Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón mysteriously deleted a social media post he made sharing one of the new pieces of evidence his office is considering in the case of Erik and Lyle Menendez, the brothers who earned national intrigue and horror after they shot their wealthy parents to death in 1989, CNN reported.
On Sunday, Gascón had posted a photo of a handwritten letter Erik had sent to his cousin Andy Cano which the brothers’ lawyer argues backs up their claim that they were sexually abused by their father, and in turn that the brutal slaying was out of fear for their safety.
“I’ve been trying to avoid dad. Its still happening Andy but its worse for me now,” the letter reads. “I never know when its going to happen and its driving me crazy. Every night I stay up thinking he might come in.”
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Erik Menendez during his trial.
ReutersAs of Tuesday, however, CNN reported, the letter was no longer visible on Gascón’s account—apparently having been deleted.
The L.A. district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment on why the letter was removed.
An attorney for the brothers confirmed that the letter posted by Gascón was authentic, and that it is the one that was included in a May 2023 court filing arguing that the brothers, who have been imprisoned for nearly 35 years, should be considered for release.
On Oct. 3, Gascón held a press conference in which he said that his office had a duty to consider the two pieces of evidence raised by the brothers’ legal team. In addition to the letter, the May filing included another allegation of sexual assault made against the brothers’ father, José Menendez, a former executive at RCA Records, by Roy Rosselló, one-time member of the Puerto Rican boyband Menudo.
“We are not ready at this point to say we believe or do not believe this information,” Gascón said then. “We are here to say we have a moral and ethical obligation to review what has been presented to us.”
He added that the question is whether the jury that sentenced the brothers to life imprisonment in 1996 would have reached a different verdict had they seen the new evidence.
A hearing on the issue is set for Nov. 29, but this week Vanity Fair reported that an aunt of the brothers shared that a significant portion of the Menendez extended family had been invited by Gascón to a press conference at a courthouse in L.A. on Oct. 16, where they will speak in support of the release of their imprisoned relatives.
Gascón, who is currently battling for re-election, will not be in attendance despite reportedly organizing the presser, NBC News reported.
“A decision regarding the Menendez case has not been made. Once DA Gascón has made a decision, the family members of the victims and the public will be notified,” a statement from the district attorney’s office said.
The fresh movement in the brothers’ long-running battle for freedom comes amid a surge of interest in the brothers’ case—the most since they gripped America in the 1990s—since the release of a glitzy new Ryan Murphy true-crime series, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, on Netflix last month.
The show, which hinted at an incestuous relationship between the brothers, has been slammed as “ruinous” and “full of awful lies” by the Menendez family.
