Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990 TAG: 9003152512
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ROBERT REINHOLD THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
In the last few days, two brothers, Joseph Lyle Menendez, 22 years old, and Erik Galen Menendez, 19, have been arrested and charged with the murder of their parents last August.
The couple, Jose E. Menendez, a wealthy entertainment executive, and his wife, Kitty, were riddled with blasts from a 12-gauge shotgun as they watched television in the library of their six-bedroom Italianate mansion.
The killers then picked up the spent casings and left.
The police theorized at first that the killings were somehow Mafia-related because the father was chief executive officer of Live Entertainment Inc. of Van Nuys, which they suspected might have had ties to organized crime before being taken over by Carolco Pictures Inc.
But, if the police are right, the motive was both less complex and more horrifying: Two arrogant youths were too impatient to wait for their inheritance.
The couple's will made them the sole beneficiaries of a $14 million estate in the event that the husband and wife died together.
Meanwhile, art imitates life imitating art.
On Monday, New World Television announced that it was planning a movie, tentatively called "The Beverly Hills Murders," for CBS-TV.
The case remains to be proved, but it left the Menendez family's wealthy neighbors to wonder if some dark family history or twisted psychology might have led two rich, handsome and self-assured youths to do away with their parents in the most savage way and then go about leading pleasurable lives.
After the killings, Lyle went on a spending spree, buying a Porsche sports car and businesses in Princeton, N.J., and Erik hired a coach and turned into a professional tennis player, the police say.
Lyle was arrested Thursday as he drove away from the family's home on Elm Drive, and Erik surrendered early Sunday at Los Angeles International Airport on his return from a tennis tournament in Israel.
Arraignment is scheduled for March 26.
Through their lawyers and family members, the brothers have asserted their innocence.
Jose Menendez, a refugee from Cuba, studied accounting at Queens College in New York and advanced rapidly in business.
The family lived in Princeton before moving to California in 1986.
The slayings last Aug. 20 shocked this enclave of wealth that averages only two homicides a year.
Early on, the brothers came under suspicion.
They reported discovering the bodies after a night at the movies and at a nearby restaurant.
The police say circumstantial clues began to accumulate: inconsistencies in their alibi, Lyle's spending spree, a shotgun shell found in one of his jackets, a reference to a possible new will that was mysteriously deleted from a computer.
And then there was a screenplay written by Erik with a friend, Craig Cignarelli, about a young heir who plots five murders.
The first two victims are his parents.
Detectives also flew to New Jersey, where they interviewed people who knew Lyle and visited a restaurant, Chuck's Spring Street Cafe, which he had recently bought.
But the big break came in recent days, the authorities say.
Last week, the police seized tape recordings and papers from the office of Dr. Jerome Oziel, a psychologist here who treated the brothers after the slaying.
Police sources indicated that Oziel had approached them and was cooperating with the authorities.
In court Tuesday, lawyers for the brothers argued that the seizure of the tapes violated the laws governing doctor-patient confidentiality and that they should remain sealed.
The Los Angeles County district attorney, Ira Reiner, said such confidentiality could be broken "where there is a continuing threat of violence to others."
His office said there were threats against Oziel.
The arrests lifted a cloud from Live Entertainment.
The father's company announced Friday that a 5-month inquiry by outside counsel had found no connection between the slayings and the company.
While all this was swirling about, all was calm at 722 N. Elm Drive, the scene of the crime.
Outside the Menendez mansion a gardener watered the grass and flowers as though nothing terrible had happened there to Jose and Kitty Menendez seven months ago.
by CNB