“I’ve been waiting,” Echols wrote her. “I knew that sooner or later someone would take notice… . Do you have any idea how it feels to be called a killer by everyone who sees you, even though you know you’re innocent? I go through hell every day, sitting here waiting to die for something I didn’t do. It’s a nightmare… .”

“A Death-Row Love Story.” — Geoffrey Gray, The New York Times Magazine

More from Geoffrey Gray: “Boss Kelly.” New York magazine, May 16, 2010