By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-21 23:21:45 | Updated at 2024-11-22 04:27:21
5 hours ago
Lyle Menendez's heartbroken wife has admitted that she and the convicted double murderer are separated after DailyMail.com's blockbuster exclusive telling how he is having a fling with 21-year-old student Milly Bucksey.
Rebecca Sneed, 55, took to Facebook to break the news to followers of Lyle and his younger brother Erik.
'Guys! This is NOT a cheating scandal,' she wrote.
'Lyle and I have been separated for a while now but remain best friends and family.'
She said she is continuing to run his Facebook page 'with input from him', and she is committed to fight on for the brothers.
'I will never stop fighting for them,' she added.
Within hours of DailyMail.com's story posting, Sneed had posted a cryptic message saying 'Love, loyalty, family, and friendship change shape over time but still exist.'
Several hours later she published her second message.
Lyle Menendez's wife Rebecca Sneed, 55 wrote 'Guys! This is NOT a cheating scandal' on the Facebook page she runs in his name as she revealed the pair had been separated for 'a while'
The 56-year-old convicted murderer has been having a months-long relationship with blonde Milly Bucksey, 21, after meeting her on the Facebook page Sneed runs in his name
The 55-year-old wrote that she is continuing to run his Facebook page 'with input from him', and she is committed to fight on for the brothers
She was not the only Menendez family member to comment following our exclusive that English student Milly Bucksey is the new woman in Lyle's life and that they have maintained contact through an illicit cellphone that Lyle has in prison in San Diego.
Erik's stepdaughter Talia Menendez wrote: '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,' she added.
'I'd appreciate it if people would consider my dad for who he is, and not based on the actions of someone else.
Talia, 26, wrote: '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.
'My family is going through a lot right now. And I'd appreciate it if people would consider my dad for who he is, and not based on the actions of someone else.'
Talia is the daughter of Erik's wife Tammi who refers to him as 'dad'.
Sources told DailyMail.com that Lyle, 56, is so besotted with blonde Milly Bucksey, 21, that he has told her he wants to divorce Sneed – who he married in 2003 the month before his new love was born.
Erik's, 53, step-daughter Josie Rodriguez begged people not to confuse the behavior of her dad and uncle in a public social media plea on Facebook
Milly, a student at the University of Manchester, made the 5,300-mile journey from her home to see him at the top security RJ Donovan Correctional Facility
Bucksey changed the cover of her Facebook page to a picture of Ocean Beach in San Diego on September 17. The beach is just 20 miles from Imperial Beach where Sneed relocated to be closer to him
Lyle has been hoping for an early release from his life sentence but the discovery of illicit cell phones and the replacement of LA district attorney George Gascon could complicate that
'Lyle adores Milly', an insider with knowledge of the romance told DailyMail.com. 'And she refers to him as her boyfriend even though he's married.'
According to those familiar with the situation, after spotting her on the Facebook group, he initially approached her under an alias before confessing his true identity to the smitten student.
Since then, their romance has spiced up and even led to Lyle getting busted by prison guards at the top-security Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California, for possessing a contraband cell phone he was using to contact his new squeeze.
A record of that incident was included in ousted Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón's resentencing memo, filed in Los Angeles at the end of October. It showed he was caught with the phone on March 15 in the cell he shares with 'multiple other people'.
Despite being busted, DailyMail.com has learned that Lyle has since acquired a second illicit cell phone, which he has been using to stay in touch with the University of Manchester student.
Photos, exclusively obtained by DailyMail.com, show the pair inside the prison.
In one they pose in front of one of the distinctive murals in the prison yard with their arms wrapped lovingly around each other.
In another, they pose with a large dog, and a third has Milly sitting on Lyle's knee.
A time stamp on one picture shows it was taken on Saturday, September 14 – a date corresponding with the Friday to Sunday visiting hours at the lock-up and nine days before Milly's university started its fall semester.
In what appears to be a loving gesture to her jailbird lover, Milly changed the cover photo on her Facebook page to a picture of Ocean Beach in San Diego on November 17.
The beach in the laid-back surfer neighborhood has a distinctive palm-fringed promenade and cream lifeguard towers, both of which can be seen in Milly's photo.
In an ironic twist, Ocean Beach is just 20 miles from Imperial Beach – the southern San Diego neighborhood where Sneed has lived since relocating from California's state capital of Sacramento in October 2020 to be closer to him.
When DailyMail.com attempted to contact Milly at her home in England, her father Peter, 78, firmly closed the door. A spokesperson for the Menendez family did not respond to a request for comment.
DailyMail.com obtained exclusive photos of the pair cozying up to each other in front of a large mural inside the prison
Lyle (right) is now in prison in San Diego with his younger brother Erik
Lyle is so besotted with blonde Milly that he has even told her he wants to divorce his wife to be with her, a source told DailyMail.com
But this time, the stakes are higher for Lyle and his brother Erik, 53, who have become a cause célèbre following the smash-hit success of Ryan Murphy's biographical crime drama anthology, Monster: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
Los Angeles County DA Gascón announced he was planning to pursue a lighter sentence for the brothers in October, telling reporters that the pair 'have paid their debt to society'.
But he was voted out of office in this month's election and will step down on December 1. His replacement, Republican-turned-Independent Nate Hochman, 60, has thrown the brothers' bid for freedom into jeopardy by saying he plans to review Gascón's decision.
The revelation that Lyle had a second contraband cell phone could also have implications for the case, particularly as California Governor Gavin Newsom this week declined to offer the brothers immediate clemency – instead saying he intends to wait for the outcome of Hochman's review.
That won't happen until after Hochman takes office. A resentencing hearing scheduled for December 11 is likely to be postponed as a result.
In a statement to CNN following his victory, Hochman said: 'Before I can make any decision about the Menendez brothers' case, I will need to become thoroughly familiar with the relevant facts, the evidence and the law.'
The former federal prosecutor added: 'I will have to review the confidential prison files for each brother, the transcripts from both trials and speak to the prosecutors, law enforcement, defense counsel and the victims' family members.
Milly lives in Altrincham, England with her parents Peter, 78, and Karen, 57, Bucksey
Milly celebrated New Year's 2022 with a group of friends and balloons in the purple, gold and gray colors of the University of Manchester
Lyle and Erik Menendez have been in prison for the shotgun murder of their parents José and Kitty Menendez since March 1990 and were convicted of the double homicide in a 1993 trial
Former LA DA George Gascón initially said in October he was pursuing a lighter sentence for the brothers. But Gascón's ousting by the new DA Nate Hochman has put his initial decision in jeopardy, as Hochman declared he had to view the case in its entirety before making a decision
'If for some reason I need additional time, I will ask the court for that time.'
The brothers have been locked up since March 1990 when they were arrested for the brutal 1989 shotgun slayings of their parents Kitty and José.
Both confessed to the gruesome killings at the family home in Beverly Hills but said they snapped after enduring years of sexual abuse at José's hands.
That argument fell flat at their 1993 trial with prosecutors successfully arguing that the murders were carried out for financial gain after the brothers went on a $700,000 spending spree in the weeks after the shootings.
As a result, they were both handed life without parole and sent to separate prisons, although they were eventually reunited at the San Diego lock-up in 2018.
