35 years ago, on August 20, 1989, a brutal crime shook Hollywood with the murder of the couple José and Kitty Menendez, shot dead in their home in Beverly Hills. Their sons, Erik and Lyle, were the ones who called the police – crying – claiming that they arrived home and found their parents’ bodies, but, in an incredible twist, the police discovered that in fact, THEY were the killers and that everything, in the Prosecution’s version, was about money.

After two trials covered by all the TVs and newspapers in the world, the brothers accused their father of sexual abuse (and their mother of complicity) and that they were afraid after confronting him. The court excluded the testimonies and evidence of sexual abuse from the case, only maintaining the argument that they acted motivated by the desire to inherit their parents’ multimillion-dollar estate. Although Erik and Lyle always deny it, it was the unbridled use of money that raised police suspicions about the murder and the Menendez brothers narrowly escaping the death penalty.

The drama has fascinated true crime fans and producers for more than three decades, and the new version of the story is being adapted into the new series by Ryan Murphy: Monsters – The Menendez Brothers.

With Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny playing José and Kitty, and Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez playing the brothers, the series arrives on Netflix just as the case has gained more elements that the brothers hope will be enough to help them gain freedom. This is because two new pieces of evidence can be used as arguments to support the rights of both men, who have been serving life sentences without parole since 1996: a letter written by Kyle, in which he describes the abuse he suffered from his father, and the accusation of former Menudo member Roy Rosselló, who recently confessed in a documentary that he was raped several times by José Menendez when the group was on tour in the United States.

When Erick and Lyle revealed the violence they had suffered for years in silence, the world still tended to question victims of abuse, discrediting their testimonies. Although the courts consider that the premeditation of the Menendez crime proves that trauma would not have been an argument for murder, many believe that the case would have a different approach in modern times.

At the time, Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18, and they only admitted that they had shot their father, a top entertainment executive, and their mother after being reported by the girlfriend of one of their therapists. They claimed at trial that they feared their parents were about to kill them because they had said they would go public with the abuse.

The brothers shot José five times, including one at close range with a shotgun aimed at the back of his head. As Kitty, who had also been shot, tried to crawl away, Lyle shot her in the face with a shotgun. In total, she was shot nine times.

At the time, cousins ​​of the Menendez family confirmed that José’s relationship with his children was abusive and that Erik had previously reported the abuse and sexual violence he suffered from his father. One of these testimonies was that of Andy Cano, who was dismissed.

Cano died in 2003 from an accidental overdose involving sleeping pills, but a journalist who wrote about the case was given access by the family to rummage through a dresser full of papers and found a letter from Erik to his cousin, written about nine months before the murder, in which he describes in detail the panic he feels about his father’s attacks and the threats he made if Erik said anything to anyone.

Andy Cano never mentioned the letter during the trial, nor did anyone mention it, but even now it can be used as the missing evidence in 1996 because it confirms what they claimed as their motive: self-defense. Erik had told everything years before when he was 12 and Andy was 10 but demanded an oath of silence from his cousin, who was traumatized by the burden of secrecy.

With the letter and Roy Rosselló‘s testimony, the Menendez brothers’ lawyers can file a habeas corpus petition to request a new trial. If accepted, the entire case is presented again, with both sides presenting their evidence and arguments, and a new verdict is reached. An answer may be available as early as September 2024. In other words, there is nothing better than the series being shown just when everything could change.

News is that the Menendez brothers are hopeful: will the end of this tragedy be different? Monsters premieres on the 19th on Netflix.

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