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“I’m working on getting out of here,” he tells a cousin. “I owe you some driving lessons, and a trip to Jamaica ;))”

Millard wrote the letters from June 2013 through March 2014. Copies were provided by a source requesting anonymity. They were authenticated by people who know Millard, the CEO of the family firm MillardAir Ltd., recognized his distinctive doodles and were able to verify his handwriting.

They show signs that their author learned to write in French, as Millard did at the private Toronto French School. These include the use of the French numeral 7 and the failure to capitalize Tuesday (days of the week are not capitalized in French). The letters describe incidents — such as being forced to move cells — that Millard has also recounted to his visitors in jail.

The words are those of someone who is simultaneously manipulative and naive.

Writing in 2013, while he’s still being actively investigated for the murders of Babcock and his father, he’s surprised to learn that his correspondence and visits are monitored by prison officials. After one of his letters leaks on the internet, he agrees to route his mail back and forth via his lawyer.

“My mum worries about me writing ‘the letter leaker’,” Millard wrote. “I do have a history of trusting too easily, which is, without doubt, a cause of problems for me.”

Yet despite this professed trust in others, Millard expresses suspicions that his lawyer may not be passing on his letters. He goes against the wishes of his uncle and tries to finagle a visit from his 18-year-old cousin. “I would really like to know what’s going on with her,” he tells a friend.