Lyle Menendez Testified He Had No Memory of Putting the Gun Muzzle Against His Mother's Face

The death certificates for José and Kitty Menendez list causes of death that are pretty straightforward. In all-caps, the words "multiple gunshot wounds," jump out from pieces of paper that contain otherwise trivial information. There is the address on Elm Drive, which would later become a mecca for true-crime tourists, along with physical descriptions of each victim.

The crime scene photos tell a far more grisly story. On Aug. 20, 1989, Erik and Lyle Menendez shot their parents a total of 16 times using two 12-gauge Mossberg shotguns. The Menendez autopsy report will later reveal just how much damage was done to the bodies of José and Kitty Menendez. Here's what we know.

The autopsy reports concluded that 45-year-old José suffered an "explosive decapitation with evisceration of the brain." Dr. Irwin Golden of the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said the wound was so large that a person could put a fist through it, per Crime Library. His face was extremely deformed and the wound was covered in soot. Dr. Golden said this indicated that the gun was placed against the back of José's head.

Dr. Golden was unable to tell the order in which José's wounds occurred. He initially thought the Menendez patriarch was shot in the back of the head first before the perpetrator walked in front of José in order to shoot him twice in the right arm, once in the left elbow, and one more time in his left knee. However, blood in all of José's wound paths made it difficult for Dr. Golden to determine which shot was fired first.

Kitty was on the receiving end of a far more brutal death. She had been shot in the left cheek which fractured her upper jaw and caused four teeth to fall out. There were three wounds total to Kitty's face, which also contained birdshot. Investigators believed this meant the killers reloaded before shooting Kitty again. Because her right thumb was nearly severed, police thought this might have been a defensive wound, though her palm was facing toward her. Kitty was also shot in her arm, breast, and legs.

Lyle testified that he was the one who reloaded and shot his mother again after he saw her crawling around a coffee table. She had already been shot multiple times, but Lyle told the court he still felt as if he was in danger. Deputy District Attorney Pamela Bozanich asked Lyle for more details from that night. He told her he didn't "have any particular memory of why [he] did some of these things that don’t make particular sense."

What he did recall was "bursting into the room," a few "vague things," and then it was over. Not satisfied with that answer, Bozanich asked if José and Kitty were eating blueberries and ice cream when they were shot. She was attempting to establish that Lyle's parents were not a threat at that time. She pointed out other items on the coffee table, all of which were pretty banal, and asked what was threatening. "Nothing," said Lyle.

Lyle then admitted to standing over his father while he shot him. He didn't intentionally put the gun against José's head. "It was just a rush and me firing," said Lyle. What he did not recall was placing the gun against his mother's head, but that's precisely what happened.