A British mum is engaged to a US murderer jailed for 40 years – and says he is all she’s ever wanted.
Laura O’Sullivan, 32, has yet to actually meet Terrell Ravon Reese, 31, who she got in touch with last October via an app that helps lags find penpals.
He proposed by phone from his Michigan jail two months after they started talking. Laura, a single mum of four, said: “I thought it was friggin’ nuts, friggin’ crazy, but I couldn’t control my feelings and stop my heart. He’s all I’ve ever wanted.”
Terrell was convicted of second-degree murder over a 2009 killing carried out when he was 18.
He plotted to rob another teen in Detroit with an accomplice after arranging a car sale – but the other thug shot the victim, then escaped justice.
Laura said: “My initial thought was like, ‘Sh**,’ because it sounds so bad.
“But he didn’t pull the trigger.
“He was young and stupid, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it got him imprisoned for most of his life.”
Laura, of Bristol, is starting a baking business and is a part-time carer for her eldest son, who is autistic.
But she aims to fly out and meet Terrell as soon as paperwork is ready – and marry him next year in the Ernest Brooks Correctional Facility.
Meanwhile, they talk daily on the phone, exchange letters and have each other’s names tattooed on their hands.
She also enjoys “phone sex” which leaves her “more satisfied than being physical before with a whole man”.
And Laura treasures his Valentine’s card message: “My wife, damn you just got me so in love….I won’t let go like a bird trying not to drop its fish.”
While Laura feels sadness for his victim’s family, she believes Terrell is paying for his crime.
And she admits not everyone supports their love, saying: “I get people telling me I’m stupid, but they’re uneducated.”
Laura added: “I’ve given up my life for a man I’ve never met. I thought I’d be walking down an aisle, not marrying in prison. But my feelings are so strong. I couldn’t ask for more.”
Speaking from jail, Terrell said of Laura: “She is a beautiful human being and a beautiful soul.”
