Menendez Brothers
Over 35 years ago, Lyle and Erik Menendez — then 21 and 18 years old — walked into their Beverly Hills mansion and fired multiple shotgun rounds at their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Now, after serving 35 years behind bars as part of a life sentence without the possibility of parole, the Menendez brothers may be getting a chance at freedom.
While acknowledging that the brothers committed “horrible acts,” it is believed that they engaged in “a journey of redemption and a journey of rehabilitation” while incarcerated.
The brothers admit that they killed their parents. Instead, the focus of the case has long been on why they did it. They insist that they killed out of fear and in self-defense after a lifetime of physical, emotional and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of their parents.
However, new evidence corroborates those longstanding claims and lessens their culpability. Some say Lyle and Erik Menendez should have been convicted of manslaughter instead of first-degree murder, and that if they had been, they would have received a much shorter sentence and been out of prison a long time ago.
Systematically tortured
Although hard proof is almost always absent in child sexual abuse cases, there is still plenty of evidence corroborating their claims which is why it should have been used in both trials…Do you think being systematically tortured and sodomised since 5 could affect decision making behavior?
Naked Photos…
Pictures were found of the brothers' naked bodies at 6 and 8 years old which had their heads cut off and focused on their genitals.
The envelope that contained those photographs even had their mother's handwriting on it, not type, it read "Erik's 6th birthday" These were photos taken by an adult judging by the angle it was taken, pointed at the genitalia of both brothers, taken back to back (so the brothers couldn’t have taken them of each other), confirming that it was purely sexual because it was directed to their genitals only in the photo, and kept in a secret envelope.
Medical Records…
There was an unexplained injury to the back of Erik's throat (posterior pharynx, the uvula, and the soft palate) at 7 years old which was consistent with oral rape.
In 1977, Erik was admitted to the E.R. There is a record from the following day from the Princeton Medical Center. It said:
Hurt posterior pharynx, uvula, and soft palate. Healing well. Symptomatic treatment.
Dr. Kerry English testified that this type of injury is an indication of oral copulation in children. Nowadays, dentists are trained to look for this injury in children to be able to detect and report child abuse.
Both of their medical records had many symptoms that were normally seen in children who are sexually abused such as:
gastrointestinal problems
unexplained abdominal pain
hematomas and lacerations on their faces and bodies
frequent headaches
speech articulation disorder
teeth grinding
This evidence was discussed by Dr. Ann Burgess and Dr. Kerry English in the trial.
Telling their cousins about the abuse…
Cousin Diane Vandermolen was told by Lyle when he was 9 years old that he was “afraid his dad was going to come into his room” and that “he and his dad had been touching each other down there”. Diane went to get Lyle’s mother and tell her but Kitty said Lyle was making things up and convinced Diane that nothing was wrong.
Erik’s cousin Andy Cano testified that when Erik was 12 and Andy was 10, Erik had told him that his dad is "massaging his dick" and was trying to find out if these massages are normal. He also told Andy that "these massages are beginning to hurt." Andy suggested asking his mother but Erik swore him to secrecy.
Andy was 15 years old when the brothers were arrested. He died in 2003 at 30 years old after an overdose on sleeping pills. His mother told reporters that she's convinced that her son died because he couldn't cope with the incarceration of his cousins.
Erik’s letter to his cousin…
After Andy Cano passed away, his mother found a letter in his belongings that 17 year old Erik had written to him some months before killing his parents. In that letter, Erik mentions the ongoing sexual abuse:
Mom isn’t doing good. It’s like she’s here physically but mentally, she’s just gone, if you know what I mean. She freaks out over nothing. I feel bad for her. I don’t know why she puts up with dad’s shit. At times, I wish I could talk to her about things, you know? Some day... especially dad and I but the way she worships him and tells him everything, I’m so afraid she’ll tell him whatever I say. I just can’t risk it.
So now I’m stuck here alone. I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening Andy but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He’s so overweight that I just 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 a hundred times about telling anyone. Especially Lyle. Am I a serious whimpus? I don’t know I’ll make it through this. I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.
Testimoney of the cousins who lives at their house..
Two other cousins, Alan and Kathleen who spent summers at the house said the dad would take the boys to their bedroom and forbid the cousins from going "down the hall".
Brian said he heard cries and groans coming from the bedroom. He said that Kitty would turn the TV volume really high and stop him from going upstairs to see what happened.
Kathy and Brian also testified that Jose and the boys took showers together. Erik talks about these showers when talking to a reporter after the homicides and before they were arrested.
Diane Vandermolen testified that she saw Kitty going to the bathroom to "help Lyle shower" at 14 years old and this would take more than 20 minutes.
Kitty’s therapy notes…
Kitty Menendez had said to her therapist six weeks before her death that she was “hiding sick and embarrassing secrets” regarding her family.
Tape recordings of Donovan Goodreau…
Lyle's former friend, Donovan Goodreau, was recorded on tape, months before the trial saying that Lyle revealed the sexual abuse of him and his brother to him, after Donovan reveled his own abuse 4 months before the homicides.
No, see..see the reason he told me that... he did tell me a lot of things about... you know... his father and stuff like that...
He told me a lot about their past and stuff. And you know it was similar to my own past I... I was molested as a child and I told him that and I guess that opened the gate and he told me and it was like, wow! Lyle and his brother were molested.
School essay…
14 year old Lyle wrote a school essay, “I will change your verdict”, about a man who's sentenced to die for killing a child molester to protect a 12 year old boy. Lyle found out his father was molesting 12 year old Erik for the first time when he was 14.
A man awaits his turn on the electric chair. You the average citizens of America put that man there. Now you can taste his death. You hope it hurts and is slow...
Do you know what drove him to do it?
Lyle, seems to identify with the condemned man, scolding the readers,
You never even gave him a chance to talk. He wanted to, you know. He only wanted to say a few things. But no, not you. You couldn’t let this thing talk as if he had rights or feelings. You only looked at the evidence, smiled and yelled GUILTY!!! Why my friend? Why?
Lyle’s letter to Erik…
A 17 page letter was extracted from Erik's jail cell that Lyle wrote to him in May 1990 (3 years before their first trial began). Jail deputies searched the jail cells of the brothers in June 1990. This is an excerpt from that letter:
We alone know the truth - we alone know the secrets of our families (sic) past. I do not look forward to broadcasting them around the country. I pray that it never has to happen. If it were not for you I doubt I would even try for manslaughter. I would rather try and escape or die. I struggle with my belief that men take responsibility for their actions, pleading abuse is not taking responsibility....
Prosecutors used the letter in the grand jury proceedings but after the brothers admitted to killing their parents, they no longer needed to use the letter in the first trial. The defense could not present a letter written by the defendant.
Jose showing child pornography…
One of their neighbours testified that Jose showed dinner guests a movie containing child pornography and that he found it entertaining.
Menudo’s abuse link…
Jose Menendez was responsible for a boy band called Menudo while working at RCA records. Menudo members weren't recruited simply for their talent, once a boy hit puberty, or reached the age of 16, they were removed from the group and replaced by younger performers. Many former members of the band later said that they were sexually abused during their time in Menudo.
After 3 decades, one of the former band members, Roy Rosselló, spoke about Jose Menendez sexually abusing him in the 2023 documentary 'Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed'.
Rosselló alleged in the docuseries that Jose Menendez molested, drugged and raped him when the then-teenager was performing with the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo and Jose Menendez was the head of RCA Records. The 51-year-old was a member of the group from 1983 to 1986.
That’s the man here that raped me, That’s the pedophile. It’s time for the world to know the truth.
Rosselló says in the clip while pointing at a photo of the late music executive
I know what he did to me in his house.
Another member of the band, Angelo Garcia, detailed the extensive physical and sexual abuse he experienced during his two-year stint in the group.
I was raped a series of times, and that was the way that predators would take advantage of me,
Angelo recounts being plied with alcohol and passing out. When he woke up,
I was naked and I was bleeding, so I knew that I had been penetrated, I had, like, these burn marks on my face from the rug… I was very confused and didn’t understand.
Madame Cheri Woods…
Brothel madame Cheri Woods, who sent Jose Menendez escorts, revealed that he would always ask for underage and petite girls, one of her girls came back bleeding everywhere after spending time with Jose which scared many of the other women.
Woods said she met Jose Menendez in the early '80s, when the Cuban immigrant first took his job as a top executive at Carolco Pictures. For the next several years, Woods claimed, Menendez "called her every week to ask for girls."
Menendez had firm specifications with his orders.
He insisted that the girls be no more than 13 years old and petite, but I never employed minors, so I sent my youngest-looking girls.
Once, he tried to strangle a very sweet girl as he had sex with her, she was so scared she refused to go back to him - regardless of how much he wanted to pay her.
On another occasion, Menendez slapped his date around. And, according to Woods, as he pretended to rape her, she shouted "nasty and macho language" at her.
The final deal between Woods and Menendez took place some six years before he and his wife, Kitty, were found murdered. On this particular date, Menendez allegedly severely injured one of Woods' girls with whips and various sex toys.
The girl came back with scratches and bruises all over, I decided to stop taking his calls.
I believe that Jose's sexual appetite for teenagers and his violent tendencies could easily spill over into home life. Seeing what he did and could've done to the girls, his sons had good reason to think that Jose could hurt them if he wanted to.
Expert testimoney…
The brothers were both evaluated in jail by some of the most well respected child abuse, rape and trauma experts and criminologists in the country and they all concluded that they had both been severely psychologically maltreated, molested and abused:
Dr. Ann Burgess, an internationally recognised pioneer in the assessment and treatment of victims of trauma and abuse who worked with the FBI on criminal profiling, classified the crime scene as demonstrative of a lack of planning and high emotionality and testified that she believes the brothers' sexual abuse claims after evaluating them.
Dr. William Vicary, the forensic psychiatrist who evaluated and treated Erik Menendez for 6 years in Los Angeles County Jail testified that he believes Erik was telling the truth.
Dr. John Wilson, a Cleveland State University psychology professor who had studied post-traumatic stress disorder for 22 years--among Vietnam veterans and civilians and rescue workers in Bosnia, testified that Erik Menendez continues to display symptoms of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Wilson also testified that Erik Menendez suffered from a subclass of the disorder known as battered person syndrome.
Psychologist Dr. Ann Tyler, who specializes in child abuse, told jurors she believed Erik Menendez was truthful when he recounted years of emotional and sexual abuse.
John Conte, a professor of social work at the University of Washington, who evaluated Lyle Menendez testified that the sexual abuse may have gone on longer than Lyle can remember or is willing to admit.
Dr. Stuart Hart, a psychology professor at Indiana University who interviewed Lyle Menendez for 60 hours, said the abuse fed a fear that led to the killing.
There were many behaviours witnessed by teachers, coaches, friends and family members which were consistent with sexually abused children.
The evidence presented only focused on sexual abuse, whereas the defense built a robust case that involved the testimony of more than 50 witnesses and spanned five months. The defense's case included evidence of extensive physical and psychological abuse, refuting any financial motivation, detailing the events leading up to the shootings, and other related matters. Despite not being the defense's argument for why Erik and Lyle Menendez killed their parents, sexual abuse remains a significant factor that helps explain why the brothers believed their parents posed a threat to their lives on the night of the crime.
All all children deserve parents, but not all parents deserve children
If you work with victims of sexual or domestic abuse or saw a minor being rescued from being sexually trafficked life is not like in the movies. Many times the entire judicial system has a hard time with victims who don’t come off as vulnerable and weak. If a survivor laughs when retelling a traumatic event, they are questioned. In reality people create walls to allow themselves to continue existing. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I urge you to at least research about it. Do you know what the prosecutor said in the Menendez case about them? “Men cannot be raped since they lack the equipment to be raped”. The prosecutor was a woman. If they were sweet young white girls constantly crying, believe me… they would have been found “not guilty”.
Jose tried to sabotage Erik’s relationships with girls shows such a twisted sexual possessiveness that he held. He didn't want his sons to have someone to trust enough to confide about what was happening so if they built a strong bond she could have talked about it to her family to help him and sue Jose's ass well before. It is also common for children under the age of 12 years old who have been abused to repeat those behaviors with someone younger, like Lyle did to Erik. Those are not bad intentions at all, the child was simply destroyed from the inside because of this learnt behaviour because of Jose’s horrific abuse. This is why Lyle and Erik were both crying during the trial. The fact that he had to eat lemon to get rid of the taste, the toothbrush, people didnt believe boys could be abused back then. Jose was also a very powerful and wealthy man, even if they had been believed he wouldve gotten out of it, plus their parents threatened to kill them if they did. A lot of abuse victims are unable to talk about what theyve been through, Lyle himself did not want to speak about it and said he would rather lose the murder trial than talk about what they had been put through. Kitty on the other hand knew, of course she knew. But she didn't just know, she also took part in the abuse. Just because her abuse wasn't as violent as Jose's was doesn't mean she should get a free pass. She washed both of their laundry and found blood stained underpants.
Erik spilled his guts to his psychologist, which led to their arrest. Then Lyle confided in a woman he thought he could trust, and she ended up ruining his case in the second trial. He didn’t even testify at the second trial because of the tapes. They were both let down. Just because they were gritty and foul mouthed survivors shouldn’t mean they deserved less sympathy. Unfortunately, society thinks that if you’re not crying and shriveled up in a corner, then your trauma wasn’t that bad. Men suffer in silence when it comes to abuse… until they snap and kill someone.
One can't apply value judgement or moral judgement on traumatic responses. And one can not treat a traumatised person with the standard question of what "I would do in such a case…" whilst sitting comfortably on a sofa having no clue about the absolute horror, mind-bending, soul wrenching terror that such trauma induces. The trauma and sexual abuse happened behind closed doors, in the most intimate space; their room and in the shower. It is obvious that they could never apply "self defense" once alone only with him even if they were physically stronger than him, trauma doesnt allow that. So, they found out an opportunity when they were together and not compromised in a one to one situation with him. This is their self defense case, shooting them when they are not being overpowered, when they are not isolated alone with this big man with their face smashed on the pillow while he rapes them. This is their self defense.
Those brothers are in their 50’s and have never known freedom. They lived under the control of their abusive parents and have now lived under the control of the prisons since. It’s time to set them free…