Philip Markoff, Craigslist Killer

"Craigslist Killer" Philip Markoff, a 22-year-old med student, was engaged to be married when he was arrested in April of 2009 for the suspected murder of Julissa Brisman. He has also been accused in the attack of two other women, and charged with kidnapping and robbery. It is believed he may have preyed on other women who have not yet come forward.

His fiancée, Megan McAllister, first stood by her man, telling police they had the wrong guy, but in April called the wedding off, saying "it's time to move on."

That means Markoff is free to marry. Even if he is eventually incarcerated for his crimes, he will enjoy the rights of legal marriage in the US.

Drew Peterson

Drew Peterson has been married 4 times and was engaged to a 5th woman.

His first wife, Carol Brown, was his high school sweetheart. They were married from 1974 to 1980, when she divorced him because of his infidelity.

Peterson married his second wife, Victoria Connolly, two years later. Connelly allegedly suffered abuse during this marriage, as did her daughter from a previous marriage. When Peterson again committed adultery, starting an affair with Kathleen Savio, Connelly divorced him. Two months after their 1992 divorce, Peterson married Savio.

Savio, wife number 3, was married to Peterson from 1992 to 2003. Police reports indicate that the police were called to the Peterson 18 times between 2002 and 2004 on domestic disturbance calls. On March 1, 2004, Kathleen Savio's lifeless body was found in an empty bathtub in their home. Although her death was initially ruled an accidental drowning, subsequent investigations in 2007 have indicated that the death was a homicide, and in May of 2009, Peterson was arrested for the murder of Kathleen Savio. At the time of his arrest, Peterson joked that "I guess I should have returned those library books." At the time of this writing he is being held on bail of $20 million for the murder of Kathleen Savio.

Peterson's fourth wife, Stacey Ann Cales, wed him on October 18, 2003, and disappeared almost exactly 4 years later on October 28, 2007. Although Drew Peterson has been a suspect in her disappearance, no charges have been filed.

A little over a year later, in December of 2008, Drew Peterson became engaged to a 23-year-old named Christina Raines. She subsequently moved out of his home a month later, and then back in again. Raines appeared on the Today Show with Peterson, who expressed the desire to marry her "as soon as possible," although his divorce from his missing fourth wife was not yet final. Raines has since moved out of Peterson's home again and claimed the whole thing was a publicity stunt.

Drew Peterson was married four times and engaged a fifth. He was an alleged abuser, is accused of the murder of one wife and suspected by many in the disappearance of another. He is currently single and entitled to the full legal benefits of federal marriage should he choose to marry again.

Erik and Lyle Menendez

The Menendez brothers are the notorious young men famous for the shotgun murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, in 1989. Erik and Lyle entered their parents home, shot them both dead, and then went to the movies ("Batman"). In the months following the murders, the brothers spent approximately $1 million of their parents' money on lavish possessions and luxury lifestyles, including a Rolex, a Porsche, a full-time tennis coach, and a restaurant. They were indicted in 1992 after Erik confessed to his psychiatrist.

They have both been sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.

Both brothers have since married while in prison. Lyle married a former model, Anna Erikkson, who had been a longtime pen pal while he was imprisoned. That marriage lasted less than a year, when Anna left Lyle for "cheating" on her by writing to another woman. Undaunted, Lyle married again in 2003, at the age of 21. His 33-year-old wife is a magazine editor.

Erik, meanwhile, married "fan" Tammi Ruth Saccoman in 1999. He was then 28 and his wife 37. Tammi told Barbara Walters on 20/20 that marrying Erik was "something I've dreamed about for a long time. And it's just something very special that I never thought that I would ever have."

Although the state of California prohibits conjugal visits for prisoners who are serving life sentences, the Mendendez's marriages are considered legal and valid in all 50 states of the US. When either of them dies, the money they inherited from their murdered parents will go to their wives, protected from taxes by spousal inheritance laws.

Lyle and Erik Menendez on Wikipedia