Monsters: How did the Menendez brothers get caught?

Lyle and Erik Menendez were arrested for the murder of their parents months after committing the crimes and people watching Netflix’s Monsters might be wondering how they were caught.

Sparking its fair share of shock, debate and controversy ever since it landed on Netflix, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez story delves into the Menendez brothers' murder of their parents, as well as their arrest and the chilling revelations that emerged during the trial. The Monsters true story that inspired the show is every bit as harrowing as you'd expect and many viewers might have found themselves wondering where the Menendez brothers are now. However, it’s not just Lyle and Erik’s current whereabouts that could ignite curiosity. The time that passed between Lyle and Erik killing José and Kitty and their arrest is longer than you might think and some people are likely intrigued about how the Menendez brothers got caught.

*Warning: This article contains references to sensitive subject matters*

How did the Menendez brothers get caught?

Lyle and Erik Menendez were arrested seven months after they murdered José and Kitty Menendez in August 1989, and they were caught partly thanks to admissions supposedly made to a psychologist. Initially, the Menendez brothers were believed by the police and weren't suspected when they called for help and claimed they’d come home to find their parents already dead. 

They had established alibis and no-one had been any the wiser at this point that the then-21 and then-18-year-old were the ones behind these brutal crimes. However, younger brother Erik began opening up to psychologist L.Jerome Oziel and according to the Los Angeles Times, he’s said to have confessed to the crimes during a therapy session in October.  

It’s also been reported that Jerome’s mistress Judalon Smyth overheard Lyle allegedly reacting angrily after learning of what Erik had said. Later, after she and Oziel had broken up, Judalon tipped off the police around March 1990 and suggested that there was taped evidence of Erik’s admission regarding José and Kitty’s murders.

Speaking on true crime series, Murder Made Me Famous, in 2015, Judalon reflected upon the media’s reaction to her coming forward.

"It was a little confusing for me the way the media was," she said, as per People. "I really didn’t understand the attack I was going to come under for doing the right thing. I mean, it took a long time for me to do the right thing. But ultimately, I did."

Although some reports have suggested that the police apparently began to be suspicious in light of how much money the brothers spent in the months following their wealthy parents’ murders, it wasn’t until the tip-off that the Menendez brothers were caught. They weren’t both arrested at the same time as Erik had been abroad when Lyle Menendez was arrested. Lyle was arrested on 8th March 1990 and a few days later Erik returned to the US and handed himself in to police.

In 1992, as reported by People, the Supreme Court of California ruled that some of Oziel’s tapes were admissible to be used as evidence at Erik and Lyle’s trials, excluding the one where Erik supposedly discussed the murders. The Menendez brothers were tried separately at first, but the juries could not reach a unanimous verdict.

It wasn’t until they had a joint retrial in 1995 that Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Since the Menendez brothers were caught and faced their trials, they have claimed that their crimes came after years of them being allegedly sexually and emotionally abused. 

The BBC reports that Erik and Lyle claimed to have committed the murders in self-defence after supposedly fearing that their father would kill them to prevent this coming to light. The prosecution instead argued that Erik and Lyle had killed José and Kitty so they could inherit their estate and at their re-trial the judge excluded evidence of their abuse from the defence case. 

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez story is available to watch now on Netflix.