Lyle and Erik Menendez

Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970), commonly referred to as the Menendez brothers, are American brothers convicted of killing their parents, José and Mary Louise "Kitty" Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home in 1989.

Following the murders, Lyle and Erik claimed that unknown intruders were responsible for the murders, framing it as a potential mob killing. Police initially investigated this claim but grew suspicious when they discovered the brothers' extravagant spending sprees following the murders, and the fact that they had hired a computer expert to delete their father's recently updated will. Erik confessed to the murders in sessions with his psychologist, citing a desire to be free of a controlling father with high standards, which led to their arrests months later.

Lyle and Erik were charged with two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances for lying in wait, making them eligible for the death penalty, and charges of conspiracy to murder. During their first trial, the defense argued that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense after years of alleged sexual, emotional and physical abuse. The prosecution argued that the murders were premeditated, that allegations of sexual abuse were fabricated and that the brothers were motivated by hatred and a desire to receive their father's multimillion-dollar estate after being disinherited from his will. The juries were unable to reach a verdict, resulting in mistrials for both brothers. In a second trial, the brothers were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Beginning in 1998, Lyle and Erik began numerous successive legal appeals of their convictions, which were reviewed and rejected by judges. In October 2024, Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón recommended a resentencing after reviewing a habeas corpus petition. Newly elected district attorney Nathan Hochman opposed the habeas petition. In May 2025, a judge resentenced the brothers to fifty years to life, making them eligible for parole. In August 2025, however, Lyle and Erik were both denied parole due to incidents of rule breaking and deception.

The Menendez brothers' highly publicized trials received international media attention, inspiring numerous documentaries, dramatizations, books and parodies.

Background

José Enrique Menendez was born on May 6, 1944, in Havana, Cuba, to parents José Francisco "Pepin" Menéndez and Maria Carlota Llanio Navarro Menendez. At age 15, in the wake of the Cuban Revolution, he moved to the United States. José attended Southern Illinois University, where he met Mary Louise "Kitty" Andersen (born on October 14, 1941) in Oak Lawn, Illinois, to parents Charles Milton Andersen and Mae Helen Maloney Andersen. They married in 1963 and moved to New York City, where José earned an accounting degree from Queens College.

The couple's first son, Joseph Lyle, who goes by his middle name, was born on January 10, 1968, in New York City. Kitty quit her teaching job after Lyle was born, and the family moved to New Jersey, where Erik was born on November 27, 1970, in Gloucester Township. The family lived in Hopewell Township, and both brothers attended Princeton Day School.

José became an executive at Hertz Corporation and later RCA Records. After he was appointed as the CEO of Live Entertainment, a film studio and home video distributor, the family moved to Calabasas, California, where Erik attended Calabasas High School.

In 1988, Lyle and Erik committed multiple burglaries in their neighborhood, stealing more than $100,000 in cash and jewelry, prompting their parents to move to Beverly Hills. The following year, Erik attended Beverly Hills High School, where he earned average grades but displayed a talent for tennis, ranking 44th in the US as a junior. About two weeks before the murders, Erik and his friend Michael Joyce entered the 1989 Boys' Junior National Tennis Championship.

As a student at Princeton University, Lyle was placed on academic probation for poor grades and eventually suspended for plagiarism. He lived in the Gauss Hall, a dormitory, where he reportedly threw out his roommates' belongings as he did not wish to share a room, caused damage by leaving sinks overflowing and repainted his room in violation of university rules.

In high school, Erik co-wrote an amateur screenplay titled Friends with a classmate, Craig Cignarelli, telling the story of a wealthy young man who commits the "perfect murder" by killing his parents for their inheritance.

Murders and investigation

Murders and alibi

On August 18, 1989, Lyle and Erik visited several Southern California gun stores to buy handguns. However, due to issues with Lyle's driver's license and a two-week waiting period mandated by gun laws, the brothers decided to purchase shotguns instead. They acquired Mossberg shotguns along with boxes of birdshot and buckshot ammunition in a Big 5 Sporting Goods store in San Diego, where Erik used a driver's license stolen from Lyle's friend, Donovan Goodreau.

On the evening of August 20, José and Kitty were watching The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) in the theater den of their Beverly Hills mansion, when Lyle and Erik entered, carrying loaded shotguns. José was shot six times, including a fatal shot to the back of his head. Kitty was shot ten times. Before the fatal shot to her cheek, Kitty was on the floor, crawling away. Lyle ran to the car where Erik handed him ammunition to reload before firing the fatal shot to her face.

Immediately after the killings, both brothers remained in the house for a few minutes, expecting a police response to the gunshot noise. They left to dispose of their blood-stained clothes and later buried the shotguns somewhere along Mulholland Drive. They also went to a movie theater and attempted to purchase tickets for the film Batman (1989) to use as their alibi but abandoned the plan when they realized the theater time-stamped its ticket stubs. They then headed to the "Taste of L.A." festival at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

After returning home and finding no police presence, Lyle called 9-1-1 and emotionally told the operator, "Someone killed my parents!" saying that he had just come home and discovered their bodies. Erik was heard screaming and crying in the background. When officers arrived, Lyle and Erik ran from the home toward them while screaming. Police did not seek gunshot residue tests from the brothers, which would have indicated whether they had recently discharged a firearm. The brothers both falsely told officers that they were elsewhere at the time of the killings. Lyle told officers he thought the killings might be "business-related," implying a mob hit.

Police officers and forensic staff described the crime scene as "the most brutal" one they had ever encountered, noting blood and brain matter splattered throughout the room. Retired police detective Dan Stewart stated, "I've seen a lot of homicides, but nothing quite that brutal. Blood, flesh, skulls. It would be hard to describe, especially José, as resembling a human that you would recognize. That's how bad it was." According to the autopsy report, one blast caused "explosive decapitation with evisceration of the brain" and "deformity of the face" to José, while the first round of shots struck Kitty in her chest, right arm, left hip and left leg, with the contact shot causing "multiple lacerations of the brain."

Investigation and arrests

Detectives initially investigated Lyle's suggestion that the murders were a result of mob-related activity, due to its heinousness and José's business connections.

In the months after the killings, Lyle and Erik spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury items, businesses and travel. Lyle bought Chuck's Spring Street Café, a Buffalo wing restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey, as well as three Rolex watches and a Porsche Carrera sportscar. Erik hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of tournaments overseas. The brothers eventually left the Beverly Hills mansion unoccupied, choosing to live in adjoining condominiums in nearby Marina del Rey. They also dined at high-end restaurants and took overseas trips to the Caribbean and London.

The brothers' courtside attendance at a New York Knicks basketball game was captured in the background of a Mark Jackson trading card. During this time, they spent approximately $700,000. Most of this money came from a $650,000 personal life insurance policy, which was paid out. This spending caused police to begin considering the brothers as suspects, with a possible financial motive. Family members disputed a connection between their spending and the murder of their parents, asserting that there were no changes in their spending habits after the killings.

Cignarelli contacted police to report that Erik had confessed to him. He also reported his and Erik's authorship of the Friends screenplay, which depicted a scenario suspiciously similar to the murders and their apparent motivation. In an attempt to get a recorded confession, police arranged for Cignarelli to wear a wire during a lunch with Erik. When Cignarelli asked whether he had killed his parents, Erik denied it.