Featured Image Credit: RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Topics: Crime, US News, True Crime
Gregory Robinson
Topics: Crime, US News, True Crime
Despite being a convicted murderer, Chris Watts has a number of pen pals - most of whom seem to be female who all believe he’s innocent.
Father-of-two and husband Watts, now 38, is serving five life sentences after confessing to the murders of his wife Shanann - who was pregnant with their third child - and their two daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three.
Watts, who initially appeared on TV begging the public to share information about his wife and children who were believed to be missing before he confessed, agreed to a plea deal to avoid a possible death penalty conviction.
Advert
Five years on from killing his family on 13 August, 2018, Watts now works as a custodian at Dodge Correctional Institute according to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (WDOC) who told Inside Edition that Watts mostly keeps to himself.
The WDOC decided to transfer Watts out of the state prison system following a security incident a month into his sentence, which is why he’s now at Dodge Correctional Institute.
When he’s not working as a custodian, he spends time keeping in contact with a number of pen pals.
The women who write letters to the convicted murderer claim he’s innocent of his crimes, even though he admitted to the murders. He even shared the gruesome details of taking the lives of his wife, children and their unborn son with one of his pen pals.
In 2021, Cheryln Cadle spoke to Inside Edition about the shocking details she learned about the case, explaining how Watts’ eyes would turn ‘black’ when he spoke about the killings.
After exchanging letters with Watts, Cadle went to visit him behind bars, which she called ‘surreal’.
“At times, when he would talk about the murders, his eyes would turn so black. He just would get a different look on his face, and he talked about it so nonchalantly, like going down to get a cup of coffee,” Cadle told Inside Edition.
Watts told Cadle he planned the murders for weeks and he had secretly given Shanann OxyContin to end her pregnancy.
“He talked about it so nonchalantly, like going down to get a cup of coffee,” Cadle recalled.
She later published a book, The Murders of Chris Watts, where she included Watts’ letters detailing his failed initial attempt to kill his daughters.
The twisted killer tried to smother his daughters before murdering his wife, whose 'eyes filled with blood' and her face got 'all black with streaks of mascara'.
Watts wrote: "August 13, morning of, I went to the girls' room first, before Shanann and I had our argument. I went to Bella's room, then Cece's room and used a pillow from their bed [to kill them].
"That's why the cause of death was smothering. After I left Cece's room, then I climbed back in bed with Shanann and our argument ensued."
After failing to take his daughters' lives, they woke back up before following him around as he was in the process of disposing of their pregnant mother's body.
He said: "After Shannan had passed, Bella and Cece woke back up. I'm not sure how they woke back up, but they did.
"Bella's eyes were bruised and both girls looked like they had been through trauma."
He then successfully killed the toddlers, explaining that 'Bella is the only one that put up a fight' as 'she knew I was killing her'.
He then disposed of all three bodies as he planned to start a new life with his secret lover, Nicole Kessinger, which was detailed in a Netflix documentary about the crimes titled American Murder: The Family Next Door.