On this day in 1989, Lyle and Erik Menendez shot and killed their parents, Jose and Kitty, in the family den in Beverly Hills, California. They drove to Mulholland Drive, where they dumped the murder weaspons, shotguns. Next, they went to a local movie theater to buy tickets as an alibi. Upon returning home, Lyle called 911 and cried, "Somebody killed my parents!" Court TV broadcast the 1993 trial, making the Menendez murders a national sensation.

The brothers weren't suspects initially. Erik told his psychotherapist about the crime and his involvement while the therapist taped the confession. In a flagrant disregarding of ethics, the therapist then let his mistress hear the tape. She subsequently went to the police, and the brothers were charged and arrested.

When the trial began in 1993, the brothers told authorities they acted in self-defense, having endured years of sexual and psychological abuse from their parents.