A British woman told her family she was off to Disneyland in the US. She was actually marrying a convicted murderer on death row.
Rebecca Short, 26, recently got married to Manuel Ovante Jr, 35, in Arizona’s Eyman state prison.
Ovante was handed the death sentence in 2010 after killing Jordan Trujillo and Damien Vickers in a botched drug robbery two years prior. He also injured Gabriel Valenzuela in the incident, and later pleaded guilty to the two murders and aggravated assault.
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Short, a trainee dental nurse from Oxfordshire, is apparently 'obsessed' with serial killer documentaries on Netflix, according to her friends, and she befriended him after finding his penpal profile online.
After telling her family she was going on holiday, she even posted photos of her posing at the theme park in Florida and other landmarks, like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Then, on 14 April, she posted photos announcing her marriage to Ovante at the prison, home to more than 4,000 medium and high security prisoners. Fortunately, he was allowed to leave his cell for the ceremony.
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As reported by The Sun, Short brought a black wedding cake with red rose icing and message reading: "Till death do us part!”
One of her neighbours told the outlet: "She did tell me about it, but I don’t really want to talk about it, it’s not my family.”
Her friend, who remained unnamed, also said: "She was always obsessed with watching Netflix documentaries about serial killers in America, but no one thought she’d run off and marry one.”
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Ovante was also found on the website prisonlifeandbeyond.com, where he wrote on his profile: "I’m easy to get along with and tend to be a goofball.
"Very loyal to people I care about. Nobody is perfect, so I hope not to be judged by past mistakes.
“I love to read and listen to music. I have a daughter named Bonnie. Not sure what I’m looking for in a pen pal so, I guess you’ll have to surprise me.
"I guess someone to help make my time in here easier. Someone that has a sense of humour and enjoys life."
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Eyman has a total of 113 inmates on death row, with most spending an average of 17 years behind bars before being executed by lethal injection.
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Cameron Frew