On the night of August 20, 1989, Beverly Hills police responded to a frantic 911 call from Lyle Menendez, who claimed that his parents had been murdered.
Officers arrived at the family home to find the bloodied bodies of Jose and Kitty Menendez in their TV room, reportedly shot by intruders while their sons were away at the movies.
However, new revelations from Erik Menendez, now featured in a Netflix documentary, suggest that he and his brother should have been immediate suspects.
The brothers have regained the nation’s attention after Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
The dramatized version of their infamous murder of their parents explored the motives behind the crime.
Since the release, celebrities such as Kim Kardashian have called for their release.
Erik Menendez details evidence that should have led to his arrest
In The Menendez Brothers documentary, streaming on Netflix, Erik Menendez recounts his disbelief that he and Lyle were not detained that night.
From his calls to director Alejandro Hartmann, Erik, who remains incarcerated alongside his brother at California’s Donovan Correctional Facility, reflects on the evidence that pointed directly at them.
“There should have been a police response, and we would have been arrested,” Erik stated, emphasizing that they lacked an alibi and had gunpowder residue on their hands.
“We had no alibi. The gunpowder residue was all over our hands. Under normal circumstances, they give you a gunpowder residue test and we would have been arrested immediately,” he elaborated.
At the time, police did not arrest the brothers, despite their emotional state and the proximity of physical evidence, such as gun shells reportedly in Erik’s car.
The absence of an immediate arrest has drawn criticism from those involved in the case, including prosecutor Pamela Bozanich, who questioned how the Beverly Hills Police Department handled the scene.
She highlighted that family members, especially in cases of domestic violence, are often the primary suspects.
Erik and Lyle tell their side on Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers
The documentary dives deeper into the brothers’ accounts, shedding light on their state of mind during the investigation. Erik admits that he would have crumbled under questioning due to his mental and emotional turmoil. “I was in a completely broken and shattered state of mind,” he noted, suggesting that any interrogation would have led to a swift confession.
It wasn’t until March 1990, seven months after the murder, that Erik and Lyle were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The delay in their arrest became a point of interest for many observers, especially given the prominence of their family and the wealth of evidence available.
Their case quickly garnered national attention, leading to two trials—the first ending in a mistrial and the second resulting in their life sentences without the possibility of parole.
The brothers’ story remains a subject of public intrigue, inspiring a range of media portrayals. It features prominently in season two of Ryan Murphy’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and a new podcast from Netflix’s You Can’t Make This Up series.
With renewed scrutiny and new revelations, the Menendez brothers continue to make headlines, decades after that fateful night.
The Menendez Brothers is streaming on Netflix