Author Description

*Includes pictures*Includes contemporary accounts of the murder and trials*Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading*Includes a table of contents"People view me as this dark guy, a killer. It's been a struggle for me to realize I'm the nation's villain. I'm really not. I'm a good person." - Erik MenendezIt is impossible to know who the first parents were that questioned what went wrong with their children. Even the Bible describes the adult children of Adam and Eve as far from perfect, telling of how Cain killed his own brother, Abel. Dozens of books are published each year trying to instruct parents on how to raise good, responsible children, but things still go wrong from time to time. Of course, it's rare that children rarely turn out like Lyle and Erik Menendez did. These two brothers, raised by Cuban immigrants, had everything the world could offer. Not only were they wealthy and able to attend the best schools, but their parents seemed to dote on them, attending their tennis tournaments and encouraging the interests. Their mother was a housewife in the classic mold, who spent her days caring for the large, comfortable home and driving the boys to their activities. Their father was tough but, from all appearances, devoted to his sons, pushing them to strive for excellence in all aspects of their lives. This is the story that those outside the family told, and the one that seems the most believable.So why, then, did these two young men commit the ultimate crime of killing their parents in cold blood? Was it greed and a desire to have their inheritance before their father, exasperated with their bad behavior, changed his will? Or was it in response to years of unimaginable secret abuse? After killing their parents, denying that they had had anything to do with the murders, going on a wild spending spree and then confessing all to their psychiatrist, Lyle and Erik Menendez suddenly began to tell a graphic tale of sexual exploitation and even