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April 18 (UPI) -- A new Peacock docu-series examines the possible connection between the murder trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, who killed their parents, in the 1990s, and Menudo, an iconic boy band from the 1980s. Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed will stream as a three-part series on Peacock starting May 2. The series trailer includes snippets of allegations made by Menudo member Roy Rosselló.
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In a clip of the documentary that aired on NBC's Today on Tuesday, Rosselló said, "It's time for the world to know the truth.
"I know what he did to me in his house," he said.
Rosselló later points to a photo of Jose Menendez, who was an executive at RCA Records, the label that signed Menudo, saying, "That's the man here that raped me."
The trailer centers on the bombshell allegation, and as journalist Nery Ynclan said, "This is the testimony that Erik and Lyle needed when they were sentenced to life."
"He is the key to getting action even after all these decades," Ynclan said of Rosselló.
Allegations of abuse
Rosselló and other members of Menudo previously have discussed being abused and exploited at the height of their fame. In 1991, multiple accusations came to light with stories that the band members, all young boys, were regularly drugged, given alcohol, and sexually abused by men who held power over their careers in the 1980s.
In the 2022 HBO Max docuseries Menudo: Forever Young, some of the more than 30 members of the Puerto Rican sensation discussed the physical, mental, and sexual abuse they said they endured from the group's manager and mastermind, Edgardo Diaz. Rosselló had also confronted Diaz with the allegations on a Brazilian talk show in 1991.
Nobody has been charged in relation to the sexual abuse allegations from members of Menudo.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted on March 20, 1996, for the 1989 killing of their father, Jose, and mother, Kitty, in their Beverly Hills mansion. On July 2, 1996, they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The convictions came at the end of two separate trials. The first, beginning in 1993, was declared a mistrial after two juries could not reach a decision. In their defense, the brothers argued they had killed their parents out of fear of their father, who they allege sexually abused them for years. They also said their mother was psychologically abusive.
The brothers ultimately admitted to killing their parents in the living room of their home, firing multiple shots from shotguns at them, including at least one shot at point-blank range.
Psychologist Ann Tyler testified in the first trial that she believed the brothers were psychologically abused by their parents to the point where they may have feared for their lives. She cited incidents of Erik Menendez being locked in a closet for hours by his mother and said the brothers experienced terrorism, rejection, isolation and exploitation.
"If you're terrorized and the terror is severe enough, you feel that your life is threatened," Tyler said. "You fear that you may not survive being locked in the closet."
Deputy District Attorney Pamela Bozanich, the prosecutor for Los Angeles County, undercut the allegations of sexual abuse. Instead, Bozanich contended that the brothers were motivated by greed, seeking control of a $14 million estate. In her closing argument, she described Lyle and Erik Menendez as "spoiled, vicious brats."
Conviction at second trial
In the second trial, which started in 1995, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Stanley M. Weisberg deemed that all references to the sexual abuse allegations were inadmissible. He also said jurors could not consider the defense that the brothers killed their parents in self-defense because they feared their parents were going to kill them. In their opening statement, prosecutors argued that Erik and Lyle Menendez had thoroughly plotted to kill their parents to inherit their fortune.
Dr. Ann Burgess, a crime scene expert, did not agree with the contention that the killing was planned when she testified in the 1993 trial. She said the crime scene was too disorganized, and if the brothers had planned to stage the scene, they would have made it look like a break-in and used quieter weapons.
Roger McCarthy, then-chief executive of Failure Analysis Associates, provided expert testimony for the prosecution about the sequence of shots fired in the killing of Jose and Kitty Menendez. He testified that Jose Menendez was killed by a gunshot to the back of his head, the second shot that struck him. Kitty Menendez was shot nine times, with the kill shot coming with the shotgun pressed against her cheek.
Pathologist Dr. Robert Lawrence had reached the same conclusion when he testified earlier that week.
"It's important how the shooting took place. It was overkill," said Deputy District Attorney David Conn. "There were too many shots in two target areas: in the head to kill, and in the knees to make it look like a Mafia shooting."
Erik Menendez would testify that he believed his father had killed before and was capable of doing so again. He alleged that his father made multiple references to being connected to organized crime.
"I thought he had killed before because of the references to the Mafia and that he could find me [and kill me] if I tried to run away," he told the jury.
He also graphically described the long-term physical and sexual abuse he said he suffered from his father, which he said he hoped would end when he would go to college at UCLA. However, days before the killings, his father told him he would need to come home several times a week during college, convincing Erik Menendez that he would be sexually abused on those occasions.
According to the defense, it was these kinds of actions that would cause Lyle Menendez to come to his brother's defense and threaten to expose their father's abuse. As a result, though, the brothers also feared their father would retaliate, possibly killing them.
On March 1, 1996, following nearly five months of testimony, the jury began deliberations and continued deliberating for more than two weeks before returning a verdict of guilty of first-degree murder.
Seeking new trial
The Menendez brothers have appealed for a new trial on more than one occasion but have been denied each time. In a 1998 appeal, they argued that Weisberg showed bias against them and their defense team by ruling that much of the evidence brought by them could not be used. Judge Frank Y. Jackson of the Second District Court of Appeals ruled against the brothers and defended his fellow judge in the process.
The Menendez brothers may seek an appeal again if new evidence is brought to light that would be relevant to the case. The allegations by Rosselló may be a "glimmer of hope" for Lyle and Erik Menendez, criminal defense attorney Alan Jackson said on Today.
In Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed, Rosselló is expected to go into greater detail about an incident that he says took place at the Menendez home when he was 14. In a conversation with Erik Menendez played on Today, he recalls Rosselló being at his home with his father.
"Of course, you would know that that would have made a difference at trial," Lyle Menendez said in the clip.
Kitty Menendez's brother, 88-year-old Milton Andersen, dismissed the allegations by Rosselló and the notion of releasing his nephews from prison in a interview with The New York Times.
"They do not deserve to walk on the face of this earth after killing my sister and my brother-in-law," he said.
The Menendez brothers have been behind bars for more than 30 years. They are being held in the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office did not respond to a request for comment.
