The Menendez Brothers’ Fight for Freedom | Full Episode + Post Mortem | Forensic Files

[Music] you have a prepaid call from Lyle Menendez my name is ly Menendez I'm at
parg Donovan State Prison in San Diego California and I am here for killing my parents my brother and I were convicted
together first-degree murder verdicts for both Eric and Lyall Menendez excuse us this is a special report from the
vanise courthouse both Menendez brothers have been found guilty how big a deal was the Menendez case well when you
think back it was huge the Mendez family was very wealthy this was Beverly Hills
murders just don't typically happen Kitty was my baby sister there was a brutal murder everyone from the gardener to the
president had a view of what happened I'm Jackie Lacy I'm the former elected district attorney of Los Angeles County
a couple was sitting around watching TV when their adult sons came in with shotguns and slaughtered them what did
these parents do to deserve that there must be a reason but just never been a kid of kill or innocence it was always
about why it happened Jose Menendez was the self-made millionaire he was very driven very
demanding the prosecutions theory was they got tired of their lives being micromanaged they wanted to spend the
money the way they wanted to spend the money they were buying Rolex watches they were buying real estate the way
that they acted was not like oh my goodness my parents are dead it was soulless it was strictly Greed from day
one you believe they wanted a portion of the money they wanted it all my name is Cliff
Gardner I represent Eric and ly Menendez it's not a complex case it's a simple case they abused their whole life my dad
had been molesting me he B me did you ask him not to yes the brothers were claiming that
we were molested by our father when we threaten to go public they threaten to kill us and so we had to go in and kill
them before they killed us I thought he was going to kill me that night I never saw anything in the home never I have
got to think that there was their attorney ideas that if your only way you're going to save your ass is to say
that you were molested and that's what they did it's divided the family immensely I love my cousins they
shouldn't have gone through what they went through they're not lying they were being abused
as you sit there in prison there is some news now that could really impact you and your brother's case right yes that's
pretty just sort of shocking former Mano singer Roy roselo claims he was drugged and raped by Jose
Menendez in the mid 80s menudo had just signed with RCA records where Menendez was a top executive we now have evidence
that makes absolutely clear that those boys were molested and if those those boys were molested it would have been
manslaughter and they would be out the judge in this case if he finds that the New Evidence is credible and
the conviction should be vacated do you think the DA's office would seek a new trial I think they would spend a lot of
time thinking about it 34 years of incarceration you wonder when world have Fair review of this so
maybe now my hope in the case is that they'll finally walk out of prison [Music]
[Music] Lyall and Eric Menendez have been behind bars in California for more than three
decades for the 1989 killing of their parents Jose and kitty Menendez convicted of first-degree murder and
sentenced to life in prison I really can't in a case that captured the nation's attention they had no hope of ever
walking free but new evidence may change that Eric chose not to speak with us for
this broadcast but Lyle did you have a prepaid call from Lyle Menendez this call and your telephone number will be
monitored and recorded hi Lyle can you hear me hi yeah I can hear you what did you think when you heard about these new
claims and evidence I mean for me I just was happy just a burden to be telling what happened to and just have so much
doubt in the public a the question is not whether the Menendez brothers killed their parents they admit that they did
instead the focus of the case has long been why they did it they insist that they killed out of fear and in
self-defense after a lifetime of physical emotional and and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of their parents
one of their lawyers Cliff Gardner says the New Evidence corroborates those claims and lessens their culpability if
the judge finds this evidence credible I think it is sufficient to give them a new
trial but to understand how we got here we have to go back to the beginning the evening of August 20th
1989 when Lyall Menendez made this call to 911 from the the family's Beverly Hills mansion Beverly Hills emergency
yes please uh what's the problem Sor K my parents pardon me after officers responded to the scene
then 21-year-old Lyle and 18-year-old Eric reported that they had arrived home to find their parents shot to death in
the family room Jackie Lacy was a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles at the
time I think one of the Beverly Hills detective is described it as one of the most brutal crime scene he had ever seen
in his life I've been in this business for over 33 years and I've heard of very few murders that were more Savage than
this one was Jose Menendez a former top executive at RCA records and his wife Kitty had been shot multiple times at
close range with a shotgun it was an expression of hatred for these two people and that was the last time I saw
alive Milton Anderson Kitty's older brother still remembers receiving the news my brother called me and he said
that kitty and Jose were were dead I loved her sister Kitty was a very ambitious girl she was a very beautiful
woman Kitty and Jose met when they were in college in Illinois Jose had come to the US from Cuba they went on to marry
and start a family like and Eric were their only children over the years with Kitty by his side Jose excelled in his
career working for RCA records among other major companies he was going right up the ladder without any hesitation at
the time of his death Jose was working for a film studio running their home video division investigators initially
suspected that the killings may have been tied to his business dealings Lyall sort of indicated you know my dad dealt
with Shady characters and once you say something like that detectives are going to start to look at okay what were his
business contacts family members and investigators wondered whether it may have been Mafia related at the time the
home video industry was known for having ties to the Mob everybody said it was a
mob headit because it was so brutal it it really was like a scene out of The Godfather movies initially Lyall and
Eric Menendez were not even on investigators radar they didn't do any gunshot residue test on their hands they
let him go back and get evidence without even thinking hey could it have been the
kids but they didn't stay off investigators radar for long their behavior in the wake of the crime
eventually Drew scrutiny the brothers appeared to be spending their parents' money and lots of it they were investing
in businesses they acted like they had won the lottery and their Behavior at their
parents Memorial Services raised some eyebrows at the podium L read a letter from Jose there was filled with love and
pride for his sons did you see Lyall get emotional as he was reading that letter
no l also made a statement that his father always said you can never fill my shoes and he jokingly said guess what
I'm wearing my father's shoes today struck you as odd that he would say something like that I was very odd while
all that may have seemed unusual it wasn't hard evidence but then about 6 months later police got a tip from an
unlikely Source the girlfriend of a psychologist who Lyle and Eric Menendez had been talking to she told police that
the brothers had confessed to the killings in therapy and there was an audio taped recording of it but for that
confession who knows knows whether they've ever been caught on March 8th 1990 after police got their hands on
that tape ly Menendez was taken into custody Eric Menendez who was out of the country at the time surrendered to
police days later not many Hollywood murder mysteries ever took a more dramatic turn than police are describing
in a couple of savage Beverly Hills killings police say the motive was apparently money a 14 million
inheritance to be shared by the brothers but years later when the case made its way to trial the brothers would
make it clear that it might not be so simple in August 20th 1989 did you and your brother kill your
mother and father why did you kill your parents cuz we were afraid [Music] in the summer of
1993 nearly four years after Jose and kitty Menendez were gunned down in their home their sons Lyle and Eric Menendez
went on trial they face the death penalty good afternoon the only question in this case
is why did these killings occur why they were killed is what what the focus of all of our evidence will be on what the
defense was arguing was that since this was a self-defense case the brothers were deserving of a lesser charge and
Punishment the defense attorneys who tried the case didn't respond to our request for an interview Cliff Gardner
represents Lyall and Eric Mendez today they had the defense of imperfect self-defense imperfect self-defense
meaning the brothers honestly believe that they had to take action to save their their lives even though it might
not seem rational and if it's honest but unreasonable you are coupable of manslaughter not of murder both brothers
took the stand ly Menendez spoke of sexual abuse at the hands of his mother and father he said his father began
sexually abusing him when he was only 6 years old he would uh fondle me and he would ask me to do the same with him
over time he said it became worse he break me but while Lyall said his father stopped sexually abusing him when
he was eight Eric said it never ended for him and that he finally confided in his older brother days before the crime
at age 18 I didn't know what to do at the time so I figured I'd tell Lyall and maybe he could help me he started
telling me that one of the reasons he had never told me before was cuz my dad had always threatened his life the
brothers testified that Lyall soon confronted their parents and that their mother indicated she knew about the
abuse all along in Anger Lyle said he directed a threat at his father I told him that I would tell everybody then he
said we all make choices in life son Eric made his you've made yours what did you think was going to happen I
thought we were in danger I thought he had no he felt he had no choice but to what that he would kill us
the brothers testified that they got into another argument with their parents on the night of the crime and that they
believed their parents were about to kill them to keep the family secret from coming out so they said they grabbed
shotguns that they had bought 2 days earlier for protection went into the family room and started shooting their
parents at one point even stopping to reload and what did you do after you Reloaded
I ran around and shot my mom the defense may call its next witness to bolster their claims of abuse
the defense called to the stand numerous relatives friends and acquaintances of the family who described incidents of
phys physical and emotional abuse that they said they observed Alan Anderson Lyall and Eric's cousin was one of those
Witnesses growing up Allan would spend summers at the Menendez home he had a lot to say about Jose hitting the kids
with a belt never had a problem with that and kitty she wouldn't get up to console the children nothing while none
of the witnesses including Allan ever saw Lyle or Eric Mendez being sexually abused Allan did recall something that
struck him as odd Jose would tell the boys in the bedroom and then he would close the door and then he'd take
showers with him he says during that time Kitty wouldn't let him go near the room so I was not allowed while the boys
were alone with Jose with the door closed in the master bedroom to go down the hall to probably not hear whatever I
may hear another cousin Diane Vander Molen gave similar testimony and she also recounted a conversation she says
she had with Lyle when he was eight um he proceeded to indicate to me by touching himself uh
down and and saying that his dad and him had been touching each other down there
and what did you do I went and got Kitty and uh told her what was going on and what happened when Kitty came down she
didn't believe me Andy Cano yet another cousin also took the stand and testified
about a conversation he says he had with Eric when Eric was about 13 He told me his father was massaging
his he told me never to reveal it to anybody still prosecutors argued that even if Lyle and Eric Mendez were abused
it doesn't give them the right to kill and they pointed out that when the brothers confessed to that psychologist
they never mentioned abuse use or self-defense then the timing of disclosure was convenient the
prosecutors who tried the case didn't respond to our requests for an interview former Los Angeles County DA Jackie Lacy
reviewed portions of the trial at our request and people do make things up when their life is on the
line but all these years later ly Menendez maintains they are telling the truth and the reason they didn't come
forward then was complicated what was holding you back just shame just not wanting it to be public the pure nature
of the crime however says Lacy doesn't support the brother's claim that they acted in
self-defense prosecutors pointed out that Jose and kitty were watching TV at the time they were killed and they
weren't armed in order to get close enough to blow somebody away you would have been been able to see that they
didn't have weapons ly Menendez is adamant that he and his brother were in fear for their lives for me it was
just dark and confusing and total belief that there was danger you know it's fight or flight to a degree that was
Panic the prosecution argued the evidence proves the killings were premeditated when the brothers purchased
those shotguns prose computer said that they took steps to cover their tracks like driving to a gun store all the way
in San Diego San Diego is not a Round the Corner Drive last time I checked it was
two hours sometimes after they killed their parents they went around and picked up the expended shotgun shell
casings so that their fingerprints wouldn't be discovered on those shells there was a lot of thought and a lot of
deliberation that went into it they also got rid of the shotguns made that 911 call who is the person that was shot my
mom and my dad and misled the initial investigators prosecutors pointed to money as the motive they said Jose
Menendez told his sons he had removed them from his will and based on their investigation they suggested that after
the crime Lyall Menendez attempted to destroy o will on the family computer Lyall denies doing that and insists
money had nothing to do with what happened if there was a new will it was never found we never had any financial
problems with my parents although the brothers were tried together there were two separate juries deciding their fate
when deliberations began they stretched on for weeks before both juries determined they were divided over
whether Lyall and Menendez should be convicted of murder or manslaughter therefore I find that the jury is
hopelessly deadlocked a mistrial was declared it was just a devastating result I needed it to be over one way or
the other but it was far from over prosecutors would try the case again they needed a win the heat was on
[Music] nearly two years passed as Lyall and Eric Menendez sat in jail awaiting a
second trial some of their family members like Alan Anderson believed that they were justified in the killings I
know they did what they did because they were in fear of their life While others
like Kitty's brother Milton Anderson considered them coldblooded Killers I don't believe that Jose or Kitty would
do any of the things that they were accused of Jose was changing his will and that's when they went out and bought
the shotguns at the retrial which began in October 1995 one jury instead of two would hear
the case no video cameras were allowed in court and a new team of prosecutors would employ a different strategy the
first TR was okay there may have been AB but we don't allow vigilantes in our society the second trial of the
prosecution's case there was no abuse at all and what made it easier for prosecutors to argue that says attorney
Cliff Gardner is the fact that the prosecution raised new and successful objections to the admission of a large
amount of Defense evidence now the jury would hear from only some not all of the
witnesses who knew the Menendez family and helped corroborate the brother's claims of abuse the da was not going to
take another loss they could not take another loss the judge who had also presided over the first trial excluded
the testimony on the grounds that it was irrelevant repetitive and in some instances lacking in Foundation because
this time ly Menendez would not take the stand Eric did testify why did you decide not to
speak uh for two reasons I was just done after the first trial and I didn't have
the attorney that I trusted so much to ask me these deep personal questions but Carol Nara the only surviving lead
prosecutor from the second trial who declined to speak with us suggested in a 1996 interview there might have been
another reason why Lyall didn't take the stand there were things that had been developed since the first trial that
would have damaged his credibility a great deal prosecutors said they had new evidence that Lyle had asked to friend
and a former girlfriend to fabricate testimony Lyall admits to 48 hours that he did do that but says he later
withdrew those requests because Lyall didn't take the stand his cousin Diane vandermolen was
prohibited from testifying about that conversation she says she had with Lyle when he was eight in which she says Lyle
told her that his father was touching him the jury did still hear from cousin Andy Cano about that similar coners
ation he claimed to have had with a 13-year-old Eric but the prosecution attacked his credibility the state's
position was that Andy was a liar and when cousin Alan Anderson took the stand prosecutors attacked his credibility too
bringing up the fact that ly Mendez gave him money after the crime Anderson says
it was to help pay for a medical procedure he didn't say anything like well if I go to court know or no he it
was just straight up between him and I him being a nice cousin knowing I was in financial bind he knew he had the
resources to help me at the second trial prosecutors placed more of a focus on the brutality of the crime and they
painted Jose as a restrained loving father someone incapable of molesting his children prosecutors referred to the
brother's defense as the abuse excuse in the first trial that defense called more than 50 Witnesses this time
they called about half it wasn't that they didn't want to present them they were not
allowed the jury deliberated for days and then the verdicts are in in the retrial of Eric and Lyle
Menendez guilty of first-degree murder I hugged my brother we cried and I said look we're going to be okay I was
not happy at all at the jury's recommendation the brothers were sentenced to life in prison without the
possibility of parole and you believe they deserve that oh what they did to my sister they
should have gotten a death penalty Lyall and Eric Mendez were sent to separate prisons more than two
decades ped and then around 2020 the case made a surprising Resurgence on social
media following a documentary that aired on the case in which Eric Menendez repeated his claims of abuse droves of
people took to Tik Tok and Instagram to express support for him and his brother Dr Judy ho is a neuros pychology who
specializes in childhood sex abuse trauma Dr Ho is also a 48 Hours consultant we asked her to review the
case I definitely think that our society has just become more knowledgeable about
trauma and the impact of sexual trauma Dr Ho says research shows that just because the brothers delayed reporting
abuse it doesn't mean they made it up that's all very consistent with people who have been through trauma and maybe
feel like it was even their own fault in some ways or they're ashamed of the trauma and there's a lot more
self-stigma and shame associated with male victims she also says that the abuse the brothers describe could even
help explain why the crime was so brutal it makes sense that in that moment it's
almost like a break down and that's not to make an excuse for anything that they've done but it's just to describe
the State of Mind of this is years and years of abuse where they couldn't act to protect themselves and once they
pulled the trigger it was like there was no turning back but could Lyle and Eric
Mendez have truly been in fear for their lives that night they're 18 and 21 why couldn't they leave right well certainly
there was a path that they could have taken is to try to get away from the family but it sounds like even at that
age they were very much under the control of their father still I think that often times where people are not
aware of is that trauma completely rewires the brain they probably did think at one point it was either them or
their parents that it was a fight ORF flight conditioning that had come up attorney Cliff Gardner believes the case
would be tried differently today the idea back then was a dads don't molest their children and if by chance it
happened these are 18 and 21y old kids they're strapping young men they just leave and both those I think are
undercut in in what we know today still a better understanding of the effects of
sexual abuse and some social media support would do little on their own to make a difference in the brother's case
legally instead what their defense needed was new evidence and eventually that's what it got did you or Eric think
that another person would accuse your father of child molestation I did not I could not
believe it [Music] over the years Lyall and Eric Mendez appealed their convictions but were
unsuccessful it seemed unlikely that they would ever see beyond Prison Walls but then new evidence began to
surface the first piece in the form of a letter just kind of out of the blue one
of uh my father's sister found a letter in store appet attorney Cliff Gardner says
the letter was written by Eric Mendez to his cousin Andy Cano in December 1988 about 8 months before the crime
it's not dated but you were able to get a frame of reference of the timing of it
based on the contents of the letter exactly he talks about the Christmas party we know the Christmas party that
they put on was in Christmas of 88 he talks about hiring a new tennis coach there's a number of things in the letter
that allow us to authenticate when it was written and it's a particular section of the letter that Gardner says
is key he says I've been trying to avoid Dad it's still happening Andy but it's worse for me now every night I stay up
thinking he might come in I'm afraid he's crazy he's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone especially
ly no one knew about it a trial it was never presented remember Andy Cano did testify
at both trials he said that Eric Mendez at age 13 confided in him that his dad had been touching him prosecutor
suggested that Cano was lying he explained to me that these massages that his father was giving him were beginning
to hurt the letter is significant why well the state's position was that Andy was a
liar Andy was making it up this shows that Andy wasn't making it up it's contemporaneous evidence from Eric to
his cousin Andy about what was happening but the letter was just the beginning more evidence has surfaced that Gardner
says further supports ly and Eric Mendes's long-standing claims that they were sexually abused
a man named Roy roselo has come forward claiming that he was sexually abused by Jose Menendez too I was a member of the
boy band menudo which was big in late 70s mid 80s there a sensation in the Spanish-speaking world and throughout
Latin America their appeal has caught on big menudo originated in Puerto Rico the
band is best known for producing bigname Talent like singer Ricky [Music] Martin the idea behind the band was to
keep it perpetually young few of the performers remained in the group beyond the age of 16 instead being rotated out
for younger Talent it turns out Jose Menendez had ties to the group Jose Menendez was working at RCA at the time
and RCA signed menudo to a recording contract former menudo member Roy roselo now 54 was not available for an
interview with 48 hours but in a sworn affidavit filed just last year he claims he went to Jose menendez's home in the
early 80s at the direction of the band's then manager Edgardo Diaz roselo would have been between 14 and 15 years old at
the time he says he drank a glass of wine then felt like he had no control over his body
he says Jose Menendez took him to a room and raped him roselo first spoke publicly about
the allegations in a [Music] [Music] documentary roselo also alleges that he was sexually abused by Jose Menendez on
two other occasions right before and right after the performance at Radio City Music Hall in New York I met Roy
and he talked to me about it it was a difficult conversation for him it was difficult for me to hear but I thought
Roy was credible it can take years for people to recognize what happened to have the
courage to come forward when I first heard I cried for me it was very meaningful to
just have things come out that caused people to really realize okay at least this part of what it's about is
true ly Menendez says he remembers mudo band members coming over to the family home when they lived in New Jersey
before moving to Beverly Hills he does not recall roselo specifically what do you remember about the mudo band members
going to your home only that my father had sort of intimate involvement with that particular group they usually would
not have too much involvement with groups other than negotiations but with Mano and Ardo Diaz he traveled with them
he went to their concerts he stayed in hotels that they stayed at Lio Menendez says he didn't think
much of it until rumors began surfacing towards the end of he and his brother's first trial people in the industry were
talking about that maybe something had happen because there was a sex scandal in the group
Roso along with other former menudo members have long accused Edgardo Diaz the band's one-time manager of sexual
abuse Diaz has always denied the allegations and no charges have been filed against him the Los Angeles Police
Department recently investigated a specific incident in which Roso alleged Diaz raped him at this hotel in the
1980s the LA County DA's office is now reviewing the case but what does this new evidence mean in terms of of Lyle
and Eric mendez's case importance of the New Evidence you have to look back and understand what the state's position was
at the second trial the state's position was that the sexual abuse never happened and the state's position as to
Jose Menendez was he wasn't the type of person who would molest a young boy this
new evidence takes both those arguments and undercuts them entirely Gardner has filed a habous
petition asking that his client's convictions be vacated the boy who abused his children they were abused
their whole life and this is a manslaughter case not a murder case it's just that
simple and if they were convicted of manslaughter they would have received a much shorter sentence and been out a
long time ago but will a judge by Gardner's argument it is very very possible that
Jose Mendez was a child molester but you don't get to murder him and his wife in Cold
Blood what do you make of the New Evidence to see a timeline of how the case unfolded go to 48
[Music] hours.com after attorney Cliff Gardner filed the habus petition in May 2023
asking that that Lyle and Eric Menendez convictions be vacated it turned into a waiting game for a judge to rule we ask
former da Jackie Lacy what she makes of the New Evidence starting with that letter the one that appears to have been
written by Eric Menendez to his cousin Andy Cano months before the crime the interesting thing about the letter is
that there are only two people who can authenticated Andy Kano and Eric Mendez Andy Cano died in 2003
and Lacy points out that he never mentioned the letter when he testified you would think when Andy was
on the stand twice he'd have brought that up and oh yeah he told me about it recently and here's the letter the
timing of that letter though you are able to sort of pin down because you know he the holidays because he writes
about his Christmas plans but Natalie look at it another way and you could include those details and get that
letter together after they were caught this letter for all we know could have been written by Eric Menendez shortly
after the murder given to Kano and Kano may have gotten cold feed about it and not submitted it but Gardner argues the
New Evidence is sound he says the reason the letter was not brought up at trial is likely because Eric Menendez and Andy
Cano forgot about it if you look at the letter it's not just about what Jose's been doing it's about all sorts of other
things was just one of many letters that they wrote to each other there really shouldn't be any doubt about the
authenticity of the letter and as for Roy roselo the former mudo band member can you discount his claims alog
together no I think what the judge has to away and consider is is this newly discovered evidence that would have
changed the verdict and Lacy says she does not believe it would have they're still stuck with the planning the cover
up the money that they spent afterwards I think that you could argue the sexual abuse
occurred on the other hand at the moment these men are driving down to San Diego
paying for the murder weapons coming back and waiting for an opportune time to go in and kill their parents the
molestation is not occurring right then I do not believe that at the time they murdered them that they were in danger
at that particular minute of being murdered by those people I think they hated them they might have had a good
reason to hate them but we can't condone vigilantism when you calmly and logically looked at the facts
surrounding the killing it's a murder but Gardner believes the New Evidence would have made a difference to the
jurors he says evidence of abuse can mitigate a crime and that's why pro prosecutors fought so hard to keep it
out of the second trial sexual abuse physical abuse is relevant to your state of mind uh and state of mind is the key
in determining whether something's murder or whether something's man what this evidence does is it puts
you back in the situation that they were in with the first trial that there was corroboration for the abuse and in the
first trial remember two jurries were divided over whether the brothers should have been convicted of murder or
manslaughter the court declares a mistrial Gardner thinks this new evidence combined with that of the first
trial rules out murder entirely My Hope in the case is that the judge will realize that this new evidence is indeed
credible and persuasive and he'll vacate the convictions if that happens it would
be up to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office whether to retry the case in a statement the District
Attorney's office said it is investigating the claims made in the habius petition
Alan Anderson wants to see his cousins released what I would say the prosecutor as a judge would be please look at all
of the evidence they are speaking the truth they shouldn't be in there as long as they've been but
still Kitty Mendes's brother Milton Anderson feels just the opposite he says he doesn't believe the New Evidence is
credible I don't think it's evidence and he wants his nephews to stay put I think
they should die of old age and prison I loved my sister and I protected her in life and I will love my sister
and protect her in her death ly Mendez says he understands his uncle's Pain part of my remorse is for the pain I
caused people like him as they await a judge's decision ly and Eric Menendez who reside in the same prison since 2018
are focused on Rehabilitation and continuing their education I connect with other prisoners
that have sex abuse histories and work with them both brothers are married to women outside prison I think it has made
a huge difference to have love and support like that I try not to be defined by that one
night and so of a lifelong journey not to be defined by that one night new CBS next a former state trooper's
wife found dead in her bathtub it was a gunshot but was it a cover up for murder
Dan thought he was smart enough to trick everybody the packed duffel bag wet towels it looks odd a new 48 Hours next
on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus [Music] welcome to postmortem I'm your host
anarie green now throughout the '90s notorious murder cases grip the nation there was serial killer Jeffrey dmer the
unsolved murder of John B Ramsey the OJ Simpson trial but among these shocking cases was a pair of brothers who
admitted to killing their parents it's the story of the Menendez brothers they've been behind bars now for over
three decades but could new evidence result in the reopening of the case of Lyle and Eric Menendez with me today are
CBS News correspondent Natalie Morales and coordinating producer Alicia tahada welcome guys good to be with you anory
thank you this was a blockbuster case in the '90s Natalie yes well yeah if you were around in the late ' 80s early '90s
and I was I mean you were watching this case you were talking about this case it
grabbed all the headlines let me take you back though to the beginning and it goes back to the night of August 20th
1989 the night Eric and Lyle uh mendis gunned their parents down in the den of their Beverly Hills California Mansion
at the time the brothers Eric was 18 Lyall 21 their father Jose Menendez was a welltoo entertainment executive shot in
the head from Point Blank Range their mother Kitty was shot multiple times um the Brother's first trial broadcast on
court TV in 1993 it was gavel to gavel coverage it became a national sensation and the question was not did
they do it they admitted to killing their parents it really became at the trial why they did it they claimed
self-defense citing years of abuse at the hands of their mother and father the brothers were tried together separate
juries though deciding their fate both though in that first trial deadlocked between murder and manslaughter
convictions the second time around the prosecutors attacked the brother's abuse allegations more aggressively the number
of witnesses allowed to testify were reduced substantially the jury convicted the two Brothers two counts each of
first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1996 they were sentenced to life in prison without
parole so the Mendez Brothers have been in prison almost 27 years but it's been 34 years since they've been arrested but
now the case is back in the spotlight because there is new evidence and a habous petition to try to vacate their
convictions so this wasn't just a national story it was an international story because I'm living up there in
Canada and I remember being drawn in by it part of it had to do with the two brothers they're goodlooking they're
living a life that is the Envy of so many people and then the narrative was but they just wanted more so you
couldn't help but to be drawn in by the opportunity to look behind the scenes at
what it was like in Beverly Hills and hey hey all those rich people they're not so happy after all and it's
interesting that you said uh it's a international Case Jose Menendez was Cuban and was known to be very outspoken
about Cuban politics in Miami um so this was very popular amongst the Latin Community as well yes and as you said
this case though it it happened in Beverly Hills I think what really grabbed people's attention was this is a
a wealthy neighborhood it's not known for violent crime the former Los Angeles district attorney who we talked to in
the hour Jackie Lacy she described these murders being so brutal by these two very privileged young men there they are
in their Polo sweaters and their Oxford shirts and they do appear to have everything but as we hear at the trial
and as their story unfolds and what they tell us is emotional uh abuse and physical and sexual abuse that they were
enduring at the hands of both their mother and father was so horrendous and awful and and that's where this case
really now in hindsight we can look at this case in this lens now we look at it much more differently we can understand
uh especially men as victims of sex abuse and sex crimes in a much more different way yeah culturally um we were
very different particularly around our sensitivity to um sexual abuse and also what was happening at that time was
there was this expansion of new coverage right we had CNN we had court TV and so
we were really able to watch these cases unfold in a way that we never had before
and so these cases kind of seeped into the culture as well like part of the pop culture our conversations at the water
cooler um everyone remembers watching OJ Simpson you remember exactly where you were and the verdict came down and this
was another case like that in fact Saturday Night Live that late night sketch comedy show on NBC even did a
skit on it I want to play that let me ask you once again is it your testimony that you and
your brother Eric in fact had nothing to do with the murder of your parents Jose
and kitty Menendez that's correct then can you tell the court who did murder your
parents our other two brothers others Danny Menendez and Jose Menendez Jr what's happening in this scene and
part of the reason that the audience is laughing at the end is because the actor
playing Lyall Menendez is sobbing he's sort of bent over acting pretending to cry in real life Lyle was on the stand
talking about horrendous sexual abuse that he had endured and he was crying he was sobbing but that was fod for humor
at that time yeah it it was very emotional that testimony and it's it's interesting to hear that clip now and it
almost kind of makes your skin craw now with the sensitivities that we have to to sex abuse victims the prosecution
coined what the brothers were saying as as the abuse excuse and and they were ridiculed they were mocked at the time
particularly in the second trial and this this became a Crux of their argument according to the prosecution so
I talked about how sort of what was New Media back then um Drew us into this case right and now there's social media
that has helped to renew interest in this case right people are are starting to look at this differently uh if you go
to YouTube there's several sitcoms from the 9s that were making fun of uh the Menendez brothers and and now uh social
media especially the Tik Tok Community is very outspoken about this case so I think Society is seeing um abuse victims
very differently now and especially male abuse victims yeah I guess for younger people this is all brand new right A lot
of these uh social media users have watched the trial the trial is on YouTube and they're reacting to the
brother's testimonies it's one thing though to have a new point of view but an Marie the the reason why now what is
new in this case and there is now new evidence and new information that is coming to light and that's why we're
taking a look in this 48 Hours again and let's begin with first a letter that the
brother's attorney Cliff Gardner has brought to our attention the defense said Eric wrote a letter to his cousin
Andy in the months before the murder Andy died in 2003 but this letter was written in the months before the murder
of the Menendez parents and the letter reads in part I've been trying to avoid Dad it's still happening Andy but it's
worse for me now every night I stay up thinking that he might come in I'm afraid this letter is such a key piece
of evidence according to um the Menendez attorney Cliff Gardner says this is contemporaneous proof that
supports once again that the brothers were telling the truth that the abuse was happening we've seen cases of abuse
before where it seems like the victim should be able to get out of it should be able to leave but
instead the victim chooses murder the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case is probably the most recent case to sort of really
make the headlines and she was just released from prison Gypsy rolls pled guilty to second degree murder uh her
boyfriend stabbed her mom uh to death and she was part of the planning in that murder it was later theorized that her
mother suffered from Moon chowen by proxy so Gypsy endured many years of abuse in order for her mother to
maintain the image that she was a very sick child she says she wanted to escape from her situation not necessarily kill
her mother uh but that's what ended up happening she says that she thought that running away would make things worse so
this is similar to what the NZ brother's claim in that they didn't see another way out that it was a fight ORF flight
type of situation and Gypsy Rose she served her time um and now she's out and and she's speaking uh about abuse so
it's interesting because people on social media are talking about the Menendez brothers and relating it to the
Gypsy Rose case and saying well she served her time um perhaps the Menendez brothers have served their time as well
I think the other thing that's really interesting about this case is the way the brothers were portrayed in the media
right particularly after the murders so right after the murders the the brothers
spent a significant amount of money uh they bought Rolex watches uh cars Lyall invested in a business so that's why the
prosecution said this was murder out of greed and like Jackie Lacy uh who we interviewed in our hour said they wanted
to spend the money the way they wanted to spend the money so part of something that came up recently um in in the past
few years uh was an NBA trading card and it appears as though Lyle and Eric are sitting courtside at a New York Nicks
game and uh this would have been taken uh in between the time they committed the murders and before their arrest
this was such a well-known case and the images of these two young men I mean I could still remember exactly what they
look like what was it like to interview Lyall all these years later yeah it was it was uh very enlightening Lyle is now
a 56-year-old man he speaks as somebody who has done a lot of therapy and is somebody who speaks with a lot of
self-reflection um he also is somebody who works with a lot of sex abuse victims in prison that's part of the
work that he likes to do now and he does have a lot of regrets and he talks about
that at length all these years later it's still very emotional for him to talk about what happened on that night
and the events leading up to what happened to his parents said did you try to speak with
Eric we did ask Lyle if Eric would speak to us uh Lyle says that this is very traumatic for them to to speak uh about
and and it's very exhausting and he chose uh to just uh speak to us himself and speak on Eric's behalf as well do
they have a relationship cuz I know sometimes when people are involved in a crime together um authorities do not let
them stay connected so they do when they were uh initially convicted they were sent to separate prisons uh so they were
separated for several years and uh they were reunited a few years ago and they actually share cells right next to each
other so they see each other every day wow that must mean a lot for both of them when he spoke about uh that reunion
with his brother and how they were given a moment to to embrace and just H have a
solo moment with each other after being separated for so many years Lyle was very emotional I can imagine um for the
hour you interviewed two family members of the Mena's brothers and they had very
different opinions on the convictions do you know how this case has impacted the
menendez's family oh yes I mean it's completely shattered uh the families some family members that you know don't
talk to one another anymore Uncle Milton who is is very much of the thinking that
the Menendez brothers are where they are and deserve to be locked up for life and
they deserve to die in prison and then we have cousins who feel that they have serve their time and that they deserve
to be free that they have done the time they've done their Penance and that they've gone through enough in the hour
you Incorporated Dr Jud Ho's expertise about childhood sex abuse trauma and I thought she really did an excellent job
discussing sexual trauma but can you share just how you decided that it was important to include an expert Voice who
doesn't have anything to do with the case directly but to add to this hour Dr Judy hoe uh is a clinical forensic
neuropsychologist also a professor at Pepperdine University uh she specializes in child abuse but but she also
specializes in evaluating the minds of criminals and alleged criminals so we thought this is our expert uh so she
reviewed the case and um and she gave us her analysis she's also really good at being able to to talk about like what
happens in in the brain for example with with childhood sex abuse victims and how
brains can can be rewired and how the Menendez brothers were 18 and 21 year-old young men why couldn't they
just pick up and leave the reality according to Dr hoe is those who have endured that kind of abuse still feel
like that control never goes away and it's not going to go away until that person who is controlling goes away and
that's perhaps what contributed to the Menendez brothers killing their parents yeah when listening to Dr Judy ho I just
kept on thinking my how far we have come in society when it comes to understanding um the trauma um the
enduring trauma of sexual abuse but I also thought we still have much further to go and in the hour I think it's the
doctor that kind of points out that there's still less sympathy for male victims um which brings me to uh Roy
rosello he he's come forward uh to say that he was sexually abused and raped by Jose Menendez he spoke about this for
the very first time in the peacock documentary Menendez plus manuno boys betrayed do you know why uh Roy rousell
finally came forward why he decided to talk about this Roy roselo is a former member of the boy band Mano which was
big back in the 80s back then Jose Menendez worked as an executive for RCA records and RCA signed manulo to a
recording contract roselo along with other former menudo members have long accused Edgardo Diaz the band's one-time
manager of sexual abuse Diaz has always denied the allegations and no charges have been filed against him but two
journalists Robert Rand and NY inlan began investigating whether Jose Menendez was somehow tied to the alleged
sex scandal within menudo they ended up interviewing roselo and produced that peacock documentary that you mentioned
wow and the significance of Roy roselo coming forward uh according to Cliff Gardner who is one of the brothers
defense attorney is that during the second trial uh the prosecution said there is no evidence that Jose Menendez
was a child abuser there's no evidence of him ever abusing any children and he was a restrained man and so Cliff
Gardner says now we have evidence that Jose Menendez was a child abuser according to Roy roselo so this this is
significant new evidence all the evidence that we have talked about what is next for the Menendez brothers then
well right now we're waiting for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office to respond to the habius petition
with their own Court filing we've reached out to the district attorney's office they're investigating the claims
made in that habus petition and it will come down to whether or not a judge is going to uh decide whether the
convictions will be vacated if they are then it's going to be up to the district attorney's office
as to whether or not they want to retry the case but that's a lot it's a lot to be decided it is a lot yes and Cliff
Gardner the brother's appet attorney hopes that the convictions will be overturned and that the brothers will
walk free he says the brothers killed in self-defense and they never should have
been convicted of first-degree murder he says that manslaughter was a more appropriate charge and had they been
convicted of manslaughter they would have been released from prison a long time ago
well this is another fascinating hour once again I thought I knew the story and there's so much more to it um that
is all for this week's postmortem Natalie Alicia thank you so much thank you for having
us join us next Tuesday everyone for another postmortem and watch 48 hours Saturdays 10 9 Central on CBS and of
course streaming on Paramount plus and if you are liking the show please rate and review 48 Hours on Apple podcast and
follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast and you can also listen adree on the Amazon music and wry app or with a
48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcasts

CASE UPDATE: In May 2025, Lyle and Erik Menendez were resentenced to 50 years to life with the possibility of parole. Due to that resentencing, they are now eligible for parole hearings under youth offender parole laws. In August 2025, the brothers’ first bids for parole were denied. In September 2025, a judge rejected the brothers' habeas petition for a new trial.

In March 2024, "48 Hours" reported on new evidence in the case: a letter between cousins and an affidavit, revealing a decades-old secret. Watch "The Menendez Brothers’ Fight for Freedom," and then catch up with the "48 Hours" team diving into one of the most notorious cases from the 1990s. Join correspondent Natalie Morales and coordinating producer Alicia Tejada on "Post Mortem" as they talk about what’s changed since the brothers’ first trials and the new evidence that may set them free after being behind bars for over three decades.

00:00 The Menendez Brothers’ Fight for Freedom 41:58 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/3zO9yct

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

For video licensing inquiries, contact: licensing@veritone.com

Brief Summary

New evidence may change the fate of Lyle and Eric Menendez, who were convicted of murdering their parents amid claims of abuse.

Key points

New Evidence Emerges. New claims of abuse against Jose Menendez could impact the brothers' case.
The Menendez Brothers' Confession. Lyle and Eric Menendez confessed to killing their parents, claiming it was self-defense.
The Brutality of the Crime. The Menendez parents were brutally murdered, shocking the nation.
Verdict Announcement. The jury's verdict in the retrial of Eric and Lyle Menendez is revealed, leading to emotional reactions.
New Evidence Surfaces. A letter from Eric Menendez reveals past abuse, prompting a reevaluation of the case.
Roy Roselo's Allegations. Former Menudo member Roy Roselo comes forward with claims of abuse by Jose Menendez.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I thought he was going to kill me that night.

Eric Menendez recounts his fear of his father.

2:38WatchOct 11, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from 48 Hours

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.