Monster Season 2: True Story Based on The Menendez Brothers’ Real-Life Crimes & Trial

The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story is a significant addition to the true crime genre, narrating the real story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez, two brothers who committed a heinous crime in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The first season of Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, a Netflix crime drama TV series directed by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, focuses on the life of notorious serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. After recognizing the impact of Monster on the true crime genre, Netflix renewed it for two more seasons, the first of which explored the Menéndez brothers’ story.

In this crime drama, Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch will play Lyle and Erik Menéndez, respectively.

The remaining actors in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story are Javier Bardem and Chloë Sevigny, who portray José and Kitty Menéndez, the parents of Lyle and Erik. Dallas Roberts as Dr. Jerome Oziel, Jason Butler Harner as Les Zoeller, Enrique Murciano as Carlos Baralt, Nathan Lane as Dominick Dunne, Ari Graynor as Leslie Abramson, and Leslie Grossman as Judalon Smyth are among the other actors and actresses. Most celebrities play actual people who were crucial to the Menéndez case.

Sinful Crime of The Menendez Brothers’

This documentary on Netflix will explores the true story of the Menendez brothers’ alleged parent killing. In August 1989 José and Kitty were shot by their sons. Using 12-gauge Mossberg shotguns, Lyle and Erik shot José six times inside the house. Ten shots were fired at Kitty.

Waiting for the police to arrive, the brothers stayed inside the house. Lyle and Erik told the police that they had been out and returned home to find José and Kitty dead when the police arrived at the crime scene. At the time, it appeared that law enforcement had faith in the Menéndez brothers, and investigators started looking into potential suspects and reasons behind the killings.

After being questioned, Lyle and Eric admitted to the police that they were at a movie theater and the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium for a festival when the killings happened. But in the months that followed their parents’ deaths, Lyle and Erik’s luck would run out as Los Angeles police began to suspect the siblings.

The Menéndez brothers were taken into custody

Following the August 20, 1989 murders of José and Kitty Menéndez, Lyle and Erik—who were 18 and 21 at the time—decided it would be a good idea to spend a significant portion of their parents’ money.

The brothers used their newfound wealth to invest in various businesses while indulging in fine dining, real estate, travel, and Rolex watches. Naturally, the public’s and law enforcement’s disapproval of Lyle and Erik’s extravagant spending spree increased when it was revealed that they had spent almost $700,000 of their parents’ wealth. Suddenly, the Menéndez brothers became the focus of the police’s attention.

In March 1990, Lyle and Erik’s psychologist’s girlfriend, Judalon Smyth, also called the police and gave them a tip. In Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story, Leslie Grossman’s character Smyth told police that the brothers had confessed to the killings during a therapy session and that there was documentation to support their claims. Erik was caught on tape during the therapy session, confessing that he and Lyle killed José and Kitty. As a result, on March 8, 1990, the police detained Lyle outside his parents’ house, and Erik surrendered himself a few days later after getting back from Israel.

Erik Menéndez and Lyle were each given a life sentence in prison

It would take years for Lyle and Erik Menéndez to receive a sentence despite being placed under arrest by the police in March 1990.
Due to the mistrial that followed their first trial, the brothers also had to endure two trials. Lyle and Erik were tried concurrently in the 1993 trial, but different juries made different decisions.

The siblings may have received the death penalty if they had been found guilty of first-degree murder. A mistrial was declared by the judge after weeks of deliberation between the juries regarding whether Lyle and Erik should be found guilty of manslaughter or murder.

In October 1995, a few years later, the second trial began. Nonetheless, the prosecution selected a single jury rather than two, and the trial was eventually successful. The Menéndez brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder, but Lyle and Erik did not receive the death penalty; instead, they received life sentences without the possibility of release.

Menéndez disclosed their true intentions for the homicide

As Lyle and Erik Menéndez’s parents, José and Kitty, mistreated them as children, their defense team maintained throughout the first trial that they killed their parents in self-defense. They, therefore, expected to be found not guilty of first-degree murder but rather guilty of manslaughter.

During their testimony, Lyle and Erik described how they had been sexually abused by their parents starting when they were six years old and continuing until the few days before the killings. Erik’s father abused him until the murders, according to Lyle, who said the abuse ended when he was eight years old.

Lyle and Erik were afraid their parents would kill them after the Menéndez brothers said they had confronted José and Kitty, causing conflict. They claimed to have taken matters into their own hands.

But at the time, few people took Lyle and Erik seriously, believing their motivation to be financial (as their actions after the murders seemed to confirm). Prosecutors assumed the killings were premeditated because they also bought the shotguns a few days before the killings.

What Happened After Lyle and Erik Menéndez’s Convictions and Where They Are Today?

Lyle and Erik Menéndez are imprisoned since nearly thirty years after their second trial. The brothers are serving separate life sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California. But fresh information in the case could demonstrate that the Menéndez brothers were telling the truth about the maltreatment.

They are waiting on the judge’s decision to determine whether they can have their case retried. However, Lyle and Erik Menéndez will remain incarcerated.

About Monster Season 2

In the second installment of the Monster anthology series, Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan tackle another high-profile case that captivated the nation in the ’90s. Coming to Netflix on Sept. 19, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story tells the story of two brothers who killed their parents on Aug. 20, 1989, and the events surrounding the brutal slayings. (Both were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Created by Murphy and Brennan, the first iteration of Monster, DAHMER — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story premiered in 2022 and chronicled Jeffrey Dahmer’s (Evan Peters) gruesome murders between 1978 and 1991. DAHMER was a record-breaking success on Netflix, reaching 1 billion view hours in its first 60 days. The 10-episode series is only one of four series, including Stranger Things and Squid Game, to achieve such a milestone. Hot off the first iteration’s success, Monster was picked up for two additional installments of following notorious figures who left their mark on society. Here’s everything you need to know about Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.