Erik Menendez’s Wife Tammi Menendez Shares Plea for His Release After Resentencing Decision

Erik Menendez’s wife is hopeful he’ll be home to celebrate his special day.
 
Nearly two weeks after Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón recommended resentencing for Erik and his brother Lyle Menendez—who are serving life sentences without parole as part of their 1996 conviction for the 1989 murders of their parents José Menendez and Mary Louise “Kitty” Menendez, Tammi Menendez shared her timeline for when she hopes he is released from prison. 
 
“Only 22 days until Erik's birthday!” Tammi—who married Erik in a 1999 prison ceremony—wrote in a Nov. 5 post on X, formerly Twitter. “Let’s not allow him to spend another birthday, Thanksgiving, or Christmas behind bars. It's time for someone to step up and do what’s right!”

Tammi’s latest plea for Erik—who will turn 54 on Nov. 27—comes shortly after she expressed disappointment in the L.A. district attorney’s Oct. 24 decision to recommend resentencing, sharing how she’d hoped Erik and Lyle would see an imminent release.

“Yesterday was a difficult and emotional day,” Tammi wrote in an Oct. 25 X post. “I am Grateful to DA Gascon for his courage to seek re-sentencing for Erik. I am naturally disappointed he did not go further and act on his own belief that Erik and Lyle have served enough time in prison.”

In the resentencing decision, Gascon recommended the brothers—who have maintained they were sexually abused by their dad—instead be sentenced to 50 years to life, which would make them immediately eligible for parole as they were under 26 at the time of the murders. (Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 when the 1989 murders occurred). 

However, for the recommendation to go into effect, it has to be signed off by a judge. The Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing will take place on Dec. 11.

And the recommendation comes after their lawyer Mark Geragos presented new evidence for their case earlier this year as part of a habeas petition. 

Among the evidence is a letter Erik wrote to his cousin Andy Cando eight months before José and Kitty’s murders—in which the then 18-year-old detailed his parents’ alleged abuse—as well as a declaration by former Menudo band member Roy Roselló, who alleges he was assaulted by José while the band was working with RCA Records, of which José was COO.

Amid legal proceedings for the brothers’ case, there has also been a newfound public interest following the release of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix series Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Brothers Story in September, as well as a documentary detailing their case which hit the same streamer early last month. 

And while Lyle—who married Rebecca Sneed in 2003—has only communicated to the public through lawyers and the Netflix documentary, Erik spoke out against the Glee creator’s depiction of their story through Tammi. 

“It is with a heavy heart that I say, I believe Ryan Murphy cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent,” Erik wrote in an X post shared by Tammi Sept. 19. “How demoralizing to know that one man with power can undermine decades of progress in shedding light on childhood trauma.”

Ryan, however, stood by the series, saying the publicity has helped their case. 

"The Menendez brothers should be sending me flowers," he told the Hollywood Reporter last month. “They haven't had so much attention in 30 years. And it's gotten the attention of not only this country, but all over the world. There's an outpouring of interest in their lives and the case. I know for a fact that many people have offered to help them because of the interest of my show and what we did.”

More people may be coming to Erik and Lyle’s defense as of late, but their wives have continued to stay by their sides throughout their nearly 35 years in prison. Keep reading to learn more about the Menendez brothers’ relationships. 

Lyle Menendez, then 28, married model and salon receptionist Anna Eriksson on July 2, 1996, the day he and brother Erik Menendez were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 double murder of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez.

Anna started writing to Lyle in 1993 during his first trial, which ended in a mistrial, and then moved to California to be near him the following year. She became a reliable presence at the months-long retrial that began in 1995 and resulted in convictions in March 1996, according to the Los Angeles Times.

They couldn't take their vows in person, however, Lyle instead taking the plunge over speaker phone, the groom in custody and the bride in the office of defense attorney Leslie Abramson.

He seemingly hoped to be able to wed Anna in person, once he knew where he'd end up.

"We do have a marriage proceeding," California Correctional Institution spokesman Lt. Jack Pitko told the LA Times in September 1996 once Lyle and Erik had been ordered to separate prisons. "There's a waiting list...But I don't see why he shouldn't be able to get married if he follows all the rules."

Anna filed for divorce in 2001 after, according to multiple reports from the time, she allegedly found out Lyle was exchanging letters with other women.

Lyle didn't rush into anything when he married journalist Rebecca Sneed, reportedly 33 at the time, in November 2003: He had known her for 10 years, first through letters and eventually from in-person visits, a prison spokesperson told the Associated Press in confirming the nuptials.

The ceremony took place at Mule Creek State Prison near Sacramento, where Lyle resided until he was reunited with Erik in 2018 at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in southern San Diego County.

"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," Lyle told People in 2017. At the time, Rebecca was living in Sacramento and was said to visit weekly.

"We try and talk on the phone every day, sometimes several times a day," Lyle added. "I have a very steady, involved marriage and that helps sustain me and brings a lot of peace and joy. It's a counter to the unpredictable, very stressful environment here."

Rebecca "put up with a lot," he acknowledged. "But she has the courage to deal with the obstacles. It would be easier to leave, but I'm profoundly grateful that she doesn't."

Erik's wife Tammi Menendez, now 62, was married to Chuck Saccoman when she first spied the younger Menendez brother on TV in 1993 and felt a special place in her heart for the 22-year-old murder defendant.

As she later told People, she informed her husband she was going to write to Erik and Chuck gave her his blessing.

"I saw Tammi's letter and I felt something. I received thousands of letters, but I set this one aside. I got a feeling," Erik told the publication. "And I wrote her back. Tammi and I continued to correspond. I enjoyed writing to her. It was a slow friendship. It was special to me because it was not associated with the trial and the media. Tammi was someone not in the craziness."

However, as Tammi detailed in her 2005 book They Said We'd Never Make It: My Life With Erik Menendez, she doubted the brothers' abuse defense at first. (And she told MSNBC that Erik mentioned having a girlfriend of several years early on.)

But in 1996, as Tammi has detailed in her book and interviews, she found out that Chuck had abused her teenage daughter from a previous relationship. (They also shared a then-9-month-old daughter.)

Chuck turned himself into police and died by suicide two days later, according to People.

After Chuck died, "I reached out to Erik," she told the publication in 2005. "He comforted me. Our letters started taking on a more serious tone."

Tammi admitted she was "really nervous" when she finally met Erik in person at Folsom State Prison in August 1997.

"Erik had no idea what I looked like; I'd only sent him a tiny, 1-by-1 picture," she explained. "But when he walked into the room, he was so full of life, he hopped down the stairs. It was like I was meeting an old friend."

They married in 1999, a Twinkie serving as their wedding cake. 

And they've been together ever since, though Tammi has acknowledged that the lack of conjugal visits can be tough.

"A kiss when you come in, a kiss when you leave," she described the routine on MSNBC in December 2005. 'You can hold hands and that part of it is very difficult, and people don't understand."

Erik said he tried not to think about what was then the likelihood that he would never get out of prison.

“Tammi is what gets me through," he told People in 2005. "I can't think about the sentence. When I do, I do it with a great sadness and a primal fear. I break into a cold sweat. It's so frightening I just haven't come to terms with it."

But on a more optimistic note, Tammi had also taught him "how to be a good husband," Erik said. "There is no makeup sex, only a 15-minute phone call, so you really have to try to make things work."