Jose and Kitty Menendez were found shot 13 times in their Beverly Hills mansion in August 1989.
Their sons, Erik and Lyle, called police and told authorities they arrived home and found their parents dead.
The brutality of the crime led authorities to believe it may have been a mob attack.
However, the brothers began to scrutinize their behavior, including their heavy spending, including buying Rolex watches, gambling, and partying.
Confessing to a psychologist was their undoing. The doctor’s girlfriend’s voice recorded their admission and reported it to authorities.
In March 1990, the brothers were charged by police. They went to trial in 1993 and the brothers admitted murder but claimed they had acted in self-defense.
They described years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. That is, by his father, Jose, who was a film executive in Hollywood.
Lyle and Eric testified that they confronted their parents about the sexual abuse, things became combative, and they believed their parents were planning to kill them.
Family members testified about the abuse they witnessed, but no one said they had personally witnessed sexual abuse.
Prosecutors claimed their motivation was money – $14 million (£10.8 million) worth of their parents’ wealth.
They portrayed the brothers as spoiled sons who thought they could get away with anything.
Their first trial ended in a mistrial, but in their second trial in 1995, they were found guilty of first-degree murder.
