10 Normal People Who Married Terrible Criminals In Prison
10 Normal People Who Married Terrible Criminals In Prison
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re exploring the most infamous times when normal, non-criminal people tied the knot with convicted felons as they served their sentences locked up.
Donald Lee Laisure
Susan Atkins
First sentenced for execution before it was commuted to a life sentence for her involvement in multiple murders attributed to Charles Manson’s “Family,” Atkins didn’t just find religion in jail, but also love. In 1981, after meeting via letters, she married Donald Lee Laisure. However, his claims of being a millionaire were apparently false, and he’d been married 35 times before, resulting in Atkins being granted an annulment. In 1987, she married James Whitehouse, a Harvard law graduate, who was 15 years younger than her. He would later represent Atkins during her multiple parole hearings, including during a compassionate release request when she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The couple remained together until Atkins passed away in jail in 2009.
Sandie Blanton
Reginald Blanton & Charles Mamou
Hybristophilia is said to be the term for people attracted to those who commit crimes. Well, seemingly, Sandie may have had that. In 2007, the divorced grandmother from Somerset, England, traveled to Texas to meet Mamou, who was serving a sentence for multiple murders. Not long after, they got married, as Mamou’s father acted as the stand-in during the ceremony. However, when Sandie discovered her husband had been writing saucy letters to other women months after the ceremony, they separated. She then met Reginald through a website, who’d been sentenced to execution for murder. In 2009, with Reginald’s final day approaching, the couple was unable to legally marry as Sandie’s divorce wasn’t finalized. However, she changed her last name as a compromise before Reginald’s death.
Fatema Saira Rehman
Charles Bronson
One of the most famous prisoners in UK history, best known by his stage name Bronson, has been locked up since 1988 for robbery. Gaining notoriety from his violent behavior inside and taking hostages, Bronson grabbed further attention in 2001 when he married Fatema Saira Rehman. Born in Bangladesh, she worked as a counsellor at a women’s center. However, when the relationship with Bronson was discovered, Rehman was forced to leave. The prisoner also converted to Islam to be with Rehman until they split in 2005. Yet, Bronson wasn’t done with love. In 2017, he married soap actor Paula Williamson. However, they split in 2018 following photos of her flirting with other men being published. Sadly, Williams passed away the following year.
Shirlee Joyce Book
Kenneth Bianchi
In 1980, during his trial for being one-half of the Hillside Strangler murders, Bianchi infamously met Veronica Compton while he was locked up. She provided false testimony and attempted to attack a woman to make it look like the Strangler was still about. Unsurprisingly, Bianchi was sentenced to life. During this time, Book was writing letters to Ted Bundy. Yet when he showed no interest in a relationship, she pivoted to contacting Bianchi, and they soon got engaged. In 1989, the couple arrived at the prison’s chapel for the marriage ceremony, days after meeting in person. However, it wasn’t marital bliss for Book. Reportedly, she discovered Bianchi had been writing flirty letters to other women, resulting in her filing for divorce in 1993.
Christine Kizuka
Angelo Buono Jr.
Since we mentioned Bianchi being one-half of the Hillside Strangler, the other was his adopted cousin, Buono. Best known for taking part in one of the longest US trials from 1981 to 1983, during this time, Buono met Kizuka while he was locked up. At the time, her husband was in prison for assault and was Buono’s next-door cellmate. After initially talking to Kizuka on the phone on behalf of her husband, Buono and she fell for each other. Shortly after the husband’s release, Kizuka divorced him and began visiting Buono in person. In 1986, the duo got secretly married, despite Buono’s life sentence for his involvement in multiple murders. The couple remained married until his passing in 2002.
Rosalie Martinez
Oscar Ray Bolin Jr.
Living in an affluent area with her lawyer husband and four children, Martinez, working in the public defender’s office, was assigned to Bolin in 1995, who’d been sentenced to execution for multiple murders and was set to have a retrial. Upon meeting him, she broke her work ethics and marriage vows by falling for him. During the retrial, after Martinez’s husband filed for divorce following her problematic relationship with Bolin, she was removed from court for shaking her head as a witness gave testimony against her client-slash-partner. With media attention allegedly a factor, Martinez and Bolin got married in 1996. She constantly claimed he was innocent until Bolin was executed in 2016.
Marie Cachet
Varg Vikernes
In 1994, Vikerne was convicted of murdering his bandmate Euronymous and committing arson. As such, the Norwegian black metal musician received the country’s maximum sentence of 21 years. During that time, on top of promoting far-right rhetoric, Vikernes married French national Cachet in 2007 and had a child the same year. He was able to do so, as for the last couple of years of his sentence, Vikernes was given permission to temporarily leave prison to see friends and family. In 2009, following his full release from jail, the couple eventually moved to France. In 2013, both were arrested on suspicion of planning an attack. However, the charges were dropped. Yet the following year, Vikernes received six months of probation for inciting racial hatred.
Anna Eriksson & Tammi Saccoman
The Menendez Brothers
During the Menendez brothers' first trial for killing their parents, Lyle received a letter from Eriksson, and they soon became attached. In 1996, on the same day Lyle and Erik received their initial life sentences, he married Eriksson. However, it collapsed in 2001 when he allegedly contacted other women. In 1999, after exchanging letters since 1993, Erik tied the knot with Saccoman, with their wedding cake being a Twinkie. They’ve remained together ever since. Lyle didn’t stop with one prison marriage. After exchanging letters for around a decade, Rebecca Sneed had nuptials with him in 2003. However, in 2024, shortly after allegations emerged that Lyle was writing to other women, which was denied by him and Sneed, the couple separated.
Doreen Lioy
Richard Ramirez
Despite being known as the Night Stalker and assaulting and taking many lives, Ramirez had a bizarre number of groupies during his trial. One of which turned out to be Lioy. All it took was seeing his mugshot for her to be interested in him, causing her to contact the killer, who received a death sentence. Lioy, a magazine editor who helped John Stamos with his career, married Ramirez in 1996. She then publicly supported the killer at every opportunity. Yet that changed following evidence emerging in 2009 that linked Ramirez to the death of a minor. Following their split, Ramirez, at the time of his death in 2013, was reportedly engaged to a 23-year-old writer, who was 30 years his junior.
Carole Ann Boone
Ted Bundy
On top of being known for escaping jail multiple times following several murders, Bundy was also best known for this infamous antic during his 1980 trial for murder in Orlando, Florida. Having met in 1974 while both worked at the Washington State Department of Emergency Services, Bundy and Boone began dating. During the trial, while she supported him, Bundy used a legal loophole to dodge another denial by the judge by declaring in court that they were married. In 1981, she then had his child, which has been questioned since conjugal visits were banned at the prison. However, the couple divorced in 1986 following Bundy's admission of his crimes and allegedly beginning a relationship with attorney Diana Weiner. In 1989, he was executed.
Do you think it’s fine for convicted criminals to marry during their sentence or do you believe it should be banned? Let us know below!
