uh-huh. absolutely. 722 north elm drive. a six-bedroom mediterranean-style home. swimming pool. guest house. tennis court. elton john once lived in this very house. so did a saudi prince, and even prince himself. by august 1989, jose had truly made it. now, to ensure his sons did, too. by then lyle was a student at princeton. younger brother erik was going to ucla in the fall. so perfect. so why did diane feel this way? i said, well, i know this sounds crazy. but unless i am crazy somebody who s really close to me is gonna die. and it s gonna be horrible. horrible? that it certainly was. someone killed my parents! uh, were they shot? yes. when we come back something chilling in the den. the first thing i noticed was jose menendez seated on the couch. it was grotesque, what happened. questions from the very beginning. we didn t see any shotgun shells. what did that say to you? somebody collected the shotgun shells, somebody that didn t want fingerprints o
and that s when i bring in vicar y. then, a forensic psychologist and a graduate of harvard law school agreed to meet with the brothers in jail. he knew, going in, police believed they killed their parents for money. but based upon the dozens of paracide cases i had worked on in the past, that s not the exception, that s the rule. the rule is something horrible s going on in the family. and something was going on in the menendez family. something very secret. but, what was it? coming up. new evidence seen on television, for the first time. a letter from lyle to erik hinting at the horrors in that house. you cannot go down the hall when jose is with his kids. kitty didn t go down the hall, either? no. no. uh-uh. oh, man, it was gut wrenching. just the screams and the, daddy, don t hit me. daddy, don t. you know, that kind of stuff. when dateline continues.
in a chaotic situation like that. but, you know, reflecting afterwards, you know, it haunts me. it does haunt me. the other comment that would come out was, well, they you know, they could have just gone out and got in the car, and driven away. you know? they didn t have to do this. a person like my father is not going to allow you to just take something that will ruin his life, that he has so carefully crafted. he s not going to. he s not going to. no, but but but you could have left. that s the point i m trying to make. but leave and do what? leave and just wait for yourself to be killed in a parking lot? leave and tell who? they didn t believe anyone would help them, said lyle. not even the police. speaking of which, that 911 call lyle made?
i m just thinking to myself, i wouldn t be anywhere near this house if my parents had been killed here. rand pulled out his tape recorder and notepad, but lyle stopped him. lyle menendez said, hang on, he said, we don t wanna do the interview today. we d just like to meet you and get to know you. the brothers had flaked on rand before. he was annoyed, but obliged. they chatted informally. and made plans to meet later that weekend for an official
years, waiting for the supreme court to rule. during which, the menendez brothers resided at the men s central jail where, soon after their arrest, lyle slipped his brother a letter. dateline obtained a copy. it had never been broadcast, before. in it, lyle wrote about their father and the murders. he bore two brilliant children. only two. they carry his name and his pride. we did not do anything for the money. he went on. we, alone, know the truth. we, alone, know the secrets of our family s past. i do not look forward to broadcasting them around the country. i pray that it never has to happen. secrets?