In the Summer of 1986, Mark Gerardot first laid eyes upon Jennair Cox, the woman who would eventually become his wife. They were both teenagers at the time and Jennaire worked at a Taco Bell in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Mark said he was immediately smitten from the moment they met and commented how her "beautiful blue eyes and big smile" had taken his breath away.

Due to Mark's crippling shyness around Jennair, their romance didn't begin until four years later after he ran into her again and found out that she was working at a nearby mall. He began to visit her regularly, and one day, it would be Jennair that had pressed him to make a move, asking when he was going to take her out.

It was this directness that drew Mark to Jennair. She was confident and unafraid to speak her mind, the exact opposite to Mark and everything that he wished he could be, he seen in Jennair.

The two married a few years later on Oct. 23, 1993. He was 25 and she was 23, and together the two would cement a bond that began in adolescence and carried them into adulthood. The two thought that they had found the person that they would remain with forever.

The pair maintained a strong marriage, but when the 2008 financial crisis struck, Mark would later be quoted as say that it "changed everything for us". Money had frequently been a concern and a source of stress for the couple and the two would often find that this was the main source of most of their arguments.

In November 2011, the two moved to Greenville, South Carolina, where they had both found new jobs in marketing. With the new environment, Mark Gerardot said they experienced somewhat of a "renaissance" for their marriage, frequently exploring the state's scenic mountains and beaches, which had brought them closer than ever.

All was well for the next few years, but in 2017, their renewed life in South Carolina came to a standstill.

Jennair Gerardot had been let go from her job and was having difficulty finding a new one. She lost confidence in herself and was becoming a mere shadow of the woman she had once been. It was around this time, that couple decided once again that it was time to search for new opportunities — and a new start — somewhere else.

Eventually deciding that Delaware would be their new home, Mark began his search for a new job; he saw that the University of Delaware was hiring a creative director in its marketing department. If successful, he would be the supervisor. Mark sent an email, applying for the role and received an instant message back from a lady 15 years his junior, who would be his new boss, offering him an interview. This would be Mark Gerardot's first encounter with Meredith Chapman.

Despite her young age, 33 year old Meredith was highly successful and was working as senior director for marketing at the University. Meredith, a native of Pennsylvania, graduated from the University of Delaware with a Bachelor's degree in communication and a Master's degree in education. She was also married to a man called Luke; a former Newark city councilman. The pair had married in 2009 and lived in Fairfield Crest, Delaware, with their dog Indy.

Upon attending his interview, Mark found that he was instantly encaptivated by Meredith; not only her beauty but her pure brilliance, stating "When I sat across the desk from her, within five minutes, I didn't say it out loud, but I said, 'I've got to work for this person'".

"She was so articulate and so energetic and passionate about the job and accomplished at her age to be in the position that she was in. I was dumbfounded."

It seems that Meredith was just as impressed with Mark because she immediately offered him the job, to which he gratefully accepted and in November of 2017, Mark moved to Wilmington, Delaware, while his wife remained at their former address in South Carolina for a month-and-a-half as she arranged for their home to be rented out.

Mark was excited not only to be moving north but also to see growth in his career. He didn't anticipate that this would also be the beginning of the end of his marriage.

Mark spent his first 45 days living alone in Delaware. During that time, he said he got to know Meredith well. It seemed that the two had a lot in common and one day, she had asked him out for a drink.

Recalling the events of that night, Mark said that it was easy to talk to Meredith and before they had gone home, he had told her about losing his parents and his brother. He also spoke about his marriage to Jennair.

Mark didn't know what was happening, stating that he knew it felt amazing to be around Meredith and he was becoming confused with his feelings. That was until, the pair once again went out, this time on a dinner date. Mark said the issues with his marriage also came into focus when he was with Meredith.

It was at this time that Mark began to compare Meredith to that of his wife, stating of how Meredith began to tell him that he was good at what he does and how wonderful a man he was, something he said he had never heard from his wife's lips. Mark was becoming smitten saying "That just made an impression on me. Here's this woman who I think is amazing saying that she thinks I'm a wonderful man."

It would be just 4 weeks after first meeting, that the pair had kissed for the first time. Mark said that whilst the energy was certainly there, he immediately felt awful for betraying his wife and claims to have told Meredith that "whatever was about to happen" couldn't, because he cared for his wife.

However, he soon realized that he also couldn't give up on the feelings he was developing for Meredith, who he said had told him she was nine years into an unhappy marriage herself. Mark later backtracked and said that shutting things down between him and Meredith just didnt feel right and instead he had to atleast find out what it was that drew them together.

Before Jennair Gerardot had even made it to Delaware, her husband and Meredith had now already expressed their love for each other.

When Jennair moved north that December, Mark said she could sense he was distant, and it wasn't long before she confronted him about her suspicions that there could be another woman. With Mark denying any affair, Jennair out right asked if it was Meredith after Mark had mentioned her name several times when speaking about his new job. Once more, Mark continued to deny any wrong doings; but Jennair would not let it go.

Now aware that something was off with Mark, Jennair began to keep tabs on her husband. However it didn't take long for Mark to notice that Jennair mysteriously began to know things about him and Meredith and he couldn't understand how she knew them. Now nearing Valentine's day of 2018, Jennair finally received the confirmation she'd been looking for.

But her husband's admission of an affair came at the cost of her own — she admitted to her husband that she had hired a company to gain access to his phone, allowing her to read his texts, and see his photos and records of calls he had exchanged with Meredith. Mark knew that he could not keep up with the lie any longer and admitted the truth to Jennair; that he had indeed fallen for Meredith.

Devastated, but refusing to simply give up her husband, Jennair asked Mark to attend marriage counselling; he told her that he would attend; however on the day of their second session, as Mark put on his jacket, he felt something bulging in the lining of the material. Although he initially believed it to be nothing more than an anti-theft device that had been left inside, he decided to cut the jacket open and what he discovered, a recording device.

Furious, Mark confronted his wife who innocently claimed that she just wanted to to understand the degree to which Meredith and Mark were in the relationship. Mark said that Meredith was determined there was a plan between him and Meredith, and she was trying to listen to what that plan was.

From that moment on, the relationship between Mark and Jennair Gerardot would fall apart at an accelerated pace. Mark eventually told his wife that he planned on filing for divorce in May, once he had met Delaware's residency requirements and could move out of their shared home.

Meanwhile, things were going particularly well for Meredith Chapman, who had been offered a new job as the as assistant vice president at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. She and her husband were also getting divorced so that she could continue to pursue her new relationship with Mark and they could finally be together.

As Meredith and Mark's relationship continued to grow, Jennair began to see divorce coach Sheila Brennan, who said she had a lot of resentment and anger about "being tossed away" and "being traded in" for a younger woman.

Brennan said her client also had a lot of "fears about being left financially" since she had just moved north and still hadn't found a job one year after losing her last one. Things for Jennair, seemed to go from bad to worse and eventually this had taken a toll on her mental health. At one point, Jennair even threatened to her husband that she would jump out of the window. He recommended that she see a psychiatrist and asked her to also seek support from her friends and family. Jennair took this advice and he said that she seemed to become more accepting of the upcoming divorce.

One day, Jennair approached her husband with a list of requests for the weeks leading up to him officially moving out, Mark believed that they had gotten through the worst of things; but little did he know, that this was far from the truth and the worst was still yet to come.

At this time however, it seems as though whilst Mark had believed Jennair was coping better due to acceptance of the situation, in reality, she was desperately clinging on to the hope that she could win Mark back again and among the many items on her list: going on hikes, having dinner and generally spending some time together, would hopefully do this.

Mark agreed to play along with Jennair's requests, stating "It was odd, but I'm trying to land this thing so she's in a good place, If this was what she needed, then I was going to do that."

Believing that he was helping to Jennair to gain closure of their relationship, Jennair was actually getting her hopes up that this was bringing her and Mark closer together again.

Jennair also began posting on the neighborhood app NextDoor asking for recommendations for 'an EXCELLENT marriage counselor for couple on brink of divorce.' She went on, writing: 'We will need someone who is very educated and experienced dealing with couples issues including infidelity, depression, traumatic experiences, child/parent dynamics, being accountable for actions, etc.'

On the night of April 23, 2018, Mark and Jennair Gereardot were supposed to meet for dinner as per Jennair's request to continue to spend time together.

However, in a series of text messages, Jennair told her husband, who was already at the restaurant, that she was running late before she sent another one telling him to go home because she wouldn't make it. Minutes later as Mark got up to leave, he received a picture from Jennair. The picture showed an emptied trashbag with a condom in the middle, followed by another text from Jennair that read "You ruined my life."

Mark knew immediately that his wife was sifting through Meredith's trash can outside of the home that she had lived in for merely a week. He said the next two messages from Jennair read, "I hope you find never happiness" and "Bye, Mark."

Fearing for Meredith's safety and afraid of what his wife might do, Mark tried to call Meredith and text her multiple times, all forms of communication however, went unanswered. He rushed to Meredith's home, expecting to find a confrontation between the two, but when he arrived, he found something worse than he could have ever imagined.

Laying facedown on her kitchen floor with a pool of blood forming around her head, Meredith lay lifeless. Nearby, he found his wife's body also laying on the floor.

Less than two hours before her death, Meredith had gushed on her Instagram account about her new position at Villanova, writing that she 'couldn't be more excited.' Later that evening, Meredith arrived at her new home on Lowry Lane in Radnor Township, parked her Audi in the driveway, opened the door and walked straight inisde, completely oblivious to the fact that Jennair had broken in and was lying in wait.

Tim Mulvey, one of Meredith's neighbours, was there when Mark arrived at the house. He said that he had heard the commotion and that he went out to see what had happened. Mark Gerardot said he told Mulvey to call 911.

Mark Gerardot, who Police Chief Christopher Flanagan said seemed to be hyperventilating, was placed into the back of an ambulance before he was brought to the police station as a suspect in the crime. After questioning him and finding the gun used in the two deaths underneath Jennair Gerardot's body, the police determined that she had broken into Meredith's home before murdering her and then killing herself.

One day after the murder-suicide, police received a tip from a person who said they had seen a woman in a trench coat, hat, sunglasses and a possible wig scoping out the house with binoculars. Police had also collected a set of car keys from the crime scene, which they determined belonged to a Cadillac that Jennair Gerardot had rented.

Mark Gerardot said he continued to dig. He poured over his wife's bank statements, phone records and her computer backup and found that "she was living a double life".

After her husband admitted to the affair just after Valentine's Day, Jennair he opened up a secret bank account and credit cards. She used the credit cards to purchase the audio surveillance equipment, as well as a lock-picking kit, computer hacking software and DNA testing kits for his clothes. She even bought sophisticated GPS tracking systems and attached them to both Mark and Meredith's cars.

Mark went on to state "I think there were over 400 images of private conversations that Meredith and I had via text and via Snapchat, and she would actually, in the middle of the night, get access to my phone," Mark Gerardot said. "My best guess as to how she gained access? I was sleeping on the couch. She'd put my thumb onto the thumb reader."

Jennair Gerardot bought the gun that she would use in the murder-suicide on March 20, 2018, five weeks before she committed the crime. Mark said that her credit card statements showed she had practiced shooting the gun three times at a firing range.

He said the audio recording device that he found in his jacket wasn't the only one that his wife used, either. He said she had planted multiple devices in his clothes and that he found files containing hundreds of hours of audio that his wife had recorded, even transcribing the audio into notebooks.

He said "She took all my jackets and had a multitude of devices that she was cycling in and out."

"Every day, she would take it back out and then sew it back in, download it and back and forth. She had done that for weeks."

It came to light that on the night Jennair killed Meredith and herself, she emailed a letter to members of her family explaining her motive "to a very chilling degree."

"She had started the letter weeks before, and she dated her entries. Also writing of how this was payback and quoting "That's as simple as it gets."

In a televised TV interview with presenter Dr Oz, Mark revealed how his wife left a 15-page letter stating how she would have killed him too had he walked in on the crime.

In the years since the events, Mark Gerardot said that he wishes he handled the breakup with his wife differently.

"I broke her heart and more than anything, [out] of all of this, my regret comes back to breaking her heart and making her feel like she had no other choice," he said. "I wish I wouldn't have hurt her because I loved her. I still love her. I wish I could take it back."

But he is also trying to move forward. He said he has driven past Meredith's home several times and that doing so has helped him come to terms with what happened so that he can let it go.

Mark Gerardot has since published a book about the incident.

He said that his hope for people reading it will be to learn from his mistakes. Many have questioned Mark's sincerity and have accused him of trying to profit from a tragedy. Mark has rejected these claims and has claimed that any royalties from the book will be donated to a charitable organization that supports suicide prevention.