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Meet the new owners of the Menendez family mansion

Credit: Zillow and Wikimedia Commons

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The Mediterranean-style mansion in Beverly Hills where the Menendez brothers murdered their parents in cold blood recently acquired a new owner. As public attention surrounding the case has peaked with the release of Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers documentary and the fictionalized series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, fresh details about the home’s newest owners have surfaced.

The roughly 9,000-square-foot property was last sold in March 2024 for $17 million, according to Zillow. Amy Vertun of Rodeo Realty repped the seller and Jordana Leigh of Rodeo repped the buyer.

The new owners have been revealed as the wealthy Lahijani family, Realtor.com reported, a prominent Iranian-American family with a number of real estate investments across Los Angeles.

Despite the home’s gruesome history, the property has traded owners several times since the murders occurred in 1989, and is now undergoing significant renovations.

In the weeks since Monsters was released in mid-September, tourists have started gathering around the house, perhaps hoping to gain more insight into the family’s dark history. The attention — and the hoards of people — have disgruntled neighbors who, according to TMZ, have been begging the Beverly Hills police to disrupt the crowds, which have brought increased foot and car traffic to the once-quiet neighborhood.

“It’s been non-stop since the series came out,” one neighbor told The New York Post.

The Menendez family patriarch, Jose Menendez, bought the estate in 1988 for $4 million. The next year, Lyle and Erik Menendez — then 21 and 18 years old — fatally shot their father, as well as their mother, Kitty, claiming that the act was retribution after years of being abused by their father.

The Menendez Brothers documentary was released on Netflix on Monday and includes recorded phone interviews between the film’s director, Alejandro Hartmann, and the brothers from their current residence at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, where they are serving life sentences.

The Lahijanis bought the property through an LLC named LAHA ELM, which had been registered in February, Realtor.com reported.

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Since purchasing the property in the spring, the family has reportedly gutted the home and is in the midst of a massive renovation.

The property was built in 1972 and saw a substantial redesign in 1984, directed by real estate mogul and Menendez family friend Mark Slotkin, who sold the home to the Menendezes.

The seven-bedroom house features high ceilings and imported Italian Limestone flooring, according to the old listing description. The primary suite includes double baths and designer closets. The property also boasts a pool sheltered by hedges for privacy.

Slotkin took part in the brothers’ trial, testifying that the soundproofing he had installed in the house shed serious doubt on a maid’s claims that she had overheard the family’s shouting matches.

The home’s dark past likely contributed to it sitting on the market for a few years after Jose and Kitty Menendez died. The property was finally sold to an unknown buyer in 1991, and then sold again to Murder, She Wrote creator William Link in 1993. In 2001, the property was sold to telecommunications exec Samuel Delug for $3.7 million, who then sold it to the Lahijanis.

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Email Lillian Dickerson