Bianca Harkless
Editor-In-Chief
A true-crime case recently went viral on the social media platform TikTok which showed Erik Menendez crying as he testified to the abuse that his parents put him through, under the username of ‘@menendezsupport90s.’ The comments on the video, and other ones relating to Erik and his older brother Joseph, better known as Lyle, were undoubtedly in support of the brothers. For those who do not know who Erik and Lyle are, they killed both of their parents, Jose and Mary ‘Kitty’ Menendez.
Disclaimer time. The murder of Kitty and Jose Menendez is brutal. If you are sensitive to things like murder, and abuse of any kind, please do not read this story.
From the outside, the Menendez seemed to have the perfect life. Erik was going to be a pro tennis player, Lyle was attending Princeton University, Kitty was a beauty queen who had stopped her pageant life to take care of her sons, and Jose was a Cuban immigrant who had worked his way up into an important seat in a Hollywood film company. The family worked their way into high society life and stayed that way. On the inside, there were rumors of physical, mental, and sexual abuse from both Jose and Kitty.
August 20th, 1989, Jose and Kitty were sitting on a couch in their California home when their sons came home. Instead of greeting them, 21-year-old Lyle and 18-year-old Erik pulled out a 12-gage shotgun and started shooting at their parents. Some reports say that Jose was nearly decapitated by just how close Lyle and Erik were when they started their attack. Kitty, on the other hand, did not die as quickly as her husband. She was shot 10 times in the arms, legs, and chest as she tried to run away from the gunfire. The brothers had run out of ammo and stopped to reload their guns, leaving Kitty barely alive on the floor. They came back in with freshly loaded weapons and one of the brothers (reports vary on which one, but many seem to believe it was Erik) shot her in the face, taking out her nose and left eye. When police got to the scene, the parents were unrecognizable.
The two evaded police suspicion for months, making them believe that it was indeed a mafia hit, but in the end, there is always a weak link in the chain. Erik confessed what he and his brother had done to his therapist, Dr. Jerome Oziel, who held the information for 5 months and recorded multiple sessions with the brothers. It has also been reported that Lyle threatened the therapist, claiming that he would kill him if anyone ever found out. The two brothers were arrested and charged with the murders. The trial finally began in the summer of 1993, and that is where the Menendez brothers gained the greatest amount of sympathy.
Before the trial, many had thought the brothers had killed their parents simply to obtain the money they had and cash out the hefty life insurance policies their parents had. However, the brothers claimed they had finally had enough of the abuse at the hands of their parents and snapped, making the murder one of self-defense. The first juries, one for each brother, were deadlocked, and the trial was declared a mistrial. The second trial began in October of 1995, and the judge did not allow the defense to focus on the alleged abuse. The second trial concluded in March of 1996, where both Erik and Lyle were convicted to life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The whole trial is significantly longer and provides many details about the case that I was unable to go over during this story. The trials detail the abuse that the boys reportedly went through and give more background and details to the family. During research for the case, I watched both Erik and Lyle’s testimonies on YouTube and listened to The Menendez Brothers episode of the True Crime All The Time podcast. I also used the History page dedicated to the trial in order to obtain information. If you are still curious about this case and why people are calling for the case to be looked at again, look into it by yourself and form your own opinions about the events that took place on August 20th, 1989.
Image Credit: MenendezMurders.com
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