too. well, in the first house they took the whole safe. the second house, they got into the safe. lyle and erik had burglarized the homes of their friends wealthy parents. one of the burglaries was in the exclusive community of hidden hills. had you ever heard of such a thing before? no. it was just because we could do it. look what we can do. at the time, jose hired a prominent criminal attorney who arranged for the younger brother, erik, to take the fall. because he was a minor, knowing that erik probably wouldn t get any jail time. and part of the disposition was that he contact a therapist. in comes jerry oziel. dr. jerome oziel, you ll want to remember that name. a beverly hills psychologist who specialized in phobias and sex therapy so, therapy and no jail time for the burglaries. but were they written out of the will? they finally did get hold of it. and discovered jose hadn t disinherited them after all. so now they stood to inherit
reporter: smyth told zoeller that dr. oziel was worried about what might happen at the session. and so he asked her to stay in the waiting room of his office while he met with erik on october 31st, 1989. reporter: she also told zoeller that from the waiting room, she overheard erik tell dr. oziel the very thing investigators had suspected for months, but couldn t prove. erik said that they shot their parents. and dr. oziel immediately says, we need to call your brother and have him come over here right away. reporter: lyle menendez, who had been at the elm drive home, passing out candy to trick-or-treaters, rushed over to dr. oziel s office. and lyle burst into the room. reporter: judalon smyth told zoeller she heard lyle confront his brother. and she heard him say, why did you tell him? we re gonna have to kill him now. seriously? yes. and erik said, i can t kill
anymore. and he burst in tears and left. well, lyle and dr. oziel, more or less, followed him. and lyle got to the elevator. and dr. oziel said, am i in danger? and lyle said, that s all i can tell you is have a good life, dr. oziel. and it freaked him out. reporter: what followed was a strange and nervous dance, oziel told lyle and erik to come back for follow up therapy sessions. the brothers, afraid oziel might go to police, agreed. during one of those sessions, they both confessed to killing their parents. and oziel recorded the conversation. judalon smyth learned about the recording and told detectives, who promptly seized the tape. just one problem, they weren t allowed to listen to it because of doctor/patient privilege.
was there a particular time when you thought, okay, yes, it s them ? well, when we got a call from judalon smyth. reporter: a name he d never heard before. what did she have to tell you? her whole purpose was to talk about this doctor. and how he was her therapist. and he was having an affair with her. reporter: not relevant information to a homicide detective. but this was what was his first name, dr dr. jerry oziel. reporter: doctor oziel, the psychologist erik was sent to after those burglaries. two months after the murders, judalon smyth said she was with dr. oziel when erik menendez called to schedule an emergency session. smyth wouldn t talk to us for this report, but she did back then. and here s what she told us dr. oziel said after getting that call. well all of a sudden he s saying, you know, i hope i m not going to hear what i think i m going to hear.
reporter: lyle and erik had burglarized the homes of their friends wealthy parents. one of the burglaries was in the exclusive community of hidden hills. had you ever heard of such a thing before? no. it was just because we could do it. look what we can do. reporter: at the time, jose hired a prominent criminal attorney who arranged for the younger brother, erik, to take the fall. because he was a minor, knowing that erik probably wouldn t get any jail time. and part of the disposition was that he contact a therapist. in comes jerry oziel. reporter: dr. jerome oziel, you ll want to remember that name. a beverly hills psychologist who specialized in phobias and sex therapy so, therapy and no jail time for the burglaries. but were they written out of the will? they finally did get hold of it. and discovered jose hadn t disinherited them after all. so now they stood to inherit the family s 14 million dollar estate.