After covering the story of Jeffrey Dahmer with Evan Peters, the second season of Netflix’s Monsters puts the spotlight on Lyle and Erik Menéndez.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the show stars Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch as the Menéndez brothers, who murdered their parents, José and Kitty, with a shotgun at their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.
READ MORE: Ryan Murphy’s American success story: how the prolific producer became TV’s creative kingpin
Other cast members in the series include Javier Bardem, Chloë Sevigny, Nathan Lane, Ari Graynor, Dallas Roberts and Leslie Grossman.
All nine episodes of Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menéndez Story were released September 19, 2024 on Netflix. A third season in the anthology series is in the works, which focuses on the life of serial killer Ed Gein, played by Charlie Hunnam.
What were the Menéndez brothers convicted of?
Erik and Lyle Menendez outside their Beverly Hills home in 1989 CREDIT: Ronald L. Soble / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Lyle and Erik Menéndez murdered their parents, José and Kitty, on August 20, 1989 in their mansion home in Beverly Hills, California. The two brothers, aged 21 and 18 respectively at the time, were both armed with shotguns and shot their parents over a dozen times.
To this day, the brothers claim they acted in self defense after years of alleged sexual abuse by their father, which was apparently repeatedly ignored by their mother.
Speaking in 2017 about the abuse claims to People, Lyle said: “There’s always going to be scepticism. People think I just hopped up on the witness stand and told a story that a sleazy defense attorney made up. But many people knew there was sexual abuse in this family.”
Months after the crime took place, as the brothers were both living a lavish lifestyle, police obtained recordings from Erik and Lyle’s therapist where Erik confessed to the murders. Lyle was subsequently arrested in March 1990, followed by his brother Erik three days later at an airport when he returned from a tennis tournament in Israel.
The brothers were initially tried separately in 1993 in a highly publicised trial which aired on TV, where the prosecution argued that Lyle and Erik killed their parents for financial gain. Both trials ended in two hung juries.
The two brothers were later tried together in a second trial, where they were both convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to murder. They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996.
Where are the Menéndez brothers now?
Erik and Lyle Menendez CREDIT: Ted Soqui/Sygma via Getty Images
When they were convicted in 1996, Lyle and Erik were separated and sent to different prisons. Lyle was sent to Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, while Erik was sent to Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County around 500 miles away. During this time, they sent letters to one another to keep in touch.
In February 2018, Lyle was transferred to a separate unit within Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility. Erik was later moved into the same housing unit, which marked the first time they had reunited in almost 22 years.
The pair are both serving life sentences at the facility, and have both married since they were originally sentenced. Lyle has been married to Rebecca Sneed since 2003, while Erik married his wife, Tammi Ruth Saccoman, in 1999.
Lyle and Erik have tried to appeal their convictions with various petitions over the years, but all of them have been denied. In May 2023, the brothers filed documents seeking a new trial based on evidence of a newly discovered letter sent by Erik to his cousin, which details his father’s abuse eight months prior to the murders. This is coupled with evidence claiming his father had also sexually abused Menudo boy band member, Roy Rossello.
As reported by the LA Times, the petition, reads: “The shootings were not murder but manslaughter, committed out of an honest though unreasonable belief in the need for self defense after a lifetime of sexual and physical abuse.”
As of September 2024, the LA County District Attorney’s office has received the petition but has yet to make a response.
The post Where are Lyle and Erik Menéndez now? appeared first on NME.
