Teen vows she will marry man she met on MySpace

Katherine Lester, the 17-year-old (she had a birthday this past week), Michigan teen who flew to Jordan on her way to the West Bank to meet a man she met on MySpace has said she and 20-year-old Abdullah Jimzawi will be together someday and that they will marry.

Lester, her father, Terry and stepmother, Krista, were interviewed on "Good Morning America" on Friday. "I love him very much," Katherine said in reference to Abdullah. In a taped segment that aired as part of the interview, Abdullah says that he and Katherine "can't live without each other" and that he's willing to wait forever if necessary for the two of them to be together. In response, Katherine got very weepy and said "It's true ... I love you. That's all I can say." They have resumed communicating online since Katherine returned home to the United States.

Terry Lester says he doesn't blame MySpace for the situation with his daughter, rather he believes the cause is a lack of communication between he and his daughter and he and his
ex-wife, with whom he shares joint custody. Lester has allowed Katherine to resume her online conversations with Abdullah, but he now monitors them.

"Our initial reaction was to isolate her, to lock her up and just keep her safe here in America," Terry Lester says. "But that's unrealistic because you can see the love they have for each other." He feels that if he tries to end the relationship, Katherine will lose confidence in him and when she turns 18 in a year, she will leave the country to be with Abdullah. Lester is also encouraging Katherine to undergo counseling and to research the Middle East and its religion. When asked if she planned to convert to Islam as Abdullah has stated she intended, she declined to answer, saying she isn't sure yet. She added that she plans for Abdullah to come to the United States rather than her traveling to meet him.

And to confirm this story is making its various players famous: Katherine has her own entry on Wikipedia.