Rebecca Sneed, wife of convicted killer Lyle Menendez, is speaking out to confront shocking allegations of his alleged affair with a 21-year-old British woman.
In a message on Lyle's Facebook page, Sneed announced their separation but emphasized they remain friends and will always be family, vowing never to stop fighting for him.
"Guys! This is NOT a cheating scandal. Lyle and I have been separated for a while now but remain best friends and family," Sneed wrote to the page. "I continue to run his Facebook pages, with input from him, and I am forever committed to the enduring fight for Lyle and Erik's freedom, as has been so evident over the years."
On August 20, 1989, Lyle and his brother Erik Menendez gunned down their parents, José and Kitty Menendez with 14 shots as the couple sat watching TV in the den of their home.
Lyle, who was then 21, and Erik, then 18, admitted they shot-gunned their entertainment executive father and their mother, but said they feared their parents were about to kill them to prevent the disclosure of the father's long-term sexual molestation of Erik.
Lyle, 56, and Erik, 53, have spent three decades behind bars.
The alleged affair stems from a report in The Daily Mail, which details a "clandestine fling" between Lyle and Milly Bucksey, a University of Manchester student.
Ironically, the romance began this year when Lyle spotted Milly in the same Facebook group managed by his wife. He allegedly approached her using an alias before revealing his true identity, according to the outlet.
Bucksey endured a 5,300-mile journey from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, to the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility to visit Lyle, who is 35 years her senior.
While it is unclear whether Erik's stepdaughter, Talia, was also addressing the affair rumors, she posted on her Instagram story on Thursday, "I want to make it clear that Erik and Lyle are two separate individuals. The decisions of one brother shouldn't overshadow the truth about the other one."
Talia is the daughter of Chuck Saccoman and Tammi Menendez, who is married to Erik.
Tammi was married to Chuck and lived with him when she began following the brothers' trial on TV in 1993. Feeling sympathy for Erik, she wrote him a letter in prison, not expecting a reply. To her surprise, she received one.
Her then-husband, Chuck, died in June 1996, just a month before Lyle and Erik were sentenced to life in prison without parole. According to People, Tammi and Chuck had a nine-month-old daughter, Talia, when he died.
Tammi continued visiting Erik for the next six months and in 1998 he proposed. Although she felt it was a little soon, she was grateful for the proposal as she couldn't imagine her life without him. The two got married on June 12, 1999, in Folsom State Prison.
Lyle Menendez's Marriage Status
Lyle married twice. His first wife, Anna Eriksson, like Tammi, saw Lyle on TV during his initial trial and decided to write him a letter. Lyle responded to her letter, and their exchange soon developed into a relationship, according to The Sun.
The outlet reported in 1994 that Eriksson moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Lyle, taking a job as a contract administrator for a record company.
After meeting in person, they fell in love and married in 1996 on July 2, 1996—the day of Lyle and Erik's sentencing. Their relationship flourished until 2001 when Eriksson discovered Lyle had been unfaithful with another pen pal. They divorced soon after.
In 2003, two years later, Lyle married Sneed. The couple exchanged vows in a ceremony at Mule Creek State Prison near Sacramento, after nearly a decade of knowing each other, a spokesperson told the Associated Press.
"Our interaction tends to be very free of distractions and we probably have more intimate conversations than most married spouses do, who are distracted by life's events," Lyle told People in 2017.
"We try and talk on the phone every day, sometimes several times a day. I have a very steady, involved marriage and that helps sustain me and brings a lot of peace and joy. It's a counter to the unpredictable, very stressful environment here."
Lyle Menendez's Facebook Page
Although Lyle doesn't manage his own Facebook page due to his lack of social media access in prison, Sneed oversees it. The page aims to raise awareness and support individuals who have experienced abuse. Lyle, however, personally wrote to articulate the purpose and message he hopes the page conveys.
His message reads: "I thank my family for helping me with this page. I don't have internet access so this site depends on them. I have been told that setting up this page will open me up to ridicule and criticism. That's probably true, but it's something I'm already used to. It is very hard to accept that sexual assault can be the punchline of jokes or the subject of ridicule, but it has occurred—to me—and to many others. If I am mocked for this page, the shame of that belongs on the mocker and not on me or anyone who shares their story here. There is, quite simply, nothing funny about child rape or other abuse.
"The purpose is to provide a safe place for people to talk about their similar experiences and find comfort in others who have suffered in silence in the same way. Those of us who have suffered abuse understand the healing power of sharing our experiences. This page's platform is to oppose all forms of child abuse: physical, sexual and emotional abuse perpetrated by anyone, including but not limited to parents, a teacher, a coach, a priest and the government. We also oppose all forms of domestic violence and sexual assault."
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