Erik Menendez's Wife Explains Why She Doesn't Post About Her Brother

Lyle Menendezthen aged 28, married model and salon receptionist Anna Eriksson July 2, 1996, the day he and his brother Eric Mendez were sentenced to life in prison without parole for the double murder of their parents in 1989, Jose And Kitty Menendez.

Anna began 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 during the months-long retrial that began in 1995 and resulted in convictions in March 1996, according to the Los Angeles Times.

However, they couldn't say their vows in person, so Lyle took the plunge via speakerphone instead, with the groom in police custody and the bride at the defense attorney's office. Leslie Abramson.

He apparently hoped he could marry Anna in person, once he knew where he would end up.

“We have a marriage process,” said California Correctional Institution spokesman Lt. Jack Pitko said the LA Times in September 1996, after Lyle and Erik were ordered to separate the prisons. “There's a waiting list… But I don't see why he couldn't get married if he follows all the rules.”

Anna filed for divorce in 2001 after, according to several reports at the time, discovering that Lyle was exchanging letters with other women.