Erik Menéndez From Monsters Is Still In Prison, But There’s Been A Development

Trigger Warning: This piece contains discussion of sexual abuse.

Thirty-five years after the Menéndez brothers shot and killed their parents in their Beverly Hills home, Netflix’s Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menéndez Story dramatizes the headline-making case and the events that led up to it.

Cooper Koch, who plays younger brother Erik, told Entertainment Tonight that he pored over trial testimonies on YouTube to inform his portrayal. “I hope it leaves people having a lot of conversations about abuse and mental health,” he said of the new series, which premiered on Sept. 19.

Here’s where Erik Menéndez is today, and what a new petition might mean for the brothers going forward.

The Brothers Are At The Same Prison

Both Lyle and Erik testified that they were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by their parents, Kitty and José. According to their testimony (as reported by The New York Times in 1993), Erik confided in Lyle about his father’s ongoing sexual abuse shortly before the killings. He was 18 years old at the time.

Lyle confronted his parents about this and said he felt that José would kill the brothers for fear of the secret getting out.

After their first trial ended in two deadlocked juries, the brothers were each convicted of two counts of first-degree murder, as well as conspiracy to commit murder. They are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole and were reunited at the same San Diego facility in 2018.

Erik Is Married

Both brothers are married to women outside prison. Erik, for his part, married his wife, Tammi Menéndez, in 1999. Their relationship began when Tammi wrote a letter to Erik in prison, she told NBC News in a 2005 interview.

A Petition Hopes To Change Their Case

As People notes, there has been a development in Lyle and Erik’s case. Last year, attorneys filed a habeas corpus petition that cited new claims: a former Menudo member’s allegation that José had abused him and a resurfaced letter from Erik to his cousin from before the killings, where he described worsening treatment at home.

Attorney Mark Geragos told the magazine the brothers are “cautiously optimistic” about how the petition could impact their future, and a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson said the petition’s claims are currently being investigated.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit hotline.rainn.org.