Do the relatives of Lyle and Erik Menendez think they are innocent?
Do Lyle and Erik Menendez's Family Members Support Their Innocence? Here's what their aunts, uncles, and cousins have shared over the years.
In Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: several members of the Menendez family appear, including their uncle Carlos Baralt, aunt Marta Cano, cousin Andy Cano, and grandmother Maria. "From the very start, the entire family, including all potential heirs and executors, agreed that estate funds should be used to cover Lyle and Erik's trial expenses," Dominick Dunne noted in Vanity Fair regarding the family's stance.
This is a look at Lyle and Erik's extended family and their perspectives on the brothers throughout the years.
Maria Menendez
Dunne portrayed Jose's mother, Maria Menendez, in this way: "Maria Menendez, the 75-year-old grandmother of Lyle and Erik and the mother of the slain Jose. One day I watched her drive up alone to the courthouse in a beat-up old beige car, looking for a place to park. Apparently Jose’s largesse in the car department (the courtyard of the house on North Elm was filled with expensive family cars when he was alive) did not extend to his mother."
Dunne continues, "There is something noble about old Mrs. Menendez. For several years after the slayings, she steadfastly maintained that her grandsons, whom she refers to as 'the boys,' were innocent, and nothing could dissuade her from that belief. People said that even if she had seen a videotape of her grandsons murdering her son she would have said that the tape was rigged. Even with the admissibility of Erik’s confession to Oziel that he and Lyle killed their parents, Maria Menendez, according to a close friend, clings to the belief that the Mafia murdered her son and got rid of the shotguns, which have never been recovered. Now, flanked by her daughters, she has to listen to defense lawyers depict her successful and powerful son as a child molester, committing incest with her grandsons."
Marta Cano
Marta Cano, Lyle and Erik’s aunt.
Dunne described Jose's mom Maria Menendez, as follows: Dunne writes, "Marta Menendez Cano, a stockbroker in West Palm Beach, who is said to resemble her late brother physically, became furious with me. With her eyes flashing and her face contorted with rage, she turned around to glare at me as she copied down my name from my nametag. At the next break, she called an informal press conference and attacked me, saying that she and her sister had trouble holding back tears and that her mother had been in a near-fetal position. Mrs. Menendez was not in a near-fetal position, nor did I see any evidence that the sisters were holding back tears."
Elsewhere in his report, Dunne notes, "Marta Cano grinned broadly at the discomfort of Dr. Oziel throughout Abramson’s cross-examination, as if she were watching a sitcom instead of her nephews’ trial for the murder of her brother, an alleged child molester, and sister-in-law. At one point she was reprimanded by Judge Weisberg, who had allowed her to sit in the courtroom even though she was to be a witness for the defense."
Years later, Marta told ABC News about her brother Jose, "He was not a bad person. He was a sick person. He had his traumas."
Of her nephews Lyle and Erik, she said, "They deserve to be free. They're not criminals. They were in so much shock and fear of their own lives that that's what happened." Marta added, "It was not [an] in-cold-blood kind of thing, It was fear—total fear...How would I feel if someone had abused me all my life, and all of a sudden he's angry in front of me and he's coming to me? It's a defense mechanism we all have. You never knew what you would do."
Andy Cano
Lyle and Erik's cousin, Andy, who is also Marta's son, gave testimony in both trials. He mentioned that Erik confided in him about being molested by their father. Although Andy passed away in 2003, a letter from Erik to Andy, dated December 1988, has recently come to light. In this letter, Erik reaches out to Andy. "I've been trying to avoid dad. It's still happening, Andy, but it's worse for me now. … Every night I stay up thinking he might come in. … I'm afraid … He's crazy. He's warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle."
Cliff Gardner, the current attorney for the Menendez brothers, shared with CBS News that the letter holds great importance because "the state's position was that Andy was a liar. Andy was making it up. This shows that Andy wasn't making it up. … It's contemporaneous evidence from Erik to his cousin, Andy, about what was happening."
Carlos Baralt
Carlos Baralt, Lyle and Erik’s uncle.
Carlos Baralt, Jose's brother-in-law and childhood friend from Cuba, provided testimony for the defense during the initial trial concerning issues related to Jose's will. "He wanted to leave Erik and Lyle off the will," Baralt testified, per the Los Angeles Times. "I did express some concern about how he would tell them... He said he already had." Carlos was the executor of the Menendez estate. Carlos passed away in February 2020.
Terry Baralt
"We thought murder was bad enough," Terry "Teresita" Baralt, Jose's older sister, told People in 1990. "You grieve and life goes on. We felt 1990 had to be a better year. Now this. This is even worse than the murders."
In the brothers' second trial, Terry testified that Lyle and Erik getting the death penalty would mean "the destruction of that side of my family: Jose, Kitty and the two kids," per the Los Angeles Times. "It’s just wiping out the rest of my family."
Teresita mentioned in her testimony that she was representing the whole family.
Joan VanderMolen
In 2023, Joan VanderMolen, Kitty's sister, shared with the Los Angeles Times, "I loved my sister dearly, and it’s difficult to talk about her, but somehow she managed to let this husband of hers rule the roost and beat the kids. She had to know." Joan is said to keep in touch with her nephews frequently.
Diane VanderMolen
Diane, a cousin of Erik and Lyle, provided testimony during their trials, revealing that Lyle confided in her about the abuse he endured.
Alan Andersen
Alan, the cousin of Lyle and Erik, enjoyed spending his summers with the Menendez family. He witnessed Jose "hitting the kids with the belt," Alan told CBS News, and Kitty "wouldn't get up to console the children, nothing."
He also said, "Jose would tell the boys, "In the bedroom" … and then he would close the door and then he'd take showers with 'em.. I was not allowed, while the boys were alone with Jose with the door closed in the master bedroom, to go down the hall to probably not hear whatever I may hear."
Alan believes the boys were justified: "I know they did what they did because they were in fear of their life." He adds, "What I would say to the prosecutor, or the judge would be, please look at all of the evidence … they are speaking the truth … They shouldn't be in there as long as they've been."
Milton Andersen
Milton Andersen, Kitty's brother, believes that his nephews are ruthless and guilty of murder. "I don't believe that Jose or Kitty would do any of the things that they were accused of. … Jose was changing his will … And that's when they went out and bought the shotguns," he told CBS News. "What they did to my sister … they should have gotten the death penalty."
He adds that he thinks now "they should die of old age in prison … I loved my sister, and I protected her in life, and I will love my sister and protect her in her death."
In 2023, he told theNew York Times, "They do not deserve to walk on the face of this earth after killing my sister and my brother-in-law."
Brian Andersen
Kitty's brother, Brian Andersen, doesn't believe his nephews' claims of abuse. "There was certainly no indication of any kind that there was ever any abuse," Anderson told ABC News in 2017. "It just didn’t happen. It just didn’t happen. I think the motive was strictly money."
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