The Media Frenzy Surrounding the Menendez Brothers’ Murder Trial
On August 20, 1989, at approximately 10 p.m., the Menendez brothers committed a heinous act by shooting their parents to death in their family’s Beverly Hills mansion on Elm Drive. The mansion, a 9,000-square-foot Mediterranean-style home, was previously leased by famous personalities such as Prince and Elton John. Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez had purchased the home less than a year before the tragic incident.
Jose, a 45-year-old entertainment executive, was shot in the back of the head at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun. His lifeless body was discovered in the den where he and Kitty, his 47-year-old wife of 26 years, had been watching a movie. Kitty was found in a pool of blood in the hallway, sustaining gunshot wounds in her arms, chest, and face. Both victims were also shot in the kneecap.
After committing the gruesome act, the brothers disposed of the guns along Mulholland Drive, threw away the spent shotgun shells and bloody clothes in a gas station dumpster, and purchased movie tickets in Century City for a film they did not watch. They then went to Santa Monica in an attempt to find one of Lyle’s friends for an alibi, but failing to do so, they drove back home.
At 11:47 p.m., 21-year-old Lyle called 911, crying to the dispatcher, “Somebody killed my parents!”