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The Psychology of the Menendez Bros (Chapter 3: The Murders)

Dr Kirk and Humberto explore the Menendez Bros case.

00:00 Writing about murder

05:17 The day before the murders

11:03 The murders

25:08 The 911 call

32:03 The police investigation & confessing

59:36 Grunge & the arrests

1:10:49 Does the process of premeditation say anything?

1:14:48 How common is parricide?


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May 30, 2025

The Psychology In Seattle Podcast ®

Trigger Warning: This episode may include topics such as assault, trauma, and discrimination. If necessary, listeners are encouraged to refrain from listening and care for their safety and well-being.

Disclaimer: The content provided is for educational, informational, and entertainment purposes only. Nothing here constitutes personal or professional consultation, therapy, diagnosis, or creates a counselor-client relationship. Topics discussed may generate differing points of view. If you participate (by being a guest, submitting a question, or commenting) you must do so with the knowledge that we cannot control reactions or responses from others, which may not agree with you or feel unfair. Your participation on this site is at your own risk, accepting full responsibility for any liability or harm that may result. Anything you write here may be used for discussion or endorsement of the podcast. Opinions and views expressed by the host and guest hosts are personal views. Although, we take precautions and fact check, they should not be considered facts and the opinions may change. Opinions posted by participants (such as comments) are not those of the hosts. Readers should not rely on any information found here and should perform due diligence before taking any action. For a more extensive description of factors for you to consider, please see www.psychologyinseattle.com

The Psychology of the Menendez Bros (Chapter 3: The Murders)

Comments

So much misinformation The guns were not bought using credit card they were bought using cash Lyle had always been fascinated by restaurant buiseness and started that by help and permission of his uncle and aunt Lyle never suggested to kill dr. Oziel or threatened him Lyle never told erik to shoot first After the murders brothers were not sent home both brothers were questioned by the police for hours separately There was no kneecapping all four knee caps were intact And shotgun blow to back of the head of jose was not the first but last wound inflicted because as examined by the forensic expert all the wounds were premortem non were post mortem and erik did not do it lyle did

DS

Ok, now I get to wonder which one of you drives a Porsche, because of that dizz!

MeriGo_round

Just catching up on all these episodes and SO excited that you’re covering this case finally!! :) That said, one small detail is that the parents were NOT shot in the kneecaps to make it look like a mafia hit. That is just some urban legend that keeps getting floated around (usually by pro-prosecution people) when in reality the father had a wound to his thigh, not the knee, and the mom was shot mostly in the upper body and face.

Kira S.

Can’t wait for the next episode!!

Olesia Rogaleva

Too bad the red leather jacket will always be tainted by child sexual assault…

Keir

I'd like an easy way to look up which videos are Patreon only so I can finally watch them.

Laura

Her therapist said she only cared about her husband's attention, and hated her kids, never cared about how her actions affected them.

Chels

The mom had a seperate therapist that testified about her mental health too. But I know Dr. Oziel has an entire wrap sheet of behaviors unbecoming and unethical to a therapist.

Chels

Lyle said Eric was screaming from seeing the bodies again, because he was already breaking down mentally before going in, and he yelled at Eric to leave the room (on 911) tape to get him to stop freaking out. He said although he was lying, Eric reaction was real, so Berto is right about that.

Chels

Yes one knee was hit from behind but it wasn't a direct aim

Chels

Who else waiting with bated breath for Kirk to hear the testimony from Erik

Sarah

Berto. @14:07 the FBI psychologist (Dr. Burgees) testified about planned vs unplanned crime scene and she mentioned she could analyze it was done out of false anticipation/fear, and overall unplanned...kind of matches what Dr. Kirk mentions ! Love the episode ! Great job Berto. 👏🏼 Edit: I love the what would you do from a therapist standpoint questions Berto is asking, very interesting!

Chels

An uncle confirmed that Jose told him he wanted the boys out of the will bc they were "dissapointing" and he advised Jose against it. Check out that testimony on Court TV, it was kitty's brother so Jose brother in law. It's likely Jose threatened the boys to change their behavior but behind their backs, never actually did it. However the Uncle who was in charge of the will, confirmed he even talked about setting up a time to change it in a serious tone.

Chels

You mean that they cut off their allowance?

Humberto Castaneda

Since you are time marking everything why don’t you mark the patreon part? I have already watch in YouTube the first part and had a hard time searching the continuation

Denisse Hernandez

Kitty was depressed supposedly because Jose frequently had lovers.

Kristy Stevens

Maybe they weren’t used to a very thorough follow up on their misdeeds… the parents did cover for them in a lot of cases. They might not have realized how protected they were from consequences until after the parents were dead.

Stefan and Erin S

Humberto is doing a great job with this case! I am super passionate about this story so I’m very invested!

Jillian Nicole

Could you guys do coverage of the Sherri Panini case? That one has a few twists and turns!

TIFFANY WEAVER

I love the coverage of this! I look forward to checking and seeing if a new video came out! With the whole Mafia thing why would the boys not be afraid to go back to the house if they thought someone else came in and murdered their family. The logic isn't there for a very good cover up.

TIFFANY WEAVER

You're burying the lead. Get to the actual reason for the murders please. That's the point of this case.

Musa Kamara

i think we made 7

Humberto Castaneda

Same haha. Next installment 🤞

Stefan and Erin S

Thank you for this interesting series Dr. Honda. Out of curiosity, how many chapters are you doing / expect to do for this series? I like to binge them all at once.

Jessica Edwards

I'm surprised how you haven't said anything about how it was unethical for Oziel to treat both of the brothers individually, especially after being the mom's individual therapist as well.

Laura

I like the fact that you recount the event mostly as the informations got out at the time, but I just want to see the "Aaaa" moment from Kirk

Louise Dolbeau

I always wondered if it could’ve been argued that he just smelled smoke and due to the confusion of the moment felt like he saw it? Ofc we know they did kill the parents but I could see where a comment on that might be excused by investigators as confusion from the trauma of finding the parents. I’ve also wondered if part of the reason they seem so upset on the 911 call is because they probably dissociated to some extent during the actual killings, and expected to come back to a house where the bodies had been found and potentially already removed. Instead they had to lead police there and revisit their crime which might have been traumatic on its own even though they committed it, like Dr Honda said last time.

Stefan and Erin S

Just to note, the bit about Jose being shot in the kneecaps is contested and I think even proven false. This 'myth' came from the second trial where some unqualified mechanical engineer was brought in with some sort of new crime scene reconstruction technology which completely contradicted the coroner's testimony from the first trial.

Janna


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