Anna Eriksson Married A Menendez Brother

Although Lyle and Erik Menendez' crimes have condemned them both to a life behind bars, their social lives are not quite as diminished as one might expect. Their youth, money, and alleged good looks, combined with the violent crime they committed, resulted in a media firestorm that kept them at the forefront of the news cycle for years. Their first trial was also televised, which added to the huge amount of public interest in the case and earned the brothers more than a few fans who were moved by their suffering. Women began to send letters of support to the brothers, including one woman named Anna Eriksson. But who is Anna Eriksson?

She is not the Finnish pop sensation who comes up when you Google her name; that is just an odd coincidence. Anna Eriksson was a former model and salon receptionist who caught the trial on television and became interested in Lyle Menendez particularly, because he appeared to get less attention than his brother. Eriksson decided to send him a note telling him to "hang tough" and that blossomed into a regular correspondence. Once they met, it was clear they had a connection. Eriksson decided to move to Los Angeles to be closer to Lyle and they were married in 1996, right before he and his brother were convicted of their parents' murder. Lyle's brother Erik met his wife Tammi under similar circumstances.

In an interview with People back in 1996, Eriksson praised Lyle for being "sweet and kind and generous," always interested in her life and what she was doing. Their first attempt at marriage, the day before Lyle's conviction, was prevented because of security concerns at the facility they planned to marry in, but they were able to tie the knot eventually. Different sources report different things about the ceremony, so it is not actually clear if they were able to marry in person or if they did so over the telephone.

Nevertheless, their distant marriage was apparently happy for a time. According to a former co-worker of Eriksson's, they were even planning to have a child. Eriksson and Lyle were unable to carry that plan through to fruition because California does not allow conjugal visits for those serving life sentences, but Eriksson wasn't perturbed. Shortly before their marriage, she told People, "What's the best sex organ? Your brain."

However, it was not to last. Eriksson and Lyle divorced in 2001 after she discovered that he was writing letters to other women. Lyle remarried in 2003, but there is little information about the fate of Anna Eriksson. Odds are she did not reinvent herself as a Finnish pop star though.