Menendez family: Lyle (left), Kitty, Jose and Eric (right).
Jose Menendez moved from Cuba to the United States where he met Kitty Andersen, former pageant queen. They were married in 1963 and moved to New York City where José earned an accounting degree from Queens College. The couple’s first son Lyle was born in 1968. Erik was born in 1970. Jose Menendez became an executive of Hertz Global Holdings and later, RCA Records. In 1986, the family moved to Beverly Hills, California, when he was appointed as the CEO of Artisan Entertainment (then known as Live Entertainment). Lyle attended Princeton University, where he was placed on academic probation for poor grades and eventually suspended for plagiarism. In 1987, Erik attended Beverly Hills High School and displayed a remarkable talent for tennis, ranking 44th in the US as a junior. Erik and Lyle Menendez were growing up in wealth, had a lavish lifestyle. They seemed to have life on a silver platter, but behind closed doors, things were reportedly bad.
Menendez family house.
In 1989, Jose, 45, and Kitty Menendez were murdered. It was a shocking crime scene that looked like a mob hit. Jose and Kitty were shot several times as they sat on their couch eating ice cream and watching a movie. At first The Menendez brothers, Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18, were treated as victims, but when their therapist’s ex-mistress Judalon Smyth came forward with information that the brothers had confessed during therapy sessions, everything changed. Their therapist Jerome Oziel broke up with Smyth who, in a fit of rage, told the police about the brothers’ involvement. Judge James Albrecht ruled that tapes of the conversations between Erik and Oziel were admissible evidence since Oziel stated that Lyle threatened him and violated doctor–patient privilege.
Eric (left) and Lyle (right) Menendez.
Eventually, the brothers were charged at trial in 1993. They claimed to be the victims of sexual abuse and violence. Prosecutions argued they did it to inherit their father’s multimillion-dollar estate. Jose was shot six times, including a fatal shot to the back of his head. Kitty was shot ten times in total. Before the fatal shot to her cheek, she was on the ground, crawling away.
As the dispatcher picks up, she is met with immediate chaos. Lyle is trying to explain why he is calling as Erik screams, “No!” in the background. The 9-1-1 operator remains calm and repeatedly asks, “What’s the problem?” The elder Menedez brother begins to cry and manages to squeak out, “Someone killed my parents.” Confused and somewhat incredulously, the 9-1-1 operator asks who murdered them, then wants to know if they are still there. Lyle initially says yes, and as the dispatcher is confirming, he switches to “No, no!” Strangely, the operator then asks if Jose and Kitty had been shot. Lyle says “Yes!” so she confirms, “They were shot?” He once again says yes. At some point Lyle is heard saying, “Erik man, don’t!” but we have no idea what he was telling his brother to stop doing. Lyle is now openly weeping as Erik wails in the distance. Lyle once again shouts to his brother. A male dispatcher gets on the phone and asks Lyle if the person is still there. “I don’t think so,” he replies while bawling. “What happened,” the new operator asks. “Who shot who?” Trying to pull himself together, Lyle says, “I wasn’t here. I just came home.” The call becomes repetitive until Lyle demands that Erik “get away from them.” It’s safe to assume he was referring to the bodies of their parents. They hang up briefly but the call continues when police phone again, telling them to come outside. “I have to get my brother,” says Lyle as the line goes dead. Defense attorney Leslie Abramson, referring to 911 call: “Why were you crying?” Lyle: “Just a shock. Just I’m not believing that this was happening to me and that my parents were dead. And then I was about to call the police and, uh, just, yeah. It’s really hard to describe the weekend and this the stress and the fear and nervousness and caving in feelings. I was really marginal throughout as it got closer to what actually happened and, uh… By then I was just really raw and just crying for crying’s sake. I don’t know.”
In the months after the killings, the brothers spent lavishly on luxury items, businesses, and travel. Lyle bought Chuck’s Spring Street Café, a Buffalo wing restaurant in Princeton, New Jersey, as well as a Rolex watch and a Porsche Carrera sports car. Erik hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of tournaments in Israel. The brothers eventually left the Beverly Hills mansion unoccupied, choosing to live in adjoining condominiums in nearby Marina del Rey. They also dined extravagantly and took overseas trips to the Caribbean and London. Collectively, they spent approximately $700,000 before their arrests. Family members later disputed a connection between their spending and the murder of their parents, claiming that there were no changes in their spending habits after the killings.
At one point, they attended a New York Knicks basketball game which became immortalized when they appeared courtside in the background of a Mark Jackson trading card.
The first juries could not reach a unanimous verdict and there was a mistrial. In the first trial, each defendant had their own jury. So there were two juries deliberating and neither one of them get to consensus. Both juries were hung. There was a mistrial for both Erik and Lyle.
This was a huge trial. The Menendez case became a worldwide sensation when Court TV broadcast the trial in 1993. Their testimony at the trial is evidence and evidence that has to be evaluated – whether you believe them.
Dr. Jerome Oziel: “I’m a psychologist. Erik came in and he was, uh, he was extremely agitated, and extremely depressed. And he began talking with me about the fact that his parents have been murdered, and that they felt very isolated and very alienated, and he’d lost a lot of weight, uh… He had some suicidal ideation and he just began disclosing a lot of things that had to do with feeling depressed and feeling lost. He talked about having, uh, having some nightmares that were very vivid images of his parents being dead and having images of the scene of having seen them dead. Erik had told me that he wanted to take a walk. Um… I wasn’t sure exactly what the reason was, but he said he wanted to take a walk and tell me something that he didn’t want to tell me inside the office. We sat on a bench and for, um, a significant period of time, uh, Erik told me uh things about his father and how his father was a great man and how he intended to write a book about his father and that, uh, it was amazing that his father wouldn’t be able to fulfill a lot of the, um, a lot of the goals that he’d had, a lot of the ambitions. And maybe he could help do that in a book that he would write. And at some point in the session, as we were sitting in the park, we just discussed going back to the office and we headed back to the office. And, uh, right before we entered the front door of the office building in which I had my office, he leaned back against, as I recall, a parking meter that was in front of the office door and said: “We did it.” I don’t know if he said we killed our parents, but I asked him ‘you mean you killed your parents?’ He said ‘yes’. And, uh, from that point we went back up into the office. Erik began describing in pretty elaborate detail, um, exactly what happened. Um, he began to tell me all about how the murder took place and all the details of the murder. He told me that it began with… The plan to kill the parents actually began in a situation where Erik was watching a BBC television show or movie. I’m not sure which it was that had to do with the theme of the person in the film killing their father. And at some point in the watching of it Erik called Lyle in the room and shared with him what the content was of the movie. And, um, as I recall, Erik said it began with sort of a casual conversation between the two of them. They started discussing what would happen or how it would be if the person who was a dominating force and a negative force and a very controlling person in their life wasn’t there anymore. And at that point it evolved into a discussion about killing the parents. Most particularly the father first and then the parents. And that’s the way the actual discussion began. The father had just been completely dominating and controlling, was impossible to please, had perfectionistic standards, that he was controlling of a lot of different aspects of Erik and Lyle’s life in a very extreme way and also that he had been very controlling and very damaging, um, to their mother. And that she also was miserable. So basically they conceptualized the father who… Erik told me that they saw the father as someone who was pretty much not possible to live with. That he was just an emotionally dominating tyrannical person. The reason that the mother was they couldn’t find a way not to include her in the plan and they also began to see the mother as somebody included in the plan was basically that who was very victimized by the father. She had apparently been suicidal before and they couldn’t find a way to accomplish the end of killing the father without also killing the mother. The reason being that the mother would have been a witness, number one, and would have reported them, number two. They didn’t believe that the mother could have survived emotionally anyway without the father. And three, they thought the mother was so miserable that it was, and this is not Erik words, sort of like a euthanasia. Erik relayed to me that at the point that, uh, he and Lyle had discussed, um, planning the murder that Erik felt a need to commit the murder relatively quickly or he basically thought that he would lose the emotional ability to commit the act. Um, Lyle, according to Erik’s recounting, wanted to take some time to plan it out more effectively, to make sure that it was as perfect as it could be. And Erik just didn’t feel that he could do that. So they had agreed that they would commit the murder and they were negotiating how soon to do it. After that point, what they did, and I believe, to the best of my recollection, it was something like a week or so, uh, before the murder. It’s my understanding that it occurred at least a week before, based upon my recollection. At that point what they did, according to Erik, was drive to San Diego, uh, obtain some false identification, purchase two shotguns with the false identification, drive back to Los Angeles and then create or have an alibi in the form of a wine and cheese tasting party. And then shortly before the party began, Erik recounted to me, that they surprised their parents in the room in which their parents were found murdered. As I recall, Erik said that he entered the room first, and, I believe, that he was shooting at his father and then Lyle followed after him and basically quote ‘Lyle finished off the job’. It’s not clear to me entirely who is primarily responsible for shooting the mother and who’s primarily responsible for shooting the father. Erik told me that his father said something like ‘no, no’ and turned away and was shot as he was saying that, and, uh, the mother was, I think, shot second. And, I guess, began to stand or something of that nature and was shot and then fell to the ground. Um, and he relayed to me that the father, as I recall it, died first and the mother did not die with the first, um, shots that were fired at her. What happened at that point is that both Erik and Lyle went outside to get some more cartridges and reloaded the shotguns and went in. And Lyle, I believe, finished murdering their mother. He said that she was moaning and trying to crawl.” Prosecutor: “Who it was that finally killed the mother?” Dr. Jerome Oziel: “To the best of my recollection, Lyle did. What they did is go back into their car and, um, and try to pick up all the casings or shotgun shells that might have been around. They changed the clothing and put it into a bag and dumped it into a dumpster.” Prosecutor: “Did he indicate to you on that date that he had, he was starting to have difficulty dealing with the fact that he would be inheriting 15 million dollars or splitting that with his brother?” Dr. Jerome Oziel: “Yes, he did.” Prosecutor: “Did he tell you that his guilt was overwhelming and he had to come in and tell you?” Dr. Jerome Oziel: “That’s correct.” Prosecutor: “At that point in the session of the 31st of October (1989), did you ask Erik Menendez whether Lyle Menendez knew what Erik was telling you?” Dr. Jerome Oziel: “Yes, I did. Lyle, uh. absolutely did not know that Erik was telling me and that Erik was frightened about Lyle’s reaction should he find out. I believe at some point, after I asked Erik whether Lyle knew that he was confessing to me, I asked him what he felt Lyle, what his response would be if Erik told him. And he had a response such that he was afraid that Lyle would kill him.” Prosecutor: “Did you call Lyle Menendez in to your office?” Dr. Jerome Oziel: “Yes, after asking Erik’s permission to do so.” Session on 2 November, 1989. Dr. Jerome Oziel: “Erik and Lyle discussed that they thought that were not for the fact that the father had turned them in, that they had committed the Calabasas burglary so perfectly, that they would not have been caught.” Prosecutor: “They specifically mentioned that to you on November 2nd, when they are telling you the reasons why they’re upset with their father?” Dr. Jerome Oziel: “That’s correct… In the context of talking about how impossible the father was Erik also recounted, um, his father’s near disinheritance of him, as an example of one of the things that, uh, led to or was an example of why they had to kill the father.”
Jerome Oziel, who had been accused by a state panel of breaking confidentiality rules and having sex with female patients, surrendered his license to the state Department of Consumer Affairs’ Board of Psychology.
Defense attorney Leslie Abramson: “Do you have a lot of nice memories from your childhood?” Lyle: “No.” Defense attorney Leslie Abramson: “Between the ages of six and eight. Did your father have sexual contact with you?” Lyle: “Yes.” Defense attorney: “And how did it start?” Lyle: “Just started with… After sports practices, he would massage me and, uh, we would have these talks and he would show me, and he would, uh, fondle me, and he would ask me to do the same with him and I would. I would touch him. We would undress...”
The testimonies captivated the nation.
Erik: “My dad came in and told me to take off my clothes, and, uh, to kneel on the bed and he closed the blinds. And he put the slab underneath the door like he always did. And, uh, told me to bend over the footboard.” Jose was described as a cruel perfectionist and pedophile. Meanwhile, their mother was described as an enabling, selfish, mentally unstable alcoholic and drug addict who encouraged her husband’s behavior and was also violent toward the brothers. The allegations against the couple were supported by the testimony of two family members. Erik testified that a couple of weeks before the night of the killings, he told his brother about the sexual abuse he was experiencing, which led to several confrontations within the family. The brothers also testified that their father threatened to kill them if they did not keep the abuse secret.
Erik was very close to his cousin Andy Cano. Erik Menendez wrote a letter to his cousin Andy in December 1988: “It’s still happening. Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He’s so overweight that I can’t stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy every night. I stay up thinking he might come in. I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before, but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do. He’s crazy. He’s warned me 100 times about telling anyone, especially Lyle. Am I a serious wimpus? I don’t know. I’ll make it through this. I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.” He confided him the first time at age 12. Andy testified to that letter. Jose Menendez’s sister and Andy’s mother found the letter, after Andy passed away at age 30 from an overdose. This letter is potentially new evidence. The other family members testified during the first trial. Jose’s sister, Kitty’s sister also testified on behalf of the brothers. The family members have been supporting them ever since. People testified to the abuse they saw, such as neglect, physical abuse, mental abuse and emotional abuse, including expert witnesses like Dr. Anne Burgess who explained that the killings were done in the heat of passion out of fear. The other expert witness explained how a child’s brain develops when a child’s being abused. They had more evidence than most cases have to prove sexual abuse. There were naked photos of the boys from the neck down. Erik was six, Lyle was eight. On the envelope, it was Kitty’s handwriting and said ‘Erik’s sixth birthday’. Lyle and Erik’s cousin, Diane Vander Molen, came to stay with them. She later stated Lyle confessed to her that his father was sexually abusing him. Vander Molen claimed to have told Kitty what Lyle had said, but also claimed Kitty sided with her husband and said Lyle was lying. The brothers have claimed that their father stopped abusing Lyle when he was 8 and started abusing Erik who was 6 at the time.
When they were retried in 1995, sexual abuse defense was not permitted, because the judge concluded there was not corroborating evidence to support their testimony. They were convicted and sentenced to life without parole.
Teen pop group Menudo (L-R Ricky Martin, Charlie Rivera, Roy Rossello (center), Robby Rosa, and Ray Acevedo) posing in a hallway at the Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, California, in 1985.
In a 2023 Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, Rosselló alleged he was drugged and raped when he was a teen by Jose Menendez.
Roy Rosselló, a former member of the iconic 1980s boy band Menudo, petition for writ of habeas corpus, Menudo member allegation: In 1983, Menudo (a pop group made of young children) signed a multi-year deal with RCA. At the time, Jose Menendez was RCA executive.
In 1983, 13-year-old Ray Rossello joined group. During the trip to New York, Edgardo Diaz asked Roy to ‘do a favor, instructing him to go downstairs at the hotel and join Jose Menendez in a limousine. Roy did so and was taken to a home in New Jersey, given wine by Jose Menendez and anally raped. Roy lost consciousness and woke up back in his hotel. He was bleeding from the anus. He was in unbearable pain for a week.
There is new attention on the case and some are calling for the Menendez brothers to get out.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón: “Good afternoon everyone. First of all, I know that this is an area of tremendous interest nationally, especially since the Netflix documentary came out and we’re getting a lot of calls. Let me begin by saying kind of walking through a simple explanation of the legal issues here. There are two vehicles upon which people that have been convicted of a crime. Well there’re many… Someone that was convicted is asking a review of new evidence that had been made available to the court and the jury at the time of the trial, perhaps the outcome may have been different. And then there’s a second process and it’s called resentencing under California law where a prosecutor can evaluate whether someone has been rehabilitated and based on their actions and the fact that they’re not involved in criminal activity inside of the prison, that their sentence could be re-evaluated. In this case again the Menendez brothers are asking for a review through both of those vehicles. We have not decided on the outcome. We are reviewing the information. But I think it’s also important that we recognize that both men and women can be the victims of sexual assault. We started a consent campaign to be timed with the red zone, and for those of you who are not familiar with the red zone is when new kids are going into college and for the first time they’re away from home, and we know that there’s an increase on sexual assaults during that period of time. Now most of the victims are usually young women but there are men also that are victimized. And in our consent campaign we made it very clear that only a clear ‘yes’ means yes. Anything else is not consent. And I spoke very clearly, especially to young men, because most of the time are young women that are the victims of sexual assault, that they also have an obligation to understand that consent has be very clear. But we also recognize that sometimes men and boys are the victims of sexual assault. We’re seeing out the allegations that in the in the case of Sean Combs. According to the civil lawyers about a half of the victims and there could be way over 100 were men… We have not conceited one way or the other. We’re not saying that there was anything wrong with the original trial. We have been given evidence. We have been given a photocopy of a letter that allegedly was sent by one of the brothers to another family member, talking about him being the victim of molestation. We’ve also got evidence that was provided by the defense by his lawyers that one of the members of the Menudo band alleged that he was molested by the father. None of this information has been confirmed. We are not at this point ready to say that we either believe or do not believe that information, but we’re here to tell you that we have a moral and an ethical obligation to review what is being presented to us and make a determination based on a resentencing side, whether they deserve to be resentenced, even though they were clearly the murderers… If there was evidence that was not presented to the court at that time, and had that evidence been presented, perhaps a jury would have come to a different conclusion. They murdered their parents. I think that’s factual…”
On 24 October, 2024,Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommended resentencing for the siblings. In a delayed downtown LA press conference, the DA said Thursday he will ask the court tomorrow that their life sentence life be lifted. If a LA Superior Court judge resentences the brothers for manslaughter instead of first degree murder, they would be eligible for parole immediately.
New DA Nathan Hochman: “We’re going to treat the Menendez case like we would treat any case. We’re going to do a thorough review of the facts and the law in order to arrive at the right decision and then be able to defend it in court. As you probably aware, the Menendez case is actually on three different tracks. In May 2023, they filed a hebeas action. They basically introduced some new evidence and said that this new evidence militated and compelled a new trial. That’s the first track. The second track is a clemency track. That’s direct petition to the governor. The third track is resentencing. And that’s George Gascón, my predecessor, initiated twelve days before the election, when he was 30 points down and out of money. He organized a media event. The reason I say that is that he got that petition in February of 2024. For eight months he could’ve acted on that petition, but waited just before the eve of the election to actually file the original motion. What he’s done is it’s cast cloud of credibility over whether or not his position to ask to go from life without the possibility of parole to life with the possibility of parole, whether or not that is a just decision or just a political ploy. I will put a hard work in to look at the factual law, to remove any cloud of credibility over that decision, and then defend it in court.”
