'Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story': Where are the brothers now?
Who are the brothers in the second installment of Monster?
The biographical crime drama anthology, created by Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story) and Ian Brennan (Glee), follows the lives of "monstrous figures" or killers, with each season focusing on a different one.
The first season featured Jeffrey Dahmer (Evan Peters), who notoriously raped, murdered, and dismembered 17 men and boys—while also eating some of them—between 1978 and 1991. It became a huge hit though stirred controversy, especially since some family members of the victims said they were traumatized by the series anew.
The second season tells the story of the Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, who in 1996 were found guilty of murdering their parents seven years before.
Who are the Menendez brothers?
On the eve of Aug. 20, 1986, patriarch José, who became an executive of car rental company Hertz Global Holdings and later music label RCA Records, and his wife Kitty, a former schoolteacher, were watching television in the den of their Beverly Hills mansion. That's when Erik and Lyle entered the den carrying shotguns and killed them.
Jose was reportedly shot six times, including one in the back of his head. Kitty was shot 10 times, including one in her cheek. Before that killing shot to the cheek, she was reportedly on the ground crawling and crying.
After the murders, Lyle and Erik stayed in the house and waited for the police to respond to the noise of the gunshots. When the police arrived, the brothers said they were outside watching a movie theater before finding their dead parents.
On the heels of their parents' deaths, the brothers led a luxurious life, spending lavishly on goods, businesses, and travel.
As the brothers were splurging, the police were searching for suspects who had motives to kill Jose and Kitty, including Mafia members. They began suspecting Lyle and Erik upon learning about their spending habits.
The police arranged for Erik's friend to wear a wire and have lunch with him to get a confession, but were unsuccessful.
Eventually, Erik confessed the murders to his psychologist with the latter sharing it with his mistress. When the psychologist and his mistress broke up, she told the police about Erik's confession.
Lyle was arrested on March 8, 1990, while Erik turned himself in three days later. They were held without bail and were jailed separately.
They underwent a trial two times.
The first trial began in 1993, with the brothers' lawyer arguing that they killed their parents out of fear for their lives due to the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse they had experienced from their parents. The lawyer said José sexually abused them, while Kitty was an alcoholic and a drug addict who enabled her husband. In Erik's testimony later on, José also supposedly threatened to kill them if they told anyone about the abuses.
Two family members testified in support of the sexual abuse allegations.
However, the prosecution argued that Erik and Lyle killed their parents to inherit their family fortune.
The defense said the brothers didn't think they'd inherit anything due to the abuses, but the prosecution argued that "men could not be raped, because they lack the necessary equipment to be raped."
The trial ended with two deadlocked juries, prompting a second trial.
Where are the brothers now?
Lyle and Erik were ultimately convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder. They were given two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
After the sentencing, they were sent to different prisons in California: Lyle to Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, and Erik to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
As maximum-security inmates, they were segregated from other prisoners.
They remained in separate prisons until February 2018, when Lyle was moved to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. At the time, they were still in different units. Erik had also been imprisoned at Folsom State Prison in Folsom and Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga.
On April 4 of that year, Lyle was moved to the same unit as Erik, reuniting them after nearly 22 years.
They appealed their conviction several times but were unsuccessful.
But in May 2023, Lyle and Erik requested a new hearing as newly discovered evidence allegedly proves that José had drugged and molested Roy Rossello, a member of the boy band Menudo signed with RCA Records, who visited the Menendez home in New Jersey when he was 14.