By Robert Rand
Lyle Menendez was arrested 32 years ago this month — March 8, 1990. Erik Menendez surrendered to the Beverly Hills Police three days later — March 11 – after flying from London to Miami and then L.A. . The next
The last time I visited Lyle Menendez at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego was February 2020.
Within weeks, California, like the rest of the world, would be locked down because of COVID-19.
Sure, we were all unhappy to be stuck at home, but imagine trying to survive the plague while packed in prison!
The virus was not a problem at Donovan until December; that’s when a shock outbreak — 700 new cases in one week — turned the sprawling lockup into a pandemic penitentiary.
Lyle and Erik, luckily, were never infected. They are now fully vaccinated.
Lyle and Erik are headed back to court for their retrial. Here are all the odd facts, bizarre characters, and untold stories you need to appreciate round two including, of course, a cameo by OJ. himself.
As the only journalist who covered the 1989 investigation and the trials in 1993-94 and 1995, I want to welcome the thousands of new supporters of the Menendez brothers. You are collectively responsible for over 800 million views of Menendez TikToks as
On the night of August 20, 1989, the last night in the lives of Jose and Kitty Menendez, their elegant residential street in Beverly Hills was so still you could hear a leaf drop. That in itself was neither unusual nor something to arouse suspicion. People pay a steep price to live in such neighborhoods, and they cherish their peace and quiet.
There are four different versions of what happened the night of October 31, 1989.
That’s when Erik Menendez confessed to Dr. Jerome Oziel that he and his brother, Lyle, had killed their parents.
On July 2, 1996, Judge Stanley Weisberg sentenced Lyle and Erik Menendez to life without parole.
Here’s how I described the scene in my book….
On March 8, 1990, Lyle Menendez was arrested in Beverly Hills and charged with killing his parents.
Brother Erik Menendez surrendered several days later.
The Menendez brothers have been in jail for more than half their lives.
On Monday, March 12, 1990, Erik and Lyle Menendez – who were being held without bail – were arraigned at Beverly Hills Municipal Court.
The charges against the brothers were read to a packed courtroom that included many supportive family members.
Erik Menendez looked exhausted because he hadn’t slept since his voluntary surrender and return from Israel a day before.
It was the beginning of the end the lives the boys once knew.
Through his unparalleled access – and his relentlessly detailed reporting – Robert Rand became America’s unofficial “Menendez-whisperer” when this story dominated the news.
Now, Rand is back, with stunning, never-before seen revelations in The Menendez Murders – a landmark work that upends everything we thought we knew about these crimes, and may rock the criminal justice system. Deeply compelling and meticulously sourced, it’s the essential read of the year. — Evan Wright, author, Generation Kill.