Menedez Brothers Reunited In Prison After 30 Years Apart

SACRAMENTO, CA — The Menendez brothers have been reunited in prison after being housed in different facilities for over two decades.

Lyle and Erik Menendez are serving life sentences for murdering their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989.

According to The Los Angeles Times, Lyle Menendez, 50, was recently moved from Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California to San Diego’s R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility, where his brother is serving his sentence.

Prison authorities stated they moved him to the Donovan facility after authorities lowered his security classification. California corrections department spokeswoman Terry Thornton reportedly said Erik Menendez, 47, is held in a separate housing unit.

But on Wednesday, Eric Menendez was reportedly moved to the same housing unit as his brother. Inmates regularly interact in rehabilitation and educational programs within housing units, provided there are no disruptions.

Authorities arrested the brothers in March 1990, and their first trial in 1994 ended in a mistrial.

On March 29, 1996, they were convicted of first-degree murder.

The last time the brothers saw each other in person was on September 10, 1996, when they were each sentenced to life in prison.

The brothers claimed that they were driven to commit the murders after their father sexually abused them as children. But prosecutors claimed that the brothers’ true motive was money — and that they wanted to gain access to their parents’ millions.

Prison officials initially decided to house the brothers separately due to fears that they might conspire to escape. At the time, Erik Menedez's then-attorney, Leslie Abramson, reportedly said housing the brothers separately was “exceedingly cruel and heartless.”

For more on this case, watch the “The Menendez Brothers” episode of Investigation Discovery’s The Crimes That Changed Us on discovery+.

Read more: L.A. Times , CBSNews.com