Kriti Mehrotra
As a true-crime drama living up to its title in every way conceivable, Netflix’s Ryan Murphy as well as Ian Brennan-created ‘Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story’ is simply gripping. That’s because it incorporates not just how these brothers brutally killed their parents in their own home in August 1989 but also every aspect of their alleged imperfect self-defense rationale. However, with the way their past personal experiences come to the forefront at every step of this ordeal/original production, there’s now a lot of intrigue around their recent private affairs too.
Despite Being Married, Neither Lyle Nor Erik Have Any Biological Children
It was in 1994 when Lyle first came across Anna Eriksson through a supportive letter she had penned during the brothers’ first trial for double murder, sparking a correspondence between them. Not only had this Chicago-born former model told him to “hang tough,” but she soon also relocated to Los Angeles and became closer to him, ultimately resulting in them falling deep in love. Therefore, shortly following his conviction and on the day of his sentencing, on July 2, 1996, the couple tied the knot in a cozy ceremony that was officiated over the phone by Judge Nancy Brown.
Little did Lyle and Anna know they would end up divorcing on April 1, 2001, over his alleged infidelity in the form of intimate letters with Rebecca Sneed, just for them to tie the knot in November 2003. This couple actually remains married to this day, yet they have no kids of their own owing to the simple fact they have never actually been physical since neither brother is allowed conjugal visits. Coming to Erik, even he met the love of his life, Tammi Ruth Saccoman, via prison letters, and they happily tied the knot in the waiting room of the high-security Folsom State Prison on June 12, 1999.
According to reports, Tammi initially didn’t believe the Menendez brothers’ claims of abuse at the hands of their parents, yet everything changed in 1996 as her second husband was found to have been sexually abusing her 15-year-old daughter from her previous relationship. Her husband did turn himself in before dying by suicide two days later, leaving her to care for their shared 9/10-month-old daughter alone, and that’s when her intimate relationship with Erik began. However, even though this younger brother now has two step-daughters, “Lisa” as well as “Talia,” only the younger one has a relationship with him — in fact, they are so close she calls him dad.
Erik and Talia Share an Unbreakable Bond
While Tammi once told MSNBC that her younger daughter “loves Erik. She loves to go visit him. She… wants to see him every weekend. And he’s very good to her and very kind, and is very sweet to her,” Talia (not her real name) herself has since iterated the same too. She has never given any formal interview or revealed her face and identity to the world, but she did create an Instagram page in September 2020 to give people an insight into the man she knows. Furthermore, this now 29-year-old’s motive with the page is to garner more support for her dad in the hopes that it would one day help him to attain freedom for good — she wants him to know he is not alone.
Through this page, Talia has revealed she first met Erik when she was merely two years old, so she didn’t really understand or question the fact that he was in prison and the reason behind it. Tammi not hiding the truth from her as she grew older also helped her a lot, especially since it allowed her to mesh that her dad lived “in a big gray concrete mansion filled with bodyguards and his other friends” because “he had done something bad that kept him from coming home with us.” Nevertheless, per her posts, her favorite childhood memories all involve her visiting her dad alongside her mother as they were able to be a happy, united family.
Erik helping her with her homework, them playing board games, and them having fun with a soccer ball outside with some of the other inmates, as well as their families, are the memories Talia treasures most. We should also mention that she does not hesitate to answer any questions and often even shares some particular experiences she had with her dad during visitations via her Instagram Stories. That’s how we know her favorite thing about him is how funny he is and that if she had to describe him in 5 words, she would use compassionate, gentle, outgoing, hilarious, and charismatic.
Read More: Les Zoeller: What Happened to the Detective in Menéndez Brothers Case?
