For decades, the Menendez brothers lived out their life sentences apart after being convicted of murdering their parents in a crime that sparked international controversy.
On Friday — almost exactly 36 years after he fatally shot his parents — Erik Menendez was denied parole, despite a reduced sentence that makes him eligible for release.
Just one day later, so was his older brother Lyle.
Now, the brothers' chance to re-enter society together has been pushed back another three years, after which they will be eligible for parole again.
On the surface, the brothers were the privileged sons of a successful Hollywood executive.
But behind the closed doors of the Beverly Hills mansion the family resided in, the story was far darker.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were just 18 and 21 years old when they fatally shot their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez inside their $5 million home on Elm drive in 1989.
The brothers’ defence rested on allegations of long-term abuse, leaving the public divided on whether they were cold-blooded killers or abused sons fighting to survive.
Two high-profile trials later — one that ended in a deadlocked jury — Lyle and Erik were sentenced to life behind bars.
Multiple university degrees, a reunion in 2018 and two marriages later; here's a look into how the brothers have spent the past 36 years behind bars.
A reunion in San Diego
When both brothers were sentenced to two consecutive life prisons terms without the possibility of parole in 1996, they were promptly placed in separate vans — before being driven to separate prisons.
"We thought we were going to the same prison," said Erik in the Netflix documentary The Menendez Brothers.
"They put him in one van and I didn't understand why they were putting me in another van. I started screaming out to Lyle and they shut the door," he said.
"It was the last time I saw him."
The brothers communicated through letters, even playing chess through the mail, but didn't see each other for years.
Then after more than 20 years apart, Lyle and Erik were reunited at the R.J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego prison.
"It felt like it was finally a chance to heal," said Lyle, speaking of their tearful reunion.
Academia and love behind bars
Since their reunion, Lyle and Erik Menendez have focused on rehabilitation and education.
The pair led trauma-healing workshops, mentorship programs, and created the 'Green Space Project' to beautify the prison with murals and gardens.
Lyle earned a sociology degree and is pursuing a master’s, while Erik completed associate degrees and is working toward a bachelor’s.
Both brothers also married while incarcerated — Lyle even married twice.
Erik married his wife Tammi Menendez in 1998, four years after she started writing letters to him in jail.
Their marriage, which still remains strong to this day, meant that he inherited a stepdaughter, who is active on socials advocating for her dad.
Lyle was briefly married to Anna Eriksson — who also became known to him after penning letters — before he married Rebecca Sneed.
The pair separated last year after 20 years together.
Re-examining the case
The televised trial turned two young men into household names and drew millions into their legal battle.
Prosecutors painted them as greedy killers, while the defence framed them as traumatised survivors.
Two mistrials, retrials, and ultimately life sentences — the legal battle mirrored the nation’s divided opinion.
For years after their conviction, the brothers filed petitions for appeals of their cases while in prison, but state and federal judges denied the petitions.
But after becoming the subjects of documentaries and true crime shows, a cultural shift was sparked and the case became re-examined through a lens of abuse and trauma.
In October, a few weeks after the Netflix documentary landed, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he was reviewing new evidence in the case.
In May 2025, an LA County Superior Court judge granted them a new sentence of 50 years to life, making them immediately eligible for parole.
Their lawyers never disputed the pair killed their parents, but argued that they acted out of self-defence.
Prison record before hope
On Friday, Eric told a panel of commissioners that since he had originally believed he had no hope of ever getting out, he prioritised protecting himself over following the rules.
The panel of commissioners scrutinised every rules violation and fight on his lengthy prison record, including allegations that he worked with a prison gang, bought drugs, used mobile phones and helped with a tax scam.
A particular sticking point for the commissioners was his use of mobile phones.
"What I got in terms of the phone and my connection with the outside world was far greater than the consequences of me getting caught with the phone," Erik said in his defence.
Then in October, LA prosecutors asked a judge to re-sentence him and his brother — opening the door to parole.
"In November of 2024, now the consequences mattered," Erik said, referring to District Attorney George Gascón's announcement.
"Now the consequences meant I was destroying my life."
The night the Menendez brothers killed their parents
In 1989, gunfire shattered the illusion of a picture-perfect family, leaving two parents dead and two sons forever infamous.
On the night of the murders, Lyle dialled 911 to report the shotgun-killings of their parents inside their home.
Both brothers told investigators that the murders were related to the Mafia or had something to do with their father's business dealings.
With access to the family's wealth, the brothers spent small fortunes on Rolex watches, cars and houses.
But two months after the killings, Erik Menendez confessed to his psychologist that he and his brother killed their parents.
They were arrested early the following year and each charged with first-degree murder.
The brothers claimed their father, Jose Menendez, a Cuban-American business executive, had emotionally and sexually abused them since childhood.
ABC/wires
