Killer Menendez Brothers Have Been Reunited

The Daily News reports:

The killer Menendez brothers are reunited and it feels so creepy.

Jail officials confirmed Thursday that Erik and Lyle Menendez are now assigned to the same housing unit in their California prison, marking their first chance to associate behind bars since their 1996 convictions for the murders of their millionaire parents.

Erik, 50, was moved to the unit Wednesday night, a spokeswoman with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told the Daily News.

“Just because they're in the same unit doesn't mean they've had contact yet, but it's a programming facility, meaning the inmates participate in rehabilitation programs and have the ability to interact with one another,” spokeswoman Terry Thornton said.

She said it was Lyle, 47, who proactively asked to be moved closer to Erik at his last hearing on his inmate classification status.

He was then moved from Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California to the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego on Feb. 22.

“He had been asking for it, and the department could find no reason they could not be at the same prison,” Thornton said of Lyle's request.

“There are people who are related who may also be crime partners, and it's not unprecedented for them to be living in the same prison or even sharing the same cell,” she said.

The brothers are serving life sentences without the possibility of parole for murdering parents Jose and Kitty Menendez as they watched TV inside their $5 million Beverly Hills estate on Aug. 20, 1989.

Prosecutors said they shot their record executive father, 45, multiple times in the head and initially only wounded Kitty, 47.

Lyle walked out to his car, reloaded his shotgun and then returned to shoot his mother several more times as she tried in vain to crawl away.

The brothers claimed they carried out the cold-blooded carnage after years of abuse, but prosecutors said they wanted their parents' $14 million fortune.

The first trial, which ended with deadlocked juries for each brother, gripped the country as the tale of extreme wealth, greed and savagery played out on TV in 1993 and 1994.

Thornton said while she couldn't confirm whether the brothers had made contact by Thursday afternoon, they likely were in contact in other ways over the last 22 years.

“I believe they have written to each other throughout their incarceration,” she told The News.

Erik's wife Tammi Menendez claimed to TheBlast.com that the brothers had a face-to-face meeting right away.

She said Erik was “settling in” and that the brothers already had enjoyed a “heartfelt reunion.”