All Things Morbid

Hello bloggers and blog readers! The case on the chopping block today, contains patricide, matricide, lying, abuse, a show of how strong a bond between brothers can be, and murder. The Menendez brothers. The sons that killed their parents.

This is a closed case. Lyle and Erik Menendez admitted they did it. its not a question of who did it, but rather the question of, Why?

On the evening of a Sunday, August 20, 1989, an operator of 991 recieved a call by Lyle Menendez, screaming, “Someone killed my parents!” Officers arrived at their villa to see Jose and Kitty Menendez shot multiple times at close range by a shotgun. Lyle and Erik told investigators at the scene that they, “Arrived at home to find their parents shot to death.”

I think you can see where this is going. Two perfect sons, going into college – Lyle 21 years old, Erik 18 – with two perfect parents. Two perfect white, rich, parents. The American dream family. No one would suspect for these two perfect sons to kill these two perfect parents. I bet that’s what Lyle and Erik were banking on. But, luckily for us, the Police are actually semi-good at their jobs. [ I’m sorry if I offended anyone with that comment ].

When they started investigating, their main suspect was, drum roll please, the beautiful greedy thing we call…Business. As stated before in this ‘magnificent’ amount of paragraphs, the brothers parents were rich. Namely, their dad, Jose Menendez. Jose worked a lot in business, and he was good at it. [ Good at work, not parenting.] And, at the time of his death, Jose was working for a film studio running its home division. So he was working for a film studio. Then he dies. Therefore the film studio is behind it.

…

But then why kill Kitty? This theory has way too many holes in it, so the police are glad to drop it when they get a clue. A lot of clues actually. And these clues pointed to Lyle and Erik.

You see, in the wake of their parents death, or more bluntly, murder, while the police was trying to solve it, Lyle and Erik were spending their inheritance, and lots of it. The bought Rolex watches. Rolex watches! Who buys Rolex watches with their dead parents money? ….They also bought real estate and invested in businesses. So, not typically what one would do after their parents passing away but, although unusual, not rock solid proof.

But buying Rolex watches weren’t the only thing that they were doing. Lyle and Erik had been taking to a therapist. Now that isn’t strange, because of course they would go to therapy after they saw their parents dead bodies. I’m going to be serious right now. Even though Lyle and Erik killed their parents, do not believe for one minute, that they are ‘soulless monsters’ like people want you to believe. They had reasons, and those reasons don’t justify what they did, but their ‘perfect’ parents, well…they weren’t ‘perfect’. Not by a long shot.

Back to therapy. Now, I like to think this is a case where Lyle and Erik, ‘sent their therapist to therapy’, as pouring out their feelings to their therapist. No, they were confessing. Just one more point on my ‘they are not soulless monsters’ campaign: if they had no regrets of what they did, why would they confess? And sure, there are lots of reasons. Jeffery Dahmer confessed because the police found so much evidence pointing to him killing people, that there was no chance to change their minds otherwise. And yeah, they might of done it for the recognition, but work with me here. If they wanted recognition, why did they plead not guilty in their trial? Anddddd…now I’m getting off track.

The therapist couldn’t tell the police, no, he was bound by patient confidentiality. But then 6 months after the crime, the police got a tip from an unlikely source: The therapist’s girlfriend, Judalon Smyth. She told the police that the brothers had confessed to the killings in therapy and that there was an audiotaped recording of it. A few days later, on March 8, 1990, the police arrested Lyle Menendez at the Beverly Hills mansion where their parents died. Two days after that, Erik Menendez was arrested at the L.A International Airport, upon arriving back from Israel, where he was playing tennis.

The was 2 trials following the arrests, the first one ending in a mistrial. Both times, Lyle and Erik testified that they had been abused and were killing their parents in self-defense. The brothers were both in danger of being put on the death row, but luckily for them, it did not come to that. Yes, there is way more detail on the trials, but that is a story in its self, and one I won’t be writing about today.

And after 30 years in prison, Lyle and Erik have been denied parole.

Just keep this in mind: Lyle and Erik were not monsters, but they did a terrible thing. Some argue that the killing was justified, some disagree. Me myself, well, I don’t really know what to think. Jose Menendez abused his sons repeatedly over their lifetimes, and for that he is a terrible man. But I don’t think he deserved to die.

So, what do you think?