for 50 thousands dollars, spending a lot of money and making them more suspect than anything.
The confession came from conversations between Erik and the family’s therapist, Oziel, who recorded everything the brother said, promising that he would keep it confidential. Erik confessed that he and his brother had killed their parents and since then he couldn’t live with the blame. Later on, the psychologist’s lover found the tapes and reported them to the cops, which made the Menendez brothers suspects for the crime.
The investigations took a different path, the brother’s got arrested and, since then, they’ve been part of thousands of judgments, and got between the death penalty or the life sentence.
In 1996, the justice decided that the brothers would be in prison for life, and until today, they are still arrested.
The relationship of the Menendez family
José was Cuban, and moved to USA when he was a teenager. He lived in his cousin´s house until he won a college scholarship for swimming. It was in college where he met his previous wife, Mary Louise Anderson, known as Kitty. They got married in 1960 and have been together since then. They moved to New York City, and José started working in a restaurante, washing dishes. Later on, he would become a successful entertainment executive.
The Menendez family didn’t have a good and lovely relationship, sources say that José was very rigid with his child, always trying to make them the best in everything they did, and the mother was always trying to give an impression of a perfect family. Both the children, later on court, claim they were sexually abused by their father, and Lyle assumed that he did the same thing with his brother. Later, a college friend from Lyle had also told them that he got sexually abused by José Menendez, as well.
A inspiration for the TV show
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, the series that reproduces the family case back in the form of streaming on Netflix, produced by Ryan Murphy. The production went viral in the media, and, days after, a letter written by Erik Menendez was published on Twitter by his wife. He mentioned that it was upsetting the way he believed the director wouldn’t be “naive” and “inaccurate” to show the facts from their lives.
“It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent”
He also mentions how sad it’s the way the production re-created Lyle’s character, showing him as a bad and stressed person: “I believe 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”.
If you are interested in more details about the case, access this website, which contains pictures of the Menendez’s family and the crime scene.
The future of the Menendez brothers
After 28 years, and days after the TV show was released, a new court hearing is scheduled for November 29th.
This time, the freedom of Erik and Lyle Menendez could be near. The prosecutor of Los Angeles, George Gascón, said in a press conference that new allegations and a letter before the crime, sent to a relative.
“There are new allegations and proofs. We received a new copy of a letter that it may be sent from one of the brothers to another relative, talking about being a victim of sexual abuse.”
Gascón also mentions that it’s necessary to decide if they will be kept in prison or not. “We need to decide if they will be kept in prison, if they are arrested for years and already paid a debt to society.”
The decision is expected in about 10 days starting on october 16th.
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O texto acima foi editado por Bruna Blanco.
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