He certainly talks about regret and remorse and the pain he caused, … It’s not like he hangs up the phone and there’s a whole support system there. He’s in prison. It was extremely difficult to get that interview… [but] he hung in there. That was not an easy ask, given his circumstances and given what we were asking him to relive.

Nancy Saslow

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The national narrative of what people walked away with… was that these were two Beverly Hills rich kids who killed their parents for money, i think Erik wants at least an opportunity to have people take a second look… That is not at all his truth, and he wanted the opportunity to not only explain, but I think really open up the conversation for more understanding of what he says he went through.

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What happened in that moment started when he was six years old, this was a product not necessarily just of years and years of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. This was a crime committed out of fear… When you have been told over and over again that if you tell, you would be killed. I think the message for them is that they didn’t kill their parents for money. They didn’t need money. One of the things their parents never did was deny them money.

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His life is work, he’s had several jobs in prison. He works at construction, he works at a number of other things. He facilitates a men’s group, which is more or less a hospice group… He paints a great deal. His paintings are quite extraordinary, especially for someone who is untrained. However, Saslow made it clear Erik's attempt to move on doesn't eliminate the fact he commited a terrible crime against his own parents. I don’t want to paint him as Saint Erik, but I will tell you, this is someone I have heard the California Department of Corrections [say] they have no problems with [him]… basically a model prisoner, she said. I think he does what he can… to find some sort of peace.

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There are letters that they can send back and forth, i don’t know the frequency or the volume, but I sense it’s been less over the years.

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