Erik and Tammi Getty Photographs/Mega
Erik Menéndez‘s jail life sentence didn’t cease him from discovering love with spouse Tammi Menéndez.
Erik and his brother, Lyle Menéndez, have been arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree homicide after their mother and father — José and Kitty — have been discovered shot to loss of life of their dwelling in August 1989. Two trials resulted in Erik and Lyle being sentenced to life with out parole. Each have maintained that their mom and father have been bodily, emotionally and sexually abusive.
After the trial, Erik’s sexual orientation turned a subject of dialog.
“No [I am not gay]. The prosecutor introduced that up as a result of I used to be sexually molested and he felt in his personal pondering that if I used to be sodomized by my father that I will need to have loved it and due to this fact I should be homosexual,” Erik stated in a tell-all with Barbara Walters from 1996. “And folks which can be homosexual on the market should be sexually molested or they wouldn’t be. It was upsetting to listen to, however I’m not homosexual. However numerous homosexual folks write and really feel related to me.”
Ted Soqui/Sygma by way of Getty Photographs Erik Menéndez and Lyle Menéndez each discovered companions whereas serving out their particular person life sentences following a high-profile homicide case. The Menéndez brothers have been arrested in 1990 on two counts of first-degree homicide after their mother and father — José and Kitty — have been discovered shot to loss of life of their dwelling. Two […]
Tammi first reached out to Erik by way of mail in 1993, when he was in jail however not but sentenced. On the time, she was nonetheless married to Chuck Saccoman. Her reference to Erik took a flip after Saccoman’s loss of life in 1996 which led to a 12 months 1999 marriage ceremony ceremony in jail. Tammi was later requested whether or not she was initially “troubled” by Erik being accountable for his mother and father’ loss of life.
“I do know his soul, and I do know what occurred that evening,” she advised NBC Information in 2005. “And I do perceive. I consider that inside all people put in sure circumstances, you’ll, you recognize, be capable to kill any person. I imply, I do consider that Erik is an excellent particular person.”
That very same 12 months, Tammi defined why she wasn’t bothered by the shortage of conjugal visits. (Prisons in California allow conjugal visits, however prisoners serving life sentences with out parole are banned from such privileges. The legislation was modified in 2016 however since Erik and Lyle dedicated a violent offense in opposition to a member of the family, they nonetheless aren’t eligible for the household visits.)
“Not having intercourse in my life is tough, however it’s not an issue for me. I’ve to be bodily indifferent, and I’m emotionally hooked up to Erik,” she defined to Individuals in 2005 whereas Erik added in a separate interview with the outlet, “It’s not the intercourse you search, however the emotional connection. There isn’t any make-up intercourse, solely a 15-minute telephone name, so you actually need to attempt to make issues work.”
Erik’s brother, Lyle, additionally discovered The One whereas incarcerated. After his arrest, Lyle met Anna Eriksson by way of mail correspondence and so they exchanged vows in 1996 in a marriage attended by his lawyer Leslie Abramson and his aunt Marta Menéndez. Lyle and Anna known as it quits in 2001 and he has been married to Rebecca Sneed since 2003.
Each Menéndez siblings now have an opportunity to reunite with their wives after the Los Angeles District Legal professional advisable in October 2024 {that a} decide resentence Erik and Lyle to 50 years.
Preserve scrolling to relive Erik and Tammi’s relationship:
1993
Earlier than Erik was sentenced in his high-profile homicide case, he related with Tammi when she wrote him a letter in jail. Tammi was nonetheless married to Chuck on the time and was dwelling with him and her teenage daughter from a previous relationship when she began to comply with the Menéndez trial.
“I advised [Chuck] that I used to be going to write down to Erik,” Tammi recalled to Individuals in 2005. “He stated to go forward. I actually didn’t know if Erik would write again.”
As for Erik, he advised the outlet that destiny made him open Tammi’s letter, including, “I noticed Tammi’s letter and I felt one thing. I acquired 1000’s of letters, however I set this one apart. I received a sense. And I wrote her again. Tammi and I continued to correspond. I loved writing to her. It was a sluggish friendship. It was particular to me as a result of it was not related to the trial and the media. Tammi was somebody not within the craziness.”
1996
Three years into her correspondence with Erik, Tammi came upon that Chuck allegedly began to rape her teenage daughter when she was 15 years outdated. Chuck, who shared a then-9-month-old daughter Talia with Tammi, turned himself into the police and died by suicide two days later.
“I reached out to Erik. He comforted me,” Tammi advised Individuals. “Our letters began taking over a extra critical tone.”
1997
Erik and Tammi met in-person after he was convicted of first-degree homicide. Tammi recalled being “actually nervous” to go to Erik in jail.
“I’d solely despatched him a tiny, 1-by-1 [inch] image,” she recalled to Individuals. “However when he walked into the room, he was so vigorous, he hopped down the steps. It was like I used to be assembly an outdated good friend.”
Erik known as his first assembly Tammi the “most stunning expertise” of his life.
1999
Tammi’s unique plan was to maneuver to Georgia, however after connecting with Erik she discovered a house a lot nearer to his jail, in Sacramento. She visited him 4 instances per week and in 1998 Erik proposed to Tammi when he was 27 and she or he was 36. The pair subsequently had a jail marriage ceremony with a Twinkie that served as their marriage ceremony cake.
Erik’s jail switch from Folsom Jail to Nice Valley State Jail made Tammi and Talia need to drive 150 miles each week to go to him.
“Each single time a guardian would say to me, ‘No, my daughter can’t keep over at your home,’ I’d marvel if the underlying cause was Erik,” Tammi admitted to Individuals whereas referring to her youngest baby who considers Erik her father. “There’s all the time that query in my thoughts.”
Lyle and Erik Menéndez are sharing their facet of the story — concerning the crime, the aftermath and their present lives in jail — greater than three a long time after their high-profile homicide case resulted in a life sentence. The Menéndez Brothers, which began streaming Monday, October 7, on Netflix, options audio from interviews Lyle, 56, […]
2005
Throughout an interview with MSNBC, Tammi opened up about how her relationship with Erik developed, saying, “We did get very shut by way of letters after which you recognize the connection moved ahead once I did meet him. But it surely was the correspondence that he turned a extremely good good friend of mine and understood what I used to be going by way of and I understood what he was going by way of.”
She continued. “After which after I met him issues received increasingly more intense, so it’s you recognize by way of letters and your constraint to letter writing.”
Erik additionally mirrored on his bond together with his spouse regardless of the unconventional boundaries between them.
“Tammi is what will get me by way of. I can’t take into consideration the sentence. Once I do, I do it with nice unhappiness and a primal worry. I break into a chilly sweat. It’s so horrifying I simply haven’t come to phrases with it,” he advised Individuals in 2005. “Tammi’s love was a serious step in my selecting life. Having somebody who loves you unconditionally, who you might be utterly open with, is nice for anyone — to know that this particular person loves me as I’m.”
2024
Through the years, Tammi provided updates to those that supported Erik and Lyle about their enchantment course of. Los Angeles District Legal professional George Gascón advisable in October 2024 that Erik and Lyle’s sentences be decreased to 50 years, which might enable them to be launched on parole if accredited by a decide.
“Yesterday was a tough and emotional day. I’m Grateful to DA Gascon for his braveness to hunt resentencing for Erik,” Tammi wrote by way of X. “I’m naturally disillusioned he didn’t go additional and act on his personal perception that Erik and Lyle have served sufficient time in jail.”
Tammi Menéndez and Erik Menéndez. Courtesy of Tammi Menendez/Instagram
2025
“Once I first got here to jail, I wasn’t simply sentenced to jail. I used to be sentenced to jail to by no means see my brother once more, to by no means have a hope for freedom,” Erik on an episode of the “2 Indignant Males” podcast in February 2025. “It was onerous for me. I confronted numerous bullying and trauma. It was a harmful surroundings. Happily, I had the love of a lady that got here into my life and introduced a bit of valuable daughter.”
Regardless of the challenges he confronted, Erik was grateful for Tammi’s presence in his life. “I started to expertise fatherhood and progress and I started to heal numerous the self-hate and self-loathing that I handled all of my life,” he continued. “Once I got here to jail, I didn’t come to jail healed. I got here to jail coping with the traumatic wounds of my previous and the tragic crime that resulted. I needed to face all of these truths and journey by way of that darkish place of jail.”
He added: “Lots of my freedom got here from understanding that I’m truly somebody that’s able to being liked and that I deserve love. I’m striving to be particular person. I’m striving to be a greater particular person day-after-day and I need to be an individual that my household might be pleased with for sure. I would like my daughter to be pleased with me and my spouse to be pleased with me and my prolonged household to be pleased with me and my brother to be pleased with me.”