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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Ryan Merrifield

Brit weds US death row murderer after telling parents she was visiting Disneyland

A British woman married a death row murderer in the US after telling her parents she was visiting DisneyWorld.

Rebecca Short had secretly become pen pals with double killer Manuel Ovante Jr before the pair tied the knot at Eyman jail in Florence, Arizona.

The 26-year-old trainee dental nurse, from Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, shocked her family when she sent them wedding photos out of the blue.

A friend claims she is "obsessed" with watching documentaries about serial killers on Netflix.

Mexican-American Ovante, 35, who was jailed 12 years ago, was allowed to leave his cell for the ceremony on April 14.

Photos show Rebecca in a black wedding dress and boots, while her groom is in bright orange prison scrubs and white trainers.

The bride also met Ovante's family and they shared the wedding cake, which had black icing and red roses.

Rebecca met Ovante's family on her wedding day (Instagram)

A message on the top of three tiers read: "Till death do us part."

Rebecca also posted snaps from DisneyWorld, in Florida, and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco during her trip.

A friend told The Sun: “She was always obsessed with watching Netflix documentaries about serial killers in America, but no one thought she’d run off and marry one.”

Rebecca's neighbour also told the newspaper: "She did tell me about it, but I don’t really want to talk about it, it’s not my family."

The wedding cake said: "Till death do us part" (Instagram)

It is understood the pair met on the site prisonlifeandbeyond.com, where Ovante wrote: "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.

Rebecca also visited DisneyWorld (Instagram)
Rebecca and Ovante met on a pen pal website (Instagram)

“Not sure what I’m looking for in a pen pal so, I guess you’ll have to surprise me.”

Prisoners at Eyman spend an average of 17 years on death row before being executed by lethal injection.

On June 11, 2008, Ovante and friends George Rojas, Nathan Duran, and Richard Fore went to the home of Jordan Trujillo to try and obtain methamphetamine.

However, on finding there was none available they left before returning in a truck and finding Damien Vickers and Gabriel Valenzuela were also now at the property.

Ovante suddenly pulled out a gun and shot Trujillo twice, killing her.

He went on to then also shoot Vickers and Valenzuela.

As the former fought for his life, Duran helped him into the truck and they all left.

However, Ovante refused to allow Vickers to be taken to a hospital and he died, with his body then dumped in an alleyway.

Valenzuela survived.

Ovante was arrested a month later and pleaded guilty to the murders, as well as aggravated assault.

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