THE Menendez brothers have again become the talk of the town for a bizarre song choice that was played at their mum and dad’s funeral.
A hit Netflix series shows Lyle and Erik, who shot parents Jose & Kitty to death in 1989, play Milli Vanilli’s famous track Girl I’m Gonna Miss You – but did it really happen?
AP:Associated PressLyle (left) and Erik Menendez have spent nearly 35 years in prison for murdering their parents[/caption]
CNNKitty and Jose Menendez gunned down their wealthy parents in 1990[/caption]
The chilling murder scene where the Menendez parents were discovered
Gruesome crime
Lyle and Erik, who slaughtered parents Jose and Kitty at their Beverly Hills home, have spent over three decades behind bars after being convicted of first-degree murder.
Both the brothers opened gunfire on their parents at point-blank range, killing them on the spot.
The pair initially claimed they had no involvement in the murders and even suggested that they thought it was a mob hit.
But after a taped confession and a handwritten letter were intercepted by authorities, the brothers came clean about what really happened.
During their trials for the killings, the brothers claimed the shootings were in self-defense following years of abuse.
They claimed they had lived through their father’s sexual abuse for years and finally decided to escape his clutches on the fateful night of the murders.
However, prosecutors argued that the siblings were motivated by greed and wanted to inherit their parents’ fortune.
In the weeks after the murder, Erik and Lyle embarked on a huge spending spree and blew $700,000 (£530,000).
Erik decided not to go to college and instead hired a $50,000-a-year tennis coach to help him become a pro. He also bought a restaurant near the family’s former Princeton, New Jersey, home.
However, Lyle and Erik, who were respectively 21 and 18 at the time of the murders, have always denied there was a financial motive to the killings.
The first trial resulted in hung juries for both brothers.
For the second trial in 1995, Judge Stanley Weisberg limited testimony related to the abuse claims.
The jury found Lyle and Erik guilty of first-degree murder and they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The brothers’ trials were televised on CourtTV, bringing national attention to the murders and sparking admirers of the good-looking duo to write letters of encouragement to the pair during the case.
Did Menendez brothers play Milli Vanilli Girl I’m Gonna Miss You at parents’ funeral?
Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story explores the high-profile case that captivated the nation in the ’90s.
The show follows the real-life events in the brothers’ lives and revolves around the prosecution – and the alleged abuse they had faced at the hands of their parents.
However, the docuseries, which came out on the streaming platform on September 19, has been slammed by many – including the brothers’ relatives – for showcasing inaccurate details.
This has left many viewers wondering if some of the most gripping scenes in the show happened in real life – or have just been fictionalised by the creators.
One of them is the famous scene that shows the Menendez brothers attending their parents’ funeral.
The very first episode of the show opens with Lyle and Erik travelling in a car to deliver their eulogy.
Both of them can be seen listening to Girl You Know It’s True by Milli Vanilli.
As the song goes on, Lyle can be heard saying: “I f***ing love these guys,” referring to the singers of the song.
Even at the funeral, Lyle dedicates the same song to his mother Kitty as a slideshow of photos of his parents appears on a screen behind him.
Many viewers, if not all, thought the scene was fictionalised.
However, it was not an artistic choice to add the song to the scene – and the song was played indeed during the actual funeral of their parents.
Expert Rob Rand, who extensively covered the life of the Menendez brothers and authored a novel on the case, confirmed it to be true.
He said in a post on X/Twitter: “The Milli Vanilli song ‘Miss You was also played at the Directors Guild memorial service for Jose and Kitty, parents of the #MenendezBrothers, on August 25, 1989.”
He however clarified that Lyle never signalled the DJ at the service to play the song, one of the details in the show he alleges to be inaccurate.
Rand wrote in a separate post: “One clarification: Lyle NEVER signaled a DJ to play ‘Miss You’ by Milli Vanilli.
“The memorial was staged by Rogers and Cowan, a major PR firm, that was hired by LIVE Entertainment. They handled every detail of the DGA memorial – including picking the music, NOT the brothers.”
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez have been serving a life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole since July 1996 after being convicted of shooting their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested for the murders
March 11, 1990 – Erik turns himself in
July 20, 1993 – Highly publicized trial begins and ends weeks later in a mistrial
October 11, 1995 – Second trial begins
March 20, 1996 – Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder
July 2, 1996 – Menendez brothers are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons
February 2018 – Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison where Erik is held
April 4, 2018 – Erik and Lyle are reunited
May 2023 – Attorney representing the Menendez brothers files a habeas petition
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story comes out on Netflix
October 3, 2024: Los Angeles authorities reviewing new evidence in connection with the brothers’ convictions
October 7, 2024 – The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix
What happened to Milli Vanilli?
Milli Vanilli was a German duo R&B music act from Munich that starred Fab Morvan and Rob Morvan
They became a huge commercial success in the late ’80s and early ’90s – and their debut album sold over six million copies in the US.
In 1990, they won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
However, the coveted award was later revoked after it was revealed the duo did not sing the song.
Instead, the songs were sung by recording artists – and Morvan and Morvan simply lip-synced in the music videos.
The duo later alleged that they always wanted to sing but their music label did not allow them to do so.
In 1998, Morvan tragically died from an accidental overdose.
Recent developments in the case
In May 2023, the brothers’ appellate attorney, Cliff Gardner, filed a habeas petition seeking to vacate their convictions based on new evidence.
Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon confirmed last week that the Menendez Brothers have a new court hearing scheduled for November.
While acknowledging that there’s no question the brothers killed their parents, Gascón stated his office has a “moral and ethical obligation” to examine the new evidence.
This could potentially lead to their resentencing or release.
The court will review the new evidence and claims largely dismissed during their original trial.
It comes after the emergence of new evidence, including a letter from Erik Menendez detailing sexual abuse by their father.
In the letter, Erik wrote: “It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He’s so overweight that I can’t stand to see him. I never know when it’s going to happen, and it’s driving me crazy.
“I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before, but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do.”
In the note, Erik described his dad as crazy and asked himself if he was a “whimpus”.
“I don’t know I’ll make it through this. I need to stop thinking about it,” he said in the letter.