Episode 409: Menendez Brothers: Murder Most Foul!
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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we explore one of the biggest True Crime cases from the 90s and look a the Menendez Brothers murders. In the early days of Court TV, and right when OJ’s trial was a big thing, these two handsomely smarmy wealthy brothers made national news for the monstrous killing of their parents with two 12 gauge Mossberg shotguns.
The Menendez family was allegedly a troubled one. Lyle and Erik’s father José Enrique Menéndez fled from Cuba in the 1960s and settled in New Jersey and New York. He married his wife Kitty, and they ended up living a life of privilege. We’re talking country clubs, Princeton, and lots of money. But the sons Lyle and Erik developed completely crazy tempers and were beyond spoiled. They all but gave up at school, and their father spent money and did their homework to keep them in good graces and keep the family name looking good.
It is also worthy to report that according to the brothers, they were raped and molested by their father, and they were fondled and creeped on by their mother. Family members doubt this later on, but you never know. There were even accounts of the Menendez Brothers molesting one of their cousins and each other. So all was not well in the Menendez house.
Eventually, their father landed a very lucrative job in video out in Hollywood, and the family moved out West. There, the sons kept screwing up. They got kicked out of schools, were always in trouble, and even started stealing tens of thousands of dollars worth of swag from their wealthy friends.
It got so bad that their mother eventually threatened to take them off of the will and cut off all their allowance. Within a month of this threat, she was dead. The details are pretty grisly, but we cover them for all you sick True Crime folks out there. Shotguns to the head, body parts broken, lungs pierced, thumbs almost cut off, the works. For years, the trial surrounding the deaths dominated the media. The trial was a hung jury, and then there was a second one that finally found the brothers guilty.
So, which of their parents were killed first? Why did the brothers shoot their parent’s corpses in the knees? What made one of the brothers confess his crime to his therapist, and what came of that? Was there anything to the argument that the brothers only killed their parents because their rapist parents were going to kill them first to shut them up? How much money did the Menendez Brothers spend in the first year? Who are they married to in prison, and why was their lead detective so fabulous? Listen, laugh, learn.
Visit Our Sources:
https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/menendez-brothers
https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/menendez-brothers/crimes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_and_Erik_Menendez
https://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/menendez-brothers.htm
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1993/10/dunne199310
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1994/03/dunne199403
https://www.vanityfair.com/magazine/1990/10/dunne199010
Truth and Lies in Beverly Hills by David Kennedy, 2017. https://books.google.com/books?id=7T-9AQAACAAJ&dq=editions:LlCt-v5b-IAC&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjG2rbR6qnkAhUG16wKHRaNCDMQ6AEwAHoECAAQAg
https://toofab.com/2017/12/28/erik-menendez-wife-tammi-menendez-murders-ae-exclusive-clip/
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