Meet Marta Cano: Erik and Lyle Menendez’s aunt who believes brothers are innocent
MARTA Cano is the sister of Jose Menendez, who was murdered by his sons Erik and Lyle in 1989.
She defended the brothers in court, alongside her son Andy who alleged that Erik had been abused by Jose.
José Menendez’s sister
Not much is known about Marta’s life before the Menendez brothers went on trial, but the former stockbroker became a big part of the media coverage of the court case.
Her brother, José, was born on May 6, 1944, in Cuba but moved to the United States at the start of the Cuban Revolution.
He married his wife, Kitty, in 1963 and they had their first son, Lyle, just five years later.
Lyle and his younger brother Erik eventually murdered their parents in 1989, in a killing so violent that the authorities believed the Mob might have been involved.
They lived a lavish lifestyle using their inheritance before they were arrested.
An infamous trial
Marta attended her nephew’s trial, that was watched with keen interest across America.
Erik claimed that he and his brother had murdered their parents because their father had been sexually abusive towards them.
Marta’s son, Andy, testified to this and claimed that Erik had told him about the abuse when he was 13 years old.
Erik and Lyle’s aunt also testified in their defense, but, eventually, the brothers were sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Both brothers did go on to find love in prison, though, and married women who had watched the trial and written them letters.
Marta attended Lyle and his then-wife Anna Eriksson’s wedding on July 2, 1996, but the couple divorced just a few years later in April 2001.
Hoping for freedom
Marta told ABC News in 2018 that her brother was “not a bad person” and that he was, instead, a “sick” person.
She was also adamant that her nephews were not criminals and defended the action they took against their father.
She said: “They deserve to be free.
“They’re not criminals.
“They were in so much shock and fear of their own lives that that’s what happened.”
Marta added: “How would I feel if someone had abused me all my life, and all of a sudden he’s angry in front of me and he’s coming to me?
“It’s a defense mechanism we all have.
“You never knew what you would do.”
Years earlier, she had discovered a letter written by Erik to her son, Andy, which detailed the alleged abuse that Erik was suffering.
That letter, written in 1988, will be examined in a retrial that has been ordered into the Menendez case.
Sadly, guilt, caused by not intervening sooner, had led to Andy dying from a drug overdose in 2003.
Marta shared with ABC that she felt that the brothers’ incarceration had a big role in her 29-year-old son’s death.
She said: “I have no doubt in my mind that Andy is dead because of them.”