in you to shoot your mom and dad. young rich handsome in a case made for hollywood they were ready for the camera it was the first televised courtroom drama that captivated the united states it was a huge deal erik and lyle menendez convicted of murdering their own parents. i ran around and shot my mom! it wasn t real. it just wasn t real. they re sociopaths and pretty big ones. now almost 30 years late chilling new details. evidence never broadcast before! a letter, hinting at secrets too dark to imagine. this is so outside of the norm something is going on i that house did they kill in cold blood or in crippling fear oh man it was gut-wrenching i wanted to bust the door down they spoke the truth abou what had happened. tonight, hear from the brother themselves people were afraid of him let s go through this bit b bit. there was no way he was gonna let this secret get out. silence destroyed our whole family here it was the shinin s
it just wasn t real. they re sociopaths and pretty big ones. now almost 30 years later chilling new details. evidence never broadcast before! a letter, hinting at secrets too dark to imagine. this is so outside of the norm something is going on in that house. did they kill in cold blood or in crippling fear? oh man it was gut-wrenching. i wanted to bust the door down. they spoke the truth about what had happened. tonight, hear from the brothers themselves. people were afraid of him. let s go through this bit by bit. there was no way he was gonna let this secret get out. silence destroyed our whole family. here it was the shining symbol of their success. here, finally, an address worthy of their long struggle their amazing rise. beverly hills, california. beverly hills emergency. careful what you wish for. someone killed my parents! 28 years later it s still the case that has the power to shock. it s beverly hills. it s the movie bus
now, they re think they multimillionaires. well, that s not the case. alan had begun thinking bac to some very disturbing things he had witnessed at th menendez house as had cousin, diane hernandez he would take their heads and push them under water, until they started panicking he would let them up again jose s way of teaching hi quite young boys to swim what did kitty seem to thin about it i mean, if jose did it or said it, there was n questioning about it absolutely, none not boy the boys, not b kitty. she became like his right-hand man in enforcin things including, what diane and alan came to know as the single-most important rule i the menendez host. you cannot go down the hall when jose is with his kids kitty didn t go down th hall, either no. no huh-uh but they did hear things. i ve heard them being w whipped. oh, man, it was gut wrenching.
was emotion, emotion, emotion, emotion. the defense called teachers and coaches and family members to testify about emotional and physical abuse one of them was cousin, alan and would you see bruises o the boys after that? yes and above their above their thigh area where about would b hit. and then, cousin, diane took the stand and here came the most explosive issue of the trial diane testified that the abuse jose inflicted on his sons was not just physical, but sexual. he and his dad have bee touching each other, and h indicated that it was in his genital area and diane told us she observed even more three of them would tak showers together lyle was 15 and erik was 12. the prosecutor was, to sa the least, skeptical if my daughter needed me to lie for her, i d lie for her i it was a life-and-death thing, of course, you would
wife were blown away last nigh in beverly hills. now that, thought rand, was a story tailor made for th miami community he was writing for. a rags to riches story, capped by murder. he worked the phones and soo met up with jose s sister wh told him you know, the family was so close. they were loving they did everything together she said, you have to interview erik and lyle. and i said, of course i wanna interview erik and lyle. as he would find, getting t the brothers was not so easy but then, they d just lost their parents. lyle and erik menendez were the grieving sons. alan abrahamson is journalism professor at usc. back in 1989, he was a reporte for the la times nobody quite knew who had - who had killed the parents was it because of jose s position in business had he been taken out by the mob? after all, both jose an kitty had been shot in the knees. a mafia signature, perhaps