Erik Menendez Married Tammi Ruth Saccoman And Adopted Talia Menendez
Erik Mendez and his brother, Lyle Menendez, were arrested for taking the lives of their parents, Jose Menendez and Kitty Menendez, 35 years ago.
Their extended family members advocate for their release during a news conference set in downtown Los Angeles as prosecutors review new evidence.
Highlights
- Erik Menendez married Tammi Ruth Saccoman in 1999 and adopted Talia Menendez.
- Talia is 28 year old and supports her father’s release via Instagram.
- Tammi published a book, They Said We’d Never Make It—My Life, with Erik Menendez in 2005.
Erik Galen Menendez is the second son. He was born on November 27, 1970, and grew up with his elder brother in New Jersey.
The Menendez brothers were involved in multiple burglaries in Calabasas, California, in 1988, and their family relocated to Beverly Hills.
Later, they took the lives of their parents in 1989 and reported to authorities, claiming unknown intruders were responsible.
Erik confessed the tragic incident to his psychotherapist, which led to the arrest of the Menendez brothers.
They were charged with two counts of first-degree murder, making them eligible for the death penalty.
Their second trial sentenced them to life imprisonment without any possibility of parole, and they are at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California.
Erik Menendez’s Daughter Runs His Official Instagram Account
Erik Menendez doesn’t have a biological daughter, but he has a daughter, Talia Menendez. Erik married her mother, Tammi Ruth Saccoman.
Talia is 28 year old as of 2024 and has known since childhood that her father had done something terrible that kept him away from home.
Erik Galen Menendez with his daughter Talia Menendez visiting at Folsom State prison. pic.twitter.com/QdkwamDjEb
— melody (@melody56241382) March 2, 2021
Talia’s biological father passed away when she was only 10 months old in 1996. She visited Erik for the first time at Folsom State Prison when she was only 2.
Although she has kept her identity hidden, she supports her father’s release via Instagram and shared several moments with her father on social media.
Talia used to wake up at 5 a.m. every morning, four days a week, to drive hundreds of miles to see her father for the day and watch him tear up every time she left.
Her favorite childhood memory is visiting him. He helped her finish homework and used to play board games with his father and the other inmates in the visiting room.
Talia said things were much different for inmates back then than now. She refers to him as her “Earth Dad.”
Erik Menendez and Tammi Married in a Folsom State Prison waiting room
Erik and Tammi were pen pals, and Tammi wrote Erik a letter explaining her sympathy for them. Later, she flew to California to meet him for the first time.
They married on June 12, 1999, and the wedding cake was a Twinkie. They had a beautiful time until they were separated.
View this post on Instagram
Tammi described her relationship with her husband as something that she had dreamed about for a long time.
In 2005, she published a book, They Said We’d Never Make It—My Life with Erik Menendez. She expressed in an interview with People magazine,
Not having s*x in my life is difficult, but it’s not a problem for me. I have to be emotionally attached, and I’m emotionally attached to Erik … My family does not understand. When it started to get serious, some of them just threw up their hands.
Moreover, Erik feels Tammi gets him, and it’s hard for him to think about the sentence, which makes him sad.
Additional Information
- Jose Enrique Menendez was the CEO of Live Entertainment, and Mary Louise Kitty Andersen was a teacher.
- He was originally from Havana, Cuba, but moved to the United States during the Cuban Revolution.
- Erik Menendez’s stepdaughter has high hopes for the Menendez brothers’ release after Kim Kardashian visited them in prison.
