As Lyle and Erik Menendez push for their release from prison, not all members of their family are rallying behind them.
The infamous brothers returned to the spotlight with the Ryan Murphy series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Their 90-year-old uncle, Milton Andersen, the brother of their murdered mother, Kitty Menendez, is firmly opposed to the idea.
Andersen’s lawyer, Kathy Cady, revealed his stance in an exclusive statement to PEOPLE, affirming his belief that his nephews should remain behind bars.
“He believes the jury delivered the right verdict, and the judge handed down the correct sentence,” Cady said.
“He feels strongly that they should remain imprisoned for the murder of their parents.”
Milton Andersen believes the murders were motivated by greed
Cady emphasized that Andersen’s opposition stems from the overwhelming evidence presented during the trial, which, in his view, suggested that the murders were driven by greed.
According to Cady, Lyle and Erik Menendez plotted to kill their parents after discovering that their father, Jose Menendez, intended to remove them from his will, potentially stripping them of a significant inheritance.
“They had just found out their father was going to take them out of the will, and it was only after that they came up with the idea to murder their parents,” she says.
“They didn’t want to lose the millions of dollars they hoped to get from their parents through an inheritance.”
This long-running family rift was brought into sharp focus during a press conference on October 16, where more than 20 members of the Menendez family gathered outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in Los Angeles.
Kitty Menendez’s sister defends Lyle and Erik as new evidence supports their claims
Among those speaking in support of the brothers was Joan Andersen VanderMolen, the sister of Kitty Menendez.
She expressed a dramatically different perspective, citing years of alleged sexual abuse by Jose Menendez, which the brothers claim was the root cause of the killings.
“For many years, I struggled with what happened to my sister’s family,” VanderMolen said during the press conference. “But as the details of Lyle and Erik’s abuse came to light, I realized their actions were the desperate response of two boys trying to survive the unspeakable cruelty of their father.”
VanderMolen believes that the brothers, now in their mid-50s, have paid their dues after 35 years behind bars and should be given a chance to live the rest of their lives outside of prison.
Milton Andersen, however, remains unmoved by these claims. Cady stated that Andersen does not believe the brothers were sexually abused and stands by his conviction that justice was served.
The renewed push for the brothers’ release is centered around new evidence, including allegations from former Menudo band member Roy Rosselló, who claims Jose Menendez raped him in the 1980s. Additionally, a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his now-deceased cousin before the murders allegedly details his father’s abuse.
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the first-degree murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home.