No. Lyle and Erik Menendez were not adopted. Jose and Mary 'Kitty' Menendez, whom they murdered with shotguns in their Beverly Hills mansion, were their biological parents.
Lyle Menendez was born in New York City on January 10, 1968. Brother Erik was born in New Jersey on November 27, 1970.
The two brothers shot their parents dead on August 20, 2023 using shotguns that they had bought just days before the slayings.
Their father, Jose, was successful Cuban-American business executive, and their mother was a homemaker and a socialite. The couple were both shot in the kneecap, which caused investigators to believe Lyle, aged 21 at the time and Erik then aged 18, wanted their crimes to look like a mob hit.
Their trials was one of the most publicized in 1990s due to the fact it was aired live on CourtTV causing it to erupt into a massive media event.
Prosecutors alleged that the brothers murdered their parents out of greed, hoping to get their hands on the family fortune.
Kyle and Erik were convicted in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole in 1996.