CREEPY CONNECTION
Kris Jenner reveals Kardashian family’s chilling link to Menendez brothers before parents’ 1989 murder
Kim's focus on prison reform includes her push for the release of the brothers
KRIS Jenner has revealed the Kardashian family’s chilling link to the Menendez brothers before their parents’ 1989 murder.
Family matriarch Kris, 69, told how her late ex-husband Robert Kardashian had known Erik Menendez, 54, personally during the series six premiere of Hulu's The Kardashians.
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Erik and Lyle, 57, have been serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for killing Kitty and Jose Menendez with shotguns at their home on August 20, 1989.
They were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996.
The topic arose when Kim, 43, mentioned working with Ryan Murphy, 59, on his upcoming project All’s Fair.
She also discussed hearing about the producer's Monsters series, which was in development at the time of filming.
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Kris then stunned her family by revealing, “Oh my god, you know I knew those guys."
Kourtney, 44, curiously pressed for details, asking if Kris had known their parents.
Kris explained that while she wasn’t personally acquainted with Jose and Kitty Menendez, she specifically remembered Erik because he “used to come over and play tennis with your dad on the weekends”.
Kim, who grew up in Los Angeles during the height of the Menendez case, recalled being aware of their crime as a teenager.
She also remembered hearing her father, famous for his role as O.J. Simpson’s defense lawyer, discuss it.
The Skims founder said: "I remember my dad talking about the case and I remember the whole case, growing up in Beverly Hills, that's where we were."
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Now an advocate for prison reform, Kim added in a confessional: “Knowing what I know now about the system, I just have a whole different outlook on it.”
Kim's focus on reform also includes her push for the release of the brothers.
Late last year, she paid them a visit at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego, alongside Khloé and Kris.
A source told in September the business mogul spoke with a group of roughly 40 prisoners about her continued commitment to criminal justice reform.
The meeting took place after Erik vented his disapproval of Kim's pal Ryan and the Netflix series that dramatised their lives.
Notably, actor Cooper Koch - who played Erik in the drama - was also present at the jail visit.
According to the insider, a major subject of conversation was Greenspace, Lyle's effort that aims to improve prison yards in order to promote rehabilitation.
What's the latest?
As of January 2025, family of the Menendez brothers are confronting the new district attorney to demand a "fair discussion" after efforts to free the killers were thrown into chaos.
The group of 20 family members of Lyle and Erik want to talk to District Attorney Nathan Hochman about the pair's "immense personal growth" in the 35 years since they murdered their parents.
Another twist in the saga came when district attorney George Gascón announced he was re-examining the case.
He filed paperwork in October asking a judge to re-sentence the brothers, citing new evidence about alleged abuse by their father.
He asked the court to remove the life without the possibility of parole penalty for Lyle and Erik - a move that could free them immediately.
But Gascon lost his reelection bid in November and left office in December - and a new district attorney has taken over the case.
The brothers and their family are now awaiting a two-day resentencing hearing scheduled to begin on January 30.
'Immense personal growth'
On January 10, a group of supporters and family members of Lyle and Erik met new DA Hochman to discuss how they plan to support the brothers if they're released.
"As we prepare to meet with DA Hochman, our family is hopeful for an open and fair discussion," a statement released by the Justice for Erik and Lyle Coalition read ahead of the meeting.
"Despite the abuse they endured as children and the unfairness of their current sentence, Erik and Lyle Menendez have spent the last three decades taking responsibility for their actions and contributing positively to their community through leadership and rehabilitation.
"During our meeting with DA Hochman, we look forward to sharing our perspective on Erik and Lyle's immense personal growth over the last 35 years and the ways in which we plan to support them in their next chapters.
"We hope that this meeting will put us a step closer to spending next Christmas reunited as a family."
Decades after the notorious duo was jailed for life, their attorney submitted a habeas corpus petition, being reviewed today, arguing new evidence warrants a different sentence.
The evidence supports the brothers' arguments throughout their highly-publicized murder trials that they shot their parents to death in self-defense following years of sexual abuse.
Additional evidence includes testimony by former boy band Menudo member Roy Rosselló and a bombshell letter written by Erik months before the murders.
Brothers examined separately
Hochman previously said he and his team would look at Lyle and Erik's case separately.
"While they're called the Menendez brothers case, there's an Erik Menendez case and a Lyle Menendez case," the new district attorney told in December.
"There's actually two different victims. There is a Jose Menendez, the father, and Kitty Menendez, the mother.
"So we will look at each case separately, which is the way they actually should be handled.
"We will look at each victim separately, which is, again, what the law actually demands us to do in reaching the ultimate decision of a resentencing."
Hochman, a Republican-turned-Independent, said he does have sympathy for the brothers.
But he believes claims by their attorney Mark Geragos that they were victims of sexual abuse who didn't get a fair trial are overly simplistic.
"Knowing the Geragos narrative is absolutely wrong, the issues that we'll be looking at for the trial will be whether or not these two young men faced an immediate threat to their life," Hochman told .
"I mean, I've been doing this for 34 years. I've seen it. The media is in search of simple narratives, conflicting narratives, and so it adopted the Geragos narrative.
"Which is very smart, very creative. It's basically that the trial was all about sexual abuse, that their response was because of sexual abuse.
"It's that a conviction was only attained because the evidence of sexual abuse didn't occur in the second trial but occurred in the first trial, and therefore that the underlying conviction is wrong and should be fixed.
"Very simple narrative. What makes it a little more complicated? And that's why the media would have to do additional work. No offense to your profession."
Hochman added that he's combing through dozens of pages of files that were previously confidential.
"I've gotten access now to more and more of the files that were confidential, the transcripts from the actual trials," he said.
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"We're looking through the testimony, as opposed to the highlights of testimony that people have been happy to share.
"We're looking at the law dealing with resentencing as well as the law dealing with the habeas situation."
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez's case dates back more than three decades since their parents were found shot to death at their Beverly Hills mansion.
Below is a timeline of the brothers' case, starting at the gruesome crime scene:
August 20, 1989 - José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 - Lyle is arrested outside his parents' Beverly Hills mansion.
March 11, 1990 - Erik surrenders to police after flying back into Los Angeles from Israel.
December 1992 - Murder charges against the brothers are officially filed.
July 20, 1993 - The murder trial, highly publicized on Court TV, begins in Los Angeles with Erik and Lyle each having a separate jury.
January 28, 1994 - The first trial ends with two deadlocked juries.
October 11, 1995 - Lyle and Erik's second trial begins with one jury.
March 20, 1996 - The Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
July 2, 1996 - Lyle and Erik are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons.
February 22, 2018 - Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison, where Erik is held.
April 4, 2018 - Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik - the first time the brothers were reunited in over 20 years.
May 2023 - Lyle and Erik's attorney files a habeas corpus petition after Roy Rosselló, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, made sexual abuse allegations against Jose Menendez in a Peacock docuseries.
September 19, 2024 - Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story releases on Netflix.
October 3, 2024 - Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón says his office is reviewing new evidence in connection with Lyle and Erik's convictions.
October 7, 2024 - The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix.
October 16, 2024 - Family members of the Menendez brothers hold a press conference begging for the siblings to be released from prison.
October 24, 2024 - Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommends the brothers be resentenced.
November 25, 2024 - The Menendez brothers appear in court for a status hearing to learn their resentencing hearing is pushed back from December 11 to allow new DA Nathan Hochman more time to review the case.
January 30-31, 2025 - Erik and Lyle are set to go before a judge in a scheduled hearing.
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