On the night of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty were sitting on the living room couch watching TV when two people approached from behind and fired sixteen shots from two 12-gauge Mossberg shotguns into their bodies. According to the autopsy report, 45-year-old José suffered an “explosive decapitation during which the brain was removed.” Kitty, 47, was hit in the head, chest, hand, arm and leg. Both died on the couch.
Late that night, Lyle, 21, called 911 and told the dispatcher, “Someone killed my parents!” Police found him and Erik, 18, crying in the front yard. The brothers said they had been watching all night Batman in a theater and then to a food festival. Due to the brutality of the crime, police initially theorized that the murders were mafia hits.