Imma Stick Beside Him: Woman Marries Man Who Was Convicted of Murdering Her Brother

A woman from Cleveland has married a man convicted for her brother’s murder, but she maintains her new husband is actually innocent.

Crystal Straus married John Tiedjen last weekend. The 57-year-old man was found guilty for the 1987 death of Straus’ brother Brian McGary.

Tiedjen spent 32 years behind bars for the murder before a judge threw out his conviction in June after his attorney provided new evidence that seems to suggest that McGary took his own life.

Tiedjen was released on bond last month and is still on house arrest as he awaits a retrial in the case. He and Crystal tied the knot after the pair connected when Straus wrote him a letter in prison. In the initial letter she penned in 2016, the woman revealed that she didn’t believe he had killed her brother, and she wanted to offer him her forgiveness.

“And I wrote her a letter back, and I said I didn’t do it, take a look at this stuff. I believe in God too, and I know things about it, but I didn’t do it. I had no powder burns, no gunshot residue, no blood, no cuts, no scrapes, nothing on my person or me or my clothing,” Tiedjen said.