Throughout history, familicide is a crime considered most heinous in any society and it draws media fascination almost to the scale that a serial killer trial does. Many cannot decide which is worst – a stranger killing innocent strangers, or a parent killing their child, or children killing their parents. During the last quarter of 2024, the case of the Menéndez brothers, Lyle and Erik, has once again hit the headlines. To recap; in July 1996, after a botched first murder mistrial, Lyle and Erik were convicted during a highly publicized second trial for the shotgun killings of their parents, Kitty and Jose in 1989. All evidence pertaining to their alleged sexual abuse by their father was prohibited during the second trial, which focussed more on their spending spree after the murders. After spending almost 35 years in custody, currently, 24 family members support the immediate release of the brothers, but one uncle opposes it, and the judge has deferred the hearing regarding the brothers’ resentencing recommendation to the end of this month, January 2025.
The first reference to familicide was the fratricide committed by Cain who killed his brother Abel, as told in the Bible. Yet, the very first documented murder trial is not about Cain and Abel, but it does relate to familicide. It was an interesting trial, for the defendant was on trial for killing his mother, and his defence was that she had killed his father, and he was honour bound to avenge his father’s death.
In Athens, at the Areopagus, in the shadow of the Acropolis, there is still a grotto which used to house a temple for the Furies (not to be confused with the three Fates) and this was where the Athenians would put murderers on trial. According to Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, a trilogy of Greek tragedies written in the 5th century BC, covering the murder of King Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra; the murder of Clytemnestra by her son Orestes and the role of the Furies in Orestes’ trial, Athena, goddess of wisdom, orchestrated the first murder trial here at the Areopagus temple.
The blood-feud was running thick and furious in Orestes’ bloodline. His ancestor Tantalus committed filicide by serving his son’s flesh to the gods at Zeus’ dinner table; Tantalus’ son, the restored Pelops, committed regicide by killing his father-in-law and his partner in crime cursed his descendants. Pelops’ twin sons, Atreus and Thyestes committed fratricide by killing their half-brother, and Atreus committed nepoticide by killing his nephews, Thyestes’ sons and serving them to their father. Atreus’ son Agamemnon, who led the Greeks against Troy, committed filicide by sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia. His wife Clytemnestra swore revenge and with the help of her lover, Aegisthus who was Agamemnon’s cousin, committed regicide by killing her husband Agamemnon upon his triumphant return from Troy. Orestes, their son, faced a serious moral dilemma and consulted the oracle of Apollo: ‘It was a son’s duty to kill his father’s murderers, a duty that came before all others. But a son who killed his mother was abhorrent to gods and to men.’ Eventually, spurred on by his older sister Electra, and advised by the god Apollo, Orestes killed both his mother Clytemnestra (matricide)and his uncle Aegisthus (avunculicide) to avenge his father’s murder.
He was persecuted by the Furies, born from the blood of the primordial sky god Uranus, who was castrated by his son Chronus. The Furies acted as avenging agents for murder and were exceptionally harsh on those who committed familicide, tormenting them with guilt feelings to the point of madness.
In ancient Athens, there were no public prosecutors. The family of the murdered victim could accuse a person, who was put on trial. Orestes, Clytemnestra’s eldest son, was not going to accuse or avenge himself of her murder. So in this very first murder case, the ghost of Clytemnestra herself appealed to the Furies, who then transitioned from persecutors to ‘prosecutors’. Orestes was defended by the god Apollo, no less, who was also the one who advised him to kill his mother! Twelve Athenian male citizens were appointed as the jury. The trial in The Oresteia illuminates the first change from emotional retaliation to civilized decisions regarding alleged crimes. Orestes acknowledged he killed his mother, but claimed he was acting on the orders of Apollo and he killed his mother to avenge his father’s murder. Would the jury find mitigating circumstances? He was wracked with guilt and remorse.
The jury was split and instead of declaring a mistrial, Athena herself stepped in, acknowledged Orestes’ remorse and showed mercy by acquitting him. He was spared the fate of descending to the Underworld, never to be rid of the terrible Furies.
One would think that Orestes had learnt his lesson, but he proceeded to kill his half-brother Alete, to retake his father’s throne. Despite Athena exonerating him, Orestes could not rid himself of his guilt and he ended his days in the sanctuary of goddess Maniae (madness).
Orestes became the prototype for all persons whose crimes are mitigated by extenuating circumstances. Orestes was wracked by guilt feelings, much like Macbeth, but in contrast to Lady Macbeth, Clytemnestra was not overcome by guilt and felt justified in her revenge. She killed her husband, who had sacrificed their daughter Iphigenia. Guilt, remorse, forgiveness, mercy and madness feature in the mythology of Orestes, and often make an appearance and take a bow in modern trials.
Some serial and spree killers also killed their mothers. In 1960, Henry Lee Lucas killed his mother by stabbing her in the neck. In 1961 Charles Whitman killed his mother and wife before going on his killing spree at the University of Texas at Austin where he killed 14 people. In 1973, Edmund Kemper, who had killed six women, beat his mother and one of her friends to death before turning himself in to the police. In 1986, spree killer Campo Elías Delgado killed his mother and 28 others.
Unlike Orestes, serial killers are not wracked by remorse, nor are they persecuted by the Furies. There are no mitigating circumstances for their deeds and unlike Orestes, they should never be granted a second chance, for like Orestes they are set up to kill again.
Lyle and Erik Menendez are not serial killers. They have atoned and made restitution towards society and have apparently lived exemplary lives in prison. The chances of them committing murder again are slim. Let the judge decide, not Athena.
Top image: Orestes Pursued by the Furies by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, (1862)(Public Domain)