Erik and Lyle Menendez gunned down their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez, shooting them both in the heads the night of August 20, 1989. 26 years later, Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s boyfriend, Nicholas “Nick” Godejohn with the help of Gypsy, killed Blanchard’s mom, Claudine “Dee Dee” Blanchard on June 10, 2015.
While the Menendez case is a very popular topic at the moment due to the Netflix Series Monsters, there’s still a lot to be said. The Menendez brothers were arrested on March 8, 1990, one year after the death of their parents. Lyle and Erik were charged with two first degree murder charges with special circumstances of lying in wait. There are many rumors of why they killed their parents: they wanted their parents’ money, they were spoiled kids who were tired of not getting what they wanted, and for the most known one, they were being abused. I tend to believe the last one because their dad was known as a very serious and powerful man.
The Gypsy Rose case was a very popular case in 2020-2022, also due to streaming television attention. Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s boyfriend stabbed her mother 17 times because he was seeking revenge for Gypsy’s emotional and physical abuse. Gypsy Rose met Nicholas when he was 26 and she was 24 but had the mental capability of a 5th grader. Gypsy Rose planned the killing of her mom for her boyfriend to carry out. Gypsy’s mother abused her mentally and physically by giving her medicine, along with lying about most of the disabilities in order to collect a disability check and other perks.
Viewers should not ignore that both the Blanchard and Menedez murders ultimately happened for the same reason — child abuse.
Both Gypsy and the Menendez brothers were involved in the death of their parents, but the cases had different outcomes. They were both abused, they were both sick and tired of it, but the only differences are that the brothers were rich young men who were smart but troubled, and Gypsy was mentally challenged and didn’t have wealth. Another huge problem was the time of the murders, in the late 80’s the public didn’t believe that boys could be sexually assaulted. With that mindset, the court and public believed the boys did it for money which infuriates me. Clearly, killing their parents wasn’t the best option, but the boys were obviously desperate and running out of options.
Gypsy Rose was angry with her mom and didn’t want to keep taking medication for no reason, even being in a wheelchair that she didn’t need to be in. She reached a point of desperation, similar to the Menedez brothers, and had her mother killed brutally in her sleep. Gypsy Rose was released in 2024,and she immediately became social media famous. Meanwhile, the Menendez brothers were still in prison for the similar crime of self defense. Yes Gypsy didn’t actually commit the killing, but she planned it out for weeks. It’s not fair for the boys to remain in prison for saving their own lives and ending the torment they endured at the hands of their parents, yet Gypsy gets to go free and live her happiest life when she also saved herself from abuse. In the eyes of the public, it seems like it’s ok for a female to defend herself using her boyfriend, but males shouldn’t be allowed to save themselves because the public is uncomfotable with secual abuse of males. It’s easier for the courts and the media to digest that the murders were about money than for people to admit the victim might have been a monster.
It shouldn’t matter the race, or gender, or what kind of abuse they went through. Abuse is abuse, and if they are both ending the abuse than they should both get the same sentence and not a different sentences.
