The Menendez Murders

Summary

Discover the definitive book on the Menendez case—and the source material for NBC's Law and Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.



A successful entertainment executive making $2 million a year. His former beauty queen wife. Their two sons on the fast track to success. Until tragedy struck.



Married for twenty-six years, José and Kitty Menendez appeared to be a happy couple and proud parents. Twenty-one-year-old Lyle Menendez was enrolled at Princeton, where he was a star on the tennis team. Eighteen-year-old Erik Menendez had just graduated from Beverly Hills High and was about to start college at UCLA. The Menendezes appeared to be living the American dream. But it was all a façade.



The Menendez saga has captivated and fascinated people since 1989. The killing of José and Kitty Menendez on a quiet Sunday evening in Beverly Hills didn't make the cover of People magazine until the arrest of their sons seven months after the murders, and the case developed an intense cult following. When the first Menendez trial began in July 1993, the public was convinced that Lyle and Erik—"the boys," as they would become known—were a pair of greedy rich kids who had killed loving, devoted parents. But the real story remained buried beneath years of dark secrets—until now.