Love can be found in the most unexpected places, and for some death row inmates , they're hoping this rings true.
The three men on death row featured here have all set up dating profiles after being sentenced to death for their horrific crime s, including the murder of a young boy.
Instead of worrying about their last meal , these men are showcasing their (alleged) good qualities to potential partners as if they're characters in a Bridgerton courting season.
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They're doing this on a penpal site called Wire of Hope, which was started by a woman who moved 4,000 miles to marry and have a child with a death row inmate, reports the Daily Star .
Her unique love story might give them hope of finding their own partners behind bars - and below, they make their case to potential girlfriends.
Gary Black is known for being a Ku Klux Klan racist. As if that wasn't enough of a red flag, he's also a murderer whose gruesome story was told on Netflix's I Am A Killer in an episode titled The Bogeyman.
Unlike the other men featured here, his two death row executions were overturned. However, he's now seeking love in prison where he'll spend the rest of his life without the possibility of parole.
This self-proclaimed racist has a violent past, including a 25-year sentence for attacking a woman and nearly killing her.
In October 1998, a crime shook the community when an ex-pimp took the life of a man who allegedly made advances towards his girlfriend, a prostitute named Tammy Lawson.
The scenario unfolded disastrously when the couple tracked down Jason Johnson, 28, after an incident at a convenience store. They pulled up next to him at a traffic light, where the ex-pimp, Black, got out, walked over, and stabbed Johnson in the neck through the car window.
Tragically, Johnson succumbed to his wounds three days later.
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Black faced first-degree murder charges but managed to evade the death penalty by entering an Alford plea.
Taking to his Wire of Hope profile, the now 73 year old Black wrote: "Not a lot of introduction here. I grew up in a very rural part of McDonald County, Missouri, on a small farm south of the little town of Noel. Typical hillbilly country boy."
His account continued with further details of his life, revealing that he lost his mother and grandparents in an accident at the tender age of 12, leading him to move to Joplin, which introduced him to "faster cars, even faster motorcycles, and even faster females".
Black also recalled graduating from high school and then serving in Vietnam, where he was wounded seven months into his first tour with the Marine Corps.
Despite narrow escapes from death, Black expressed no regret for the young black man's murder, explaining: "I wanted to kill him the moment that truck came to a stop, and I knew he couldn't get away from me. Right at that moment, I knew he was dead. And he died. I am definitely a racist. I grew up in the Klan; I grew up around it."
Robert Allen Satterfield, a man sentenced to death just last year for the brutal murder of Ray Shawn Hudson Sr, 28, Maya Rivera, 24, and their young son Ray Jr, who was just one sleep away from his fifth birthday, has shockingly set up an online profile in an attempt to attract women. The chilling case saw Satterfield shoot the parents dead in front of their son in June 2018 before heartlessly taking the child's life as well.
He then burned the three bodies in a pit. Despite the horrific nature of his crimes, the 41 year old lifelong criminal has shown no remorse and is now trying to find a girlfriend.
On his page, he wrote: "Looking to interact with a grown woman. Age, race, location, occupation, not too important. I love attractive confident women who know how to be independent and love it."
He also added: "Looking for a spontaneous fun and outgoing lady to swap ideas, goals and life moments with. Looking to ignite a spark and be that ear you can confide in if the going gets a little rough."
In a chilling sign-off, he said: "I'll be waiting."
Describing himself as single, athletic, easygoing and a fan of rap and R&B music, he appealed to women on the outside to reach out to him, saying: "Communication is the actual conduit to staying in a healthy mind state."
He ended his plea by saying: "So let's help each other out. Let's start by getting to know each other. Never know where it will take us.."
6ft4 Daniel Jacob Craven Jr. attracts ladies who fancy the muscular bad boy type might initially fall for the convict, but his dating profile left out quite a bit of critical backstory.
Daniel omits to mention that he once killed a love rival by drowning him in a dog bowl during a torrid affair with the man's wife.
Stranger yet, this chilling incident isn't what landed him on death row; it was the brutal murder of his cellmate John H Anderson years later, using a handmade weapon, that sealed his fate.
Craven Jr is no stranger to showing off his biceps in online photos and in his dating bio, where he seeks a steady penpal. He writes: "I am hoping to find one serious friend. So far, people write for a month and fall off. I am looking for a true connection. Because of my size, affiliations and charges, I've been on solitary / heightened security for eight years."
He expresses his new freedoms and desires for authentic connections, saying, "I was just released and am capable now of contact visits, photos, daily email and phone calls, plus snail mail if I must. Please ask what you want. I seek honesty and loyalty. I hope for love, I expect nothing. Thank you for your time, as I know how important it is."
This penpal search is facilitated by Wire of Hope, launched by two pals aiming to bring positive change to the lives of those behind bars.
The website states: "A prison correspondence helps them escape the daily monotony and darkness, feel human again, appreciated, and sometimes even loved. To sum up, by writing to an inmate, you could brighten up someone's day, week, month, even, Actually, you could change a life."
Sigrid, one of the founders who started as a pen pal to a convicted murderer, relocated from France to be near the Union Correctional Institution in Florida, drawn there by her feelings for Alan Wade, sentenced to death for killing a retired couple in 2005a penalty later commuted to life imprisonment.
She bore a child with Wade while he was incarcerated, saying in 2021: "I started writing to Death Row inmates because I was against the death penalty. I believe in second chances and rehabilitation."
Sigrid detailed how their emotions grew, stating: "When I started to realise I was having feelings for him and him for me, we both got scared. We took a step back and we tried to stop writing to each other and we were both miserable. And after six weeks he wrote back - his first words were 'I love you'."
Despite the adverse reaction from her family, who thought she was 'the worst person ever', Sigrid expressed that Wade, now serving a life sentence, brings her joy and doesn't understand why it should affect others.
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