Dagmar Polzin first saw the man of her dreams in a Benetton fashion ad. Her last vision of him could come this month, through the window of an execution chamber.
Polzin, 32, spotted Bobby Lee Harris in late 1999 on a Hamburg, Germany, bus stop ad. The Italian clothing company used pictures of seven North Carolina death row inmates as part of a controversial ad campaign.
Polzin said she immediately had an instinct about Harris.
'I knew he wasn't a killer. I could see it in the eyes,' she said.
By September, she had visited Harris in prison. By October, she moved to North Carolina to be near him.
Polzin and Harris, 34, have asked for permission to marry, a decision that ultimately rests with the prison warden. Time is precious because Harris is scheduled to die Jan. 19 for the 1991 stabbing death of an Onslow County fisherman - a crime to which he has confessed.
Polzin visits Harris once a week. They have never touched.
In an interview in The Herald-Sun, Harris said would approach death 'like a man.'
The state Supreme Court upheld the death sentence after Harris confessed to stabbing fisherman John Redd three times in the back and dumping his body over the side of a boat.
Harris' lawyers said clemency is their primary hope to spare his life. No appeals have been filed.
Gov.-elect Mike Easley will be asked to stop the execution after he is sworn in this weekend, said defense lawyer Mark Edwards.
Edwards will argue that Harris' defense was poor because one of his lawyers was suffering from cancer.
Jurors were also not informed that Harris has an IQ in the low 70s. The Legislature is expected to consider a bill this month which would bar execution of people with IQs of 70 or below.
If clemency is not granted, Polzin said she will join Harris' family for a contact visit prior to his lethal injection.
She expects to be in the darkened witness room to watch him die.