‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’: What’s True and What’s Fiction?
Update 10/8/24: This post has been updated with details from Netflix’s “The Menendez Brothers” and Peacock’s “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.”
It’s been over 30 years since Erik and Lyle Menendez shot and killed their parents at their Beverly Hills home, but the brothers’ story continues to develop.
The murders initially shocked the country and the world, as did the boys’ claims of abuse and multiple trials. Two recent Netflix titles Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan‘s “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story,” released September 19, and Alejandro Hartmann’s “The Menendez Brothers” documentary, released on October 7.
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Hollywood loves a little dramatic embellishment, especially with true crime. Since the Menendez brothers’ first trial was broadcast on Court TV in the 1990s, even the fictionalized version uses verbatim testimony and reenactment of specific moments. There’s only so much actual fact checking that can occur when it comes to the Menendez brothers, with two key witnesses to their childhood no longer alive, but other details (did Erik really advise O.J. Simpson?) are too wild to believe or too vague to pinpoint — even when they’re true. It’s clear what drew Murphy, Brennan, and Netflix to a story like this one, now once again making headlines after recent developments and a surge of public support.
So, what’s true, false, and ambiguous in “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” — and how does it line up with “The Menendez Brothers” and ongoing developments in the case? Read on for a key plot points and their real-life counterparts.
The Spree
The Menendez brothers (played by Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Cooper Koch in “Monsters”) did take up at Hotel Bel Air after the murders, but only for a few days. They spent time at various luxury hotels in the area and eventually settled in adjoining condominiums in Marina Del Rey. It was all part of the massive spending spree they had embarked on which did indeed include limousines, bodyguards, cars, and watches, and the eventual total of roughly $700,000 (with inflation, that’s close to $1.5 million today).
The Multiple Trials (and Juries)
“Monsters” depicts the two trials for Erik and Lyle — the first of which actually had two separate trials for each brother, and resulted in not one but two hung juries. As dramatic as it seems, “Monsters” asserts that the jury positions varied by gender, and that was true. The men voted for guilty and the women for not guilty, based on the testimonies about sexual assault (“Monsters” also depicts Abramson hosting the female jurors at her house after the trial).
After that, the decision was made that the brothers would be tried together for the second time. As depicted in the show, the second trial deliberately limited testimony about the abuse, and deemed the evidence insufficient. The jurors were also only given the option to convict for murder instead of manslaughter, which meant that any verdict passed by the judge would be more severe.
The Roommate
Lyle Menendez’s college roommate Donovan Goodreau did take the stand at the first trial, but testified that when he had opened up about his own childhood sexual abuse, Lyle didn’t respond with any shared experience. This is directly opposed to what Anthony Turpel’s Donovan tells the lawyer in “Monsters.” However, in a prior interview Donovan did indicate that he had heard about José abusing Lyle, and recordings of this interview made it into the courtroom and dashed the witness’s credibility.
The Trial (or lackthereof) of Leslie Abramson
Erik Menendez’s attorney, played in the show by Ari Graynor, faced her fair share of public scrutiny throughout and following the trials. When it came to light that she had asked psychiatrist William Vicary to edit his interview notes with the brothers, it briefly looked like Abramson herself would face criminal charges. The Menendez brothers also filed for mistrial on the grounds that Abramson had not represented them effectively, thereby causing irreparable damage to the trial.
The Mysterious Norma
“Monsters” depicts a phone relationship between Lyle and a woman named Norma Novelli (Natalie Taylor Gray), with whom he plans to write a book about his life. It turns out that Norma has recorded their calls and released the recordings, which throws such a massive wrench into the legal proceedings that Lyle is barred from testifying at the second trial and his attorney Jill Lansing (Jess Weixler) resigns. Novelli did in fact record her calls with Lyle Menendez and sell them without his written or verbal consent, but it was Lyle who decided to abstain from testimony after that.
There’s so much else at play in the brothers’ life and trials that Norma is barely a footnote in most accounts; in “The Menendez Brothers,” Lyle notes that their recordings were inadmissable in court because he shared doubts about the judge.
The Journalist
Novelli also happened to know journalist Robert Rand, who met the brothers after the murders and remains close to them to this day. Rand is the author of “The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation” — which formed the basis of an NBC adaptation of their story — and he is also a key interviewee in “The Menendez Brothers” and Peacock’s “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” There’s no fictionalized Rand in Murphy and Brennan’s adaptation, so the true crime dramatization’s token journalist becomes Dominic Dunne (Nathan Lane) — leading to bizarre creative choices.
That “American Crime Story” Crossover
It wasn’t a TV crossover per se, but Episode 8 of “Monsters” ends with the arrival of Erik’s prison-cell neighbor O.J. Simpson (Trae Irland, whose face is never shown). It feels like textbook TV sensationalism — except it’s true. Simpson was apprehended while the brothers were already in prison after the mistrials, and he did end up in the cell next to Erik’s, subsequently receiving legal advice on plea bargains (and a warning against Robert Shapiro) from the incarcerated brothers. In “The Menendez Brothers,” interviewees discuss the impact of the Menendez trial on Simpson’s, and then Simpson’s verdict on the brothers’ second trial. The high-profile cases with violent crimes were inexorably linked at the time and to this day.
Together Again
As depicted in “Monsters” Episode 9, the brothers were sent to serve out their sentences in separate prisons. They’ve been moved to different California locations over the years, and in 2018 they reunited at the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility and apparently burst into tears. In 2023, the brothers both agreed to be interviewed for “The Menendez Brothers” and spoke with the film makers for over 20 hours during production.
Recent Developments
In 2023, singer Roy Rosselló accused José Menendez of sexual assault (as documented in “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed”). Multiple former Menudo members have accused manager Edgardo Díaz of physical and sexual abuse, and Rosselló recalled an instance where he was taken to the Menendez home in New Jersey and drugged and raped by the former head of RCA records.
A recent California law states that defendants who were found guilty while denied the opportunity to present physical or sexual abuse in their defense may be able to appeal. In 2018, a 1988 letter from Erik to his cousin was found in storage, in which Erik described his fear of his father and wrote “It’s still happening.” Both brothers are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, but have filed a habeas petition to overturn their conviction with the new evidence presented above.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” and “The Menendez Brothers” are now streaming on Netflix. “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” is now streaming on Peacock.
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