MENUDO member Roy Rossello has yet to speak with the Menendez brothers after his abuse allegations against their father brought new evidence to their murder case.
Erik and Lyle Menendez could potentially be released from prison after serving 35 years of their life sentences for shooting their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, to death on August 20, 1989.
Erik Menendez, left, and his brother Lyle, in front of their Beverly Hills home where they killed their parents[/caption]
Menudo’s Roy Rossello in New York City circa 1985[/caption]
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon speaking at a press conference in LA on October 24, 2024[/caption]
Kitty and Jose Menendez, seated center, with their two sons Lyle, left and Erik, right[/caption]
The brothers were originally convicted of murdering their parents and sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1996 after a highly publicized trial in which prosecutors insisted the duo were motivated by greed for their family’s fortune.
However, Erik and Lyle, respectively 18 and 21 at the time of the killings, claimed in trial that they shot their parents in self-defense after years of sexual abuse by Jose, an executive at RCA Records.
Nearly 30 years after they were sentenced, the controversial murder case reemerged in the spotlight after the release of the 2023 Peacock docuseries Menudo+Menendez: Boys Betrayed.
Roy Rosselló, a former member of the Puerto Rican boy band, came forward with sexual abuse allegations against Jose in the docuseries.
On Thursday, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced his decision to recommend the court resentence the notorious duo after his office reviewed new evidence including Rosselló’s account.
Despite Rosselló’s part in the major update in the brothers’ case, the singer hasn’t heard from the duo in prison.
“Roy has had no contact with the brothers,” Nery Ynclan, an executive producer of the 2023 Peacock series, told The U.S. Sun.
Ynclan is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who says she was the first person who heard Rosselló’s accusations against Jose.
“Of course he would like to meet them one day,” Ynclan continued.
“But that became impossible once it was clear he could be a key witness that could reopen their case as an independent victim of Jose, proving that he was a pedophile, and that brothers were telling the truth about the sexual child abuse.”
Rosselló’s testimony was included in a petition the Menendez brothers filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in May 2023 to overturn their convictions.
The petition also included a recovered bombshell letter from Erik, which was also reviewed by Gascón’s office, written to his cousin months before the murders where he appeared to reference the sexual abuse by his dad.
“Once our documentary, Peacock’s Menudo+Menendez: Boys Betrayed, premiered in May 2023, their lawyer filed the habeas petition asking the court to review the new testimony from Roy and an old letter from Erik that has been [in] circulation since 2015 but never got any traction,” Ynclan said.
“Our documentary followed the journey of a living breathing independent victim of Jose Menendez, making Roy‘s testimony and the letter one to punch that got the case reopened and has led to this miraculous [possibility of] resentencing.”
Timeline of the Menendez brothers case
Erik and Lyle Menendez have been serving a life imprisonment sentence without the possibility of parole since July 1996.
The brothers were convicted of shooting their parents to death in their Beverly Hills home in August 1989.
Timeline:
August 20, 1989 – José and Kitty Menendez are found dead from multiple shotgun wounds.
March 8, 1990 – Lyle is arrested outside his parents’ Beverly Hills mansion.
March 11, 1990 – Erik turns himself in to police after flying back into Los Angeles from Israel.
July 20, 1993 – The highly publicized trial of Lyle and Erik begins and ends weeks later in a mistrial.
October 11, 1995 – Lyle and Erik’s second trial begins.
March 20, 1996 – The Menendez brothers are convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
July 2, 1996 – Lyle and Erik are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and sent to separate prisons.
February 2018 – Lyle is transferred to the San Diego prison, where Erik is held.
April 4, 2018 – Lyle was moved into the same housing unit as Erik – the first time the brothers were reunited in over 20 years.
May 2023 – The attorney representing Lyle and Erik files a habeas petition after Roy Rosselló, a member of the Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, made sexual abuse allegations against Jose Menendez.
September 19, 2024 – Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story releases on Netflix.
October 3, 2024: Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said his office was reviewing new evidence in connection with Lyle and Erik’s convictions.
October 7, 2024 – The Menendez Brothers documentary film comes out on Netflix.
October 16, 2024 – Family members of the Menendez brothers hold a press conference begging for the siblings to be released from prison.
October 24, 2024 – Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón recommends the brothers be resentenced.
Ynclan said Roy had contact with the brothers’ appeal lawyer, Cliff Gardner, who presented the new evidence in the petition.
In the three-part docuseries, Rosselló alleged Edgardo Díaz, Menudo’s founder, offered the teen to Jose to seal the band’s multi-million deal with RCA Records.
He said Díaz brought him to Jose’s home in New Jersey, where the music exec allegedly drugged and raped him in early 1980.
“That’s the man here that raped me,” Rosselló said in the Peacock series while pointing at a picture of Jose.
“That’s the guy. That’s the pedophile. I was in terrible pain for a week. I could barely stand the pain. I couldn’t even more.”
Our documentary followed the journey of a living breathing independent victim of Jose Menendez.
Nery Ynclan
Gascón said on Thursday that prosecutors will recommend the brothers be resentenced for the pair of murder convictions, meaning a maximum of 50 years to life in prison.
Due to their ages at the time of the crime, they would become immediately eligible for parole if resentenced.
“I came to a place where I believe, under the law, resentencing is appropriate,” Gascón said.
Erik Menendez’s letter to his cousin
A hand written letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin about his dad’s alleged abuse has sparked a review of the case that could set him and his brother free from jail.
Erik’s letter was written in December 1988, eight months before the double murders in August 1989.
The letter reads in full:
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. It’s still happening, Andy, but it’s worse for me now. I can’t explain it. He so overweight that I can’t stand to see him.
“I never know when it’s going to happen and it’s driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.
“I need to put it out of my mind. I know what you said before but I’m afraid. You just don’t know dad like I do. He’s crazy!
“He’s warned me a hundred times about telling anyone, especially Lyle.
“Am I a serious whimpus? I don’t know I’ll make it through this. I can handle it, Andy. I need to stop thinking about it.”
A hearing on the matter could be held within the next 30 to 45 days, meaning the brothers could be released that soon.
A judge will make the final call about whether the new evidence presented warrants resentencing.
DIVISIVE CASE
Gascón said his office was divided over the decision to ask the court to resentence the brothers.
“The teams that have worked on the resentencing side of this have spanned probably hundreds of hours looking at this case,” the DA said.
“We don’t have a universal agreement. There are people in the office that strongly believe that the Menendez brothers should stay in prison the rest of their lives and they do not believe they were molested.
“And there are people in the office that believe they should be released immediately and that they were in fact molested.”
The case recently garnered public attention due to the September release of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix drama Monsters about the murders, along with a documentary called The Menendez Brothers.
Weeks before Gascón’s decision, family members of the siblings united at a press conference to beg prosecutors to release Erik and Lyle from prison.
A Los Angeles court is expected to hear the case on November 26.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call RAINN (Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network) at 800-656-HOPE (4673).
Erik’s letter to his cousin, Andy Cano, referencing the alleged sexual abuse by his father[/caption]
Lyle, left, and Erik Menendez in Beverly Hills Municipal Court in March 1990[/caption]
Lyle, left, and Erik in their most recent jail mugshots at the Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California[/caption]
