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As covered on Netflix's Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Dominick Dunne was a journalist for Vanity Fair. His coverage of the criminal trials faced by the Menendez brothers played a critical role in turning the murder case into one of the biggest media sensations of the 1990s.
Dominick Dunne was born on October 19, 1925. He originally began his career as a film producer, releasing works such as the pioneering LGBTQ film The Boys in the Band and The Panic in Needle Park.
His daughter, Dominique Dunne, was an actress who was murdered in 1982, following which he shifted his focus to true crime journalism. One of the last major cases he covered was O.J. Simpson's second trial for armed robbery in 2008.
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In September 2008, Dominick was diagnosed with bladder cancer. He ultimately died at his home in Manhattan on August 26, 2009.
Dominick Dunne was featured in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
Dominick Dunne began his career in true crime journalism following the murder of his daughter, Dominique. Dominique was an actress who'd gained some recognition in Hollywood for her role in 1982's Poltergeist. However, she was strangled to death by her ex-boyfriend, John Sweeney, in November 1982.
Dominick attended Sweeney's trial, where he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to six and a half years in prison, only to be released two and a half years into the sentence.
He wrote about his experience in the Vanity Fair piece "Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of his Daughter's Killer" in the March 1984 issue. From then on, he became a regular contributor to the magazine, focusing on true crime.
Dominick was also a novelist, basing many of his works on real-life murders. These included An Inconvenient Woman, which fictionalized the murder of Vicki Morgan, and the murder of William Woodward Jr, which was adapted into The Two Mrs Grenvilles.
He was also the host of the true-crime TV series Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice, which ran on CourtTV (later truTV) from 2002 to 2009.
Dominick would become a prolific true crime journalist, covering nationwide sensational cases such as the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman, the trial of Claus von Bulow for attempted murder, the trial of William Kennedy Smith for r*pe, and the murder of Martha Moxley.
Read more: How old were Lyle and Erik Menendez when they murdered their parents?
Dominick Dunne covered the Menendez trials in the 1990s
Dominick Dunne covered the murder trials shown in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in the 1990s while working for Vanity Fair. The two brothers had been charged with murdering their own parents in August 1989 by shooting them using shotguns.
The double murder shown in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story became a media sensation thanks to the Menendez brothers having a reputation as affluent Ivy-League kids whose family seemed to be the picture-perfect immigrant success story.
As the murders of Jose and Kitty Menendez, along with the brothers' testimony, revealed, there was an incredibly dark underbelly to the seemingly idyllic family.
The brothers accused their parents, especially their father, Jose, of severe physical, emotional, and s*xual abuse growing up. Their legal defense hinged on the argument that they committed the murders to protect themselves from their parents.
Dominick's coverage publicized all these lurid details about the Menendez family, ensuring that this murder case would remain in the public consciousness for decades to come. This would culminate in the release of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story in 2024.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is available on Netflix in all regions. The series has nine episodes.
