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THE Menendez brothers are the subject of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix show Monsters and viewers across the world have been asking about what happened to the siblings after they went to prison.
Spoiled brothers Lyle and Erik slaughtered their parents in a bid to get their hands on their $14million (£10million) inheritance, said the prosecution.
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Lyle soon found love with Anna Erikson, who he met as a pen pal. But who is she?
Who is Lyle Menendez’s ex-wife, Anna Eriksson?
Anna Eriksson is a former model and salon receptionist from Chicago.
Her parents divorced when Eriksson was nine prompting her to move to Colorado with her mother.
She began modeling at 14 after posing for a Lord & Taylor ad and later found work in London, Sweden, and Paris.
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(Her career had landed her gigs all over Europe including London, Sweden, and Paris.)
Eventually, Anna returned back to Colorado in 1987, where she began working as a receptionist for a salon called Shear Productions.
Shear Productions owner, Janet Lombardi, described Eriksson as “an intelligent and energetic young woman, a very compassionate gal” who “never found the right guy. They took advantage of her because she was such a caring girl.”
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How long were Lyle Menendez and Anna Eriksson together?
Eriksson saw Lyle on TV during his first trial where she decided to write him a letter after noticing the lack of attention Lyle was getting as opposed to his brother, Erik.
She recalled her decision to reach out to Lyle saying: “I was watching the lawyers thanking people for all these letters of support Erik got. I thought to myself, ‘What about Lyle?'”
Anna went on to write the Menendez brother a letter encouraging him to “hang tough.”
Lyle wrote back and their exchange eventually blossomed into a relationship.
To be closer to Lyle, Eriksson moved to Los Angeles in 1994 taking on a job as a contract administrator for a record company.
After meeting in person, the pair fell in love and decided to tie the knot, in 1996, on the day of Lyle’s sentencing.
They continued to grow in their marriage until 2001 when Eriksson found out Lyle was cheating on her with another pen pal.
Eriksson decided to divorce Lyle shortly after discovering Lyle’s secret lover.
Since their divorce, there have been no reports on Eriksson’s current whereabouts.
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Where are the Eriksson brothers now?
Erik and Lyle are (currently) still serving life in prison.
For years, the two were separated but eventually, the Menendez brothers were reunited in April 2018 after being moved to the same facility.
Since Lyle’s divorce from Anna, he remarried yet another pen pal, Rebecca Sneed in 2003.
The two continue to be married as of September 2024 (May 2023).
Erik, too, found love from a pen pal named Tammi Saccoman. Tammi wrote Erik a letter in 1993, but they didn’t meet until 1997.
In 1999, the pair got married and Tammi wrote all about their relationship in a book called They Said We’d Never Make It: My Life With Erik Menendez.
The book was released on October 17, 2005. Tammi and Erik, too, remain married to this day.
Netflix’s anthology series Monsters details the story of the Menendez brothers and the crime they committed in its second series.
The series, which was released on September 19, 2024, references Anna Eriksson but does not depict her on screen.
Timeline of the Menendez Brothers murder case
20th August 1989 – Erik and Lyle Menendez claim they returned home from the movies to find their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez shot to death in their Beverly Hills mansion.
8th March 1990 – Lyle is arrested on suspicion of killing his parents, having confessed to his therapist; authorities wait for Erik to return from a tennis tournament in Israel.
11th March 1990 – Erik returns from Israel and surrenders at Los Angeles International Airport.
12th March 1990 – Murder charges are filed against Menendez brothers. District Attorney Ira Reiner says the two killed their parents in hopes of inheriting their multi-million pound fortune.
26th March 1990 – The brothers plead not guilty to murder.
8th December 1992 – The brothers are indicted for murder.
20th July 1993 – Opening statements begin in the trial. The brothers are accused of premeditated murder, while they argue it was self-defence, claiming they were sexually abused by their father.
10th August 1993 – Psychologist Dr. L. Jerome Oziel says the brothers confessed to killing their parents in therapy with him in 1989.
3rd December 1993 – Testimony in the brothers’ trial ends after 101 witnesses across five months.
28th January 1994 – After a record 25 days of deliberations, the jury remained deadlocked over whether it was murder or manslaughter, and Superior Court Judge Stanley declared a mistrial.
11th October 1995 – The brothers are tried in front of a new jury. Erik’s lawyer says the brothers killed in self-defence after years of horrific abuse from their father.
16th February 1996 – Judge Weisberg effectively bars the jury from returning manslaughter verdicts for the slaying of Kitty, but allows the jury to return a manslaughter verdict for Jose’s death. He also rules that jurors won’t be able to consider the brothers’ claim that they killed because they believed their parents were about to kill them.
20th March 1996 – The jury convicts both brothers of first degree murder with special circumstances.
17th April 1996 – Brothers sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
