An estate agent married a stranger in prison after popping the question in just six weeks.
Real estate agent Laura Gehrke met her future husband Joshua Stewart on the social media website WriteAPrisoner.com after feeling lonely in December last year.
The 27-year-old, who starred in Netflix show Too Hot To Handle Germany, was unable to travel home for Christmas due to a visa issue, so was forced to spend the festive period alone in Dubai.
After browsing TikTok, Laura came across a video about how to text a prisoner online and decided to wish him a Merry Christmas.
Laura Gehrke, 27, fell in love with prisoner Joshua Stewart, 21, after meeting online
Estate agent married stranger in prison after popping the question in just six weeks
One profile in particular caught Laura’s attention and she began exchanging messages with 21-year-old Joshua Stewart.
The couple were soon talking on the phone for up to 11 hours a day and it wasn’t long before Joshua popped the question after six weeks of knowing each other.
Laura flew to Washington to marry her criminal boyfriend in June, during a 90-minute prison ceremony.
Despite having a conviction for controlled substance homicide, Laura said she never judged her husband for the reason for his incarceration.
Laura said: ‘I was sitting here alone at home feeling really 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 send a message to one of them 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 that he said he liked poetry and that interested me.’
Laura Gehrke, 27, and Joshua Stewart, 21, are photographed on their wedding day posing next to the prison’s Coca-Cola machine.
One profile in particular caught Laura’s attention and she began exchanging messages with 21-year-old Joshua Stewart.
After exchanging messages about their poetry, Laura and Joshua began talking on the phone for up to 11 hours a day.
Laura said: “We really got along well. From the beginning, he was very open about everything. He would tell me a lot of stories about his life. I thought he was very emotionally intelligent.”
‘I didn’t ask about the crime right away because I didn’t want to judge him just for that.
“As a child, I heard a lot of stories about him before I knew all the details about why he was imprisoned. That made me see things differently.
“I knew the backstory and that didn’t change my opinion of him.”
In February, Joshua popped the question to Laura during a phone call and the couple married four months later in a prison ceremony.
The couple wore white on their wedding day, a change for Stewart from her usual orange.
Despite not being able to spend their wedding night together, the couple hope to be allowed conjugal visits later this year.
Laura said: ‘I flew out and saw him 12 times and the 13th time I saw him was on our wedding day. I wanted to see him before we got married.
‘It was a prison wedding: one of the other inmates was his best man. We all wore white and had our own colour.
“It was a very positive experience. Our families are very supportive. Obviously, my mother had questions, but she was very supportive.”
There are plenty of skeptics online who don’t believe the romance will last once Stewart steps 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 coming out.’
Another added: “You definitely have all your priorities messed up.”
A third said: “It will disappear after being released.”
In February, Joshua popped the question to Laura during a phone call and the couple married four months later in a prison ceremony.
Laura said: ‘People just look at things with a single-minded mindset, they can’t believe that we married for love. They just think I’m using him or he’s using me.
“They can’t believe it’s true love. We have a lot of support, but also a lot of detractors.”
Laura hopes to live with her husband in the United States when he is released from house arrest in December 2025.
