Erik Menendez, Tammi Wife Tammi Relationship Timeline: Correlable Visits, More

Erik MenéndezPrison life sentence did not stop her from finding love with his wife Tamm.

Erik and his brother, Lyle Menéndez. were arrested in 1990 on two accounts From a first degree murder after their parents-josé and Kitty-allowed were shot to death at their home in August 1989. Two trials led to Erik and Lyle’s sentencing to life without parole. Both have claimed that their mother and father are physically, emotionally and sexually aggressive.

After the case, Erik’s Sexual Orientation became a subject of conversation.

“No (I’m not gay). The prosecutor arose because I was sexually molested and felt in his own mind, if I had sodomolized by my dad, I must have enjoyed it and so I have to be gay,” Erik said in telling everyone Barbara Walters From 1996. “And sexually molested to people who are gay out there or they wouldn’t. He was upset to hear, but I am not gay. But many gay people write and feel they are associated with me.”

Tammi reached out to Erik by first post in 1993, When he was in prison but not yet sentencing. At the time she was still married to Chuck Saccoman. She took her connection with Erik after the death of Saccoman in 1996 which led to the year’s 1999 marriage ceremony in prison. Tammi was later asked whether she was “troubled” to initially by Erik responsible for the death of his parents.

“I know his soul, and I know what happened that night,” he told NBC News In 2005. “And I understand. I think you, you know, will be able to kill someone in some circumstances. I mean, I think Erik is a very good person.”

The same year, Tammi explained why she was not worried by lack of interrelated visits. (Prisons in California allow interrelated visits, but prisoners who serve lifetime without parole are banned from such privileges. The law has been changed in 2016 but since Erik and Lyle committed a violent crime against a family member, they still not eligible for the family visits.)

“Not having sex in my life is difficult, but it’s not a problem for me. I have to be physically separate, and I’m emotionally attached to Erik,” he explained People In 2005 while Erik added in a separate interview with the outlet, “not the sex you seek, but the emotional connection. There is no cosmetics, just a 15 -minute phone call, so you have to try to make things really work.”

Erik’s brother Lyle found the one in imprisonment. After he was arrested, Lyle met Anna Eriksson Through postal correspondence and exchanged resolutions in 1996 at a marriage attended by his attorney Leslie Abramson and his aunt Marta Menéndez. Lyle and Anna called him quit in 2001 and has been married to Rebecca Sneed Since 2003.

Both brothers or sister menéndez had a chance reunited with their wives after the The Los Angeles District Attorney in October 2024 recommended that a judge second -niben Erik and Lyle to 50 years. Parole was refused to Erik, however, in his August 2025 hearing.

Keep scrolling to re -live Erik and Tammi’s relationship:

1993

Before Erik was sentenced in his high profile murder case, he contacted Tammi when he wrote a letter to him in prison. Tammi was still married to Chuck at the time and was living with him and her teenage daughter from a previous relationship when he began to follow Menéndez’s trial.

“I told (Chuck) I was going to write to Erik,” Tammi remembered People In 2005. “He said to get on. I didn’t really know if Erik would write back.”

With regard to Erik, he told that outlet Fate for him to open a Tammi letterAdding, “I saw Tammi’s letter and felt something. I received thousands of letters, but I put this one aside. I had a feeling. And I wrote it back. Tammi and I continued to match. I enjoyed writing to her. It was a slow friendship. It was special to me because it was not related to the trial and the media.” He was not powerful.

1996

Three years into their correspondence with Erik, Tammi Found that Chuck is allegedly She started raping her teenage daughter when she was 15. Chuck, who then shared the daughter of Talia’s 9-month-old with Tammi, turned himself in the police and died by suicide two days later.

“I reached out to Erik. It comforted me,” said Tammi People. “Our letters began to take a more serious mood.”

1997

Erik and Tammi met in person after he was convicted of a first degree murder. Tammi remembered Be “very nervous” to visit Erik in prison.

“I had only sent a small, 1-by-1 (inch) picture,” he remembered People. “But when he walked into the room, he was so full of life, he hopped downstairs. It was like I met an old friend.”

Erik called his first meeting Tammi’s “most beautiful experience” of his life.

1999

Tammi’s original plan was to move to Georgia, but after contacting Erik he found a home much closer to his prison, in Sacramento. He visited him four times a week and in 1998 Erik offered Tammi When she was 27 and she was 36. Subsequently, the couple received a prison wedding with a twinkie who served as their wedding cake.

Erik’s prison transfer from folsom prison to Pleasant Valley Tammi and Talia prison prison Having to drive 150 miles every week to visit.

“Every time a parent would tell me, ‘No, my daughter can’t stay over in your house,’ I would wonder if Erik was the fundamental reason,” Tammi admitted to people when referring to her youngest child who is considering her father’s Erik. “There is always that question in my mind.”

2005

During an interview with MsnbcTammi opened about how her relationship with Erik evolved, saying, “We went very close through letters and then you know that the relationship had moved on when I met him.

He continued. “And then after I met him things went more and more intense, so you know through letters and your restriction on writing letters.”

Erik also reflected on his bond with his wife in spite of the unconventional barriers between them.

“Tammi is what gets me through. I can’t think of the sentence. When I do it, I do it with great sadness and primitive fear. I break into a cold sweat. It’s so scary that I haven’t come to terms with it,” he said People In 2005. “Tammi’s love was a big step in my life choice. Having someone who loves you unconditionally, you can be completely open with, is good for anyone – to know that this person loves me as I am.”

2024

Over the years, tammi offer updates to those who supported Erik and Lyle for their appeal process. Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón It is recommended in October 2024 that Erik and Lyle sentences be reduced to 50 years, which could allow them to be released on parole if approved by a judge.

“Yesterday was a difficult and emotional day. I am grateful to Da Gascon for his bravery to try to reschedule for Erik,” wrote Tammi through X. “I naturally disappointed that he went further and acted on his own belief that Erik and Lyle had spent plenty of time in prison.”

2025

“When I first came to prison, I was only sentenced to prison. I was sentenced to prison to never see my brother again, to never have hope for freedom,” Erik on an episode of “2 angry” podcast in February 2025. “It was difficult for me.

Despite the challenges he faced, Erik was grateful for the presence of Tammi in his life. “I started experiencing paternity and growth and began to improve much of the self-hatred and self-hatred that I dealt with all my life,” he continued. “When I came to prison, I didn’t come to prison recovered. I came to prison dealing with the traumatic wounds of my past and the tragic crime that led. I had to face all those truths and travel through that dark place in prison.”

He added: “Much of my freedom came to understand that I could actually be loved and I deserve love. I strive to be a good person. I strive to be a better person every day and I want to be a person that my family can be proud of for sure. I want my daughter to be proud of me and my wife to be proud of my extended family.

2025

After Erik was hospitalized for kidney stones, Tammi made a rare statement about his health, writing through X, “Today Erik had a surgery. This surgery was successful.