WARNING: EXPLICIT MATERIAL

José Menéndez

Birth Name:

José Enrique Menéndez

Birth Date:

May 6, 1944

Birth Place:

Havana, Cuba

Death Date:

August 20, 1989

Place of Death:

722 N Elm Drive, Beverly Hills, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Homicide - gunshot wounds

Cemetery Name:

Princeton Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Crime and their Victims

Associates:

Kitty Menéndez

José Menéndez was an entertainment executive and was married to Kitty Menendez, a former beauty queen, school teacher and mid-level Beverly Hills socialite. Sadly Kitty and Jose will always be remembered as the murder victims of their two sons - Erik and Lyle. In August of 1989 the couple’s two sons, Lyle and Erik, drove a small white hatchback up to the house, got their weapons from the trunk and entered the house via the French doors. The first shot from a .12 gauge shotgun hit José in the back of the head and killed him instantly. They continued with two more shots, tearing open both arms. Kitty was not so lucky as they pumped 10 shots as she tried to crawl away with the final shotgun blast to the face. Lyle dialed the fake 911 call and told police they had arrived home after a movie to the grisly discovery as smoke from the gunshots still loomed in the air. But as the months passed after the execution-style deaths, police were struck by the sons’ lavish spending sprees: buying Rolex watches, private tennis lessons, expensive clothing, jewelry, a Porsche, and even a chicken wings restaurant. After two hung juries, a third trial found them guilty of murder and sentenced the two sons to life without parole.

Fun and Not-So-Fun Facts

After they murdered their parents for their inheritance (but before he went to jail) Lyle bought the popular student hangout, Chuck’s Spring Street Cafe, for $550,000. Chuck’s remains a staple of Princeton, New Jersey.

Actress Robin Greer was a longtime friend of O.J. Simpson, and Robin hosted Nicole Brown Simpson’s baby shower, when she was pregnant with Sydney, at the Elm Drive manse in 1985.

When the first Beverly Hills crime scene investigator came upon the crime scene, he was handed an umbrella due to the volume of blood splatter on the couch, carpets, walls and ceiling (which were dripping down on the bodies).

Rarely have parents been so defiled by their children, or victims by their killers. But in the case of Kitty and Jose Menendez they were further defiled by Erik, Lyle and their attorney Leslie Abramson who painted a horribly untrue picture of Jose sexual molesting his sons while Kitty encouraged the abuse under a haze of pills and alcohol. And to date there hasn’t been a single, verifiable shred of evidence to confirm these malicious allegations.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Princeton Cemetery

29 Greenview Avenue

Princeton, New Jersey, 08542

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Princeton Cemetery, Princeton, New Jersey

Grave Location:

Menéndez Family Plot

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery drive past the office and take the first right. Drive a short distance and turn left and drive to the end and park. Look to the upper right corner and walk the 200 feet to the far corner of the cemetery to the final resting place of Kitty and Jose Menendez.