A prison warden has quit her job so she can continue her blossoming relationship with a convicted killer.
Mum-of-one Andrea Ferreyra has fallen for Javier Duarte who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for homicide.
They never met at the jail where he is serving time but he then messaged her on Facebook.
As he is studying for a degree behind bars, he was given access to educational materials, including a computer and a mobile phone.
They also chatted on WhatsApp and plan to get married.
The inmate recently started posting tender images of him and former prison guard Andrea Ferreyra, 35, on social media.
It made their relationship public, sparking a debate.
Duarte, 35, wrote alongside a photo of the former warden: “I love you Andrea. There isn’t a more beautiful and charming woman than you.
“I choose you to be my wife, my partner, and the mother of my children.
“With you until the end, my love.”
After their relationship came to light, Ferreyra told local media that they met online in November 2022 and quickly hit it off.
She said she was forced to leave her job last month after suffering alleged abuse from colleagues about her online fling with the convicted killer.
Ferreyra stated: “I resigned because I was not going to be able to be with him while working in the service.
“There were also personal reasons, due to all the things I went through at work.”
She claimed she suffered insults and abuse from colleagues at Barranqueras prison in the Argentine province of Chaco.
Ferreyra said: “The prison authorities discredited everything they could for many months.
“All because he was in a relationship with me where I didn’t even have physical contact with him, ever, since I've known him.
“I am currently looking for a job. I’m also a pharmacy assistant and I paint nails – or I can learn another trade to get by.
“But honestly, I’m waiting for the last five or eight years of my boyfriend’s – future husband’s – prison sentence to be able to live our lives together in peace,” she added.
Meanwhile, Duarte told reporters that they first met on Facebook before Ferreyra gave him her telephone number and they started a “more intense” relationship on WhatsApp.
The inmate added that he had seen her working as a prison guard in the cell block before sending her a friend request on Facebook, which she accepted “within hours”.
Ferreyra said they enjoyed daily video chats before he suggested taking their relationship to the next level.
“He asked if I would be his girlfriend and I said ‘yes’,” she explained.
She told him she was single at the time and has a six-year-old daughter.
Their unlikely relationship sparked debate in Argentina, with many people expressing their outrage that a convicted killer was allowed a phone and was able to post on social media accounts.
Undeterred by the backlash, the couple stated that they plan to get married as soon as possible.
Ferreyra said: “I want to get married on 4 April or whenever they give us the date.
“I am not afraid of anything.
“I know what Javier is like and beyond the crime he committed, I believe in him and I see that he has changed.”
Duarte has to serve a maximum of eight further years in prison, however he expressed his hope that he may qualify for probation at the end of the year due to good behaviour.
