The Menendez Brothers: "BLOOD MONEY: The Night Beverly Hills Lost Its Innocence"

August 20, 1989: Jose and Kitty Menendez are brutally shotgunned to death in their Beverly Hills mansion. Reid Carter exposes how their sons Lyle and Erik transformed from grieving orphans to cold-blooded killers, spending $700,000 in six months while police chased mob theories. The bombshell confession to therapist Dr. Oziel, the explosive abuse allegations that shocked America, and the sensational trials that introduced Court TV to millions. Were they calculating murderers or traumatized victims? Reid breaks down the evidence that captivated a nation and asks the devastating question: can abuse ever justify executing your parents? Tomorrow: How TikTok might free two killers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Caalarogu Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Red Carter, and welcome
to Celebrity Trials. Picture this August twentieth, nineteen eighty nine,
a warm Sunday evening in Beverly Hills. Jose and Kitty
Menendez are settling in to watch TV in their Mediterranean

(00:26):
style mansion on Elm Drive. They've got it all, wealth status,
two sons at elite universities, the American dream wrapped in
a five million dollar bo But at ten PM, their sons,
Lyle and Eric will walk through that door with loaded shotguns,
and by ten fifteen, the Menendez parents will be so
mutilated by close range blasts that responding officers initially think

(00:49):
it's a mob hit. Kitty Menendez will be shot ten times,
Jose six times. The crime scene will be so brutal
that hardened Beverly Hills cops guys who've seen it all,
will be shaken. For the next six months. Lyle and
Eric Menendez will play the grieving sons perfectly. They'll spend

(01:10):
their inheritance like lottery winners. They'll cry for the cameras.
They'll tell anyone who'll listen about mysterious mob connections. And
business enemies. But here's the thing about perfect crimes. They
only stay perfect if you keep your mouth shut. And
Eric Menndez he couldn't handle the guilt, so he confessed

(01:30):
to his therapist, and that confession would transform two rich
kids from Beverly Hills into two of America's most infamous killers.
This weekend, as we wait for breaking news from the courts,
we're diving deep into one of the most sensational cases
that captivated America before social media, before court TV became

(01:51):
a household name, before true crime podcasts made everyone an
armchair detective, a case that asked fundamental questions about abuse, privilege,
and whether being a victim can ever justify becoming a killer.
Because thirty six years later, these brothers are still making headlines.
Eric is in the hospital with a serious medical condition.
They've been resentenced, they have a parole hearing coming up

(02:14):
on August twenty first, and a new generation on TikTok
thinks they should be freed. So let me tell you
the story of how two boys from privilege became cold
blooded killers, how they almost got away with it, and
why America can't stop debating whether they're monsters or victims,
or maybe both. To understand what happened that night in

(02:34):
Beverly Hills, you need to understand Jose Menendez. And let
me tell you something, folks. Jose Mendez was the kind
of American success story that makes other immigrants weep with envy.
Born in Cuba, fled to America at sixteen after Castro
took power. No money, no connections, just ambition that could
cut glass. By nineteen eighty nine, he was a top

(02:56):
executive at Live Entertainment, pulling down one million dollars. A
year before that, he'd been at RCA Records, signing acts
like the Eurythmics and Menudo. Remember that detail because it's
going to matter later. Jose didn't just want success, he
demanded it from everyone around him, especially his sons. Lyle,
the older one, was twenty one in nineteen eighty nine,

(03:19):
Eric was eighteen. These weren't neglected kids. They were overscheduled,
over pressured, and, according to what they'd claim later, over
the line into something much darker. The family lived in
a nine thousand square foot mansion in Beverly Hills, not
just any neighborhood, Elm Drive, where the lawns are perfect
and the secrets are buried deeper than the swimming pools.

(03:41):
Kitty Menendez, the mother, was a former beauty queen who'd
given up her teaching career to support Jose's ambitions. By
all accounts, she was deeply unhappy, possibly depressed, definitely drinking
too much. But from the outside, the Menendez family was
goals before Instagram made that a thing. Two handsome sons

(04:01):
attending elite schools. Lyle was at Princeton, well, he had
been until he got suspended for plagiarism. Eric was a
nationally ranked tennis player. They had the cars, the clothes,
the country club memberships, everything money could buy. What money
couldn't buy was a functional family, and on August twentieth,
nineteen eighty nine, that dysfunction exploded in a way that

(04:24):
would captivate America for the next three decades. Here's how
Lyle and Eric initially told the story. They'd gone out
to see a movie Batman, the Tim Burton One with
Jack Nicholson. They'd tried to meet a friend at the
Cheesecake Factory in Beverly Hills, but it was too crowded,
so they'd driven around, eventually heading home around ten PM,

(04:46):
when they walked in, they found their parents shot to
death in the den. Lyle called nine one one, screaming,
someone killed my parents. The nine one one call is haunting.
Lyle sounds hysterical. Eric is wailing in the background. These
are either two boys who've just discovered the most horrific
scene imaginable, or their oscar worthy actors. The operator has

(05:08):
to calm Lyle down just to get the address. Police
arrived to find a massacre. Jose Menendez was slumped on
the couch, his head nearly blown off by a point
blank shotgun blast. Kitty was on the floor in a
pool of blood, her face unrecognizable. The violence was so
extreme detectives initially thought it had to be a professional hit.

(05:30):
Think about that for a moment. These weren't just murders.
This was overkill in the most literal sense. Kitty Menendez
was shot ten times. She'd tried to run and was
shot in the leg, then executed on the floor. One
shot was to the kneecap, what investigators call a mercy shot,
meant to cause maximum pain. This wasn't just murder, this

(05:52):
was rage. But here's where the story gets interesting. The
brother's behavior in the aftermath was let's call it unusual.
Within days of the murders, while police were still processing
the crime scene, Lyle and Eric went on a spending
spree that would make a Saudi prince blush. We're talking
seven hundred thousand dollars in six months. Lyle bought a

(06:14):
Porsche Carrera. Eric hired a tennis coach for fifty thousand
dollars a year. They bought Rolex watches, designer clothes, and
even considered buying a restaurant. Now, people grieve differently. I
get that, But grieving by immediately spending your dead parents'
money like you just won the power ball that raised
some eyebrows. Detective less Sooeler later said something that stuck

(06:37):
with me. They were ordering wings and Buffalo chicken strips
while supposedly planning their parents' funeral. It was like they
were celebrating. But the brothers had explanations for everything. The spending.
They were trying to fill the void left by their
parents' death. The calm demeanor, shock, the fact that nothing
was stolen from the house despite it being a supposed robbery.

(07:00):
The killers must have been scared off for six months.
It looked like they might actually get away with it.
Police investigated Jose's business dealings, looking for enemies. They looked
into mob connections. They even investigated whether it might have
been a mistaken identity hit meant for someone else. But
Eric Menendez had a problem guilt, and in October nineteen

(07:22):
eighty nine, he made the mistake that would unravel everything.
Doctor Jerome Ozol was Eric's therapist. Eric had been seeing
him for various issues, and after the murders, the sessions intensified.
During one session in October nineteen eighty nine, Eric broke
down and confessed he and Lyle had killed their parents.

(07:43):
But here's where it gets complicated. Oziel, who honestly seems
like he walked out of a bad Hollywood screenplay himself,
was having an affair with a woman named Judelan Smith,
and he made the monumentally stupid decision to let her
listen in on his sessions with Eric from the waiting room.
According to Oziel's later testimony, Eric confessed that they'd killed

(08:04):
Jose because he was too controlling and was planning to
disinherit them. They'd killed Kitty because she was suicidal and
they were putting her out of her misery, which, let
me just say, is possibly the worst justification for matricide.
I've ever heard mom seems sad, so we shot her
ten times? Isn't exactly a compelling defense. Aziel, sensing that

(08:26):
he might be in danger himself, told Lyle about Eric's confession.
Lyle allegedly threatened him, saying he'd kill him if he
told anyone. So Oziel did what any reasonable person would do.
He kept recording the sessions and told his mistress everything.
This whole situation was a legal nightmare. Doctor patient confidentiality

(08:47):
is supposed to be sacred, but there are exceptions, like
when the therapist believes someone's life is in danger. Ozeel
claimed he felt threatened, which meant he could potentially break confidentiality. Meanwhile,
Judelan Smith and Oziel's relationship imploded. She accused him of
assault and controlling behavior, and in March nineteen ninety, she

(09:09):
went to the Beverly Hills Police department and dropped a bombshell.
The Menendez brothers had confessed to murdering their parents and
she'd heard it all. On March eighth, nineteen ninety, Lyle
Menendez was arrested outside the mansion where he'd killed his parents.
Eric was in Israel playing a tennis tournament when he
learned about Lyle's arrest. He flew back and turned himself in.

(09:32):
The perfect crime had lasted exactly two hundred and one days.
Back in a moment, welcome back to celebrity trials, I'm

(09:53):
Reed Carter, and we're examining how two rich kids from
Beverly Hills transformed from suspects to cultural lightning rods. The
Menendez brothers first trial began in July nineteen ninety three,
and it was unlike anything the American legal system had
seen before. This was one of the first trials broadcast
gavel to gavel on court TV. Every tier, every objection,

(10:16):
every shocking revelation was beamed into American living rooms. But
here's what made this trial truly revolutionary. The defense strategy.
Leslie Abramson, Eric's attorney, and Jill Lansing representing Lyle, didn't
deny that their clients had killed their parents. Instead, they
argued something that would fundamentally change how America talked about abuse.

(10:39):
The brothers claimed they'd been sexually abused by their father
for years, that Jose Menendez wasn't just a demanding father.
He was a predator who'd been raping his sons since
they were children. They claimed Kitty knew and did nothing
to stop it, and on the night of August twentieth,
nineteen eighty nine, they believed their parents were planning to
kill them to keep the seak quiet. Let me paint

(11:02):
you the scene in that courtroom, Lyle Menendez, who looked
like he'd stepped out of a Princeton admissions brochure, breaking
down in tears as he described being raped by his father, Eric,
barely able to speak. Talking about years of abuse, the
brothers claimed Jose would force them into sexual acts, that
he'd threatened to kill them if they told anyone that

(11:23):
the abuse continued even into their teenage years. The prosecution,
led by Pamela Bozanitch, called bs on all of it.
They pointed out that the brothers had never mentioned abuse
to anyone before killing their parents. No teachers, no friends,
no other family members had ever noticed anything amiss. The
prosecution argued this was a calculated murder motivated by greed,

(11:48):
and the abuse claims were a desperate attempt to avoid
the death penalty. But here's what's fascinating about that first trial,
the juries, each brother had a separate jury couldn't reach
a verdict. After months of testimony weeks of deliberation, both
juries deadlocked. Some jurors believed the abuse claims and thought

(12:09):
it was manslaughter, others thought it was cold blooded murder.
The hung juries were a victory for the defense and
a humiliation for the prosecution. How could they fail to
convict two men who admitted to shotgunning their parents to death?
So they tried again. But the second trial, beginning in
October nineteen ninety five, was different. Judge Stanley Weisberg made

(12:31):
crucial rulings that favored the prosecution. Much of the abuse
testimony was limited the judge rule that even if the
abuse happened, it didn't justify murder. The brothers weren't allowed
to use the imperfect self defense argument that had created
reasonable doubt in the first trial, and this time there
was only one jury for both brothers. The second trial

(12:52):
was less sensational but more damning. Without the emotional abuse
testimony dominating the proceedings, the prosecution could focus on the facts,
the planning, the lies, the spending spree. They played the
nine to one one call repeatedly pointing out what they
claimed were rehearsed emotions. They showed the jury photos of
the crime scene, emphasizing the brutality of the killings. On

(13:16):
March twentieth, nineteen ninety six, the jury reached a verdict
guilty of first degree murder with special circumstances. Both brothers
were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The Menendez brothers, who'd grown up with every privileged money
could buy, would spend the rest of their lives in prison,

(13:37):
or so everyone thought. Here's what fascinates me about the
Menendez case. It refuses to die. Every few years, something
happens that puts these brothers back in the headlines. New documentaries,
new evidence, new generations discovering the case and asking uncomfortable questions.
Were Lyle and Eric Menendez cold blooded killers who executed

(13:59):
their parents for money? Or were they abuse victims who
snapped after years of torture? Can it be both? And
does it matter? The evidence for premeditation is pretty damning.
They bought the shotguns days in advance, using a fake ID.
They waited until their parents were relaxed and vulnerable. After
the murders, they picked up the shell casings to hide fingerprints.

(14:22):
Not exactly the behavior of two boys in the grip
of panic. The spending spree, the initial lies about mob hits,
the fact that they drove around Beverly Hills after the
murders to establish an alibi. It all points to calculation,
not desperation. But then there are things that don't quite
fit the greedy kid's narrative. Why confess to a therapist

(14:45):
if it was all about money, why not just keep
quiet and enjoy the inheritance. Some of the abuse testimony
was corroborated by other witnesses, family members who said Jose
was controlling and inappropriate, though none who witnessed out write
sexual abuse. And there's something else to consider. In nineteen
ninety three, America wasn't ready to believe that fathers could

(15:08):
sexually abuse their sons. The idea that boys could be
victims of sexual violence from their parents was still largely taboo.
The prosecution played into this, suggesting that real men don't
get abused, that the brothers were lying because no self
respecting male would admit to being raped unless it was
a desperate legal strategy. We know better now. We know

(15:31):
that sexual abuse of boys by family members is tragically
common and chronically underreported. We know that victims often don't
tell anyone for years or decades. We know that abuse
victims sometimes do terrible things. But knowing all that, does
it change anything. Even if every word of the abuse
allegations was true, does that justify walking into a room

(15:54):
and shooting your parents with such violence that seasoned cops
thought it was a professional hit back in a moment.
You know what strikes me most about the Menendez case.

(16:15):
It's not the brutality of the murders or the sensational trials.
It's how it became a mirror for America's anxieties about family,
wealth and justice. In nineteen eighty nine, these were rich
kids who killed their parents for money. Case closed. By
nineteen ninety three, they were possible abuse victims failed by
the system. By nineteen ninety six, they were convicted killers

(16:36):
who tried to game the system with fake abuse claims,
And now, in twenty twenty five, their TikTok causes celebs
with gen Z influencers arguing they should be freed. The
case has become a raw shack test. What you see
depends on what you believe about abuse, about justice, about
whether victimhood can excuse violence. It asks uncomfortable questions about

(16:58):
who we believe and why rich white boys claiming abuse
must be lying, But what if they weren't. Tomorrow we'll
dive into how this case exploded back into the headlines,
why Netflix can't stop making shows about it, and how
new evidence has given these brothers something they haven't had
in decades. Hope, we'll explore the letter Eric allegedly wrote

(17:20):
to his cousin before the murders, the testimony from a
former Menudo member who says Jose Menendez raped him too,
and the medical emergency that has Eric Menendez fighting for
his life while simultaneously fighting for his freedom. Because here's
the thing about the Menendez brothers. They've been in prison
for thirty five years. They've served more time than many

(17:40):
convicted killers who've been paroled. They've been model prisoners, getting
married in prison, earning degrees, counseling other inmates. They're not
the same people who walked into that Beverly Hills mansion
with shotguns in nineteen eighty nine. But their parents are
still dead. Kitty Menendez is still shot ten times, Jose
Menendez's head is still nearly blown off. Those facts don't

(18:02):
change no matter how many documentaries get made or how
many tiktoks go viral. The question is what do we
do with people who've done unforgivable things for reasons that
might be understandable. How long is long enough and who
gets to decide? I'm read Carter With Celebrity Trials Tomorrow,
we'll explore how two brothers went from America's most hated

(18:23):
killers to social media martyrs, and why they might actually
walk free after all these years. Because justice isn't always fast,
but it's always complicated, and sometimes the most important trials
happen decades after the verdict. Remember, you don't have to
be a celebrity going in, but you will be one
when the verdict comes down. And the Menendez brothers, they've

(18:46):
been celebrities for all the wrong reasons for thirty six years.
The only question now is whether they'll die that way.
See you tomorrow,