How Did the Menendez Brothers Get Caught? Why Erik's Private Therapy Confession Led to Their Arrest and Conviction

Mar. 15, 2025

Lyle and Erik Menendez at their trial.Photo:Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty

Ted Soqui/Sygma/Getty

After killing his parents alongside his brother,Lyle,Erik Menendezconfessed to his therapist, L. Jerome Oziel. Five months later, he and Lyle were arrested.

However, it wasn’t until Erik’s confession to Oziel in October 1989 that authorities were on the path to his and Lyle’s arrest. Oziel told his mistress,Judalon Smyth, of the confession and she ultimately went to the police in March 1990 after the two had broken up.

Within a week,Lyle and Erik were arrested. Smyth testified in the 1993 trial that Oziel said he “needed to get them to say incriminating things on a tape so we would have the tape to protect us,” per theLos Angeles Times.

Now, 30 years later, their story is back on the silver screen in Netflix’sMonsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

From what happened in the aftermath of the crime to where Oziel is now, here’s everything to know about Erik and Lyle Menendez’s confession and arrest.

What did Erik and Lyle Menendez do in the months after killing their parents?

Menendez brothers, Erik, left, and Lyle on the steps of their Beverly Hills home in November 1989.Ronald L. Soble / Los Angeles Times/ Getty

Ronald L. Soble / Los Angeles Times/ Getty

After murdering their parents in August 1989, Erik and Lyle told police they had nothing to do with the crime and had discovered their parents murdered after coming home from seeingBatman, perVanity Fair.

In the following months, Erik and Lyle embarked on a spending spree. Lyle bought Chuck’s Spring Street Café, an eatery in Princeton, as well as a Rolex, a Porsche and $40,000 worth of clothes, according to the outlet. Meanwhile, Erik committed to his dream of becoming a tennis player, paying $50,000 for a coach, and splurged on other purchases like a Jeep Wrangler and a $40,000 rock concert that turned out to be a con,Vanity Fairreported at the time.

Police initially suspected the murders had to do with the mob, so Erik and Lyle moved from hotel to hotel in an effort to evade them, they said. However, the police were soon suspicious of the brothers and relied on one of Erik’s best friends, Craig Cignarelli, to help.

Erik had confessed to Cignarelli that he killed his parents 12 days after the murder, perVanity Fair, so the police asked him to wear a wire in the November following the August murders to get a recorded confession. However, when Cignarelli met with Erik next, he retracted his story and said that he lied and hadn’t killed his parents.

Who was the Menendez brothers' therapist?

Psychologist Dr. Jerome Oziel appears on the stand in Van Nuys Superior Court in Los Angeles, Aug. 5, 1993.AP Photo/pool/Nick Ut

AP Photo/pool/Nick Ut

Oziel was married to his wife, Laurel Oziel, at the time, and was engaging in an extramarital affair with Smyth, who sued him in 1990, alleging that he assaulted, raped, kidnapped and medicated her.

According to theLos Angeles Times, Smyth testified at the Menendez brothers' trial that a week after Oziel taped their confession in December 1989, she moved into his home with his wife and two kids, where she was allegedly “victimized” and “beaten,” she told jurors.

“I wouldn’t call it romantic. But there was sex,” Smyth said. Oziel testified that Smyth had indeed moved into his house and they continued their affair there, but denied any wrongdoing that she alleged.

The case was ultimately settled between the two.

What did Erik say in his confession to his therapist?

With his wife Laurel looking on, psychologist Dr. L. Jerome Oziel denied claims he had a woman eavesdrop on therapy sessions in which his patients Lyle and Erik Menendez allegedly confessed to killing their parents in 1989, on Sept. 13, 1990.AP Photo/Reed Saxon

AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Erik confessed for the first time in October 1989, two months after he and Lyle killed their parents. Oziel taped his multiple confessions on Oct. 31, Nov. 2 and Dec. 11.

On Oct. 31, Erik allegedly requested that he and Oziel go for a walk rather than meet in his office because he was feeling extremely agitated and depressed. During their walk, Erik told Oziel that his father was a great man and he wanted to write a book about him. They walked back to the office, and before they entered, Erik told Oziel, “We did it.”

He went on to describe that the plan to kill their parents started after they saw a BBC program in which someone kills their father and they felt it was necessary because of how “tyrannical, dominating and controlling,” José was, perVanity Fair.Kitty also had to die, he allegedly said, because she wouldn’t be able to live without her husband.

Lyle soon joined the sessions, with the two confessing on the December tape that they killed their mother to put her “out of her misery,” and that their father deserved to die for participating in infidelity that led to the misery, per theLos Angeles Times.

During their trial, the brothers used the defense that they were sexually abused as the reason why they murdered the parents. However, in the confession, there were no mentions of abuse.

How did Erik and Lyle Menendez get caught and arrested?

Lyle Menendez and his brother, Erik, sit in a court room in Beverly Hills, Calif. , Dec. 14, 1990.AP Photo/Nick Ut

AP Photo/Nick Ut

Oziel wasn’t the only person who heard Erik and Lyle’s confessions. Smyth alleged that she was in his office on Oct. 31, when Erik first confessed, and was standing outside the door, listening in, as they were speaking to the therapist.

However, Oziel denied that Smyth was there that day, stating that she was around the office, not in it, but did testify that Smyth was present two days later when the brothers spoke of the murders again.

After those two sessions, Smyth testified that it was then that Oziel felt he had to get their confessions on tape “for our protection,” she said, and because he was allegedly scared they could kill him since he now knew their secret.

Oziel accomplished his goal on Dec. 11 when he got the brothers' confession fully on tape. “He said he got what he needed,” Smyth testified.

Why did it take so long for Erik and Lyle Menendez to be tried?

Erik (L) and Lyle (R) Menendez converse in the courtroom during a hearing in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, 1995.KIM KULISH/AFP/Getty

KIM KULISH/AFP/Getty

Though the arrests happened in March 1990, the trial didn’t occur until 1993 as the prosecution struggled to get the tapes admitted as evidence.

Two years later, in August 1992, the Supreme Court of California ruled that most of the tapes were admissible, with the exception of the one in which Erik discussed the killings. Erik and Lyle were indicted soon after.

Where is the therapist, Oziel, now?

The Menendez brothers weresentenced to life in prisonwithout the possibility of parole in 1996, but Oziel’s troubles didn’t end there. While prior to the ordeal the therapist lived a very comfortable lifestyle — including a 6,000-square-foot home and a waitlist for $150-an-hour sessions, per theLos Angeles Times— he lost much of his career and reputation after the trial.

According to theLos Angeles Times, Oziel lost his California license in 1997 and stopped practicing therapy, moving to another state.

“It just made no sense to come back to California and spend many thousands of dollars defending a license he doesn’t use in a state he doesn’t reside in,” his lawyer told the outlet at the time.

In 2017, Oziel combatted the notion that he “gave up” his license because of any ongoing proceedings, tellingBustlethat he didn’t “‘defend’ the complaint” because he had already moved out of California a year prior.

“I did not surrender my license due to the accusation, which implies I gave up my practice because I did things alleged in the original accusation,” he told the outlet. “That is flatly and completely false.”

At the time, Oziel was working in Portland, Ore., where he hosted marriage, relationship and sex seminars targeted toward women. As of 2024, he is living in Albuquerque, N.M. at the Marital Mediation Center, which focuses on “improving marriages through mediation as an alternative to divorce,” according to itswebsite.

source: people.com