Lyle Menendez was married twice in prison. Here’s what you need to know about his wife and ex-wife.

• 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.

“Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menendez” put the brothers, convicted of first-degree murder in 1996, back in the spotlight.

Both brothers are serving life sentences after admitting to killing their parents, José and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. During their trial, they claimed a history of abuse at the hands of their parents led them to murder. Erik and his extended family criticized “Monsters”, calling it a “crass, anachronistic serial episodic nightmare.”

Although they were in prison, Erik and Lyle got married. Erik married his wife Tammi Menendez in 1999 while he was in prison. Lyle, in addition to a friendship based on correspondence with a woman called Norma Novelli, who later recorded and sold telephone conversations with him, was 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 through 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 Judge Nancy Brown marry them in her courtroom a day before Lyle and Erik were sentenced. However, court and prison officials prevented the ceremony.

The two secretly married via conference call that day, The New York Times reported. Lyle and Erik, who served as his witnesses, 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.

The California Department of Corrections, however, 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 Lyle had been unfaithful and sent letters to other women.

Lyle Menendez later 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, 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 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 he and Sneed tried to talk at least once a day. California state law prohibits conjugal visits for people serving life sentences.

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

He told People he felt guilty about the judgment Sneed faced as a wife.

“But she has the courage to face obstacles,” he said. “It would be easier to leave, but I am deeply grateful that she doesn’t.”