Featured Image Credit: Netflix / Frederick Police Department
Topics: US News, True Crime
Callum Jones
The horrifying text convicted murderer Chris Watts sent his mistress just hours after he committed his heinous has resurfaced, and it's truly chilling.
In 2018, Chris Watts appeared to be a devastated and lost father as he appealed for help when his pregnant wife and two young daughters suddenly vanished.
As Watts appeared in nationwide TV interviews, he looked shocked as to where wife Shannan and daughters Bella and Cece had disappeared too.
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But in fact, it was all calculated.
Watts strangled his 15-week pregnant wife to death before going on to brutally kill the couple's four-year-old and three-year-old daughters.
Watts dumped his two daughters in a crude oil tank while his wife was dumped in a shallow grave.
After they were reported missing, police began a search for the trio but quickly became suspicious of the husband's strangely calm behaviour.
And once their three bodies were discovered within days, police were almost certain Watts had killed him - or at least something to do with the murders - so he was brought in for questioning.
Watts at first was adamant he was not involved in his family's death, but eventually confessed as part of a plea deal to escape the death penalty.
The killer was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2018.
Before the tragic killings, however, the family appeared to have a good family life - with a third baby on the way.
But as revealed in the Netflix documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door, all was not well and the cracks had started to appear.
Shannan had even told one of her friends: “He has changed. I don’t know who he is. He hasn’t touched me all week, kissed me, talked to me except for when I’m trying to figure out what is wrong.”
Well, what had been happening was Watts had started an affair behind his wife's back with colleague Nichol Kessinger, who believed his marriage was over.
It is said that Watts committed the murders so he could start a new life with Kessinger.
Once she saw on the news about Watts' family going missing, Kessinger immediately contacted him.
"I kept asking him ‘What did you do, Chris?’ What did you do?’ I asked ‘were your family?'," she said.
Kessinger knew she had to end the relationship, so she sent the murderer one final text, saying: "If you did anything bad, you’re going to ruin your life and you’re going to ruin my life, I promise you that."
The reply written by Watts simply read: "I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky."
Watts will send the rest of his days behind bars, as there is no option for parole.