The Menendez brothers are a topic of discussion almost 40 years on from the horrific murder of their parents thanks to Netflix's latest Monsters series.
in 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot their mother and father with 12-gauge shotguns, before making a fake call to 911 to try and make out that someone else had shot them.
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However, they didn't manage to evade cops for long as the pair ended up receiving life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
While the pair claimed in court they had killed their father due to his sexual abuse of them, the prosecution stated the crime was instead an attempt to inherit their father’s multi-million dollar estate from his time as a Hollywood executive.
Why are the Menendez brothers being discussed again?
The Menendez brothers have been dragged back into the limelight by Netflix’s newest season of Monsters, the follow up to its Jeffrey Dahmer true crime series.
The show has been well received from fans, shooting to the top of Netflix’s charts already, with it already the top show in the UK and worldwide.
READ MORE: Erik Menendez calls out Monsters creator for ‘blatant lies’ in new statement
Many will be coming away from the show wondering about whether the pair ever ended up inheriting anything from their parents they killed.
How much money did the Menendez family have?
Their father, according to Forbes, had an estate worth an estimated $14.5 million.
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Jose Menendez was a corporate executive, working for an entertainment company that was then known as ‘International Video Entertainment’, which is now known as Artisan Entertainment.
Artisan is a well-respected company, having produced films such as Requiem for a Dream and The Blair Witch Project.
How much did the Menendez brothers inherit from their parents?
So, this is a hard question to answer. Essentially, in the aftermath of their parents death in 1989, the brothers took control of their estate.
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In this time, they reportedly spent almost $1 million of it on partying, shopping and travelling.
Within these costs are some extravagant purchases, such as Erik spending $60,000 a year on a tennis coach in hopes of going pro, and Lyle spending over $15,000 on Rolexes the day before their father’s funeral.
Despite this, the estate took significant losses.
How much of the Menendez family money is left?
While it is not clear how much is left, the answer is estimated to be close to zero.
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This is due to the estate funding their extensive lawyer fees, paying off mortgages, and taxes.
It was reported in 1994 that $10.8 million had been spent of the estate, and this was two years prior to the duo being sentenced to life in prison, with lawyer fees certain to have extended over this period and led to substantial pay-outs by the brothers.
Once they were found guilty of their murder, they would have also lost access to the estate.
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According to Californian law, when someone is murdered, the murderer cannot profit from their estate, even when they are family.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime
Michael Slavin