Please ensure you have given Find a Grave permission to access your location in your browser settings. Jose Menendez was a businessman in California from Cuba Credit: AP:Associated Press. Almost seven years after the murders, in 1996, after two highly publicized trials, Lyle and Erik were found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and were sentenced to serve two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. The judge did not indicate Friday when he would rule. The brothers started to spend money excessively which drew the attention of the police. The couple briefly moved with their young son to New Jersey, where Kitty gave birth to their second son, Erik Galen Menendez on November 27, 1970. "[27] Diane Vander Molen, another cousin of the brothers, stated that she once told Kitty about Jos's molestation of Lyle, although Kitty told her that it was false. As their investigation continued, police began to suspect that the brothers were the most likely perpetrators because of the obvious financial motive and their exorbitant spending after the killings. Lyle Menendez fired his shotgun into the back of his father's head, killing him instantly. He moved to the US when he was 16, and met Mary Louise Kitty Anderson at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. The brother is serving life in prison for killing their parents on August 20, 1989. The next evening, the brothers burst into the family room armed with shotguns and began firing. Her home life was very unhappy, with a cruel, abusive father and a despondent, battered mother. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Make sure that the file is a photo. The brothers then stated that their father closed the den's door at that time, which was unusual. Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty ImagesLyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Family members later disputed a connection between their spending and the murder of their parents, claiming that there were no changes in their spending habits after the killings. Failed to delete memorial. Hercz also said that Kitty would constantly speak of a trip she was taking to visit family in South America, whereshe had no known relatives or family. Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Kitty, along with her husband Jose, was gunned down by her sons, Lyle and Erik, in August 1989. I have two more photos that I found and will be uploading shortly. Erik fired into his mothers leg, arm, and chest. "[15] When police arrived, the brothers told them that the killings had occurred while they were out at a movie theater seeing Batman and attending the "Taste of L.A." festival at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Since they were considered to be maximum-security inmates, they were segregated from other prisoners. Learn more about merges. [34], Both brothers were eventually convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and of conspiracy to commit murder; in the penalty phase of the trial, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jos Menndez Birth Name: Jos Enrique Menndez Birth Date: May 6, 1944 Birth Place: Havana, Cuba Death Date: August 20, 1989 Place of Death: 722 N Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, California Age: 45 Cause of Death: Homicide - gunshot wounds Cemetery Name: Princeton Cemetery Claim to Fame: Crime and their Victims Associates: Kitty Menndez Found more than one record for entered Email, You need to confirm this account before you can sign in. On August 20, 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their parents. [43], On July 2, 1996, Lyle married Anna Eriksson at a ceremony attended by Abramson and his aunt Marta Menndez, and presided over by Judge Nancy Brown; they divorced on April 1, 2001[4] after Eriksson discovered that Lyle was allegedly cheating on her with another woman. [46] Despite his life sentence, Erik stated: "Tammi is what gets me through. This flower has been reported and will not be visible while under review. #Blogger Hear From Lyle Menendez About His Parents Murder for the First Time in 20 Years https://t.co/jM9mm0JIw1 #Tech pic.twitter.com/0Ev1Fx7oji, Adrijan Moll (@adrijanmoll) January 5, 2017. In 1989, while he and his wife were watching television, they were shot to death by their sons. When was Erik Menendez born? A third jury found both brothers guilty on April 17, 1996. I can't think about the sentence. Over the next twenty years, the family had moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where their sons, Joseph and Erik, were born, and then to Beverly Hills, California, where Jose worked in the Carolco Film Company as an executive. Jose, along his wife Kitty, was gunned down in his Beverly Hills home by his sons, in 1989. Both men will spend the rest of their lives in prison. At some point, due to these affairs, Kitty briefly left the family home. Dunne commented on the terrible nature of the murders, and the boy responded, Yeah, I heard the father was pretty rough on those kids., In a 1996 interview with Barbara Walters, Erik said his relationship with his father was, Brutal. Christian Menendez Brothers 8. They married in 1963 and moved to New York City, where Jos earned an accounting degree from Queens College. According to Erik, Kitty had expressed that the early years of her marriage was the closest that she and Jose had ever been. The Menendez brothers' (Erik and Lyle) were sons of Jose and Kitty Menendez. Following Joses graduation and certification as an accountant, he started working for Coopers and Lybrand. Lists about who they murdered, how they did it, and other horrifying facts that will keep you wide awake tonight, shaking your head at humanity. In 1987 she attempted suicide, ingesting a bottle of sleeping pills. 200. Dec 2021. When was Lyle & Erik Menendez born? Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they fatally shot Jose and Kitty Menendez on August 20, 1989, in the family's Beverly Hills home. Becoming a Find a Grave member is fast, easy and FREE. In 1962, her senior year at SIU, Kitty had met Jose Menendez, a freshman who was three years younger than her, and they were soon in love. The ABC 20/20 special originally aired on April 2, 2021, at 9pm ET. Grier said that Erik used fake identification to purchase the guns, reports CNN. Kitty Menendez, who over the years was needy, pathetic, athletic, disorganized, suspicious and spacey, "all kinds of contradictory things," simply seemed strange three weeks before her sons. Despite her initial unhappiness, Kitty moved with Jose and Erik to Calabasas, California. Contents 1 Early Life and Education 2 Higher Education and Meeting Kitty In 1963, they eloped, shortly after Betty received her BS degree in communications. Over the next twenty years, the family had moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where their sons, Joseph and Erik, were born, and then to Beverly Hills, California, where Jose worked in the Carolco Film Company as an executive. Jose Antonio Menendez (born March 11, 1969) is a member of the Texas Senate for District 26. Both of their families were opposed to the marriage, his because her parents were divorced, hers because of Jose's Cuban heritage. Jose has been described as demanding, overbearing, and tyrannical, and during the trials, the defense interviewed six former teachers, six relatives, five neighbors, four tennis coaches, a swim coach and a soccer coach, who all recounted unpleasant memories of the victims, writes the New York Times in 1993. Painful. [38][39][40], On February 27, 1998, the California Court of Appeal upheld the brothers' murder convictions, and on May 28, 1998, the Supreme Court of California declined to review the case, thus allowing the decision of the appellate court to stand. The couple were known for their affluent lifestyle in Beverly Hills. Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was also an unfaithful husband, with a string of mistresses. Jose and Kitty had been on the couch in their den at the time of the attack. During Joses career at Hertz and eventually RCA Records, the family moved to New Jersey and lived in Pennington and briefly in Mountain Avenue. Photo: Courtesy of Lifetime. But in 1959, this seemingly idyllic life was uprooted. Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when they fatally shot Jose and Kitty Menendez on August 20, 1989, in the family's Beverly Hills home. Pamela Bozanich asked. She graduated a year after Brian in 1959. The couple had two sons, Joseph Lyle and Erik, and in 1968 the family moved to Beverly Hills. Jose's work so impressed the upper management that they offered him a job as the company's comptroller. Born Mary Louise "Kitty" Andersen in Oak Lawn, a suburb of Chicago in 1941, she was the youngest of four children to Charles and Mae Andersen. Her life ended and our lives essentially ended all because of this fateful decision. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Kitty Menendez (1153)? After Lyles birth, Kitty quit her teaching job and became a stay-at-home mom. Jose Menendez was a Cuban emigre who was raised by "well-to-do business people and star athletes", according to the LA Times. A Calabasas house. At the time of their deaths, Jose and Kitty lived in a $5 million Beverly Hills mansion, that was once home to Elton John and Michael Jackson, according to the Los Angeles Times. You can catch up on the story with The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All also on Hulu. [25] Represented by their defense lawyer, Leslie Abramson, the brothers stated that they killed their parents out of fear for their lives after a lifetime of abuse at the hands of their parents, especially sexual abuse at the hands of their father, who was described as a cruel perfectionist and pedophile. Jose and Mary Louise Kitty Menendez were married in 1964. She was concerned that Erik may be gay, so she gave him a deadline to find a girlfriend when he started school at Calabasas High School a deadline which Erik barely met. After learning about the murder of Kitty Menendez at the hands of her own children, read about Devonte Harts murder at the hands of his adoptive mother. Jose and Kitty Menendez's net worth was estimated to be around $14.5 million at that time. ", "Parent-killer Menndez marries in Calif. prison", "Convicted murderer Erik Menndez marries in prison", "Menndez brothers convicted in parents' murder 16years ago", "The Menendez Brothers: Murder in Beverly Hills", "Menendez brothers appear in background of Mark Jackson basketball card", "Double take: Infamous Menendez brothers and the 199091 hoops Mark Jackson", Wife of Erik Menndez talks about relationship, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lyle_and_Erik_Menendez&oldid=1133184924, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple parents, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, In 2000, "Menendez Brothers Blood Brothers", an episode from the documentary series by Court TV (now, In 2016, the Menendez brothers were featured in the true-crime documentary. While Kitty was still a child her father abandoned the family to move in with a mistress. While the authorities spent half a year investigating the murders, the siblings spent $1 million of their inheritance on parties, Rolex watches, luxury cars, trips to the Middle East and tennis lessons. Lyle Menendez claimed his father forced him to perform oral sex on him. The brothers would . Echoing the testimony of those before, Cox said Kitty Menendez was dependent on drugs and alcohol, depressed and obsessed with appearances. Lyle described Kitty as a woman who was in a lot of pain who was abused by her husband both emotionally and physically. In all of his workplaces, he was credited with being an highly intelligent and diligent, but was widely disliked as arrogant and rude to co-workers and abrasive to subordinates. [17] Erik hired a full-time tennis coach and competed in a series of tournaments in Israel. The pair were inseparable, which confused their peers as Kittys friends disapproved of Kitty being with Jose because he was Latin. They will never be released from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California. Kitty Menendez was buried in Princeton, New Jersey. Oct. 30, 1993 12 AM PT TIMES STAFF WRITER Kitty Menendez was suicidal over her husband's eight-year extramarital affair, and Jose Menendez was "the ultimate control freak," two witnesses. The defense, meanwhile, said the brothers acted in self-defense, and had been abused by their father for years. Initially Police thought the killings to be a mob-hit, but soon discovered otherwise. Erik Galen Menendez was born on November 27, 1970, in Blackwood, New Jersey, the younger son of Jose and Mary "Kitty" Menendez. When Kitty was young, her father left her mother for a younger woman which left Kitty with deep emotional scars. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. To this day, there are people still fascinated by the murders of Jos and Mary "Kitty" Menendez. What was Jose Menendez's net worth? The photo became a controversial piece of evidence in the first murder trial in 1993. Both Menendez brothers were in tears, along with most people in the courtroom, at the shocking revelation. His salary allowed for him and Kitty to moved to a decent Queens neighborhood. Her father owned a heating and air-conditioning company and provided well for the family. Jose and Kitty Menendez: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. The family were living in Beverly Hills while an state Jose had bought near Malibu was being renovated. Are you sure that you want to remove this flower? Her mother, Mae Helen, worked in an airport before meeting her husband. He then snagged a lucrative job as an RCA executive and left New York for Los Angeles. cemeteries found in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Although Kitty didnt seem to have much of a problem with Eriks girlfriends, she had great distain for Lyles girlfriends, especially Jamie Pisarcik. Jill Clayburgh (in Honor Thy Father and Mother: The True Story of the Menendez Murders), Beverly DAngelo (in Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills), Courtney Love (in Menendez: Blood Brothers), Lolita Davidovich (in Law & Order True Crime), Kittys nickname was a childhood nickname given to her by her older brother Brian. Jose was described by witnesses as being verbally abusive and cruel to his wife. Erik also spent some time at Pleasant Valley Prison in Coalinga, California. On January 10, 1968, while living in New York, Kitty gave birth to the couples first son, Joseph Lyle Menendez. Fue el segundo hijo de siete hermanos, del matrimonio de Manuel Menndez lvarez (originario de Peaflor, Grado) y de Mara Menndez Granda, ambos labriegos de modesta condicin. Hope there rotting in hell right now! Fast drei Jahre hatte es gedauert, den Mord an Jos und Kitty Menendez - und die Mrder, die Shne Lyle und Erik, endlich vor Gericht zu bringen. Both brothers were indicted on Dec. 7, 1992, and tried for first-degree murder separately. Inside The Curious Question Of The Great Emancipator's Race, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Kitty Menendez was born to a middle-class family in suburban Chicago, where her father owned an air-conditioning business. No problem! 200. Before that, Jose Menendez represented the 124th District in the Texas House of Representatives between 2000 and 2015. On April 4, 2018, Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik, reuniting them for the first time since they began serving their sentences nearly 22 years earlier. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. One month before she was shot to death, Kitty Menendez told her therapist that she was "worried about Erik and Lyle . Additional post-mortem images of Kitty and Jose Menendez and crime photos. If you notice a problem with the translation, please send a message to [emailprotected] and include a link to the page and details about the problem. Resend Activation Email. The couple were fatally shot as they were sprayed with bullets in their den. The Menendez brothers claimed to have killed Jose and Kitty after being subjected to years of abuse by their father. While Blood Brothers focuses on the abuse Lyle and Erik say they suffered at their father's hands, Lyle claimed he was also sexually abused . They used shotguns to shoot Jose Menendez in the head and Kitty in the face and stomach. Learn more about managing a memorial . On a calm Sunday evening in 1989, all hell broke loose at the . Jose and Kitty Menendez were shot 16 shotgun blasts. On August 20, 1989, she and her husband were shot to death in their living room while watching television together. #AmericanScandals pic.twitter.com/yE4Bah2S6r, DiscoveryID (@DiscoveryID) November 24, 2015. Mary Louise Kitty Menendez (ne Andersen; October 14, 1941- August 20, 1989) was an American socialite, and former teacher and beauty queen. Jose, a Cuban immigrant, had made himself into a successful . Erik stated, "As I went into the room, I just started firing. The murder of Menendez became a national talk and the case ran for almost six years before the . They killed Jose first, firing four times from two shotguns, including one fired directly into the back of their father's head, and then shot their mother ten times as she tried to escape, placing the last shot against the side of her head. El caso de Menndez Hermanos recibi una . The crimes committed by Lyle and Erik Menendez took teenage angst toterrifying levels when they shot and killed their mom and dadin one of the most brutal, high-profile crimes in American history. The Menedezes then moved to Hinsdale, Illinois. In 1963, they eloped, shortly after Betty received her BS degree in communications. Initially, Jose and Kitty lived in New York City, where Jose obtained an athletic scholarship at Queens College and Kitty found work teaching grade school. He became the father of two sons, Lyle Menendez and Erik Menendez, and was a stern and demanding father. Kitty, 47, had met her husband in a debating class at Southern Illinois University, where she was a communications major and he had an athletic scholarship. Lyle is the oldest brother, he was born in 1968, and his brother Erik was born in 1970. Try again later. Your new password must contain one or more uppercase and lowercase letters, and one or more numbers or special characters. This account has been disabled. The couple's young sons,. In her opening statement, attorney Leslie Abramson said the single most important issue is why Jose and Kitty Menendez were killed by their children. Having exhausted their appeal remedies in state court, they filed separate habeas corpus petitions in the United States District Court. They were first tried separately, with one jury for each brother. How old are the Menendez brothers? Under cross-examination, Cox conceded that the last time he saw Kitty Menendez was in February, 1987. She was a senior at SIU when she met Jose, and received her BS degree in communications. 0 cemeteries found in Princeton, Mercer County, New Jersey, USA. Joan believes that Kitty had been sexually abused by a relative and that was the reason Kitty had been sent away. 4 The brothers claimed the fatal shooting was a form of "imperfect self-defense," according to The New York Times. Jose Menendez and Kitty Menendez were the parents of the Menendez brothers (Erik and Lyle). In his interview with ABC, Lyle says, Youre not living in the reality of what has occurred and why it occurred with anyone in your life Emotionally youre a ghost. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. Try again later. The Menendez brothers' homicides at a posh Beverly Hills mansionrattled the nation and thrust the uncomfortable topic of sexual abuse into the national spotlight. To New York City, where her father owned a heating and air-conditioning company and provided well the... Americanscandals pic.twitter.com/yE4Bah2S6r, DiscoveryID ( @ DiscoveryID ) November 24, 2015 contain one more... Shot and killed their parents fateful decision decent Queens neighborhood unhappiness, Kitty gave birth to New. 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Aired on April 2, 2021, at 9pm ET an airport meeting! County, New Jersey, USA will be saved to your photo volunteer list earned an degree! Mob-Hit, but soon discovered otherwise Menendez: 5 fast Facts you to... In San Diego, California was buried in Princeton, Mercer County, Jersey! Lifestyle in Beverly Hills his father 's head, killing him instantly 17, 1996 forced to... While under review ) is a member of the Texas Senate for District 26 seemingly idyllic life was jose menendez kitty menendez. New Jersey, USA will be uploading shortly form of `` imperfect self-defense, and his brother Erik was to... Uploaded successfully, click on the couch in their living room while watching television together both brothers. Contact Find a Grave at [ emailprotected ] if you need to Know, Copyright 2023 Heavy, all. And 2015 to these affairs, Kitty moved with Jose because he was born in 1968, while in!