Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers Documentary Has a Few Shocking Reveals

Now 35 years after a tragic event whereby two boys shot and killed their parents in Beverly Hills, the story of the Menendez Brothers is resurfacing in public conversation once again. It all started with Ryan Murphy’s latest installment in his biographical crime drama anthology series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which dramatizes the events before, during, and after the murder and trials. That show tried to incorporate every viewpoint and potential truth. While the series has received mixed reviews, there’s no denying it has sparked debate and conversation.

Now, a new documentary on Netflix called The Menendez Brothers sets out to tell the story from the perspective of the two young men involved. Still in prison serving out their sentences, both Lyle and Erik provided telephone interviews in 2023, and excerpts from their conversations are played in the documentary. It’s enlightening and eye-opening, to say the least.

The Menendez Brothers (2024)

Release Date October 7, 2024

Director Alejandro Hartmann

Runtime 116 Minutes

The Most Interesting Revelations From The Menendez Brothers

There are so many interesting, some even shocking, revelations throughout the documentary’s almost two-hour runtime. Each pertains to a different aspect of the case. Beginning with recollections of the night of the murder, both men express surprise that they weren’t arrested that very same night. In fact, Erik, now 51, listed various reasons why he feels they should have been. He noted that they both had gunpowder residue on their fingers. He claimed there were shell casings in the trunk of his car, so if his vehicle were searched, police would have found them.

Erik also recalls that when he told police he saw smoke in the room, that should have been a dead giveaway because there wouldn’t have been unless he was present at the time of the shooting or soon thereafter. Most shocking, however, is that Erik says had he been pressed by police, he would have broken down and told the truth. He was already stricken with regret and did not believe that, in that moment, he would have been able to keep up the ruse. This poses interesting questions about the purported “Beverly Hills treatment” where the two boys, as rich kids in a wealthy neighborhood with well-to-do parents, were treated much differently than if they had been two kids calling in a major crime in a lower-income neighborhood.

The Menendez Boys’ Actions After the Murder, Explained

One of the factors that made the public wary of the boys and their stories of abuse was how they behaved after the deaths. They famously went on massive spending sprees, buying luxury cars, clothing, multiple Rolex watches, and even a small business as they blew through their parents’ bank accounts. It made it difficult for the defense to suggest they didn’t kill for the money.

In their own words, however, both Erik and Lyle indicate that these acts were all a way to cover up their pain. In fact, Erik admits that he had been contemplating suicide. Showing just how much of a hold his father had on him, Erik says the only reason he didn’t die by suicide is that he felt if he did, he would have been a complete failure to his father. “The spending,” he said, “was to cover up the pain of not wanting to be alive anymore.”

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As for Lyle, now 55, he says that, contrary to public belief, he wasn’t enjoying the playboy life. He spent his evenings sobbing and had difficulty sleeping. “I was adrift throughout those months,” he claims. So much so, in fact, that Lyle says he actually felt an odd sense of relief once he was arrested.

Why Lyle and Erik Menendez Didn’t Tell Anyone About the Abuse

Netflix

Another big question posed by the case is why the young men never revealed the sexual abuse prior to the trial. The prosecution also asked why they remained in the house as legal adults when, as the prosecutor said, they could have just left. When it comes to why they never told anyone (though they did tell their cousins, as noted in the first trial), there are interesting details about the psychologist, Dr. Jerome Oziel, that are revealed.

Erik was sent to him after committing a series of robberies and eventually confessed the murders to him. However, the brothers claim Dr. Oziel was chosen by their father for a specific reason. Jose Menendez refused to let Erik talk to any psychologist unless they would relay to him everything that was discussed in the sessions. Dr. Oziel, as it turned out, was the only one willing to break his doctor-patient confidentiality. Knowing that Erik’s sessions would be relayed to his father, it makes sense why he never brought up the abuse.

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Lyle, who says he was abused when he was younger before Jose started to abuse Lyle, said he would rather have continued with the murder trial than ever dredge up the past and talk publicly about what he and his brother Erik had been through. Relating to why the pair didn’t just leave the home, Erik noted that he believed he was finally going to be able to. He was planning to attend Stanford, where he felt he would finally have some distance from his father and leave his sordid past behind. But he learned just before the murders that his father was sending him to UCLA instead, and he would continue to live at home. “It was the most devastating moment of my life up to that point,” says Erik.

He also claims he was groomed to know that he could never get away. “He had programmed into my brain to know that I would never escape,” he adds. What’s more, he says there was no solace nor support from his mother, especially stating that Kitty told him she knew what was going on. “What do you think? I’m stupid?” she purportedly asked her son.

Shocking Revelations About the Menendez Trials

Netflix

There were shocking revelations about the trial in the documentary as well. As those familiar with the case know, the first trial ended in a mistrial as the jury could not come to a unanimous decision. In fact, they were downright deadlocked down the middle. Hazel Thornton, a juror from the first trial, notes that when the group initially met and decided to get a feel for where everyone stood before beginning their discussions, all the men raised their hands in favor of a murder conviction, while none of the women did. She felt it was a battle of the sexes whereby the men simply couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that a father would abuse his sons in that way. Women on the jury, by contrast, were more empathetic and understanding of the issue of abuse.

While Leslie Abramson, who represented Erik and later both young men during the trial, declined to participate in The Menendez Brothers, prosecutor Pamela Bozanich did. She remains steadfast in her belief that justice was served and that Lyle and Erik are where they belong. But she did admit to a few interesting things. Bozanich said the prosecution had a tough time finding anyone willing to say something nice about Jose Menendez beyond his secretary. Even family members only had negative recollections.

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One cousin reported seeing Jose put Lyle on the kitchen counter and tell him to jump off into his arms. When Lyle jumped, Jose moved out of the way, causing the child to fall to the ground. He then told him this was a lesson to never trust anyone. In another instance, Jose’s brother-in-law said he witnessed Jose hold a five-year-old Lyle and punch him closed-fist in the face.

“Jose Menendez was a really awful man, and he raised two sons capable of murder,” Bozanich said matter-of-factly. Nonetheless, she still feels they should have gotten the sentence they did. Most disturbing about the second trial, and that has supporters believing the young men did not get a fair shake, is that the second jury was reportedly not given the option to charge the men with manslaughter instead of murder. They could only decide on a guilty or innocent verdict.

Why the Menendez Case Is Being Reexamined

With the retelling of events in today’s much different landscape, where society is much more understanding of and educated about the abuse of men, the Menendez case is being reexamined. It isn’t just about Murphy’s enthralling series or all the TikTok support. Looking at the situation through a new lens, many of this generation believe that the brothers and their stories would have been viewed much differently had this occurred today.

Consider that the judge decided in the second case that since Erik and Lyle were not women, the battered women’s syndrome defense could not apply, even if they were telling the truth. By today’s societal standards, such a judgment would raise serious eyebrows and would have never been made. It would cause public outcry today. “The second jury convicted the brothers because they saw a completely different trial that was engineered to guarantee murder verdicts,” said Thornton in the documentary.

Additional accusations against Jose Menendez are now surfacing from former Menudo band member Roy Rosello. Outlined in the Peacock docuseries Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, his harrowing accounts have those who were skeptical of the Menendez brothers’ stories now believing there could be truth to them. Rosello, after all, has nothing to gain by speaking out now, given that Jose Menendez is long gone. There is also a resurfaced letter Lyle wrote to a now-deceased cousin recollecting the abuse that is being presented as evidence to justify another look at the case.

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Further, there were other aspects of the case that had fans curious if the trial was truly just, as examined in the documentary. The timing of the second trial occurred mere days after the O.J. Simpson acquittal, which added pressure to this case given that many felt his not guilty verdict was a grave injustice. “We got washed in the wake of that,” says Erik. Compounded with the embarrassment of a mistrial the first time, both the legal court and the court of public opinion were hungry for a verdict.

If nothing else, The Menendez Brothers documentary provides a voice for these men, who have reportedly been contributing and thriving in prison. More than three decades later, they remain insistent that their stories of abuse are true. But they are also aware of the fact that they committed a heinous crime that was deserving of serious punishment.

Most devastating in the documentary is that Erik continues to blame himself rather than his father for the events that unfolded from the moment he revealed to Lyle that his father was still abusing him. It further reinforces the intense feelings portrayed in that stand-out Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story “The Hurt Man” episode and that perhaps both brothers were living in their own kind of private prison long before they were ever incarcerated. For those who watched Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, The Menendez Brothers is a worthwhile follow-up. Watch The Menendez Brothers on Netflix.

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