When people ask "where are the menendez brothers from," they usually have that iconic image of the Beverly Hills mansion in their head. You know the one. 722 North Elm Drive. The Mediterranean-style villa with the white columns and the blood-stained den. But honestly? That house was barely a blip on the radar of their lives.
Lyle and Erik weren't "from" Beverly Hills in the way most people think. They were Jersey boys. East Coast transplants. They were essentially new money arrivals in California who barely had time to unpack their bags before everything went sideways. If you want to understand the Menendez case, you have to look way past the palm trees of 90210.
The Menendez Brothers' New Jersey Roots
The story doesn't start in California. It starts in the suburbs of New Jersey. This is where the family spent the bulk of their formative years.
Lyle was born in New York City in 1968, but the family moved to New Jersey shortly after. Erik followed in 1970, born in Gloucester Township. They spent their childhoods in places like Cedar Grove and eventually Hopewell Township. We’re talking about upper-middle-class leafy suburbs, the kind of places where success is measured by the size of your lawn and the prestige of your private school.
Life at Princeton Day School
For the longest time, the brothers were fixtures in the Princeton area. They attended Princeton Day School, a high-end private institution. This wasn't just a school; it was an incubator for the elite.
- Lyle was the athlete, the one everyone expected to follow in his father’s footsteps.
- Erik was the quieter one, often living in his brother's shadow.
- Their father, José, was a man obsessed with the "American Dream."
Jose had come from Cuba as a teenager with nothing. He worked his way up to becoming a high-powered executive at Hertz and later RCA Records. He didn't just want his sons to succeed; he demanded it. The pressure in that New Jersey household was like a pressure cooker with the valve taped shut. Neighbors would later recall a family that looked perfect on paper—wealthy, athletic, handsome—but there was a strange, cold tension behind the front door of their Pennington home.
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The Move to California: A Culture Shock
It wasn't until 1986 that the family made the jump to the West Coast. Jose had been named CEO of LIVE Entertainment, a massive deal in the movie and home video world. This is a crucial detail. By the time they moved to California, Lyle was already 18 and Erik was 16.
They were essentially finished with their childhoods by the time they hit the L.A. city limits.
Initially, they didn't even live in Beverly Hills. They moved to Calabasas. If you know the area, Calabasas back then wasn't the Kardashian-heavy influencer hub it is today; it was wealthy, sure, but it felt a bit more remote. The brothers struggled to fit in. They were New Jersey prep school kids dropped into the flashy, superficial world of 1980s Los Angeles.
Why Beverly Hills?
The move to the infamous Beverly Hills mansion in 1988 was actually a bit of a strategic retreat. The brothers had started getting into trouble—burglaries, specifically. They’d broken into homes in their own neighborhood. Jose, ever the image-conscious mogul, moved the family to North Elm Drive in Beverly Hills partly to give them a "fresh start" and get them away from the "bad influences" in Calabasas.
Irony is a cruel thing.
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Where Are the Menendez Brothers From Spiritually?
If we're talking about their "origins," we have to talk about the cultural heritage of their father. Jose Menendez was born in Havana, Cuba. He was sent to the U.S. alone at 15 after the Cuban Revolution.
That immigrant hustle defined the family. Jose was a "self-made" man who looked at his sons and saw investments that needed to yield a high return. He pushed them into competitive swimming and tennis with a ferocity that bordered on the pathological.
When people ask where they are from, they are often looking for a reason. Was it the "spoiled" lifestyle of Beverly Hills that turned them into killers?
The defense argued it was the opposite. They argued the brothers were "from" a house of horrors that had followed them from New Jersey to California. According to their testimony, the abuse didn't start when they got rich in L.A.; it was a dark thread that ran through their entire lives in the suburbs of Jersey.
Where Are They Now? (The 2026 Update)
Fast forward to today. The "where" has changed drastically. For nearly 30 years, the brothers were separated in the California prison system.
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- Lyle was at Mule Creek State Prison.
- Erik was at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
In a massive turn of events in 2018, they were finally reunited. Currently, as of early 2026, both brothers remain at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility.
But here is the thing: the legal landscape has shifted. Following the massive surge in public interest and new evidence—including a letter Erik wrote to his cousin about the abuse months before the murders—a judge recently resentenced them. In 2025, they were sentenced to 50 years to life, which made them eligible for parole immediately because of their ages at the time of the crime.
However, the "where" hasn't changed to "home" just yet. While they had their first parole hearings in late 2025 and early 2026, the process is grueling. Erik was initially denied, while Lyle's situation remains in a state of legal flux. They are still behind bars, but for the first time in decades, the "where" might actually become a private residence again soon.
What You Should Do Next
If you’re following the Menendez case, don't just look at the TikTok clips. The real story is in the court transcripts from the 90s.
- Look into the "Menendez+Menudo" connection. This recent evidence involves Roy Rosselló, a former member of the boy band Menudo, who alleged that Jose Menendez also abused him. This was a huge factor in the recent resentencing.
- Read the 1988 letter. Look up the letter Erik wrote to Andy Cano. It’s the closest thing to a "time machine" we have into what was actually happening in that house before the shots were fired.
- Check the CDCR Inmate Locator. If you want the most up-to-date physical location of the brothers, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation website is the only official source.
The Menendez brothers are from a world of extreme privilege and, if you believe the defense, extreme pain. They are products of a specific type of East Coast pressure that exploded under the bright lights of Beverly Hills. Understanding that they weren't just "California rich kids" is the first step to seeing the full picture.