close
close

first Drop

Com TW NOw News 2024

True story from Netflix show
news

True story from Netflix show

A dramatic true-crime adaptation of the 1989 Menendez Brothers trial that shocked the nation is coming to Netflix from producer Ryan Murphy as part of his “Monster” anthology series. Last year, Season 1 of the show, starring Evan Peters as serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, earned six Emmy nominations and a win for Supporting Actress Niecy Nash.

Now Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny star as Kitty Menendez in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” alongside Nicholas Chavez and Cooper Koch as their sons and killers Lyle and Erik Menendez.

It all started on the evening of August 20, 1989, when Lyle, then 21, called 911 to the Beverly Hills police and said, “Someone killed my parents!” When police arrived at the Menendez family’s Beverly Hills home, they found Jose and Kitty brutally murdered with a shotgun while they were watching television. Jose had been shot six times and Kitty ten times. Initially, detectives believed the murder was related to Jose’s business dealings with Live Entertainment and possibly mob activities.

Erik and Lyle told police they were at a movie theater watching “Batman” when their parents were murdered. While police investigated the crime, the brothers went on a spending spree. In just six months after their parents’ murders, they spent $700,000 of their inherited fortune. Their purchases included a Porsche, a Rolex, a restaurant, a $40,000 investment in a rock concert and more.

However, it all came crashing down for Erik and Lyle in March 1990 when Judalon Smyth passed on a tip to the BHPD. She claimed that she had audio recordings of confessions that Erik, then 19, had made during his therapy sessions with Dr. L. Jerome Oziel. Smyth was Dr. Oziel’s mistress.

As they dug further, the evidence began to mount against the brothers. Their movie alibi could only protect them for so long. On March 8, 1990, Lyle was arrested. Two days later, Erik surrendered at the airport. The brothers were seen as murderers of their parents to gain their father’s $14 million fortune.

The already horrific story took a turn when the trials began in July 1993. During his testimony, Lyle explained how his father and mother both sexually abused him from the age of six to eight. Erik followed his brother’s testimony and claimed that his father also abused him from the age of six, but that unlike his brother, the abuse never stopped. The alleged abuse ended when he told his brother what had happened, because the next day they murdered their parents.

On the stand, the brothers wept as they discussed the alleged abuse, explaining how they had hurt each other as children. Andy Cano, one of their cousins, testified that Erik told him about his father’s abuse when he was 10 and Cano was 13. Erik asked if it was normal for his father to give him “massages.” He later made him promise to keep the allegations a secret for fear of his father. Another cousin, Alan Andersen, testified that Jose would shower with the children when he visited, and that Kitty would not let him near the room during those times.

The case ended in a mistrial, which was declared by the judge because the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict. The new trial began in October 1995. This trial was more focused on the facts surrounding the murder and its brutality. The prosecution successfully opposed much of the evidence surrounding the abuse, calling that defense the “abuse excuse.”

During this trial, Lyle refused to testify. On July 2, 1996, the Menendez brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In the years following their conviction, the brothers attempted to appeal the case, but their appeal was denied.

There have been other dramatic re-enactments of the infamous murder, including the Lifetime movie “Menendez: Blood Brothers.”

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” is now streaming on Netflix.