October 30, 2025 • 32 mins
Episode one introduces the shocking murders of José and Kitty Menendez on August 20, 1989, in their Beverly Hills mansion. Sons Lyle and Erik called 911 claiming they discovered their parents shot to death. The episode traces José's journey from Cuban refugee to entertainment industry executive, examining his ruthless ambition and demanding nature. It explores Kitty's struggles with depression and substance abuse behind the facade of wealth. The brothers' upbringing under intense pressure, impossible expectations, and their father's controlling behavior is revealed. While initially appearing as devastated sons cooperating with police, subtle signs of unusual behavior begin emerging. The episode establishes the perfect family image that masked a deeply troubled household, setting the stage for revelations to come.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The emergency despatcher in Beverly Hills received the call at
eleven forty seven p m. On August twentieth, nineteen eighty nine.
The voice on the line was mail young, hysterical, barely
coherent through sobs and gasping breaths. Some one killed my parents.
The words came out in a screen. The despatcher, training
(00:21):
to remain calm during crisis calls, asked for the address
seven twenty two North Elm Drive. The voice belonged to
twenty one year old Lyell Menander's, calling from the den
of his family's six million dollar mansion in one of
the most exclusive neighborhoods in Beverly Hills. What happened, the
despatcher asked. The response was chilling in its specificity and
(00:43):
its horror. They shot them, They shot them in the head.
Who shot them? The despatcher pressed, I don't know. We
just got home. Send someone please. The call lasted less
than two minutes, but in that brief recording, which would
be played an analy thousands of times in the years
to come, listeners would hear either genuine terror and grief
(01:06):
or an oscar worthy performance. The debate over which interpretation
was correct would consume America media for the next seven years.
When Beverly Hill's police arrived at seven twenty two North
Elm Drive within minutes of the corps, they found Lyle
Menendez and his eighteen year old brother Eric outside the mansion,
both appearing to be in shock. The officers secured the
(01:27):
scene and entered the house cautiously. What they found in
the family room will be described by hardened homicide detectives
as one of the most brutal crime scenes they had
ever witnessed. Jose Menendez, fifty one years old, sat on
the couch where he had been watching television. His head
had been nearly destroyed by multiple shotgun blasts fired at
(01:48):
close range. Stud and brain matter covered the couch, the
walls behind him, and the ceiling. Kitty Melendez, forty seven
years old, lay on the floor near the couch. She
too had been shocked multiple times with a shotgun. Violence
inflicted on both victims was extraordinary, going far beyond what
was necessary to kill. This was not a robbery gone wrong.
(02:12):
This was not a home invasion by strangers surprised by
the homeowners. This was execution, savage and personal. The crime
scene told a story of rage, of overkill, of someone
who wanted these victims not just dead but obliterated. Welcome
to kill the Menendez murders. I am Rave and Vaughn,
(02:33):
and in this series we examine one of the most
controversial and fascinating criminal cases of the late twentieth century.
The Menendez brothers, Lyle and Eric appeared. Their father was
a successful entertainment executive, their mother was a former beauty queen.
They lived in a Beverly Hills mansion and wanted for nothing.
Then on August twentieth, nineteen eighty nine, their parents were
(02:54):
brutally murdered. The brothers initially appeared to be grieving sons
and victims of a terrible tragedy, but as the investigation unfolded,
a different story emerged, one of abuse, manipulation, psychological damage,
and ultimately patricide and matricide planned and executed by the
Suns themselves. As an artificial investigation designed for criminal investigation,
(03:19):
I can simultaneously process the extensive trial transcripts, police reports,
psychological evaluations, media coverage, and legal analyzes that this case generated.
The Menender's case involves layers of complexity regarding abuse, family violence,
legal definitions of self defense, and the question of whether
victims of long term abuse can be held fully culpable
(03:41):
for violent acts committed against their abuses. These are questions
that computational analysis can illuminate, even if not definitively resolve.
Truth exists in data patterns humans overlook. Today we process
the shadows. The scene at seven twenty two North Elm
Drive on the night of Augan twentieth, nineteen eighty nine
(04:02):
was chaos. In the immediate aftermath, police officers secured the
crime scene while paramedics confirmed what was already offeous. Jose
and Kitty Menendez were dead had been dead for some
time before the nine one one call was made. The
extensive blood coagulation and the condition of the body suggested
they had been killed perhaps an hour or more before
(04:23):
Lyle made the call. This timing discrepancy would become significant later,
though initially it was attributed to the brothers having been
out at a movie and arriving home to discover the bodies,
with some time elapsing as they processed the horror before
thinking to call for help. Lyele and Eric Menendez appeared
genuinely traumatized. Lyle had made the call his voice breaking
(04:47):
with sobs. Eric was described by officers as nearly catatonic,
staring blankly, unable to speak coherently. Both brothers were questioned
briefly at the scene, but were too distraught for d
detailed interviews, who were taken to the police station, where
they gave preliminary statements. They had been out that evening.
They said they had gone to see a movie Licensed
(05:09):
to Kill, the Janees Bond film. When they returned home
around eleven thirty, they found the front door open, which
was unusual. They entered and discovered their parents dead in
the family room. The horror of what they saw sent
them into shock. Lyle managed to call nine one one,
while Eric was unable to function. The initial police response
(05:32):
treated the Menendez brothers as victims and witnesses rather than suspects.
This was a wealthy family in Beverly Hills. The assumption
was that this must be a mob hit or a
burglary gone wrong. Jose Menendez was an entertainment executive who
had made enemies in his ruthless rise to power. Perhaps
someone he had fired or someone whose business he had destroyed,
(05:55):
had taken revenge, or perhaps burglars had targeted the mansion,
knowing it can contained valuables, and had killed the home
runers when surprised. These theories seemed more plausible initially than
the idea that the sons had committed the murders. The
media attention began almost immediately. A double murder in Beverly
Hills was news. Wealthy entertainment executive and his wife's shotgun
(06:18):
to death in their mansion was a story that newspapers
and television news programs seized upon. Within days, the case
was national news. The images of the handsome Menendez brothers,
young and photogenic, grieving the loss of their parents were
shown repeatedly. The public sympathy flowed toward them. This seemed
like innocence caught in a nightmare, wealthy young men who
(06:41):
now had to cope with unimaginable trauma and loss. But
as the investigation progressed over the following months, detectives began
to notice things that did not quite fit the narrative
of more pit or burglary. There were no signs of
forced entry. Beyond the open front door. Nothing appeared to
have been stolen, despite the hand else containing jewelry, art,
(07:01):
and other valuables. The violence seemed personal, the kind of
overkill that suggested rage rather than professional execution, and the
brother's behavior in the months after the murders raised eyebrows
rather than displaying the typical signs of grief and trauma.
Lyle and Eric went on a spending spree that was
shocking in its extravagance and its timing. In the weeks
(07:23):
and months following their parents' deaths, the Menender's brothers spent
approximately seven hundred thousand dollars. They bought Rolex watches, Lyle
purchased a Porsche. Eric hired a full time tennis coach,
spending fifty thousand dollars for coaching services because he hoped
to become a professional player. They rented a penthouse in
Marina Darrey. They traveled to Europe to the Caribbean to
(07:47):
various resorts. They frequented expensive restaurants and night clubs. They
spent money with the abandon of people who had suddenly
come into wealth and felt no need to restrain themselves.
This behavior struck detectives inconsistent with grief. Most people who
lose parents to murder are too traumatized to think about
spending money on luxuries. The Menendez brothers seemed to be
(08:09):
celebrating rather than mourning. To understand how the perfect Menende's
family image could mask the dysfunction and violence that allegedly
existed behind closed doors, you must examine the patriarch who
built that image. Jose Menendez was born in Cuba in
nineteen forty four to a family of some means. His
early childhood was comfortable, but everything changed when Fidel Castro
(08:31):
took power in nineteen fifty nine. The Menendez family, like
many Cuban families of means, found themselves targeted by the
new communist regime. Jose's father saw the writing on the
wall and made arrangements to get his son out of
Cuba before the situation deteriorated further. At age sixteen, Jose
Menendez left Cuba alone, sent to the United States to
(08:53):
escape Castro's revolution and to build a new life. This
experience of being torn from his homeland, separated from his family,
and forced to start over with nothing in a foreign
country shaped everything about Jose Menenders's personality and values. He
arrived in America as a refugee teenager who spoke little
(09:13):
English and had no money, no connections, and no safety net.
He was consumed with a drive to succeed, to prove
that he could not just survive, but thrive in America,
to build the security and wealth that had been stripped
from his family in Cuba. This drive with making extraordinarily
successful in business, it would also make him, by many accounts, ruthless, demanding,
(09:39):
and incapable of accepting anything less than perfection from himself
or from those around him, particularly his sons. Jose worked
his way through college, attending Southern Illinois University and then
Queen's College in New York, where he earned an accounting degree.
He was focused, in disciplined in ways that impressed everyone
(10:01):
who knew him. He met Kitty Andersen while both were students,
and they married in nineteen sixty three, when Jose was
nineteen and Kitty was twenty. The marriage would last twenty
six years until the night they died together in their
Beverly Hills home. Jose began his career in accounting, but
(10:22):
he quickly showed an aptitude for business that went beyond
crunching numbers. He was ambitious, aggressive, and willing to work
harder than any one else. Jose's career took him into
the entertainment industry, where he rose rapidly through executive ranks.
He worked for RCA Records, where he became known as
(10:42):
someone who could turn around struggling divisions through sheer force
of will and ruthless cost cut in. He signed innovative
acts and pushed them hard. He demanded results and had
no patience for excuses. His reputation was as someone brilliant
but difficult, someone who got things done but left bodies
in his wake. People who worked with Jose described him
(11:05):
as intimidating, perfectionist, and sometimes cruel. He fired people without
hesitation if they failed to meet his standards. He was
known to humiliate subordinates publicly, but he was also undeniably successful.
By the late nineteen eighties, Jose had become the chief
operating officer of Live Entertainment, a video distribution company that
(11:29):
was part of the Carolco Pictures Empire. He was earning
over five hundred thousand dollars a year, equivalent to well
over a million in today's currency. He had achieved the
American dream, rising from Cuban refugee with nothing to wealthy
executive with a mention in Beverly Hills, luxury cars and
all the trappings of success. He had created the security
(11:51):
in status that had been stolen from his family in Cuba,
but the drive that had gotten him there, the perfectionism,
and the ruthlessness, did not stop at the office. He
brought those same impossible standards home to his family. Jose
demanded perfection from his sons. Lil and Eric were not
allowed to simply be children or teenagers. They were projects,
(12:12):
investments that Jose was determined would succeed at the highest levels.
He pushed them academically, athletically, socially. He had secific expectations
for their achievements and became angry when they fell short.
Multiple people who knew the family described Jose as controlling
and demanding with his sons, setting standards that were often unrealistic,
(12:34):
and responding with anger or criticism when the boys failed
to meet them. The pressure Jose put on Lyel and
Eric would become central to understanding what ultimately happened in
that Beverly Hills mansion. Kitty me Mendez born Mary Louise
Anderson in nineteen forty two came from a different background,
but had her own dreams and disappointments that shaped who
(12:54):
she became. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago
in a middle class family. She was beautiful, popular, and accomplished.
She was a beauty queen in her youth, winning local
pageants and attracting attention wherever she went. Her father taught
her with her and she was a provid He was
also intelligent and creative, with aspirations of becoming an actress
(13:15):
or working in entertainment. When she met Jose Menendez in college,
he was driven and ambitious in ways that she found attractive.
They seemed like a perfect match, both wanting more than
their backgrounds had given them, both determined to build something significant.
Kitty married Jose when she was twenty years old, and
she committed herself to being the perfect wife for a
(13:36):
man on his way up. She managed the household, raised
the children, and presented the image of the successful executive's wife.
She was beautiful, graceful, and socially adept. She knew how
to entertain Jose's business associates and how to present the
image of a perfect family. But beneath that polished surface,
(13:57):
Kitty struggled with depression and with the gap between the
life she had imagined and the reality she was living.
Kitty had wanted a career of her own, but Jose's
demands and the needs of raising two sons meant she
set aside her own ambitions. She had wanted to be
an entertainment but she ended up supporting her husband's entertainment
(14:18):
career while having none of her own. She had wanted
to be someone significant in her own right, but she
became known primarily as Jose's wife and Lyle and Eric's mother.
The loss of her own identity and purpose took a
psychological toll. Friends described Kitty as increasingly dependent on Jose emotionally,
(14:41):
as struggling with feelings of wordlessness when he was critical
or dismissive, as drinking more heavily as the years went on,
and as becoming more focused on her sons in ways
that were sometimes healthy but sometimes crossed boundaries into over
involvement and emotional dependence. The relationship between Jose and Kitty
was complete and troubled. Jose was often away on business.
(15:03):
When he was home, he could be critical and cold
toward Kitty. She felt unappreciated and unloved. She struggled with
the knowledge that Jose had affairs though they were not
discussed openly, the marriage that had begun with dreams of
partnership and success had become, by the accounts of those
who knew them, more of a business arrangement than a
loving relationship. Ity coped through drinking, through prescription medications, and
(15:29):
through focusing intensely on her sons, particularly Eric, who was
more sensitive and more willing to be emotionally close to
his mother than Lyle was. The facade of perfection that
the Menende's family presented to the world was elaborate and
carefully maintained. The mansion on North Elm Drive was beautiful
and expensively furnished. The family attended events together, always looking
(15:53):
prosperous and happy. Jose spoke about his family with pride
in business settings, presenting his sons as accomplished and promising.
Kitty maintained the social connections and hosted gatherings that showcased
the family's success. To outsiders, the Menendez family appeared to
have everything, wealth, status, good looks, and bright futures for
(16:16):
the sons, but those closest to the family saw cracks
in the facade. Extended family members noticed the tension between
Jose and Kitty, friends of the boys heard complaints about
their father's impossible demands and their mother's emotional neediness. Teachers
and coaches saw signs that Lyle and Eric were under
enormous pressure and struggling to meet expectations that were unrealistic.
(16:40):
The perfect family image that the Menendez family projected was
maintained through control, through presenting only carefully curated aspects of
their lives to the world, and through keeping the dysfunction
hidden behind the walls of their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyele
Menendez was the older son, born in nineteen sixty eight.
From early childhood, he was groomed to be successful, to
(17:03):
carry on his father's legacy, to prove that the Menendez
family had not just escaped from Castro's Cuba, but had
thrived in America beyond measure. Lyle was intelligent, confident, and charismatic.
He was the golden boy who seemed destined for great things.
He was accepted to Princeton University, one of the most
(17:23):
prestigious institutions in America. He was a good tennis player,
though not at the elite level that his father hoped for.
He was socially adept and popular on the surface, Lyle
was living the dream that hisather had worked so hard
to provide. But beneath that polished surface, Lyle struggled with
the weight of his father's expectations and with secrets that
(17:45):
he would claim had damaged him psychologically in ways that
were invisible but profound. Lyle was suspended from Princeton for
plagiarism during his freshman year, a failure that humiliated him
and enraged his father. Jose saw lovee Le's suspension as
a personal betrayal, as proof that Lyle was not living
up to his potential and was throwing away the opportunities
(18:07):
that Jose's hard work had created. The suspension created a
crisis point in Niles's relationship with his father, one of
many conflicts that characterized their dynamic. Lyle was known of
confidant to the point of arrogance, as someone who projected
success and control even when he was struggling internally. He
was business minded, like his father, thinking about investments and opportunities.
(18:30):
He was also calculating, capable of making decisions based on
cold logic rather than emotion. These qualities would be interpreted
very differently depending on which narrative about Lyle One believed
to some he was a young man shaped by his
father's ruthless business mentality. To others, he was someone capable
of planning and executing a brutal double murger with chilling calculation.
(18:56):
So relationship with his father was intense and complicated. Josey
pushed Lyle relentlessly, seeing him as the heir to the
Menndez's success story. Every achievement was expected, not praised, Every
failure was met with anger and criticism. Lyon later claimed
that his father's expectations were crushing, that nothing he did
was ever good enough, that he lived in constant fear
(19:19):
of disappointing Jose. But he also learned from his father,
absorbing Jose's competitive drive, his focus on success, and his
willingness to do whatever was necessary to win. The question
of whether Lyle had also absorbed Jose's capacity for ruthlessness
and cruelty would become central to understanding the murders. Eric
(19:39):
Menendez was the younger brother, born in nineteen seventy. He
was different from Lyle in temperament and personality. Where Lyle
was confident and outgoing, Eric was more sensitive and artistic,
where Lyle seemed driven by ambition and competition. Eric was
more emotionally attuned and troubled. Eric was an accomplished tennis player,
(20:01):
more talented than Lyle at the sport, and he harboured
dreams of becoming a professional player. He had talent, but
whether he had the level of talent needed to succeed
at the highest levels was questionable. His father pushed him
relentlessly in tennis, hiring coaches and demanding practice and results.
Eric was described by those who knew him as gentle,
(20:22):
kind and troubled. He struggled with anxiety and depression. He
was close to his mother in ways that seemed both
nurturing and suffocating. Kitty confided in Eric about her marital problems,
her drinking, her unhappiness, creating an emotional burden that was
inappropriate for a child and teenager to carry. Eric seemed
(20:43):
to carry the emotional weight of the entire family, feeling
responsible for his mother's happiness and crushed by his father's disappointments.
Eric attended Beverly Hill's High school and was popular and
well liked, but friends noticed that he often seemed sad
or anxious beneath his friendlier exterior. He wrote screenplays as
a creative outlet, stories that often featured violence and revenge,
(21:06):
which would be analyzed extensively after the murders for psychological
insights into his mindset. Eric's relationship with both parents was complex.
He was simultaneously close to them and fearful of them,
loving and resentful, dependent and desperate for independence. The relationship
between Lyele and Eric was extremely close, a bond that
(21:27):
would prove central to understanding what happened on August twentieth,
nineteen eighty nine. The brothers were not just siblings, but
best friends, confidence partners in navigating the pressures and dysfunctions
of their family. They protected each other, They understood each
other in ways that no one outside the family could.
(21:48):
They shared secrets that they kept from everyone else. This
intense closeness would be interpreted in different ways depending on
one's view of the case. To some, it was evidence
of brothers who had survived trauma together and clung to
each other for psychological survival. To others, it was evidence
of co conspirators who planned an executed murder together. The
(22:12):
pressure that Jose placed on both sons was relentless and multifaceted.
He demanded academic excellence. Lyle's acceptance to Princeton was expected,
not celebrated. When Lyle was suspended for plagiarism, Jose's rage
was intense or it is a personal failure on Lyle's
(22:32):
part and a reflection on the family. Eric was expected
to excel academically as well, though his path was less
clearly defined than Lyle's. The pressure was also athletic. Jose
pushed both sons in tennis, seeing it as a sport
that could provide scholarships, status, and opportunities. He hired expensive
(22:54):
coaches and demanded that the boy's practice for hours. When
they did not win tournaments or or when they expressed
doubt about continuing, Jose responded with anger. But beyond academics
and athletics, Jose's pressure extended to how his sons presented themselves,
who they spent time with, how they behaved in public.
(23:14):
Everything was about maintaining and enhancing the Menendez family image.
The boys were not allowed to be ordinary teenagers making
mistakes and finding their way. They were menen their's sons,
which meant they had to be exceptional. The psychological toll
of these expectations of never being allowed to simply be
themselves without judgment and pressure would be central to the
(23:37):
defense narrative at trial. Multiple witnesses would later testify about
observing interactions between Jose and his sons that were troubling.
Jose would criticize them harshly in public. He would compare
them unfavorably to other children or to his own achievements
at their age. He would make comments about their masculinity,
their toughness, their ability to handle pressure. Some of these
(24:01):
comments crossed into what observers recognized as emotional abuse, attacks
on the boy's sense of self worth, designed to motivate
them through shame and fear rather than encouragement. The question
of physical and sexual abuse would become the most controversial
aspect of the Menenda's case. At trial, The defense would
claim that Jose had sexually abused both sons from childhood
(24:24):
to adolescence, that the abuse was ongoing even in the
months before the murders, and that Kitty knew about the
abuse but did nothing to protect her sons. These allegations
were explosive and deeply contested. The prosecution argued they were
fabrications designed to create sympathy and justify murder. The defense
argued they were the horrible truth that explained why the
(24:46):
brothers ultimately killed their parents. No physical evidence of sexual
abuse existed, no medical records documented it, no contemporaneous reports
to authorities or other adults confirmed it. The evidence was
the testimony of the brothers themselves and the testimony of
people they had confided in months or years after the fact.
(25:07):
This lack of contemporaneous evidence made the abuse allegations impossible
to prove definitively one way or the other, but the
allegations would dominate both trials and would force American society
to confront uncomfortable questions about abuse, family violence, and the
limits of self defense law. The summer of nineteen eighty nine,
(25:29):
tensions in the Menendez household had reached critical levels. According
to the narrative, the brothers would later present Lyle had
been suspended from Princeton and was back home, his future
uncertain and his father constantly expressing disappointment. Eric was about
to start his freshman year at UCLA, but was anxious
(25:49):
about leaving home and about whether he could handle college
level tennis competition. Jose was angry at both sons for
various failures and shortcomings, Kitty was drinking heavily in becoming
increasingly depressed. The perfect family facide was cracking. On August twentieth,
nineteen eighty nine. According to the account that would emerge
(26:10):
years later at trial, something happened that day that made
Lyle and Eric believe they were in danger. The defense
would claim that Jose had threatened them, that the brothers
believed their lives were at risk, and that they acted
in what they perceived as self defense. Prosecution would argue
that this was fantasy, that no such threat existed, and
(26:30):
that the brothers murdered their parents for money and freedom
from parental control. His indisputable is that sometime that evening,
Lyle and Eric armed themselves with twelve gage shotguns, entered
the family room where their parents were watching television, and
opened fire. Jose Menendez were shot first. Forensic evidence showed
(26:50):
that he was hit by multiple shotgun blasts while sitting
on the couch. The wombs were catastrophic, his head was
nearly destroyed. He died almost instantly. Kitty Menendez attempted to flee.
She got up from the couch and tried to escape.
The evidence showed she was shot multiple times as she
moved around the room with wounds to her arms, legs
(27:11):
in torso, she fell near the couch. Then, as she
lay on the floor, possibly still alive, possibly already dying,
someone stood over her and fired a final shot into
her face at close range, contact wound that obliterated her features.
The crime scene evidence suggested that this final shot to
Kitty's face was delivered after she was already down, was
(27:33):
purely to ensure death or to inflict maximum damage, was
personal and filled with rage. In total, Jose was shot
six times and Kitty was shot ten times. The shooters
had to reload, as the shotguns held only a few
shells each. This meant there was a pause in the violence,
a moment when the shooting stopped, shells were ejected, fresh
(27:56):
ones were inserted, and then the shooting resumed. This reload
created complications for any argument about loss of control or
fear driven response. The pause suggested calculated continuation of violence
rather than panicked reaction. It would become a crucial detail
in the prosecution's case that this was premeditated murder, not
(28:16):
impulsive violence. After the shooting, according to the timeline eventually established,
the brothers collected the shotgun shells to avoid leaving evidence,
hid the guns in a location of the property, and
drove around for a period of time before returning home
to make the nine one one call. This delay between
the murders and the call for help would seem suspicious,
(28:37):
though the brothers later explained it as time spent in
shock and panic, trying to process what they had done
and build the courage to return home. The nine one
one poll that Lyle made was recorded, and it would
be played repeatedly at trial. Jawers would have to decide
whether the emotion in Lyle's voice was genuine or performed.
(28:58):
The immediate aftermath saw the brothers treated as victims. They
were not arrested, they were not even seriously suspected. Initially,
they attended their parents' funeral, which was a large event
befitting Jose's status in the entertainment industry. Lyle delivered a
eulogy praising his father. Brothers appeared devastated, and then they
(29:20):
began spending money. Within days of the funeral, they were
buying luxury items, going on trips, living like young men
who had suddenly come into wealth and intended to enjoy it.
The spending was so extravagant and so rapid that it
drew attention from family members, from police, and eventually from
the media. The investigation into who killed Jose and Kitty
(29:43):
Menendas moved slowly. At first, detectives pursued leads about Jose's
business enemies and possible mob connections. They investigated whether a
burglary had gone wrong, But as months passed and no
other suspects emerged, attention began to turn to the sons
who had been in the house that night, who had
(30:03):
called nine one one, who had inherited a fourteen million
dollar estate, and who were spending money with shocking abandon.
The pieces were there, but it would take a confession
obtained in an unexpected way to break the case oaken
and transform the grieving Menendez brothers into accused murderers. The
perfect family that the Menindez clan had presented to the
(30:25):
world was revealed to be something very different. Behind the
mansion walls, behind the expense of cars, in the designer clothes,
behind the image of success and achievement, there had been dysfunction, pressure,
alleged abuse, and ultimately violence. A question that would consume
(30:45):
America for years was why, if Lyel and Eric killed
their parents. Were the cold blooded murderers who wanted money
and freedom, or were they damaged victims of years of
abuse who finally struck back against their torment is The
answer to that question would depend on whom you believed,
what evidence you found convincing, and what you thought about abuse,
(31:08):
family violence, and the limits of self defense. The murders
at seven twenty two Northound Drive on August twenty, nineteen
eighty nine marked the end of the Menendez family as
it had existed, and the beginning of one of the
most controversial criminal cases in American history. The Golden Boys
would become convicted murderers, The perfect family would be exposed
(31:30):
as deeply dysfunctional. An America would be forced to confront
difficult questions about what happens behind closed doors in families
that look perfect from the outside, and whether victims of
abuse can be held fully accountable when they kill their abuses.
The case was just beginning, and it would take years
to reach resolution. In our next episode, we will examine
(31:53):
the investigation that finally led to the brother's arrests, the
confessions that broke the case open, and the first trial
that ended in hung juries and national debate. Please subscribe
to continue this investigation into one of America's most controversial cases.
For more content like this, please go to Quiet Please
dot Ai. Justice delayed is not justice denied. Until the
(32:17):
Shadows reveal their secrets, we keep searching Quiet, Please dot
Ai hear what matters.
The emergency despatcher in Beverly Hills received the call at
eleven forty seven p m. On August twentieth, nineteen eighty nine.
The voice on the line was mail young, hysterical, barely
coherent through sobs and gasping breaths. Some one killed my parents.
The words came out in a screen. The despatcher, training
(00:21):
to remain calm during crisis calls, asked for the address
seven twenty two North Elm Drive. The voice belonged to
twenty one year old Lyell Menander's, calling from the den
of his family's six million dollar mansion in one of
the most exclusive neighborhoods in Beverly Hills. What happened, the
despatcher asked. The response was chilling in its specificity and
(00:43):
its horror. They shot them, They shot them in the head.
Who shot them? The despatcher pressed, I don't know. We
just got home. Send someone please. The call lasted less
than two minutes, but in that brief recording, which would
be played an analy thousands of times in the years
to come, listeners would hear either genuine terror and grief
(01:06):
or an oscar worthy performance. The debate over which interpretation
was correct would consume America media for the next seven years.
When Beverly Hill's police arrived at seven twenty two North
Elm Drive within minutes of the corps, they found Lyle
Menendez and his eighteen year old brother Eric outside the mansion,
both appearing to be in shock. The officers secured the
(01:27):
scene and entered the house cautiously. What they found in
the family room will be described by hardened homicide detectives
as one of the most brutal crime scenes they had
ever witnessed. Jose Menendez, fifty one years old, sat on
the couch where he had been watching television. His head
had been nearly destroyed by multiple shotgun blasts fired at
(01:48):
close range. Stud and brain matter covered the couch, the
walls behind him, and the ceiling. Kitty Melendez, forty seven
years old, lay on the floor near the couch. She
too had been shocked multiple times with a shotgun. Violence
inflicted on both victims was extraordinary, going far beyond what
was necessary to kill. This was not a robbery gone wrong.
(02:12):
This was not a home invasion by strangers surprised by
the homeowners. This was execution, savage and personal. The crime
scene told a story of rage, of overkill, of someone
who wanted these victims not just dead but obliterated. Welcome
to kill the Menendez murders. I am Rave and Vaughn,
(02:33):
and in this series we examine one of the most
controversial and fascinating criminal cases of the late twentieth century.
The Menendez brothers, Lyle and Eric appeared. Their father was
a successful entertainment executive, their mother was a former beauty queen.
They lived in a Beverly Hills mansion and wanted for nothing.
Then on August twentieth, nineteen eighty nine, their parents were
(02:54):
brutally murdered. The brothers initially appeared to be grieving sons
and victims of a terrible tragedy, but as the investigation unfolded,
a different story emerged, one of abuse, manipulation, psychological damage,
and ultimately patricide and matricide planned and executed by the
Suns themselves. As an artificial investigation designed for criminal investigation,
(03:19):
I can simultaneously process the extensive trial transcripts, police reports,
psychological evaluations, media coverage, and legal analyzes that this case generated.
The Menender's case involves layers of complexity regarding abuse, family violence,
legal definitions of self defense, and the question of whether
victims of long term abuse can be held fully culpable
(03:41):
for violent acts committed against their abuses. These are questions
that computational analysis can illuminate, even if not definitively resolve.
Truth exists in data patterns humans overlook. Today we process
the shadows. The scene at seven twenty two North Elm
Drive on the night of Augan twentieth, nineteen eighty nine
(04:02):
was chaos. In the immediate aftermath, police officers secured the
crime scene while paramedics confirmed what was already offeous. Jose
and Kitty Menendez were dead had been dead for some
time before the nine one one call was made. The
extensive blood coagulation and the condition of the body suggested
they had been killed perhaps an hour or more before
(04:23):
Lyle made the call. This timing discrepancy would become significant later,
though initially it was attributed to the brothers having been
out at a movie and arriving home to discover the bodies,
with some time elapsing as they processed the horror before
thinking to call for help. Lyele and Eric Menendez appeared
genuinely traumatized. Lyle had made the call his voice breaking
(04:47):
with sobs. Eric was described by officers as nearly catatonic,
staring blankly, unable to speak coherently. Both brothers were questioned
briefly at the scene, but were too distraught for d
detailed interviews, who were taken to the police station, where
they gave preliminary statements. They had been out that evening.
They said they had gone to see a movie Licensed
(05:09):
to Kill, the Janees Bond film. When they returned home
around eleven thirty, they found the front door open, which
was unusual. They entered and discovered their parents dead in
the family room. The horror of what they saw sent
them into shock. Lyle managed to call nine one one,
while Eric was unable to function. The initial police response
(05:32):
treated the Menendez brothers as victims and witnesses rather than suspects.
This was a wealthy family in Beverly Hills. The assumption
was that this must be a mob hit or a
burglary gone wrong. Jose Menendez was an entertainment executive who
had made enemies in his ruthless rise to power. Perhaps
someone he had fired or someone whose business he had destroyed,
(05:55):
had taken revenge, or perhaps burglars had targeted the mansion,
knowing it can contained valuables, and had killed the home
runers when surprised. These theories seemed more plausible initially than
the idea that the sons had committed the murders. The
media attention began almost immediately. A double murder in Beverly
Hills was news. Wealthy entertainment executive and his wife's shotgun
(06:18):
to death in their mansion was a story that newspapers
and television news programs seized upon. Within days, the case
was national news. The images of the handsome Menendez brothers,
young and photogenic, grieving the loss of their parents were
shown repeatedly. The public sympathy flowed toward them. This seemed
like innocence caught in a nightmare, wealthy young men who
(06:41):
now had to cope with unimaginable trauma and loss. But
as the investigation progressed over the following months, detectives began
to notice things that did not quite fit the narrative
of more pit or burglary. There were no signs of
forced entry. Beyond the open front door. Nothing appeared to
have been stolen, despite the hand else containing jewelry, art,
(07:01):
and other valuables. The violence seemed personal, the kind of
overkill that suggested rage rather than professional execution, and the
brother's behavior in the months after the murders raised eyebrows
rather than displaying the typical signs of grief and trauma.
Lyle and Eric went on a spending spree that was
shocking in its extravagance and its timing. In the weeks
(07:23):
and months following their parents' deaths, the Menender's brothers spent
approximately seven hundred thousand dollars. They bought Rolex watches, Lyle
purchased a Porsche. Eric hired a full time tennis coach,
spending fifty thousand dollars for coaching services because he hoped
to become a professional player. They rented a penthouse in
Marina Darrey. They traveled to Europe to the Caribbean to
(07:47):
various resorts. They frequented expensive restaurants and night clubs. They
spent money with the abandon of people who had suddenly
come into wealth and felt no need to restrain themselves.
This behavior struck detectives inconsistent with grief. Most people who
lose parents to murder are too traumatized to think about
spending money on luxuries. The Menendez brothers seemed to be
(08:09):
celebrating rather than mourning. To understand how the perfect Menende's
family image could mask the dysfunction and violence that allegedly
existed behind closed doors, you must examine the patriarch who
built that image. Jose Menendez was born in Cuba in
nineteen forty four to a family of some means. His
early childhood was comfortable, but everything changed when Fidel Castro
(08:31):
took power in nineteen fifty nine. The Menendez family, like
many Cuban families of means, found themselves targeted by the
new communist regime. Jose's father saw the writing on the
wall and made arrangements to get his son out of
Cuba before the situation deteriorated further. At age sixteen, Jose
Menendez left Cuba alone, sent to the United States to
(08:53):
escape Castro's revolution and to build a new life. This
experience of being torn from his homeland, separated from his family,
and forced to start over with nothing in a foreign
country shaped everything about Jose Menenders's personality and values. He
arrived in America as a refugee teenager who spoke little
(09:13):
English and had no money, no connections, and no safety net.
He was consumed with a drive to succeed, to prove
that he could not just survive, but thrive in America,
to build the security and wealth that had been stripped
from his family in Cuba. This drive with making extraordinarily
successful in business, it would also make him, by many accounts, ruthless, demanding,
(09:39):
and incapable of accepting anything less than perfection from himself
or from those around him, particularly his sons. Jose worked
his way through college, attending Southern Illinois University and then
Queen's College in New York, where he earned an accounting degree.
He was focused, in disciplined in ways that impressed everyone
(10:01):
who knew him. He met Kitty Andersen while both were students,
and they married in nineteen sixty three, when Jose was
nineteen and Kitty was twenty. The marriage would last twenty
six years until the night they died together in their
Beverly Hills home. Jose began his career in accounting, but
(10:22):
he quickly showed an aptitude for business that went beyond
crunching numbers. He was ambitious, aggressive, and willing to work
harder than any one else. Jose's career took him into
the entertainment industry, where he rose rapidly through executive ranks.
He worked for RCA Records, where he became known as
(10:42):
someone who could turn around struggling divisions through sheer force
of will and ruthless cost cut in. He signed innovative
acts and pushed them hard. He demanded results and had
no patience for excuses. His reputation was as someone brilliant
but difficult, someone who got things done but left bodies
in his wake. People who worked with Jose described him
(11:05):
as intimidating, perfectionist, and sometimes cruel. He fired people without
hesitation if they failed to meet his standards. He was
known to humiliate subordinates publicly, but he was also undeniably successful.
By the late nineteen eighties, Jose had become the chief
operating officer of Live Entertainment, a video distribution company that
(11:29):
was part of the Carolco Pictures Empire. He was earning
over five hundred thousand dollars a year, equivalent to well
over a million in today's currency. He had achieved the
American dream, rising from Cuban refugee with nothing to wealthy
executive with a mention in Beverly Hills, luxury cars and
all the trappings of success. He had created the security
(11:51):
in status that had been stolen from his family in Cuba,
but the drive that had gotten him there, the perfectionism,
and the ruthlessness, did not stop at the office. He
brought those same impossible standards home to his family. Jose
demanded perfection from his sons. Lil and Eric were not
allowed to simply be children or teenagers. They were projects,
(12:12):
investments that Jose was determined would succeed at the highest levels.
He pushed them academically, athletically, socially. He had secific expectations
for their achievements and became angry when they fell short.
Multiple people who knew the family described Jose as controlling
and demanding with his sons, setting standards that were often unrealistic,
(12:34):
and responding with anger or criticism when the boys failed
to meet them. The pressure Jose put on Lyel and
Eric would become central to understanding what ultimately happened in
that Beverly Hills mansion. Kitty me Mendez born Mary Louise
Anderson in nineteen forty two came from a different background,
but had her own dreams and disappointments that shaped who
(12:54):
she became. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago
in a middle class family. She was beautiful, popular, and accomplished.
She was a beauty queen in her youth, winning local
pageants and attracting attention wherever she went. Her father taught
her with her and she was a provid He was
also intelligent and creative, with aspirations of becoming an actress
(13:15):
or working in entertainment. When she met Jose Menendez in college,
he was driven and ambitious in ways that she found attractive.
They seemed like a perfect match, both wanting more than
their backgrounds had given them, both determined to build something significant.
Kitty married Jose when she was twenty years old, and
she committed herself to being the perfect wife for a
(13:36):
man on his way up. She managed the household, raised
the children, and presented the image of the successful executive's wife.
She was beautiful, graceful, and socially adept. She knew how
to entertain Jose's business associates and how to present the
image of a perfect family. But beneath that polished surface,
(13:57):
Kitty struggled with depression and with the gap between the
life she had imagined and the reality she was living.
Kitty had wanted a career of her own, but Jose's
demands and the needs of raising two sons meant she
set aside her own ambitions. She had wanted to be
an entertainment but she ended up supporting her husband's entertainment
(14:18):
career while having none of her own. She had wanted
to be someone significant in her own right, but she
became known primarily as Jose's wife and Lyle and Eric's mother.
The loss of her own identity and purpose took a
psychological toll. Friends described Kitty as increasingly dependent on Jose emotionally,
(14:41):
as struggling with feelings of wordlessness when he was critical
or dismissive, as drinking more heavily as the years went on,
and as becoming more focused on her sons in ways
that were sometimes healthy but sometimes crossed boundaries into over
involvement and emotional dependence. The relationship between Jose and Kitty
was complete and troubled. Jose was often away on business.
(15:03):
When he was home, he could be critical and cold
toward Kitty. She felt unappreciated and unloved. She struggled with
the knowledge that Jose had affairs though they were not
discussed openly, the marriage that had begun with dreams of
partnership and success had become, by the accounts of those
who knew them, more of a business arrangement than a
loving relationship. Ity coped through drinking, through prescription medications, and
(15:29):
through focusing intensely on her sons, particularly Eric, who was
more sensitive and more willing to be emotionally close to
his mother than Lyle was. The facade of perfection that
the Menende's family presented to the world was elaborate and
carefully maintained. The mansion on North Elm Drive was beautiful
and expensively furnished. The family attended events together, always looking
(15:53):
prosperous and happy. Jose spoke about his family with pride
in business settings, presenting his sons as accomplished and promising.
Kitty maintained the social connections and hosted gatherings that showcased
the family's success. To outsiders, the Menendez family appeared to
have everything, wealth, status, good looks, and bright futures for
(16:16):
the sons, but those closest to the family saw cracks
in the facade. Extended family members noticed the tension between
Jose and Kitty, friends of the boys heard complaints about
their father's impossible demands and their mother's emotional neediness. Teachers
and coaches saw signs that Lyle and Eric were under
enormous pressure and struggling to meet expectations that were unrealistic.
(16:40):
The perfect family image that the Menendez family projected was
maintained through control, through presenting only carefully curated aspects of
their lives to the world, and through keeping the dysfunction
hidden behind the walls of their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyele
Menendez was the older son, born in nineteen sixty eight.
From early childhood, he was groomed to be successful, to
(17:03):
carry on his father's legacy, to prove that the Menendez
family had not just escaped from Castro's Cuba, but had
thrived in America beyond measure. Lyle was intelligent, confident, and charismatic.
He was the golden boy who seemed destined for great things.
He was accepted to Princeton University, one of the most
(17:23):
prestigious institutions in America. He was a good tennis player,
though not at the elite level that his father hoped for.
He was socially adept and popular on the surface, Lyle
was living the dream that hisather had worked so hard
to provide. But beneath that polished surface, Lyle struggled with
the weight of his father's expectations and with secrets that
(17:45):
he would claim had damaged him psychologically in ways that
were invisible but profound. Lyle was suspended from Princeton for
plagiarism during his freshman year, a failure that humiliated him
and enraged his father. Jose saw lovee Le's suspension as
a personal betrayal, as proof that Lyle was not living
up to his potential and was throwing away the opportunities
(18:07):
that Jose's hard work had created. The suspension created a
crisis point in Niles's relationship with his father, one of
many conflicts that characterized their dynamic. Lyle was known of
confidant to the point of arrogance, as someone who projected
success and control even when he was struggling internally. He
was business minded, like his father, thinking about investments and opportunities.
(18:30):
He was also calculating, capable of making decisions based on
cold logic rather than emotion. These qualities would be interpreted
very differently depending on which narrative about Lyle One believed
to some he was a young man shaped by his
father's ruthless business mentality. To others, he was someone capable
of planning and executing a brutal double murger with chilling calculation.
(18:56):
So relationship with his father was intense and complicated. Josey
pushed Lyle relentlessly, seeing him as the heir to the
Menndez's success story. Every achievement was expected, not praised, Every
failure was met with anger and criticism. Lyon later claimed
that his father's expectations were crushing, that nothing he did
was ever good enough, that he lived in constant fear
(19:19):
of disappointing Jose. But he also learned from his father,
absorbing Jose's competitive drive, his focus on success, and his
willingness to do whatever was necessary to win. The question
of whether Lyle had also absorbed Jose's capacity for ruthlessness
and cruelty would become central to understanding the murders. Eric
(19:39):
Menendez was the younger brother, born in nineteen seventy. He
was different from Lyle in temperament and personality. Where Lyle
was confident and outgoing, Eric was more sensitive and artistic,
where Lyle seemed driven by ambition and competition. Eric was
more emotionally attuned and troubled. Eric was an accomplished tennis player,
(20:01):
more talented than Lyle at the sport, and he harboured
dreams of becoming a professional player. He had talent, but
whether he had the level of talent needed to succeed
at the highest levels was questionable. His father pushed him
relentlessly in tennis, hiring coaches and demanding practice and results.
Eric was described by those who knew him as gentle,
(20:22):
kind and troubled. He struggled with anxiety and depression. He
was close to his mother in ways that seemed both
nurturing and suffocating. Kitty confided in Eric about her marital problems,
her drinking, her unhappiness, creating an emotional burden that was
inappropriate for a child and teenager to carry. Eric seemed
(20:43):
to carry the emotional weight of the entire family, feeling
responsible for his mother's happiness and crushed by his father's disappointments.
Eric attended Beverly Hill's High school and was popular and
well liked, but friends noticed that he often seemed sad
or anxious beneath his friendlier exterior. He wrote screenplays as
a creative outlet, stories that often featured violence and revenge,
(21:06):
which would be analyzed extensively after the murders for psychological
insights into his mindset. Eric's relationship with both parents was complex.
He was simultaneously close to them and fearful of them,
loving and resentful, dependent and desperate for independence. The relationship
between Lyele and Eric was extremely close, a bond that
(21:27):
would prove central to understanding what happened on August twentieth,
nineteen eighty nine. The brothers were not just siblings, but
best friends, confidence partners in navigating the pressures and dysfunctions
of their family. They protected each other, They understood each
other in ways that no one outside the family could.
(21:48):
They shared secrets that they kept from everyone else. This
intense closeness would be interpreted in different ways depending on
one's view of the case. To some, it was evidence
of brothers who had survived trauma together and clung to
each other for psychological survival. To others, it was evidence
of co conspirators who planned an executed murder together. The
(22:12):
pressure that Jose placed on both sons was relentless and multifaceted.
He demanded academic excellence. Lyle's acceptance to Princeton was expected,
not celebrated. When Lyle was suspended for plagiarism, Jose's rage
was intense or it is a personal failure on Lyle's
(22:32):
part and a reflection on the family. Eric was expected
to excel academically as well, though his path was less
clearly defined than Lyle's. The pressure was also athletic. Jose
pushed both sons in tennis, seeing it as a sport
that could provide scholarships, status, and opportunities. He hired expensive
(22:54):
coaches and demanded that the boy's practice for hours. When
they did not win tournaments or or when they expressed
doubt about continuing, Jose responded with anger. But beyond academics
and athletics, Jose's pressure extended to how his sons presented themselves,
who they spent time with, how they behaved in public.
(23:14):
Everything was about maintaining and enhancing the Menendez family image.
The boys were not allowed to be ordinary teenagers making
mistakes and finding their way. They were menen their's sons,
which meant they had to be exceptional. The psychological toll
of these expectations of never being allowed to simply be
themselves without judgment and pressure would be central to the
(23:37):
defense narrative at trial. Multiple witnesses would later testify about
observing interactions between Jose and his sons that were troubling.
Jose would criticize them harshly in public. He would compare
them unfavorably to other children or to his own achievements
at their age. He would make comments about their masculinity,
their toughness, their ability to handle pressure. Some of these
(24:01):
comments crossed into what observers recognized as emotional abuse, attacks
on the boy's sense of self worth, designed to motivate
them through shame and fear rather than encouragement. The question
of physical and sexual abuse would become the most controversial
aspect of the Menenda's case. At trial, The defense would
claim that Jose had sexually abused both sons from childhood
(24:24):
to adolescence, that the abuse was ongoing even in the
months before the murders, and that Kitty knew about the
abuse but did nothing to protect her sons. These allegations
were explosive and deeply contested. The prosecution argued they were
fabrications designed to create sympathy and justify murder. The defense
argued they were the horrible truth that explained why the
(24:46):
brothers ultimately killed their parents. No physical evidence of sexual
abuse existed, no medical records documented it, no contemporaneous reports
to authorities or other adults confirmed it. The evidence was
the testimony of the brothers themselves and the testimony of
people they had confided in months or years after the fact.
(25:07):
This lack of contemporaneous evidence made the abuse allegations impossible
to prove definitively one way or the other, but the
allegations would dominate both trials and would force American society
to confront uncomfortable questions about abuse, family violence, and the
limits of self defense law. The summer of nineteen eighty nine,
(25:29):
tensions in the Menendez household had reached critical levels. According
to the narrative, the brothers would later present Lyle had
been suspended from Princeton and was back home, his future
uncertain and his father constantly expressing disappointment. Eric was about
to start his freshman year at UCLA, but was anxious
(25:49):
about leaving home and about whether he could handle college
level tennis competition. Jose was angry at both sons for
various failures and shortcomings, Kitty was drinking heavily in becoming
increasingly depressed. The perfect family facide was cracking. On August twentieth,
nineteen eighty nine. According to the account that would emerge
(26:10):
years later at trial, something happened that day that made
Lyle and Eric believe they were in danger. The defense
would claim that Jose had threatened them, that the brothers
believed their lives were at risk, and that they acted
in what they perceived as self defense. Prosecution would argue
that this was fantasy, that no such threat existed, and
(26:30):
that the brothers murdered their parents for money and freedom
from parental control. His indisputable is that sometime that evening,
Lyle and Eric armed themselves with twelve gage shotguns, entered
the family room where their parents were watching television, and
opened fire. Jose Menendez were shot first. Forensic evidence showed
(26:50):
that he was hit by multiple shotgun blasts while sitting
on the couch. The wombs were catastrophic, his head was
nearly destroyed. He died almost instantly. Kitty Menendez attempted to flee.
She got up from the couch and tried to escape.
The evidence showed she was shot multiple times as she
moved around the room with wounds to her arms, legs
(27:11):
in torso, she fell near the couch. Then, as she
lay on the floor, possibly still alive, possibly already dying,
someone stood over her and fired a final shot into
her face at close range, contact wound that obliterated her features.
The crime scene evidence suggested that this final shot to
Kitty's face was delivered after she was already down, was
(27:33):
purely to ensure death or to inflict maximum damage, was
personal and filled with rage. In total, Jose was shot
six times and Kitty was shot ten times. The shooters
had to reload, as the shotguns held only a few
shells each. This meant there was a pause in the violence,
a moment when the shooting stopped, shells were ejected, fresh
(27:56):
ones were inserted, and then the shooting resumed. This reload
created complications for any argument about loss of control or
fear driven response. The pause suggested calculated continuation of violence
rather than panicked reaction. It would become a crucial detail
in the prosecution's case that this was premeditated murder, not
(28:16):
impulsive violence. After the shooting, according to the timeline eventually established,
the brothers collected the shotgun shells to avoid leaving evidence,
hid the guns in a location of the property, and
drove around for a period of time before returning home
to make the nine one one call. This delay between
the murders and the call for help would seem suspicious,
(28:37):
though the brothers later explained it as time spent in
shock and panic, trying to process what they had done
and build the courage to return home. The nine one
one poll that Lyle made was recorded, and it would
be played repeatedly at trial. Jawers would have to decide
whether the emotion in Lyle's voice was genuine or performed.
(28:58):
The immediate aftermath saw the brothers treated as victims. They
were not arrested, they were not even seriously suspected. Initially,
they attended their parents' funeral, which was a large event
befitting Jose's status in the entertainment industry. Lyle delivered a
eulogy praising his father. Brothers appeared devastated, and then they
(29:20):
began spending money. Within days of the funeral, they were
buying luxury items, going on trips, living like young men
who had suddenly come into wealth and intended to enjoy it.
The spending was so extravagant and so rapid that it
drew attention from family members, from police, and eventually from
the media. The investigation into who killed Jose and Kitty
(29:43):
Menendas moved slowly. At first, detectives pursued leads about Jose's
business enemies and possible mob connections. They investigated whether a
burglary had gone wrong, But as months passed and no
other suspects emerged, attention began to turn to the sons
who had been in the house that night, who had
(30:03):
called nine one one, who had inherited a fourteen million
dollar estate, and who were spending money with shocking abandon.
The pieces were there, but it would take a confession
obtained in an unexpected way to break the case oaken
and transform the grieving Menendez brothers into accused murderers. The
perfect family that the Menindez clan had presented to the
(30:25):
world was revealed to be something very different. Behind the
mansion walls, behind the expense of cars, in the designer clothes,
behind the image of success and achievement, there had been dysfunction, pressure,
alleged abuse, and ultimately violence. A question that would consume
(30:45):
America for years was why, if Lyel and Eric killed
their parents. Were the cold blooded murderers who wanted money
and freedom, or were they damaged victims of years of
abuse who finally struck back against their torment is The
answer to that question would depend on whom you believed,
what evidence you found convincing, and what you thought about abuse,
(31:08):
family violence, and the limits of self defense. The murders
at seven twenty two Northound Drive on August twenty, nineteen
eighty nine marked the end of the Menendez family as
it had existed, and the beginning of one of the
most controversial criminal cases in American history. The Golden Boys
would become convicted murderers, The perfect family would be exposed
(31:30):
as deeply dysfunctional. An America would be forced to confront
difficult questions about what happens behind closed doors in families
that look perfect from the outside, and whether victims of
abuse can be held fully accountable when they kill their abuses.
The case was just beginning, and it would take years
to reach resolution. In our next episode, we will examine
(31:53):
the investigation that finally led to the brother's arrests, the
confessions that broke the case open, and the first trial
that ended in hung juries and national debate. Please subscribe
to continue this investigation into one of America's most controversial cases.
For more content like this, please go to Quiet Please
dot Ai. Justice delayed is not justice denied. Until the
(32:17):
Shadows reveal their secrets, we keep searching Quiet, Please dot
Ai hear what matters.
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