- The Menendez brothers are back in the spotlight due to “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.”
- Lyle and Erik Menendez received consecutive life sentences in 1996 after killing their parents.
- Lyle Menendez was first married to Anna Eriksson, and is now married to Rebecca Sneed.
“Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” has thrust the brothers, who were found guilty of first-degree murder in 1996, back into the spotlight.
Both brothers are serving life sentences after admitting that they killed their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. During their trial, they alleged a history of abuse by their parents led them to murder. Erik and their extended family has criticized “Monsters,” calling it a “gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare.”
Despite being in prison, both Erik and Lyle have gotten married. Erik married his wife Tammi Menendez in 1999 while he was in prison. Lyle, in addition to a correspondence-based friendship with a woman called Norma Novelli, who recorded and later sold phone conversations with him, has been married twice.
Here’s what we know about Lyle’s two marriages.
Lyle Menendez was first married to Anna Eriksson
The Los Angeles Times reported that Lyle and Eriksson, a former model, met by mail after Lyle and Erik’s arrest in 1990. Lyle declared his love for Eriksson in a “20/20” interview with Barbara Walters, and the pair attempted to have a Judge Nancy Brown marry them in her courtroom a day before Lyle and Erik’s sentencing. However, court and jail officials prevented the ceremony.
The two were secretly married via telephone conference call that day, The New York Times reported. Lyle and Erik, who served as his best man, phoned into the wedding, and defense lawyer Leslie Abramson placed the ring on Eriksson’s finger for Lyle. Eriksson was present the next day when the brothers were sentenced to consecutive life sentences, the Times reported.
The California Department of Corrections, however, did not consider the marriage to be legal, The Los Angeles Times reported in October 1997.
People reported that Eriksson filed for divorce in 2001 after she discovered that Lyle had been unfaithful and sent letters to other women.
Lyle Menendez then married Rebecca Sneed
Lyle married Rebecca Sneed two years later, in 2003, when he was 35 and she was 33. They were married in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison, witnessed by friends and family, The Los Angeles Times reported. A spokesperson for the prison told the publication that Lyle and Sneed had known each other for ten years at the time.
People reported in 2017 that Sneed lived near Mule Creek State Prison and worked as an attorney. In an interview with the publication that year, Lyle said that he and Sneed attempted to speak with each other at least once a day. California state law prohibits conjugal visits for those serving life sentences.
“Our interaction tends to be very free of distractions and we probably have more intimate conversations than most married spouses do, who are distracted by life’s events,” he said.
He told People that he felt guilt for the judgment that Sneed faced as his wife.
“But she has the courage to deal with the obstacles,” he said. “It would be easier to leave, but I’m profoundly grateful that she doesn’t.”
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