Erik Menéndez Breaks Silence on Ryan Murphy’s ‘Monsters’

LyleMenéndez and Erik Menéndez grew to become notorious within the early ’90s after the surprising murders of their mother and father, José and Kitty Menéndez, of their Beverly Hills mansion.

TheMenéndez brothers, simply 21 and 18 on the time, brutally gunned down their mother and father on the evening of August 20, 1989. The high-profile killings despatched shockwaves throughout the nation, not solely due to the crime itself, but additionally as a result of Menéndez household’s wealth and prominence. For these unaware, José was a profitable leisure govt.

The Menéndez case captured the nation’s consideration, particularly when it hit the small display screen. The primary trial resulted in two deadlocked juries, however in a dramatic flip, the brothers have been convicted of first-degree homicide in a second trial in 1996. They have been sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole, and so they have remained behind bars ever since, persevering with to be a subject of fascination and controversy.

Now, their story is as soon as once more being informed, this time in Netflix’s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story.”

Erik formally broke his silence on the brand new Netflix challenge, criticizing the portrayals of him and his brother Lyle in latest media, insisting that their claims of childhood abuse and self-defense within the murders of their mother and father are misrepresented.

“I believed we had moved past the lies and ruinous character portrayals of Lyle, making a caricature of Lyle rooted in horrible and blatant lies rampant within the present,” Erik mentioned in a press release on his brother’s Facebook web page, reflecting on the trauma and violence they endured rising up.

“I can solely consider they have been carried out so on function,” he added. “It’s with a heavy coronary heart that I say, I consider Ryan Murphy can’t be this naive and inaccurate in regards to the details of our lives in order to do that with out unhealthy intent.”

He later spoke on the violence they endured rising up, arguing that the present fails to seize the true extent of their experiences precisely.

“It’s unhappy for me to know that Netflix’s dishonest portrayal of the tragedies surrounding our crime have taken the painful truths a number of steps backward,” he continued. “Again by means of time to an period when the prosecution constructed a story on a perception system that males weren’t sexually abused, and that males skilled rape trauma otherwise than ladies.”

José and Kitty have been found of their front room, tragically shot to dying with two 12-gauge shotguns. The grotesque scene was so surprising that investigators initially suspected a potential mob connection, in keeping with the Los Angeles Times.

“The our bodies have been distorted,” former Beverly Hills police captain and homicide investigator, Russ Olson mentioned on an episode of the true-crime documentary, ‘Snapped.’ “That they had no resemblance of what you’d anticipate a human being to seem like.”

José was shot at point-blank vary at the back of the pinnacle, receiving three further pictures to his legs and arms. In distinction, Kitty suffered a extra brutal destiny, being shot 4 occasions within the head and one other 5 occasions in numerous components of her physique.

“It was simply completely savage,” he added. “You are two human beings who had been ripped aside.”

The brand new Netflix challenge delves into the surprising occasions surrounding the homicide of José and Mary Louise “Kitty,” in August 1989, in addition to the sensational trial that adopted within the early ’90s.

After the brothers dedicated the heinous act at their household dwelling, Lyle known as 911 in tears, claiming that they had gone out to see a film solely to return and uncover their mother and father useless. It wasn’t till months later that the brothers have been arrested for the killings.

In the end, Erik and Lyle have been convicted of two counts of first-degree homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide. They have been sentenced to life in jail with out the potential for parole and are at the moment serving their sentences on the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.

“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story” is streaming now on Netflix.