The True Story of Netflix’s 'Monsters': Why Did the Menendez Brothers Kill Their Parents?
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Lyle and Erik Menendez still remember their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, and the night their family fell apart. Armed with 12-gauge shotguns, Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18, and shot their dad and mom over a dozen times in their Beverly Hills homes on Aug. 20, 1989. The prosecution believed that the siblings killed their parents to access the family's fortune of more than $14 million. Still, Lyle and Erik have maintained that they murdered José and Kitty due to ongoing mental, physical and sexual abuse. "I’m not saying what I did was right or justifiable. I needed to go to prison. But place another child in my life and see what happens," Erik told PEOPLE in 2005. "I felt it was either my life or my parents’ life. ... Being arrested was such a relief. My life was over and I was glad. I didn’t want the money." The Menendez brothers were each sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996. Now, over 30 years later, their story is at the center of Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Men...