The second part of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster Anthology on Netflix is ​​here. After the chronicle of the gruesome murders of the serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer In 2022, the next chapter focuses on the lives and crimes of the infamous Menendez brothers.

The second season with 10 episodes is about the brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez, who shot their parents in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The sensational murders of the entertainment manager Jose Menendez and his wife Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez preoccupied America in the 1990s.

The prosecution portrayed the brothers as cold-blooded killers motivated by the desire to inherit the family fortune. The defense argued that Lyle and Erik were victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse at the hands of their parents.

Read on to delve deeper into the gripping true crime story that Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendezincluding what the brothers did, what happened at their trials and what punishments they received.

What happened to Jose and Kitty Menendez?

On the evening of August 20, 1989, Jose and Kitty Menendez were found shot multiple times at close range in the living room of their Beverly Hills mansion. Due to the brutality of the murders, the police initially suspected that the mob was involved.

Officers arrived at the scene after Lyle Menendez, then 21, called 911 and frantically yelled, “Someone killed my parents,” according to CBS News. Lyle and his 18-year-old brother Erik told police they found their parents shot when they returned home.

Jose Menendez worked for a film studio and headed the home video department. Investigators initially suspected the murders were connected to his business dealings, but suspicion quickly turned to the couple’s sons, who spent lavishly on Rolex watches, real estate and business investments.

When did Lyle and Erik Menendez become suspects?

Six months after the murders, authorities received a tip from Judalon Smyth, the lover of Erik’s psychologist Jerome Oziel. According to Time.com, Smyth told police that Erik had confessed to the murders during therapy and that there were tape recordings of it.

The California Supreme Court ultimately ruled that prosecutors could use Oziel’s tape-recorded notes from two sessions with Erik and Lyle in which the brothers admitted to killing their parents.

On March 8, 1990, Beverly Hills police arrested Lyle Menendez outside the house where his parents were murdered. Two days later, Erik Menendez turned himself in at Los Angeles International Airport when he returned from playing tennis in Israel.

What happened during the trials of the Menendez brothers?

The trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez began on July 20, 1993, and was broadcast live on Court TV (now TruTV), generating a national media frenzy. The brothers were tried together, but their sentences were determined by separate juries. If convicted of first-degree murder, the brothers faced the death penalty, CBS News reported.

Menendez’s defense team argued that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense. Both brothers testified that they were abused by their parents. Lyle Menendez took the stand and said that his mother and father abused him, and that his father began sexually abusing him when he was 6 years old.

Lyle testified that his father stopped sexually abusing him when he was 8, but Erik said the abuse never stopped for him and that he told his older brother Lyle about it days before the crime. Relatives, friends and acquaintances of the Menendez family testified for the defense about incidents of physical and emotional abuse.

The brothers claimed that a confrontation between Lyle and their parents escalated to the point where they feared their parents would kill them to cover up the family secret. They testified that they believed their parents had planned to kill them that night, so they went into the living room and started shooting.

Prosecutors, led by Assistant District Attorneys Pamela Bozanich and Lester Kuriyama, argued that money was the motive, claiming the brothers were trying to gain control of their parents’ $14.5 million inheritance. Lyle and Erik reportedly spent up to $700,000 of their inheritance on luxury goods, business ventures and travel. For example, Lyle bought a $60,000 Porsche 911 Carrera to replace the Alfa Ramero his father had given him. Erik gave up his Ford Mustang 5.0 hardtop and bought a tan Jeep Wrangler. Lyle also bought $40,000 worth of clothing and a $15,000 Rolex watch, and Erik hired a tennis coach for $50,000 a year, according to Vanity Fair.

Prosecutors also claimed that the murders were premeditated, pointing out that the brothers had purchased the shotguns days before the crime. Deliberations lasted for weeks, but both jurors disagreed on whether the brothers should be convicted of murder or manslaughter. Ultimately, the judge declared the trial void.

In October 1995, the retrial began, and there was only one jury instead of two. Judge Stanley Weisberg also prevented the trial from being televised, limited testimony on the sexual abuse allegations, and prohibited the jury from voting on manslaughter instead of murder, Time.com reports.

Prosecutors claimed the brothers lied about the abuse, calling it “the abuse excuse.” Lyle Menendez declined to testify at the second trial.

What sentence were Lyle and Erik Menendez given?

After several days of deliberation, the jury found Lyle and Erik Menendez guilty of first-degree murder. The brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

In January 2017, Lyle said ABC News that he had accepted his crime. “I’m the boy who killed his parents, and no amount of tears has changed that, and no amount of regret has changed that,” he said at the time. “I accept that. You’re often defined by a few moments in your life, but that’s not who you are in your life, you know. Your life is your totality of it… You can’t change it. You’re just stuck in the choices you’ve made.”

For the latest news on Lyle and Erik Menendez, read the article below to find out where the brothers are now and what new evidence supports their abuse allegations that could lead to their imminent release from prison.

ForbesWhere are Lyle and Erik Menendez now? New evidence could lead to their releaseFrom Monica Mercuri

Watch the official trailer for Monster: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez below.