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Real Life 'Killer Siblings' As Creepy As The Twins From Netflix's 'Echoes'
Leni and Gina, the twins in the new series "Echoes" on Netflix, aren't strictly fictional. There are real life siblings who also share deep — and possibly murderous — secrets.
“Echoes,” a new Netflix mystery series about two identical twins, shows that sometimes family is deadly‚ and sometimes siblings are super creepy.
(Warning: Spoiler alerts!)
Twins Leni and Gina share a special and chilling bond: Since they were kids, the girls (both played by Michelle Monaghan) have secretly swapped lives, going back and forth between boyfriends, husbands, homes and even their kids.
But are their secret lives dangerous enough to take the life of a man?
Dylan James, who has been in love with Gina since they were all teenagers, is mysteriously stabbed to death and lit on fire. Leni is charged with his gruesome murder after incriminating evidence is located in her car. Did she do it? Did Gina do it?
Or, was the killer someone else entirely?
The fictional sisters aren’t the only siblings with a creepy and possibly homicidal bond. In fact, many real-life creepy siblings have been featured on the Oxygen series "Killer Siblings."
Here’s a look back at some of the most disturbing killer siblings featured on the series:
1. Lyle and Erik Menendez
Likely the most high-profile killer siblings ever, the Menendez brothers murdered their multimillionaire parents, Kitty and Jose, in 1989. Lyle and Erik Menendez — who were 21 and 18, respectively, at the time — initially claimed they returned to their California mansion to find their parents shot to death. Their father was nearly decapitated by the 12-gauge shotgun used in the attack and their mother was also rendered almost unrecognizable after being shot several times, the Los Angeles Times reported in 1990.
While the brothers have since admitted to killing their parents, they've said they did so in response to years of sexual abuse by their father. During their two trials, which spanned from 1993 to 1996, the brothers testified about the abuse in disturbing detail — but prosecutors claimed they just made it all up, People reported in 2015.
Their self-defense argument didn't work, and they were both sentenced to life in prison in 1996.
2. Matthew and Tyler Williams
White supremacist brothers Matthew Williams, 31, and his brother Tyler, 29, murdered Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder, a gay couple in 1999; the victims were known in their California community for running a farmer’s market.
The siblings targeted the couple after Matthew became obsessed with “purification” through his involvement with a local church, according to Salon. When investigators searched the brothers’ shared home, police uncovered literature from white supremacist group World Church of the Creator.
The murder wasn’t this pair of siblings’ only crime: They also fire bombed three synagogues and an abortion clinic. Tyler was sentenced to 50 years for his role in the crimes. Matthew died by suicide in prison in 2002 while awaiting trial, according to the New York Times.
3. Pete and Pat Bondurant
Twins Pete and Pat Bondurant were known in their small Tennessee town for dealing drugs out of their farmhouse. It was that farmhouse where the homicidal twins murdered three people.
Gwen Duggar was killed after visiting in May 1986. Ronnie Gaines was murdered by Pat later that year, after Pat accused him of stealing his wallet. Then, Pat claimed his alibi for the murders was girlfriend Terry Lynn Clark, who was found dead in November 1986.
Investigators collected evidence to connect the pair to all three killings. Pat is now serving life in prison, while Pete served 25 years and was released from prison in 2016.
4. The Fryer Brothers
Allen Fryer, 29, David Fryer, 24, and James Fryer, 21, randomly executed a group of teenagers in Iowa in 1973.
The teens — Stewart Baade, 18, his brother, Dana, 14, Mike Hadrath, 15, Roger Essem, 17, and Sandra Cheskey, 13 — were from South Dakota, and were ambushed by the brothers as they hung out in Gitchie Manitou State Park. The Fryer brothers were all sentenced to life in prison.
The Gitchie Manitou murders served as inspiration for the plot of a season of "Fargo."
