Lyle and Erik Menendez - Crimes

Crimes

The murders occurred on August 20, 1989, in the den of the family's 722 North Elm Drive home in Beverly Hills. Jose and Kitty were tired that summer evening because the family had been out shark fishing on a chartered yacht, Motion Picture Marine, until midnight the previous day. With Lyle and Erik out for the evening, both Jose and Kitty retired to the den to watch the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. Neighbors later reported hearing what sounded like firecrackers around 10pm, but dismissed it as nothing to be concerned about. Jose was shot point-blank in the back of the head with a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun. Kitty, awakened by the shots, sprang from the couch and made a run for the hallway but was shot in the leg, causing it to break. She then slipped in her own blood that had run down her leg and fell, then was shot several times in the arm, chest, and face, leaving her unrecognizable. Both Jose and Kitty were then shot in the kneecap in an attempt to make the crime appear mob related. The brothers then drove off and dumped their shotguns on Mulholland Drive and bought tickets at a local movie theater, seeing the James Bond film Licence to Kill to use as an alibi. At 11:47 pm, when the brothers returned home, Lyle called 911 and cried, "Somebody killed my parents!" The police immediately considered the brothers suspects, but had no leads. At their trial, Erik said he spotted a shotgun shell they had left on the floor, and removed it when the policeman talking to him looked away.

Security at the home had been of a high standard. The Mediterranean mansion was previously rented to the likes of Prince and Elton John. Jose frequently left the alarm system off and the gates open, even after his Mercedes-Benz 560SEL was stolen from the front semi-circular driveway of the house, just weeks before the murders. Kitty, on the other hand, was agitated in the time leading up to the murders, constantly locking her bedroom door at night and keeping a rifle in her wardrobe. She did mention to her psychiatrist, a few weeks before the murders, that she was afraid her sons might be sociopaths.

In the months after the murders, the brothers led a life of lavish spending, later adding to investigators' suspicions that they had been involved in their parents' deaths. Lyle bought an expensive Rolex watch; a Porsche Carrera; and Chuck's Spring Street Cafe, a Buffalo wings restaurant in Princeton. Erik also hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of pro tournaments in Israel. They left the North Elm Drive mansion unoccupied and lived in 2 separate penthouse apartments in Marina del Rey. They drove around Los Angeles in their late mother's Mercedes-Benz SL convertible, dined on expensive meals, and went on overseas trips to the Caribbean and London. Prosecutors later alleged that the brothers spent about $1 million in their first six months as orphans. Erik confessed the murders to his psychologist, who, after being threatened by Lyle, told the police. Following the threats by Lyle, Lyle was arrested near the mansion on March 8, 1990, after they received tips that he was preparing to flee California. Erik, who was in Israel at the time, turned himself in three days later upon returning to Los Angeles. Both were remanded without bail, and were segregated from each other.

In August 1990, Judge James Albrecht ruled that the tapes of conversations between Erik and his psychologist would be admissible because of Lyle's threats, which constitute an exception to doctor–patient confidentiality. The ruling was appealed, delaying the proceedings for two years, and after being initially overturned on appeal, the California Supreme Court declared in August 1992 that several tapes were admissible, but not the tape on which Erik discussed the murders. This finally allowed Los Angeles County Grand Jury to issue indictments for murder on charges that they had murdered their parents, which came down in December 1992.