I recently watched Monsters, a Netflix television series based on the real life events of the Menendez brothers, after some friends gave it rave reviews. I also watched the Menendez documentary afterward to see the real life evidence and facts in comparison.
In 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez killed their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills home. At first, the brothers claimed it was the mafia that killed their parents in order to prevent accusations against them. However, Erik went to his therapist, Jerome Oziel, days after the killing to talk about the anxiety he’d been facing. He ended up confessing what he and Lyle did to his parents which scared Oziel. Oziel began recording the brothers’ sessions with their consent and Judalon Smyth, the woman Oziel was having an affair with, turned the tapes into the police. Since the brothers were young, their father would sexually abuse them and would be aggressive towards them. Jose would push them hard to be perfect at everything – from school, to tennis, to having the best girlfriend. Kitty knew about the abuse the whole time and let it happen, she didn’t stand up for her sons or ask Jose to stop. In addition, their parents often said harmful things towards them, including saying that they would kill them at some point. The brothers took this literally and believed Jose and Kitty were going to kill them on a fishing trip the family had planned. After the fishing trip, the brothers promised they were never going to give their parents an opportunity to kill them again, so they decided to kill their parents first.
Although the brothers had a justifiable motive to kill their parents, the jury didn’t fully believe the story and the brothers were eventually sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. They were in separate prisons for 22 years until 2018 and are currently at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
Based on the evidence provided in the documentary, Monsters seems to be a very accurate depiction of the story of the Menendez brothers. Both the documentary and the TV show aim to tell the brothers’ side of the stories. While some believe the brothers killed their parents for the inheritance, I believe the brothers killed their parents in self defense. Especially being young boys who were sexually assaulted by their father in the 1980s, there weren’t any resources to go to for safety. The best solution at the time for the boys was to kill them so they could be set free from the abuse faced by both of their parents. There has recently been new evidence provided for the sexual abuse that could potentially lead to their release from prison. Many people are in hope of justice for the Menendez brothers.
