Ryan Murphy and Netflix have finally released their highly anticipated true-crime series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which examines the brothers’ arrest and eventual conviction for the 1989 murder of their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, inside the family’s Beverly Hills, California, home.
Initially, the brothers weren’t seen as suspects, with police believing they had been out in Los Angeles all evening and returned home to find their parents’ bodies. But after six months, the brothers were arrested—with one vital piece of evidence coming from Erik’s psychologist, Dr. Jerome Oziel.
The opening episodes of Monsters detail the events immediately following the murders, including Lyle and Erik’s conversations with Dr. Oziel, played by actor Dallas Roberts in the show. So who is the real Oziel, and where is he now?
What role did Oziel play in the Lyle and Erik Menendez case?
While police initially wired one of Erik’s friends, Craig Cignarelli, in a failed attempt to record him confessing to the crimes, the younger Menendez brother eventually confessed to therapist Oziel.
About two months after the murders of José and Kitty on August 20, 1989, Erik left Dr. Oziel a concerning voice message, and the pair had a therapy session on October 31. According to the Los Angeles Times, Oziel testified it was during this meeting that Erik shared that he was having nightmares about his parents and feeling depressed. Eventually, the 18-year-old confessed to the killings. As Biography previously reported, Oziel later got both Erik and Lyle to confess on tape.
At this time, Oziel was having an affair with a woman named Judalon Smyth and told her about the audio recordings. Months later when Oziel called off their relationship, Smyth went to the police about Erik’s confession—ultimately leading to the arrests of the brothers on March 8 and 11, 1990.
During the trial, Dr. Oziel’s testimony became key, but due to the challenges of doctor-patient confidentiality, it took over two years for the evidence to be admissible. It was only when he shared that the brothers had threatened his life that he could share what Erik had told him in court.
During the trial, Erik’s defense attorney, Leslie Abramson, worked to discredit Dr. Oziel by accusing him of having inappropriate relationships with patients—something Smyth echoed, but Dr. Oziel denied.
Where is Dr. Jerome Oziel now?
According to The Los Angeles Times, Oziel was stripped of his license to practice as a psychologist in 1997. In response, his lawyer told the outlet he had moved out of the state and was no longer practicing: “It just made no sense to come back to California and spend many thousands of dollars defending a license he doesn’t use in a state he doesn’t reside in,” attorney Bradlley W. Brunon explained.
Dr. Oziel later clarified that he didn’t give up his license because of the accusations, telling Bustle: “I did not surrender my license due to the accusation, which implies I gave up my practice because I did things alleged in the original accusation. That is flatly and completely false.
“I had phased out my practice because I had a major business offer that was highly lucrative and moved to be the CEO of a large business in another state a year and a half prior to the surrender… No agency ever found I did a thing that was improper or wrong.”
According to Hollywood Life, he’s now living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and working at the Marital Mediation Center, a marriage counseling facility.
Dusty Baxter-Wright is an award-winning journalist and the Entertainment and Lifestyle Director at Cosmopolitan, having previously worked at Sugarscape. She was named one of PPA’s 30 Under 30 for her work covering pop culture, careers, interiors and travel, and oversees the site’s Entertainment and Lifestyle strategy across print, digital and video. As a journalist for the best part of a decade, she has interviewed everyone from Louis Theroux and Channing Tatum to Margot Robbie and Ncuti Gatwa, while she has also spoken on Times Radio and BBC Radio. You can find her on Twitter and Instagram here.
