Why the Menendez Brothers Say They Killed Their Parents: Part 1

a rare jailhouse interview with one of the infamous Menendez brothers who together murdered their parents in their lavish Beverly Hills mansion 27 years ago where they spoiled rich kids run amuck or enraged victims of sexual abuse we're about to hear from witnesses the convicting jury never saw or heard almost three decades later are we finally getting the full story we warn you some of the language you're about to hear is extremely graphic I am the kid that did kill his parents and however Pierce has tonight Lyle Menendez speaking publicly from prison in a rare interview 27 years after he and his brother Eric brutally murdered their parents good shot he can think about did that happen that I get him embalming take one's life my parents life it's still Charlie seems unimaginable it seems so far removed from who i I am who I was the glow of innocence once surrounding the Menendez brothers is now shadowed by charges of murder to me it was like a nightmare like a movie like it couldn't be reality prosecutors say gree Joe of the boys to shooting their parents to death last August one kid killing the parents is a bad seed two kids killing the parents is a bad family I'm just a normal kid oh you're a normal kid who killed your parents I know a family saddled with secrets and lies that exploded with this 911 tonight the family friends and reporters who watched it all unfold it's not supposed to happen in Beverly Hills a movie executive and his wife were brutally slain in their million-dollar mansion the had been the picture-perfect family they achieved the American dream they were living in the mansion in Beverly Hills they were living behind the gate so on the outsides most people this was the perfect all-american family people assume that if you have money you have no problems and you're certainly not gonna do anything like kill your parents because you got it made and it turns out that rich people have dysfunctional families just as much as poor people the brothers who were thought to have it all at times acting out even going as far as robbing houses until they were caught Joe when he found out that the children had been arrested the main message was how stupid of you to get caught you're like sheep that follow you're not leaders describe your relationship with your father brutal uh painful torturous and yet uh I admired him because he was so strong he was he was everything that success was I think the Menendez brothers were close because they were fighting the common enemy which was their father he believed that life is like war and that anything you do to achieve your end is fine including it turns out killing your parents what happened who is the person that to be shot so you call the police but at that point you had already decided we had decided not to say anything we had decided that our feeling was not we'll just explain what happened and it'll be okay are we were very uh stunned and we felt that um we would go to jail obviously and we it was a selfish reason to just not want to have to to go through that as we walked in the front door was just eerily quiet in the back of the foyer was this library family room which is where the murder occurred kitty was wearing white she was covered in blood Jose had a shotgun blast of the back of his head blood everywhere there was brain matter on the ceiling on the windows it was really horrendous the Sun said they discovered the bodies when they arrived home several hours later we didn't have an alibi all we did was say we were at the movies but they never took you for gunpowder you did four ways that day they didn't four days theories circulated the airwaves homicide detectives say it could have been a mob hit contract killings but slowly tantalizing tips began to trickle in and ABC News has learned that two 12-gauge shotguns were purchased at this sporting goods store in San Diego on August 18th this time evidence pointing to the Menendez brothers the glow of innocence once surrounding the Menendez brothers is now shadowed by charges of murder when I first saw Erik Menendez walk into the courtroom my blood went cold because I had never seen someone who had murdered his parents before now after you entered the den I was just firing as I went into the room I just started firing in what direction in front of me what was in front of you my parents there is no issue as to who killed Jose and mary-louise Menendez why they were killed is what the focus of all of our evidence will be on trials our storytelling competitions ABC's terry moran a self-described rookie reporter at the time covered the case extensively for core TV so whoever tells the better story in a trial that's anchored in the facts as they come out that's who's gonna persuade the jury the prosecution was completely focused on the idea that Erik and Lyle Menendez were greedy rich kids that had killed their parents because they were in a hurry to inherit their money in the days after the murder an inexplicable shopping spree by the brothers why did you need to buy a Rolex watch four days after your parents were killed I didn't teach him they made the case that the brothers were afraid of being cut out of their parents will but the story took a turn when the defense revealed an alleged departed family secret he killed his parents because he could no longer endure their abuse and had to stop it I think there was a near universe sense that that this was going to be a sham defense and that there was going to be a joke and then they got on the witness stand what do you believe was the originating cause of you and your brother ultimately winding up shooting your parents retelling Lyle that uh you telling well what Laura and I asked the leading question mmm my view don't ask my dad no he was in the process of answer I was going to ask can you answer the question yes okay was you telling Lyle what my dad had been lost me you could hear a pin drop in the courtroom and that's when I thought uh oh darn I'm in trouble when Erik Menendez was ten years old he told his cousin Andy Cano that he'd been sexually molested by his father well he told me his father was massaging his he used that word yes he did he wanted to know that this happened to every kid I do remember very specifically was him asking me to make a promise to him never to reveal that to anybody and between the ages of six and eight did your father have sexual contact with you yes and how did it start we would have these talks and he would show me and he would fondle me and he would ask me to do the same with him and I would I would touch him we would undress when Lila appeared it was a turning point because now you were hearing a whole different side of the story and details that no one had ever really heard before we would be in the bathroom he would put me on my knees and he would guide me all my movements and I would uh have oral sexual on the days that Lyle and Erik Menendez testified to their claims of sexual abuse are among the most unforgettable days I've ever had as a journalist to this day my heart catches when I think about that what else did he do hey you Stan objects uh what kind of objects a toothbrush and some sort of Sagan utensil brush and did he try to an elite enha trait you with something else he did you know what was it that hey brettly there was a level of detail it wasn't just explicit it was accidental in other words there are things that that people remember from real life that you almost wouldn't kind of make up did you tell your brother did you do something to your brother yes what did he do your brother I took him out to the woods whenever I felt I don't know I took him out sometimes and I took a toothbrush also but and I played with Erik and the same way I'm sorry and he says it with such shame but what is even more convincing and I was sitting about 10 feet from Erik is I saw this vein they're popping out of his forehead as he hears his brother apologizing as their own secret horrible sordidness comes out into public on television that emotion that's what a victim not an actor that's what a victim looks like I remember thinking he's either the best actor in the world or this is a true story it became like a Rorschach test you looked at Lyle Menendez Erik Menendez you either saw cynical sinister vicious killers or you saw victims the jurors are unable to reach a verdict hopelessly deadlocked both brothers trials ended in hung juries shortly after America was riveted by that other trial of the century the second Menendez trials had no cameras in court room Lyle didn't even take the stand limiting testimonies about the alleged sexual abuse the verdict violent Erik Menendez have been found guilty of murdering their parents it took a second trial for the two to be convicted of murder in the first degree what went through your mind when you heard that verdict that I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison when we come back the Menendez brothers find love behind bars and could there ever be another port case for the convicted killers every mother's day and think about kiding Menendez because what they did to their mother was pure unadulterated evil [Music]

Channel: ABC News

Views: 11,864,281

Rating: 4.8833895 out of 5

Keywords: Jose, Menendez, The, Brothers, Lyle, Erik, Kitty, Cuban-American, immigrants, Murder, Famous, Cases, Tammi, Today, News, us, abc, abcnews, Menendez Brothers

Id: t3PA37erNYw

Length: 12min 25sec (745 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 06 2017