Erik Menendez’s stepdaughter, Talia Menendez, is speaking out following the denial of parole for Lyle Menendez.
Talia, who is Erik’s stepdaughter from his marriage to Tammi Menendez, renewed her plea for the Menendez brothers’ release after a California parole board denied Lyle, 57, parole, just one day after Erik, 54, faced the same outcome.
On her Instagram Stories, Talia shared that she was “praying for my uncle Lyle” after he “got the same verdict” as Erik. She described feeling “extremely saddened” by the decision and suggested it was a “complete setup from the inside.”
“You can all judge me for being angry,” she wrote. “I’m standing on 10 toes for our family … We will not stop until they are free. Our fight is not over.”
In a follow-up post, Talia explained that “people can have different views of this being a win or not” and shared that she has “been let down time and time again.” She admitted that this had been the “highest her hopes had been” for Erik and Lyle to be freed, especially as they grow older.
Talia also emphasized that the brothers have shown “no violence” during their time behind bars and expressed a strong desire to see meaningful steps taken toward their release.
“Things start to change. This is deeper than surface level. Enough is enough,” Talia wrote, concluding her post with a tornado emoji.
Anamaria Baralt, the Menendez brothers’ cousin, also commented on Instagram on Friday, Aug. 22, following the news of the parole denials. She remained hopeful that their case could be reconsidered if they continue demonstrating good behavior in prison and that they could appear before the parole board again “within 18 months.”
“Overall, it was a pretty disappointing week for us, but this is not a long time,” Baralt said in a video. “The fact that we are making progress and we have these hearings, and yes there was a denial — and it was intensely disappointing — but at the same time, there is still light at the end of the tunnel.”
Lyle and Erik’s recent parole hearings occurred more than three decades after their 1996 conviction for the 1989 murders of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in their $5 million Beverly Hills home.
The brothers claimed they acted in self-defense, alleging years of sexual abuse by José with Kitty’s knowledge, and claimed José had threatened their lives if they told anyone. Prosecutors, however, argued that greed motivated the murders, citing the brothers’ extravagant spending spree after the killings.
Initially sentenced to life in prison without parole, the brothers were resentenced to 50 years to life in May, making them eligible for parole because they were under 26 at the time of the murders — Lyle, 21, and Erik, 18.
