Lyle Menendez, who was convicted of killing his parents with his brother in 1989, said his reunion with his brother, Erik, after more than two decades of separation was "a remarkable moment," in an interview with DailyMailTV.
In the interview, a preview of which was shared with ABC’s "Good Morning America," Lyle Menendez described how both brothers said "I love you," and "finally," repeatedly upon meeting in April 4 of this year, when Erik, 47, was moved to the same housing unit as Lyle, 50, in Southern California. They were moved to separate prisons in 1996.
"It's been 22 years. So it was just something I wasn't sure was ever going to happen," he said.
"It was just a remarkable moment for me and my whole family who's had to visit us in separate prisons in two parts of the state.
"I burst into tears. I had to walk a long way to see him...when he got brought over in a van, I was able to see him coming off and meet with him and I wasn't sure how I would react... I just felt a lot of adrenaline and just, I ended up bursting into tears, which is quite an emotional moment... just wonderful as you'd expect. Very emotional for my family... we're happy about it."
Lyle Menendez described their "sudden separation," which happened in the "dead of night," as "hugely traumatizing" for the two of them.
"We just always knew that one of the things we wanted to do was try to be reunited," he said.
"And luckily for us the CDCR (The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) changed their policy related to family members in prison. I don't know that I really ever recovered from that. It's like a healing of a wound to be reunited. It's been 25 years since the trials, I think that's long enough."
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