Who were Jose and Kitty Menendez and how did they die?
CALIFORNIA residents Jose and Kitty Menendez were brutally murdered in their own home on August 20, 1989.
The couple shared two children and was known for their affluent lifestyle in Beverly Hills.
Who were Jose and Kitty Menendez and how did they die?
Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez tied the knot in 1964.
Jose was a businessman whose family migrated from Cuba to Illinois after the Fidel Castro uprising happened.
He came from a prosperous family who lost part of their wealth to the Cuban government.
After graduating from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Jose took his CPA and worked as an executive for RCA in California.
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He was known among show business celebrities and had a successful career in the industry.
Kitty was an elementary school teacher but became a homemaker once she gave birth to her sons Lyle and Erik Menendez.
She met Jose while studying at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and had grown up in a middle-class family from Chicago.
Both Jose and Kitty were murdered by their sons on August 20, 1989. As they watched TV in their home, the couple was sprayed with bullets in their den.
Why did the Menendez brothers kill their parents?
The Menendez brothers claimed to have killed Jose and Kitty after being subjected to years of abuse by their father.
The brothers claimed the fatal shooting was a form of "imperfect self-defense," according to .
Lyle was 21 years old and Erik was 18 at the time of the fatal shootings and have been imprisoned since 1996.
Decades after the double murder, Lyle, expressed regret over his parents’ deaths telling in 2018: “If I could take my consciousness now and go back, I would have gone to the police and taken my chances in exposing what was happening.”
Erik expressed similar sentiments to in 2005, saying: “The way I reacted was so destructive to all. It was the most awful devastation. I killed the two people I loved the most.”
What prison sentence did the Menendez brothers get?
The Menendez brothers are serving life sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, without the possibility of parole over the fatal shootings of their parents.
The pair spent much of their sentences held in different prisons in California.
Lyle had been held at Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California but made a request to transfer to the Richard J. Donovan facility to be closer to his brother.
The request was approved by the prison board and he was transferred to the facility.
However, Lyle requested to be housed with Erik, and in April of 2018 was moved into the same unit as his brother.
How can I watch the new Peacock documentary on Roy Rosselló?
On May 2, 2023, a three-part docuseries reported by journalists Robert Rand and Nery Ynclan is set to air on Peacock.
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Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed will focus on Roy Rosselló's recent rape allegations against the late music executive, Jose Menendez.
In 2022, HBO previously premiered a four-part docuseries, Menudo: Forever Young, where 13 former members interviewed also spoke out about the difficulties they faced while a part of the band.