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“Monster”: Lyle Menendez's wife, what you should know about his two marriages

  • The Menendez brothers are back in the spotlight thanks 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” brings the brothers, who were convicted of first-degree murder in 1996, back into the spotlight.

Both brothers are serving life sentences after admitting to killing their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989. Erik and his extended family have criticized “Monsters,” calling it a “gross, anachronistic, serial episodic nightmare.”

Even though Erik and Lyle were in prison, they got married. Erik married his wife Tammi Menendez in 1999 while he was in prison. Lyle was married twice, in addition to a correspondence-based friendship with a woman named Norma Novelli, who recorded and later sold telephone conversations with him.

Here's what we know about Lyle's two marriages.

Lyle Menendez was initially 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 couple attempted to have a relationship before Judge Nancy Brown married them in her courtroom the day before Lyle and Erik were sentenced. However, court and prison officials prevented the ceremony.

The two married secretly that day via conference call, The New York Times reported. Lyle and Erik, who served as his best man, called the wedding, and defense attorney 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.

However, the California Department of Corrections did not consider the marriage legal, the Los Angeles Times reported in October 1997.

People reported that Eriksson filed for divorce in 2001 after discovering that Lyle had been unfaithful and sending 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 married in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison attended by friends and family, the Los Angeles Times reported. A prison spokesperson told the publication that Lyle and Sneed had known each other for 10 years at the time.

People reported in 2017 that Sneed lived near Mule Creek State Prison and worked as a lawyer. In an interview with the publication this year, Lyle said that he and Sneed tried to talk to each other at least once a day. California state law prohibits conjugal visits for people serving life sentences.

“Our interaction tends to be very distraction-free and we probably have more intimate conversations than most married spouses who are distracted by life's events,” he said.

He told People that he felt guilty about the judgment 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 am deeply grateful that she isn’t.”

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