Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story ends with the brothers convicted in the series’ version of their second trial and sent to separate prisons. That is not where the real case stands today: their sentences changed in 2025, but both were denied parole. Their next hearings were reported as tentatively moved to March 2027, though that date is not confirmed on the official calendar reviewed here.
What happens at the end of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story?
Spoilers for the Netflix series finale. In the show’s account of the second trial, a jury finds Lyle and Erik Menendez guilty of first-degree murder and finds the lying-in-wait allegation true. The jurors impose consecutive life sentences without parole. The brothers are then transported separately in different vans to different prisons. These are events as portrayed in Netflix’s nine-episode scripted series, not a summary of the brothers’ current sentences. Netflix Tudum’s finale explainer describes the ending as intentionally ambiguous.
Why the final scene returns to the fishing trip
The finale revisits the shark-fishing trip shown earlier, this time from José and Kitty Menendez’s perspective. The scene presents a different family dynamic from the brothers’ account, then shows the brothers talking about the guns. It ends with a card stating that they maintain their sexual-abuse allegations and continue to serve life sentences without parole.
The scene does not establish a newly verified account of what happened in the family home. Netflix frames the show as a scripted drama that presents competing perspectives: the prosecution’s theory that the brothers acted for money, and the brothers’ claims that abuse and fear shaped their actions. The ending does not resolve that dispute. As co-creator Ryan Murphy told Tudum, “We ask you as the audience to make the decision about what really happened because we’re just going off research, theories, and court testimony.”
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How the series ending differs from the real case
The verdict and sentence in the finale echo the historical case, but the series’ ending and the brothers’ later legal status are distinct. Los Angeles County says the first trial began in 1993 and ended with separate juries deadlocked, producing a mistrial. A retrial took place in 1995; much of the sexual-abuse evidence was excluded. The brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to life without parole. The county’s resentencing announcement recounts that timeline.
| Point of comparison | In the scripted series | In the real case |
|---|---|---|
| Trial outcome | The finale shows the second-trial jury convicting the brothers of first-degree murder and finding lying in wait true. Netflix Tudum, September 25, 2024. | The first trial ended in deadlocked juries; the brothers were convicted at the 1995 retrial in 1996. Los Angeles County. |
| Sentence shown or imposed | Consecutive life sentences without parole. Netflix Tudum. | Originally life without parole; resentenced in May 2025 to 50 years to life. Associated Press, September 2026. |
| What happened afterward | The finale ends with the brothers taken to separate prisons and an end card saying they continue to serve life sentences without parole. Netflix Tudum. | Both were denied parole in August 2025 and remained incarcerated. AP later reported their next hearings were tentatively moved to March 2027; the date is not confirmed on the official calendar reviewed here. Associated Press; California Board of Parole Hearings calendar. |
Where are Lyle and Erik Menendez now?
As of the latest cited reporting, both brothers remain incarcerated. In May 2025, a judge resentenced them to 50 years to life, making them eligible for parole because they were under 26 when the crimes occurred. They were each denied parole in August 2025. AP reported that the board raised concerns about deception in Lyle’s hearing and repeated cellphone-rule violations in Erik’s.
In September 2026, AP reported that petitions for earlier hearings had been granted and that the next hearings were tentatively moved to March 2027; the department did not explain why. The official California Board of Parole Hearings March 2027 calendar, whose displayed data run through September 30, 2026, does not list either brother. Treat March 2027 as reported, tentative timing rather than a confirmed hearing appointment. A hearing would not itself mean release.
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Resentencing made parole consideration possible
On October 24, 2024, then Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced that his office would recommend resentencing. The announcement was a recommendation, not a court order or an immediate release. A judge resentenced the brothers in May 2025 to 50 years to life, allowing parole consideration under the age-related sentencing rules described by AP.
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Parole denials kept them in prison
The parole board denied both brothers in August 2025. The sentence change made parole possible; it did not grant parole. The separate 2025 ruling on their request for a new trial also did not change the convictions: on September 17, 2025, Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan rejected their habeas petition. The petition cited a former Menudo member’s allegation that José Menendez abused him and a letter attributed to Erik. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced the ruling; this is the prosecutor’s account, not a judicial opinion. Read the DA’s statement on the denial.
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