The Deadly Secret of the Menendez Family: Why Brothers Lyle and Eric Killed Their Parents

Everyone has secrets, and we try to keep them strictly from strangers. But sometimes they become so terrible that the situation gets out of control, and those involved in the secret commit terrible acts. This is exactly what happened in the American Menendez family, which seemed exemplary to everyone.

Jose Enrique Menendez was born on May 6, 1944, in the capital of Cuba, Havana. When he was 16, the country was in the grip of a revolution, and his family moved to the United States. Jose was an intelligent and goal-oriented young man. After high school, he easily entered Southern Illinois University.

At the university, Jose Menendez met Mary Louise Andersen, who everyone called "Kitty." They got married in 1963. After graduating, the couple moved to New York. In his new place, Jose got a job as an office manager and began to get a second degree in economics.

Jose Menendez's career slowly but surely took off. He took a serious position at The Herz Corporation, an international car rental company. In 1986, he was offered the position of commercial director of the recording company RCA Records, and he accepted.

Since the firm's office was in California, in Beverly Hills, the Menendez family moved again. Jose earned well, so he easily bought a luxurious mansion in the city of millionaires. The head of the family was a conservative. He believed that a man should earn money, and a woman should take care of the children and the housework.

Their first son, Joseph Lyle Menendez, known to everyone as Lyle, was born on January 10, 1968. Their second son, Eric, was born two years later. The parents tried to give their children the best. At first, they attended the elite Princeton Day School, and after moving to California, they attended Beverly Hills High School.

From an early age, their father put enormous pressure on his sons. Jose Menendez insisted that one of his boys must become president and the other a senator. Such inflated expectations, of course, could not help but affect the psyche of Lyle and Eric.

The sons did not always live up to their strict father's expectations. Lyle entered Princeton University, but was expelled in 1989 for plagiarism and truancy. The youngest son, Eric, was a promising tennis player and even won several serious competitions. However, he later fell in with a bad crowd and was caught for petty theft in 1988. He managed to avoid a prison term, and everything was limited to visits to a psychotherapist.

On August 20, 1989, Kitty and Jose decided to spend the evening in front of the TV watching their favorite show. They invited 19-year-old Eric and 21-year-old Lyle to join them, but they declined. The guys had their own plans for the evening - they were going to the movies.

The brothers returned at 11 p.m. When they entered the living room, they saw a horrific sight. Their parents were dead and everything was covered in blood. Lyle and Eric called the police. When the officers arrived, they saw Eric sobbing inconsolably on the driveway. Lyle also looked heartbroken, but he kept his composure.

The murder weapon was a Mossberg shotgun. At least 15 shots were fired from it, for which the shooter had to reload the weapon, designed for 5 rounds, twice. The murder was very brutal, and the motives are unknown. Nothing was missing from the wealthy family's house, and it was clearly not a robbery. The only version of the investigators was a conflict between Jose Menendez and his fellow countrymen, or more precisely, with the Cuban mafia.

The police suggested that Jose Menendez might have been involved in illegal transactions and someone decided to get rid of him. The press pitied the brothers who suddenly became orphans. However, some noted that Lyle and Eric did not seem grief-stricken at all and lived happily after the death of their parents.

After Kitty and Jose died, the boys inherited several million dollars. In the first six months, they spent $900,000 on a luxurious life. Lyle and Eric bought expensive cars and branded clothes, threw parties and traveled. Eric hired a tennis coach for $60,000 a year and even won two semi-professional tournaments in 1989.

Lyle decided to go into business and opened Chuck's Spring Street Café, but it didn't last long. Six months later, the establishment went bankrupt, bringing its owner not profit, but huge losses. The brothers' lifestyle attracted the attention of the police. After a year of investigation, no traces of the Cuban mafia were found, so attention was focused on Lyle and Eric.

The truth came out unexpectedly: Eric confessed to the murder to Dr. Jerome Oziel, whom he had been seeing since the 1988 theft. That same day, Eric told his older brother about the conversation with the doctor. Lyle scolded him and then went to see Dr. Oziel. He intimidated the therapist, threatening to kill him if he decided to tell anyone the truth about Kitty and Jose's deaths.

The doctor did not go to the police, but he let slip the secret of the Menendez brothers to his girlfriend Judalon Smith. Without thinking twice, she went to the police and told them everything. The investigators had no evidence, but on March 8, 1990, Lyle was taken into custody. At that time, Eric was at a tennis tournament in Israel. On March 10, he returned and surrendered to the police.

The brothers spent three years in prison without trial while the police tried to find any evidence. Eric's confession in the doctor's office was not enough for the court. But in December 1992, the trial began. The brothers insisted on their innocence. According to the prosecutor, on the evening of August 20, 1989, Lyle and Eric waited until their parents fell asleep, went into the living room with a shotgun and shot them in cold blood.

Lyle Menendez had purchased the Mossberg shotgun on the black market shortly before the murder. Everything pointed to the crime being carefully planned. After shooting Jose and Kitty, the brothers hid in the house for a while. They were afraid that neighbors would call the police when they heard the shots. But neighbors in the neighboring houses heard the pops, but they didn’t pay much attention to them. After making sure that they were not in any danger, Lyle and Eric collected the shells and left through the back door.

Then they went first to a cafe and then to a movie, so that as many people as possible would see them in public places and they would have an alibi. After that, the brothers returned home, and Lyle called the police. Their behavior was so convincing that the police did not have any suspicions that they could be involved in the murder of their parents.

When the brothers realized that the court needed only the testimony of a psychotherapist and that they would not be able to wriggle out of it, they confessed to everything. The brothers said that they were forced to commit the crime by years of abuse from their parents. Lyle and Eric said that their father forced them to have sex from an early age:

She took part in the abuse and corruption of her sons and Kitty, who abused alcohol. Eric described one incident that took place in his bedroom:

The brothers told details that made even the most skeptical investigators believe them. Unexpectedly, their relatives came to their side - Jose's sister, Vander Molen, and their cousin, Andy Cano. They said that back in 1976, Lyle and Eric complained to them that their father was forcing them to do "special massages." But then they were simply not believed.

This time, no one believed the brothers again. In 1996, they were found guilty of first-degree murder. Lyle and Eric were sentenced to life in prison without parole. The court also ordered that the brothers be separated and serve their sentences in separate prisons.

In 2018, they managed to get permission to serve their sentences in the same prison. After 22 years of separation, the brothers met and hugged. That same year, a letter from Eric to his cousin Andy Cano, written in 1988, was found. It was discovered by Jose Menendez's sister, Andy's mother:

"It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now. I never know when it's going to happen, and it's driving me crazy. I lie awake every night thinking he might come. I know you told me to put it out of my mind, but I'm scared...

You just don't know Dad like I do. He's crazy! He's warned me a hundred times not to tell anyone, especially Lyle. Maybe I'm stupid? I don't know if I can handle this. I can handle this, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it."

The letter was not involved in the brothers' case and was undoubtedly an important document. It was examined and found to be genuine. On this basis, Lyle and Eric's lawyer tried to get the case reconsidered. But the court considered the letter "insignificant evidence."

In 2023, Puerto Rican singer Roy Rosselló admitted in an NBS documentary about the Menendez family that José forced him to have sex in 1984. In May 2013, the brothers' lawyer filed another appeal based on Rosselló's statement. It is unknown whether a new trial will take place.

American Gypsy Blanchard also killed her mother, who had abused her for many years and almost driven her to the grave.