A real estate agent has married a stranger in prison after he popped the question in just six weeks.
Real estate agent Laura Gehrke met her future husband Joshua Stewart on the social networking website WriteAPrisoner.com after feeling lonely in December last year.
The 27-year-old, who starred in the Netflix show Too Hot To Handle Germany, had been unable to travel home for Christmas due to an issue with her visa so was forced to spend the festive period alone in Dubai.
After scrolling through TikTok, Laura stumbled upon a video about writing to a prisoner online and decided to wish an inmate Merry Christmas.
Laura Gehrke, 27, fell in love with prisoner Joshua Stewart, 21, after meeting online
The real estate agent married a stranger in prison after he popped the question in just six weeks
One particular profile caught Laura’s eye, and she began exchanging messages with 21-year-old Joshua Stewart.
The pair were soon speaking on the phone up to 11 hours a day and it wasn’t long before Joshua popped the question after six weeks of knowing one another.
Laura flew to Washington to wed her criminal beau in June during a 90-minute prison ceremony.
Despite having a conviction of controlled substance homicide, Laura said she never judged her hubby over the reason for his incarceration.
Laura said: ‘I was sitting here home alone feeling very sad because I couldn’t be with my family [due to the visa issue] and then I scrolled through TikTok and saw a video about WriteAPrisoner.com.
‘I thought I could just send one of them a message saying ‘Merry Christmas’.
‘I went on the website and saw my husband’s account. He was the second person I clicked on and I saw on his profile he said he liked poetry and I was interested in that.’
Laura Gehrke, 27, and Joshua Stewart, 21, are pictured on their wedding day posing by the prison’s Coke machine
One particular profile caught Laura’s eye, and she began exchanging messages with 21-year-old Joshua Stewart
After exchanging messages about his poetry, Laura and Joshua began speaking on the phone for as long as 11 hours a day.
Laura said: ‘We really clicked. He was just open about everything from the beginning. He was telling me so many stories about his life. I thought he was really emotionally intelligent.
‘I wasn’t immediately asking about the crime because I didn’t want to judge him just based on that.
‘I was hearing a lot of stories about him growing up before I knew all the details about what he was incarcerated for. It made me see it all a bit differently.
‘Because I knew the backstory, it didn’t change my opinion of him.’
In February, Joshua popped the question to Laura during one phone call and the couple wed four months later in a prison ceremony.
The couple both wore white on their wedding day. A change for Stewart from his usual orange
Despite being unable to spend their wedding night together, the pair are hoping to be approved for conjugal visits later this year.
Laura said: ‘I flew over and we saw each other 12 times and the 13th time I saw him was our marriage. I wanted to see him first before we got married.
‘It was a prison marriage – one of the other inmates was his best man. We were all in white and had our own color theme.
‘It felt super right. Our families are super supportive. Obviously my mum had questions but she was very supportive.’
There are plenty of doubters online who do not believe the romance will last once Stewart is out
But the unconventional relationship has received some backlash online, with trolls insisting Joshua is ‘just using’ his wife.
One TikTok user said: ‘Bro just secured his financial future after he’s out.’
Another added: ‘You most definitely got all your priorities messed up.’
A third said: ‘He will disappear after release.’
In February, Joshua popped the question to Laura during one phone call and the couple wed four months later in a prison ceremony
Laura said: ‘People just look into things with a made-up mind – they can’t believe we married out of love. They just think I’m using him or he’s using me.
‘They can’t believe it’s real love. We have a lot of support but we also have a lot of haters.’
Laura is hoping to live with her hubby in the US when he is scheduled to be released under house arrest in December 2025.
