{"id":120225,"date":"2021-04-07T16:51:59","date_gmt":"2021-04-07T16:51:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=120225"},"modified":"2021-04-07T16:51:59","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T16:51:59","slug":"who-were-jose-and-kitty-menendez-and-how-did-they-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/who-were-jose-and-kitty-menendez-and-how-did-they-die\/","title":{"rendered":"Who were Jose and Kitty Menendez and how did they die?"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALIFORNIA residents Jose and Kitty Menendez were brutally murdered one Sunday night in their home.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The couple were known for their affluent lifestyle in Beverly Hills.<\/p>\n

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Who were Jose and Kitty Menendez and how did they die?<\/h2>\n

Jose and Mary Louise \u201cKitty\u201d Menendez were married in 1964.<\/p>\n

Jose was a businessman whose family migrated from Cuba to Illinois after the Fidel Castro uprising happened.<\/p>\n

He came from a prosperous family who lost part of their wealth to the Cuban government.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Jose took his CPA and worked as an executive for RCA in California.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He was known among show business celebrities and had a successful career in the industry.<\/p>\n

Kitty was an elementary school teacher but became a home-maker once she gave birth to her sons Lyle and Erik Menendez.<\/p>\n

She met Jose while studying at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and had grown up in a middle class family from Chicago.<\/p>\n

Both Jose and Kitty were murdered by Lyle and Erik on August 20, 1989 while watching TV in their home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The couple were fatally shot as they were sprayed with bullets in their den.<\/p>\n

Why did the Menendez brothers kill their parents?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Menendez brothers claimed to have killed Jose and Kitty after being subjected to years of abuse by their father.<\/p>\n

The brothers claimed the fatal shooting was a form of "imperfect self-defense," according to The New York Times.<\/p>\n

Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 at the time of the fatal shootings and have been imprisoned since 1996.<\/p>\n

Decades after the double murder, Lyle, now 53, expressed regret over his parent\u2019s deaths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He told ABC News: \u201cIf I could take my consciousness now and go back, I would have gone to the police and taken my chances in exposing what was happening.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Erik, 50, expressed similar sentiments to People, saying: \u201cThe way I reacted was so destructive to all. It was the most awful devastation. I killed the two people I loved the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

What prison sentence did the Menendez brothers get?<\/h2>\n

The Menendez brothers are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole over the fatal shootings of their parents.<\/p>\n

They will never be released from the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.<\/p>\n

Lyle and Erik spent much of their sentences held in different prisons in California.<\/p>\n

Lyle had been held at Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California but made a request to transfer to the Richard J. Donovan facility to be closer to his brother.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The request was approved by the prison board and he was transferred to the facility.<\/p>\n

However, Lyle requested to be housed with Erik, and in April of 2018 was moved into the same unit as his brother.<\/p>\n

How can I watch the new Hulu documentary on Lyle and Erik Menendez?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The ABC 20\/20 special originally aired April 2 at 9pm ET.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The episode focuses on the brothers and their new wave of supporters on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is now streaming on-demand and on Hulu.<\/p>\n

You can catch up on the story with "The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All\u201d also on Hulu.<\/p>\n

Additionally, video of the full trial from 1993 can be found on YouTube.<\/p>\n