The Menendez Murders

The Shocking Untold Story of the Menendez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation

By: Robert Rand

Narrated by: Eric Martin

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Discover the definitive book on the Menendez case - and the source material for NBC's Law and Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders.

A successful entertainment executive making two million a year. His former beauty queen wife. Their two sons on the fast track to success. Until tragedy struck.

Married for 26 years, Jose and Kitty Menendez appeared to be a happy couple and proud parents. Twenty-one-year-old Lyle Menendez was enrolled at Princeton, where he was a star on the tennis team. Eighteen-year-old Erik Menendez had just graduated from Beverly Hills High and was about to start college at UCLA. The Menendezes appeared to be living the American dream. But it was all a façade.

The Menendez saga has captivated and fascinated people since 1989. The killing of Jose and Kitty Menendez on a quiet Sunday evening in Beverly Hills didn't make the cover of People magazine until the arrest of their sons seven months after the murders, and the case developed an intense cult following. When the first Menendez trial began in July 1993, the public was convinced that Lyle and Erik - "the boys", as they would become known - were a pair of greedy rich kids who had killed loving, devoted parents. But the real story remained buried beneath years of dark secrets - until now.

©2018 Robert Rand (P)2018 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Phenomenal read!!!

This book certainly delivers and gives you a different perspective that hasn’t been brought to the forefront. I appreciated all the additional pieces of the puzzle that was given from the family members who knew them intimately. These family members who had first hand knowledge and could verify many things that others could only speculate about. Very well written and from an author who was privy to pivotal information. Thanks for sharing and helping others get accurate information on this case.

An Eye-Opening Account

Interesting connection made between the outcome of this trial and the Rodney King and OJ trials, both of which led to acquittals. I believe the Menendez brothers plotted to kill their parents to escape the trauma they’d endured for years and felt they’d otherwise never escape. While I do believe they were guilty, evidence that surfaced after their conviction leads me to believe guilt on a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter would have been most appropriate. Instead, the brothers were sentenced to consecutive terms of life in prison (for each murder) without the possibility of parole (separate prisons no less). A sad outcome for all. This story was so well told and the synopsis of the trial and retrial of the Menendez brothers was succinctly and effectively presented.

Mendez brothers have done their time

The second trial was a complete set up and the brothers had no chance of winning. I am sorry, but we seem to forget the father used these kids as personal sex toys. For those that do not believe that story are delusional. The amount of detail, and reactions were to genuine. Then to have no other parent to go to for some sort of support, or protection must have been living hell. I guess for the people who still do not believe the abuse was real are also going to call the menudo victims liars to. They have no reason to come forward and tell what happened, other then revealing truth and awareness. Many try to compare there physical abuse to these victims sexual abuse, but I’m sorry physical and sexual abuse are on two different plains. It’s like comparing apples and eggplant. I hope these guys get released soon, they have paid their debt to society and then some!

Captivating New Information

This has made me look at the brothers in a different way. New information to me is given. I find it a travesty that this information was not allowed in the trial. What Erik and Lyle did was wrong and they are serving their time for it. However, if it is true what their father did to them and their mother’s not doing anything about it, then they have surely paid their due.

Habeas Corpus for the Brothers

What is Habeas Corpus?
The “Great Writ” of habeas corpus is a fundamental right in the Constitution that protects against unlawful and indefinite imprisonment. Translated from Latin it means “show me the body.” Habeas corpus has historically been an important instrument to safeguard individual freedom against arbitrary executive power.

The book was very thought-provoking, but at times alarming and sad.

This was the first book I have ever read, or listen to regarding the Menendez murders. It was very informative, thought-provoking, but at the same time very disturbing and sad in places.

Wonderful and true

Book is incredibly accurate, it’s based upon the 60+ testimonies, eye witness accounts, and the court hearings. I completely believe the brothers after reading this and doing my own research. What a complete and utter injustice. I hope these men are freed someday.

Brothers and Victims

The whole truth will never be known. Money, fame, fear, lies, threats, abuse, beatings, drugs, guns, cars, credit cards, bribes, sex, violence, loans, politics, police, prosecutors, defenders, OJ, friends, family, shotguns, smoke, and closed doors conceal reality from even those who lived it. The mess continues to fester in LA as evil in the shadows. Do not close your eyes.

Very good production

The narrator did a great job. Very clear diction. The story got dragged out at times but still held my interest.

Another look with more evidence

First: The narrator is superb. Beautifully listenable voice with just the right tone for a tale that blends a variety of emotions with factual and legal material.

The author is certainly right about one thing: Had the trial - even the murders - first taken place 30+ years later in this year 2018, the public attitude, the legal approach and the outcome would most certainly have been very different.

Once the entire factual case of the Menendez brothers is laid out - and that takes the entire book to accomplish - there is a great deal to think about for the jury that is the public readership, who forever sit in a judgment of their own about sensational crimes.

The book held my interest even through the wealth of detailed information. For those readers who, like myself, never knew much about the case, there are a number of substantive revelations that explain why the author is a believer in the brothers' story of sexual abuse and emotional manipulation that led up to the murders. The author makes sense of the tangle of disconnected public information that floats around about this case, including some of the more colorful side characters.

And, even at the end of the book, there are some final, recent revelations about events before the murders that lend more substance to the brothers' story.

Another element of the story that is mentioned only once in the author's comments at the end of the book, but which may well be the reason for writing it, is that even though both brothers are in prison under a sentence of life without parole, it may well be that their legal quest for freedom is not over yet. That alone makes this book worth reading, as any future legal action on behalf of the brothers will undoubtedly enjoy wide media coverage.