Dominick Dunne’s Tragedy Looms Large Over Netflix’s Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

This article contains spoilers for Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story through episode 8.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story is technically the second season of a Netflix true crime anthology series that began with 2022’s Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. At first, one might assume that the upgrade from one killer to two is what necessitated the anthology’s title change from “Monster” to “Monsters.” A closer look at The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story reveals that the truth is more complicated.

The Menendez brothers, Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch), are far from the only two “monsters” in this Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan-created season of television. Though the series is focused on the brothers’ 1989 double murder of their parents Jose (Javier Bardem) and Kitty (Chloë Sevigny), the narrative quickly expands to incorporate other monstrous recent events from the U.S.’s lurid true crime history.

One of those events is the tragic murder of actress Dominique Dunne in 1982. Episode 7 “Showtime” follows Dunne’s father, Dominick (Nathan Lane), as he continues to struggle with her death and allows it to tinge his coverage of the Menendez murders for Vanity Fair. But just who was Dominique Dunne, what happened to her, and why does her case loom large in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story? Allow us to explain, with sourcing from People‘s “An American Tragedy That Brought Death to Actress Dominique Dunne Now Brings Outrage to Her Family,” Vanity Fair‘s “A Death in the Family,” and “Justice,” and other periodicals when indicated.

Who Was Dominique Dunne?

Born on November 23, 1959, Dominique Ellen Dunne and was the youngest child of writer, journalist, and producer Dominick Dunne and ranching heiress Ellen Griffin Dunne. As a member of a showbiz family (in addition to her father’s film experience, she had familial connections to luminaries such as Joan Didion and Gary Cooper), Dominique got into acting early on. Her first role was in the 1979 TV movie Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker.

Following a run of work as supporting characters in a succession of popular ’80s TV series, Dunne got her big break by joining the cast of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg’s 1982 horror hit Poltergeist. Dunne played Dana Freeling, the eldest child in a middle-class California family being tormented by vengeful spirits. Poltergeist would prove to be a big success but Dunne died before production began on its first sequel Poltergeist II: The Other Side, a tragedy that would contribute to Poltergeist’s reputation as a “cursed film.”

What Happened to Dominique Dunne and Who Is John Sweeney?

Throughout 1981 and much of 1982, Dominique Dunne was in an abusive relationship with John Thomas Sweeney, a sous chef at a Los Angeles restaurant whom she met at a party. Sweeney was possessive, jealous and eventually became violent with Dunne. On at least two occasions – less than a month apart – Dunne had to flee from Sweeney and stay with her mother. It was the second violent event on September 26, 1982, in which Sweeney choked Dunne, that led to her breaking off the relationship and changing the locks on her home.

On October 30, 1982, Sweeney called Dunne’s home phone and then arrived at her front door 10 minutes later. Dunne agreed to speak to Sweeney on her front porch while her V co-star David Packer, who she was running lines with, remained inside. Packer then heard screams and a thud outside and called the police (who inexplicably told him that Dunne’s house was outside of their jurisdiction). Going outside to investigate, Packer saw Sweeney kneeling over an unconscious Dunne. Upon the police’s eventual arrival, Sweeney told them “I killed my girlfriend, and I tried to kill myself.” We see this chaotic moment play out in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.

Another scene that viewers are subjected to is the heartbreaking medical aftermath of Sweeney’s attack. In the days following the attack, Dominique Dunne never regained consciousness and she was declared brain dead due to oxygen deprivation from Sweeney’s chokehold. Her mother and father had to make the decision to remove her from life support. She died on November 4, just weeks before her 23rd birthday. Sweeney was eventually convicted of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison.

What Does Dominick Dunne Have to Do With the Menendez Brothers?

Outside of flashbacks, neither Dominique Dunne nor anyone else involved with her tragic death plays a major role in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, save for one big exception. Dominique’s father Dominick Dunne is a central figure in the series and the actor who plays him, Nathan Lane, appears fifth-billed in the credits. That’s because the Lyle and Erik Menendez story cannot properly be told without the Dominick Dunne story.

Dominick Dunne, who died in 2009, was a prominent cultural force throughout his life. Initially best known for his work in helping to bring the hallmark gay film The Boys in the Band to life, Dunne would spend the latter part of his career as a crime reporter for Vanity Fair, a job that he began as a direct result of his daughter’s murder.

Following Dominique’s murder and the subsequent frustrating trial of John Thomas Sweeney, Dunne wrote the article “Justice: A Father’s Account of the Trial of his Daughter’s Killer,” which appeared in the March 1984 issue. After that he continued to cover crime for the magazine, helping to continue a grand tradition of literary-quality true crime reporting that Truman Capote pioneered with In Cold Blood.

As Lyle Menendez shrewdly understands in Monsters, the Menendez trial was destined to become an object of entertainment as much as it was an exercise in justice. Once cameras become involved, everyone is a celebrity, particularly in the media saturated environment of Southern California. Dominick Dunne understood that as well as he contributed to it. Dunne’s Vanity Fair articles about the Menendez trial were understandably biased in favor of the prosecution, given his real life experience with defense attorneys. But covering the case in the first place helped establish murder investigations as media events, for better or worse.

Following the Menendez trial, Dunne continued his true crime coverage at Vanity Fair, which culminated in the case that he is perhaps best known for: the O.J. Simpson trial. In fact, Dominick Dunne is a character in Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, played by Robert Morse (Mad Men), making him the de facto Nick Fury of Ryan Murphy true crime dramas.

All nine episodes of Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story are available to stream on Netflix now.