Photo of the Day

Lyle Menendez, right, is seen here as a young man in this undated family photo. When asked why she has chosen to speak out for the first time in support of her cousins, Diane Vander Molen said she wanted to defend them against the trial?s prosecutor?s claims that there had been no sexual abuse in the family. ?I know for 100 percent that there was,? Vander Molen said. ?Their privacy was everything to them. They were completely different people when nobody was around. And then Jose and Kitty would turn on the charm when they had people over, which wasn?t very often.?
The Dysfunctional Menendez Family
Nightmare on Elm Drive
If you thought you hated your parents. The crimes committed by Lyle and Erik Menendez in 1989 took teenage angst to?terrifying levels when they shot and killed their mother and father, in one of the most brutal, high-profile crimes in American history. The Menendez brothers’ homicides at a well-to-do Beverly Hills mansion?rattled American people and thrust the uncomfortable topic of sexual abuse into the national spotlight. Now serving life in prison, the brothers will never see each other or the free world again.
On August 20th, 1989, Joseph Lyle Menendez, 21, and his brother, Erik, 18, shot their parents Jose and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez multiple times with shotguns in the den of their $5 million Spanish-style Beverly Hills mansion. Jose was shot point-blank in the head as the couple lazed in front of the TV with ice cream and strawberries, and Kitty, after attempting to flee, was shot multiple times ? to the point that she no longer resembled a person.
The Menendez Brothers case received an unprecedented amount of attention through Court TV coverage of the initial trials and as a result, many became fascinated by the story. Nearly 30 years after the murders, the Menendez brothers remain an intriguing fixture in true crime history because questions still remain. In particular, what made them do it?