Erik Menendez, 47, has been transferred to 50-year-old Lyle Menendez’s designated section at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, online records show.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, the murderous brothers convicted of killing their millionaire parents in 1989, have reunited for the first time in more than two decades, according to a report.
Erik Menendez, 47, was transferred to 50-year-old Lyle Menendez’s designated section at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, online records show.
The brothers last saw each other in 1996, when they were found guilty of murdering their father Jose and mother Kitty as they watched TV inside their $5 million estate in Beverly Hills on Aug. 20, 1989.
Authorities said they shot Jose Menendez several times in the head. Initially, their mother was only wounded.
But when she tried to crawl away, Lyle Menendez reloaded his shotgun and shot his mother several more times, officials said.
The brothers claimed they killed their parents after enduring years of abuse, but prosecutors argued they wanted access to their parents’ millions. They were each found guilty of two counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Lyle Menendez reportedly asked to be moved closer to his brother during his last hearing on his inmate classification status. He was then transferred from Mule Creek State Prison in Northern California to the R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego on Feb. 22.
Erik was then moved to the same unit as his brother Wednesday.
"He had been asking for it, and the department could find no reason they could not be at the same prison," Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections, told the New York Daily News. “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."
The brothers, who are believed to have kept in contact only through letters, will now be able to spend time together at meals, during recreational periods and while exercising.
Tammi Menendez, who married Erik three years after his sentencing, told TheBlast.com that her husband is "settling in" and described the brothers' reunion as "heartfelt."
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