This is one of the few documentaries about this case that has been produced in recent years (not counting the recent episode of "Snapped!") that attempts to show the other side of the Menendez murder case and what led up to it.
Many continue to view Lyle and Erik Menendez as "spoiled rich kids" who murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in the family's Beverly Hills mansion in August, 1989, in order to inherit the family fortune. This theory has been presented as fact so much that it needs to be stated that there has never been any real evidence that money was the motive, other than behavior of the brothers that aroused suspicion. But even that that could be tied to the environment in which they were raised and the trauma of their childhood, which looked privileged on the outside but was a private hell behind closed doors.
Journalist Robert Rand, who began investigating the case shortly after the murder occurred, is a voice of reason as he conducted interviews with both Erik Menendez and Donovan Goodreau, who was a friend of Lyle Menendez, both of which suggested that there was something disturbing under the surface. Jose Menendez, a Cuban immigrant who rose high in the entertainment world as an executive, was a powerful individual who was despised and feared by many. His wife, former beauty queen Mary Louise "Kitty" Andersen, was relegated to a secondary role while Jose climbed the business ladder, groomed his sons for success, and conducted extra-marital affairs. The brothers did not receive the proper nurturing, unconditional love and guidance that they needed due to growing up in such a dysfunctional, stifling household where their narcissistic father ruled with an iron fist and their emotionally dependent and unstable mother retreated into prescription drugs and alcohol. This is the type of home where sexual abuse often thrives. Some suspected that the brothers concocted the abuse stories to save them from being convicted and possibly being sentenced to death, but there is compelling evidence to suggest that they were telling the truth.
It ends on a haunting note, after revealing that in their second murder trial (the first highly publicized, televised trial ended in hung juries), that the brothers had virtually no defense due to the judge not allowing previous defense witnesses to testify until the penalty phase. Just this year, a law was passed which can allow the brothers to appeal their case again for this very reason. The last line of the episode sticks in my mind - "We may never know. Jose and Kitty Menendez died with their secrets. The only other people who know what really happened aren't talking."
Many continue to view Lyle and Erik Menendez as "spoiled rich kids" who murdered their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez in the family's Beverly Hills mansion in August, 1989, in order to inherit the family fortune. This theory has been presented as fact so much that it needs to be stated that there has never been any real evidence that money was the motive, other than behavior of the brothers that aroused suspicion. But even that that could be tied to the environment in which they were raised and the trauma of their childhood, which looked privileged on the outside but was a private hell behind closed doors.
Journalist Robert Rand, who began investigating the case shortly after the murder occurred, is a voice of reason as he conducted interviews with both Erik Menendez and Donovan Goodreau, who was a friend of Lyle Menendez, both of which suggested that there was something disturbing under the surface. Jose Menendez, a Cuban immigrant who rose high in the entertainment world as an executive, was a powerful individual who was despised and feared by many. His wife, former beauty queen Mary Louise "Kitty" Andersen, was relegated to a secondary role while Jose climbed the business ladder, groomed his sons for success, and conducted extra-marital affairs. The brothers did not receive the proper nurturing, unconditional love and guidance that they needed due to growing up in such a dysfunctional, stifling household where their narcissistic father ruled with an iron fist and their emotionally dependent and unstable mother retreated into prescription drugs and alcohol. This is the type of home where sexual abuse often thrives. Some suspected that the brothers concocted the abuse stories to save them from being convicted and possibly being sentenced to death, but there is compelling evidence to suggest that they were telling the truth.
It ends on a haunting note, after revealing that in their second murder trial (the first highly publicized, televised trial ended in hung juries), that the brothers had virtually no defense due to the judge not allowing previous defense witnesses to testify until the penalty phase. Just this year, a law was passed which can allow the brothers to appeal their case again for this very reason. The last line of the episode sticks in my mind - "We may never know. Jose and Kitty Menendez died with their secrets. The only other people who know what really happened aren't talking."