Kitty Menendez was the mother of Lyle and Erik Menendez. Kitty, along with her husband Jose, were gunned down in their Beverly Hills home by their sons in 1989.
History[]
As a young adult, Kitty had gotten married to Jose and they had two sons Lyle and Erik. During the early years, Lyle recalls that his mother would nurse injured birds back to health after they flew into the glass window.
At some point when Lyle was six years old, he went to Kitty to tell her that Jose was touching him inappropriately. Kitty tells Lyle not to exaggerate, saying that Jose was just punishing him and that's what fathers do. A few years later, Lyle tells Kitty the same thing about Jose, but Kitty just tells Lyle to put eyedrops in his eyes and not cry at the dinner table.
As her sons got older, Jose would often quiz the boys at the dinner table. During one such incident while Jose was quizzing Lyle, Jose starts calling Erik a sissy because he was playing with his food. Kitty sits there silently, along with other members of the family, as Jose continues to berate Erik, referring to him using homophobic slurs (True Crime: Episode 2).
When Lyle was 11, Kitty would have Lyle in her bed and have him fondle her. Lyle had described his mother as being very loving during this time, but two years later when Lyle was 13, Kitty grew very cold towards him often telling her son that she wished he was dead.
As her sons reached their early adulthood, Kitty's relationship with them continued to deteriorated as did her mental health because of Jose's extramarital affairs. At one point, Kitty had an argument with Lyle that resulted in her ripping off his hair piece. When Lyle started begging for it, Kitty refused to give it back and insisted that he looked fine without it before throwing the hairpiece at him and walking away.
Later that day, Erik came running to her from his room, he revealed to his mother that his father was sexually abusing him, and she tells him that she already knew that.
On Saturday, August 19, 1989, Kitty and Jose had planned for the family to go on a fishing trip. Her sons were away from the house all day. They planned to return to the house so late that Jose and Kitty would've left on the fishing trip without them. When Lyle and Erik did return to the house, their parents were packing up the car to leave, so Lyle and Erik had no choice but to go with them. The entire time the brothers avoided their parents.
The following morning, Sunday, August 20, Kitty and Jose are in the family room watching TV when Lyle walks in. Kitty sits by silently, as her husband and son talk to one another about a tennis camp.
Later that day in the early evening, Lyle and Erik tell Kitty they want to go to a movie, and Kitty refuses to let them leave. As they continue to argue, Jose tells Kitty to "shut up" and reiterates that they're not going out that night. When an argument ensued between Jose and Lyle, Kitty tells Lyle that he ruined the family. Kitty is pulled back into the family room by Jose who tells her not to waste her time before closing the doors to the family room (True Crime: Episode 6).
Later in the evening, around 10 PM, Lyle and Erik returned to the family room, each armed with their own Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun, and started shooting at both of their parents. After the brothers were done shooting, both of their parents were dead. Following the deaths, Jose and Kitty were buried in Princeton cemetery.
After the murders, it was wildly speculated that Jose and Kitty's deaths were related to organized crime. However after Erik‘s confession, the brothers were subsequently arrested in March 1990, almost 7 months after the shootings. After two highly publicized trials in 1993 and 1995, Lyle and Erik were ultimately found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Appearances[]
- Law & Order True Crime (1 season, 5 episodes):
- Season 1: "True Crime: Episode 1" • "True Crime: Episode 2" • "True Crime: Episode 3" • "True Crime: Episode 4" • "True Crime: Episode 6"