The Menendez brothers are the new focus of Netflix’s second Monsters series, with the nine part dramatisation Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story examining the true story of two brothers who fatally shot their parents at their Beverly Hills home on August 20, 1989.
Though the Menendez brothers claimed years of abuse by their parents to be the motivation for their murder, prosecutors argued that the pair sought to kill them because they wanted the family fortune, including a $14-million estate, for themselves.
But where are the Menendez brothers now? Here’s what life looks like for the Menendez brothers in 2024, 35 years on from the murder of their parents.
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What happened to the Menendez brothers?
Both Lyle and Erik received life sentences for their crimes in 1996 after their father, José Menendez and mother, Kitty Menendez, were shot multiple times using shotguns.
Though the Menendez brothers initially told police they were watching Batman at the cinema and came back to find their parents dead, after authorities went through other suspects such as mob members, they eventually began investigating the brothers.
Through their trial, the Menendez brothers claimed their motive for killing their parents was years of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, with them acting out of fear for their lives and in self defence.
Despite family members supporting these claims in court and testifying that Erik and Lyle had shared stories of abuse before the murders were carried out, prosecutors asserted that the brother has killed their parents in order to inherit their wealth given that they spent fairly extravagantly following the murders.
For context, between committing the crime and their confession in October 1989, the brothers spent roughly $700,000, with this equating to $1 million today, with purchases including Rolex watches, lavish new clothes, cars and everything in between.
