‘The Menendez Brothers’ Documentary Sheds New Light on the Brothers’ Case
One of the most popular series on Netflix recently is Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. The “based on a true case” drama depicts how two brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, brutally shot and murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, at their home in 1989. The series also reveals that both boys were victims of sexual abuse at the hands of their father growing up—an apparent explanation for the initially unclear reason they shot and killed them.
At first, the siblings claimed they discovered their parents’ bodies and the police chalked the killings up to a mob attack. Later on, however, once the brothers began spending their inheritance money with alleged aplomb, the authorities began to suspect Lyle and Erik of being involved.
Following an initial trial that resulted in a hung jury, the second trial—which prevented the defense from putting forward evidence of the alleged child abuse—found both Erik and Lyle guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder (which they have both admitted to).
They are now both serving life sentences. That! Said!!! In the newfound interest around their trial, it’s now expected that they’ll be back in court again later this year to put forward a case not of innocence, but of reduced culpability. In return, they could potentially see their sentences changed.
Enter: a follow-up documentary, The Menendez Brothers, which has made its way to Netflix. The series sees both Erik, 51, and Lyle, 55, sharing their version of events—and what they have to say about Monsters isn’t exactly complimentary.
What is The Menendez Brothers documentary about?
This latest program on the Menendez murders, The Menendez Brothers, has just dropped on Netflix and features the brothers speaking in their own words about their crimes. It also dives into the motives behind the killing of their parents, including the abuse they claim to have endured at the hands of both their mother and father (primarily the latter).
In the documentary, Erik is keen on telling their story firsthand, saying, “So much hasn’t been told and I think that not speaking out doesn’t help anyone.” The series also looks at the buildup to the brothers being caught by police; explores their disbelief at not being suspected by the authorities right away; and hears them comment on their now-infamous shopping sprees after the killings, as recreated in Monsters.
While speaking about the way he and his brother spent their inheritance, Erik claims he wasn’t having a good time, but was instead trying to block out the pain and terror he was feeling.
“The idea that I was having a good time is absurd,” he muses. “Everything was to cover up this horrible pain of not wanting to be alive. One of the things that kept me from killing myself is I felt like I would be a complete failure to my dad at that point.”
Lyle, for his part, shares similar thoughts, saying he was hardly “enjoying himself as a playboy” and couldn’t sleep after the murders, which left him so deeply troubled and upset.
What is revealed in The Menendez Brothers documentary?
In addition to giving the brothers the time and space to talk about their crimes directly, the documentary also sees Lyle speak out about his arrest and allege that it was done in order to entertain the media circus surrounding the brothers.
“They could have just called me and told me to come into the police station. It was a staged arrest for a media circus,” he claims. “They had called the media to be ready [and] arrested me with a SWAT team, cornering the car on the road, like I was a fugitive drug dealer or something.”
Additionally, the documentary showcases Erik confessing to feeling guilty about bringing Lyle into the plot to kill their parents, lamenting that aspect of his decision. “I went to the only person who had ever helped me, that ever protected me. Ultimately, this happened because of me, because I went to him,” he says.
“And then afterwards, let’s just be honest, he was arrested because of me because I told [his therapist] Dr Oziel, because I couldn’t live with what I did. I couldn’t live with it, I wanted to die. In a way I did not protect Lyle, I got him into every aspect of this tragedy, every aspect of this tragedy is my fault.”
What have Erik and Lyle Menendez said about Netflix's Monsters?
Taking to Facebook, Erik criticized the drama series starring Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, calling it a “dishonest portrayal” of what truly happened.
“I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent,” he wrote. “I believed we had moved beyond the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant in the show.”
Erik then added, “It is sad for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths several steps backward—back through time to an era when the prosecution built a narrative on a belief system that males were not sexually abused, and that males experienced rape trauma differently than women.”
In response, Murphy told E! News during a red carpet the following: “I think that’s interesting because I know he hasn’t watched the show. So I find that curious...I hope he does watch it. I think if he did watch it he would be incredibly proud of Cooper Koch who plays him.”
Since Monsters aired, many have spoken out on social media in support of the Menendez brothers, including Kim Kardashian, who shared a post on Instagram that read, “It’s time for the Menendez brothers to be freed. We are all products of our experiences. They shape who we were, who we are, and who we will be. Physiologically and psychologically, time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18. I know I’m not! You think you know the story of Lyle and Erik Menendez. I certainly thought I did.”
‘The Menendez Brothers’ is now available on Netflix.
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