Are Lyle and Erik Menéndez married today? Who are their wives?

On the evening of August 20, 1989, José and Kitty Menéndez were brutally murdered. The couple were fatally wounded after being blasted numerous times by two assailants who entered their Beverly Hills mansion with shotguns - they were killed in cold blood their own sons Lyle, 21 and Erik, 18.

Lyle made the 911 call and the two siblings remained at the scene until the police arrived, claiming that they were out socializing and had arrived home to find both parents’ lifeless bodies lying in pools of blood.

However, after several months of investigations, Lyle was arrested on suspicion of murder while Erik handed himself in three days later. The court case attracted a great deal of public interest - not only for morbid fascination but also because it was broadcast live by cable channel Courtroom Television Network, with two juries - one for each brother.

The Menéndez brothers’ high profile court case

The two brothers confessed that they murdered their parents due to sexual and emotional abuse they had suffered at the hands of their father José while the prosecution argued that financial gain was the motive for the killings as the two men had embarked on a lavish spending spree during the months after the crime, spending a combined $700,000 before their arrests.

On July 2, 1996, Lyle and Erik Menendez were sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for killing their parents. Both were sent to maximum security prisons. Lyle was sent to Mule Creek State Prison while Erik entered Pleasant Valley State Prison.

During their time behind bars, both brothers began corresponding with female pen pals, relationships which blossomed into long-distance romance and eventually, marriage. Neither of them are eligible for conjugal visits but are allowed in-person visits. Some Californian states allow marriage by proxy with vows exchanged over the phone - which is how both of the Menéndez brothers wed their partners.

Lyle’s two marriages while in prison

Lyle was the first to get married, tying the knot with Anna Eriksson, who started writing letters to him during the trial, in July 1996. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Nancy Brown performed the ceremony: “Now since you are not here in person in Leslie’s office right now, I’m going to say that at some future date you are going to place the wedding band on Anna’s ring finger, and you, Anna, will place the band on the ring finger of Lyle”.

Hailing from Chicago, Anna had worked as a model during her teenage years. She divorced Lyle in 2001 after discovering that he was having an intimate correspondence with another female pen pal, Rebecca Sneed.

Lyle and Sneed wed in November 2003 and remain married to this day.

Erik and Tammi

Erik’s marriage to Tammi Ruth Saccoman is also still going strong. Tammi was drawn to Erik during the televised trial and began corresponding with him even though she was married to her second husband Chuck Saccoman at the time. They lost touch but reconnected following Chuck’s death by suicide. Lyle and Tammi wed in 1999.

She has opened up on the relationship numerous times and even published an autobiographical account in They Said We’d Never Make It: My Life with Erik Menendez, published by New Galen in 2005. She told NBC about the limitations of their marriage at the time of its release: “A kiss when you come in, a kiss when you leave. You can hold hands and that part of it is very difficult and people don’t understand”.

While still happily married, neither of the brothers have children. “I have a very steady, involved marriage and that helps sustain me and brings a lot of peace and joy,” Lyle says, while admitting that sometimes their situation and being judged by others is hard for his wife: ”It would be easier to leave, but I’m profoundly grateful that she doesn’t”.