Menendez brothers
| Lyle Menéndez | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Joseph Lyle Menéndez January 10, 1968 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Criminal charge | First-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life without parole |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Spouse(s) |
Anna Eriksson (m. 1996; div. 2001) Rebecca Sneed (m. 2003) |
| Parent(s) | Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menéndez |
| Motive | Undetermined, possibly inheritance or sexual abuse from his father |
| Partner(s) | Erik Menéndez |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 2 |
| Date | August 20, 1989 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | California |
| Location(s) | Beverly Hills |
| Target(s) | Jose and Kitty Menéndez |
| Killed | 2 |
| Weapons | Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun |
|
Date apprehended
|
March 8, 1990 |
| Imprisoned at | Mule Creek State Prison |
| Erik Menéndez | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Erik Galen Menéndez November 27, 1970 Blackwood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Criminal charge | First-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder |
| Criminal penalty | Life without parole |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Spouse(s) | Tammi Ruth Saccoman (m. 1999) |
| Parent(s) | Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menéndez |
| Motive | Undetermined, possibly inheritance or sexual abuse from his father. |
| Partner(s) | Lyle Menéndez |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 2 |
| Date | August 20, 1989 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | California |
| Location(s) | Beverly Hills |
| Target(s) | Jose and Kitty Menéndez |
| Killed | 2 |
| Weapons | Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun |
|
Date apprehended
|
March 11, 1990 |
| Imprisoned at | Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility |
Joseph Lyle Menéndez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menéndez (born November 27, 1970) are American brothers from Beverly Hills, California who were convicted in a high-profile trial in 1994 for the 1989 murders of their wealthy parents, entertainment executive Jose and his wife Mary "Kitty", by shotgun. During the trial, the brothers claimed the murders stemmed from years of sexual and psychological abuse by the parents. The defense was rejected by jurors, who sentenced the brothers to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Their story has been retold in movies and in popular culture.
The Menéndez brothers' father, Jose Enrique Menéndez, was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to the United States when he was 16 years old, following the upheaval of the Cuban Revolution. While attending Southern Illinois University, he met Mary Louise "Kitty" Andersen. The two married in 1963 and moved to New York, where Jose Menéndez earned a degree in accounting at Queens College. The couple had two sons: Joseph Lyle Menéndez (who went by his middle name, Lyle) was born in New York City, New York on January 10, 1968. Erik was born on November 27, 1970, in Gloucester Township, New Jersey. Kitty Menéndez quit her schoolteaching job after Lyle was born. In New Jersey both brothers attended Princeton Day School.
Jose's career as a corporate executive took the family to Calabasas, California, where the boys spent their adolescence. During 1987 Erik attended high school in Calabasas, earning average grades but showing a remarkable talent for tennis, as did Lyle. Lyle attended Princeton University but was placed on academic probation for poor grades and discipline, and was suspended for a year after allegations of plagiarism in his freshman year. In 2017 interviews the brothers stated they had been sexually molested by their father since a young age, saying they had shared this information with a friend at ten years old.
...
Wikipedia