Who are the Menendez brothers and what did they do? Their case has come back into the spotlight in 2021 after some TikTok videos started trending.
TikTok is known mainly for its dance challenges, lip-syncing videos and viral trends as the social media platform has seen an epic rise and attracted millions of new users in the last few years.
Recently, an army of TikTokkers have come into the spotlight after they started a movement to bring justice to the Menendez brothers.
But who exactly are the Menendez siblings? Here’s why their case has been brought back in 2021.
On August 20th, 1989, the brothers’ names came into the limelight when they called 911 and said that their parents were killed at their home.
Lyle and Erik were arrested in 1990 and their trial was broadcasted nationally in 1993, bringing a lot of media attention at their case at the time. The two siblings, who were in their early twenties, were charged with first-degree murder of their parents in 1996. The Menendez brothers claimed they committed the crime after years of abuse from their father.
Recently, their case was brought to many people’s attention after a social media frenzy on TikTok.
Why have they come into the spotlight now?
The case of the Menendez brothers has been in the spotlight in the last few months because of a movement on TikTok.
In 2017, A&E published the documentary The Menendez Murders: Erik Tells All from reporter Robert Rand which featured interviews with Erik and his claims against his father.
Mr Rand told New York Times that he saw an increase on his website at the end of 2020. “We typically have 500 visitors a day,” he told the publication in an email. “Last weekend, we had 50,000 visitors.”
According to Google Trends, searches for ‘Who are the Menendez brothers’ and ‘Menendez brothers case’ have seen a significant jump lately as people rushed on the internet to find more information about them.
A number of social media users have come into the defence of the two siblings as they called for justice for Lyle and Erik.
ABC News reports that through their research, they found that a big part of the “army of internet defenders” consisted of young people who have actively shown their support for the siblings and shared their opinions.
Will the Menendez brothers get out of prison?
Lyle and Erik Menendez are serving life sentences at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
The two siblings spent most of their sentences at different prisons. Lyle used to be at Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California, but later transferred to the Richard J. Donovan facility to be closer to his brother, Erik.
They have spent 31 years in prison up to this date.