LOS ANGELES, USA: This 1992 archive photo shows the double murder defendants Erik (R) and Lyle … (+)
Erik and Lyle Menendez will speak out for the first time in decades. The brothers will recount the brutal murders of their parents and the trials that followed in Netflix’s new documentary. The Menendez BrothersPremiere on October 7th.
“Everyone asks why we killed our parents,” Lyle says in an audio interview from prison in the documentary’s official trailer, which premiered Sept. 23. “Maybe now people can understand the truth.”
“What happened that night is common knowledge, but much has not been told,” adds Erik. “We were not the ones who told the story of our lives. Two children do not commit this crime for money.”
According to Netflix, the documentary will see the brothers revisit the trial that shocked the country in the early 1990s. “Through extensive audio interviews with Lyle and Erik, lawyers involved in the trial, journalists who covered it, jurors, the family and other informed observers, acclaimed Argentine director Alejandro Hartmann offers new insights and a fresh perspective on a case people only think they know,” the official synopsis reads.
On August 20, 1989, her parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, were found shot multiple times in the living room of their Beverly Hills mansion. Lyle and Erik, who were 21 and 18 at the time, initially told investigators that they found their parents shot when they returned home.
Investigators focused on the brothers as suspects after the lover of Erik’s psychologist, Jerome Oziel, alerted authorities. She revealed that Erik had confessed to the murders during therapy sessions and that there were tape recordings of those confessions.
Prosecutors portrayed the brothers as cold-blooded killers motivated by a desire to inherit the family fortune. The brothers argued that the murders were self-defense after years of sexual and physical abuse by their parents, particularly their father, José.
The Menendez brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder. They were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole and are currently serving their sentences at the RJ Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
Netflix announced the documentary just days after its release Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendezthe second part of Ryan Murphy’s anthology series. Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Cooper Koch, Oscar winner Javier Bardem and Oscar nominee Chloë Sevigny portray the members of the broken family.
Erik was quick to criticize the 10-part series after its release. On Friday, September 20, the younger Menendez brother posted a statement on Facebook in which he Monster for the portrayal of him and his brother Lyle.
“I thought we had moved beyond the lies and devastating character portrayals of Lyle, creating a caricature of Lyle based on horrific and obvious lies that were rampant on the show,” he said. “I can only believe they were done on purpose. It is with a heavy heart that I have to say that I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be so naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives to do this without malicious intent.”
Erik also criticized Murphy, the creator of Monsterand claimed he had “shaped his horrific story through vile and horrific character portrayals of Lyle and me and disheartening slanders.” Erik continued, “Isn’t the truth enough? Let the truth be the truth. How demoralizing it is to know that one man with power can undo decades of progress in resolving childhood trauma.”
But Erik’s harsh criticism is not the only controversy surrounding the series. On September 20, Forbes reported that critics had raised concerns about scenes implying an incestuous relationship between the brothers.
At his 1995 retrial, Lyle testified that he had sexually molested Erik when they were children. However, the series portrays their sexualized interactions as adults and as seemingly consensual acts.
Another moment in the show, featuring journalist Dominick Dunne, suggests that the brothers killed their parents to cover up their romantic relationship. However, Today.com reported that the real Dunne never put forward this theory in his coverage of the trial. In his 1990 Vanity Fair In the article “Nightmare on Elm Drive” he learned that the brothers had been sexually abused.
Watch the official trailer for The Menendez Brothers on Netflix, see below.
