Killer dad Chris Watts has been spending his time in a Wisconsin maximum-security prison working as a custodian while exchanging letters with female pen pals.
On August 13, 2018, Watts strangled his wife Shanann – who was 15 weeks pregnant with their son – inside the couple’s Frederick, Colorado, home. He later smothered their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
The 36-year-old is serving serving five life sentences plus 48 years in prison without the possibility of parole at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin.
Not only does Watts work as a custodian, he maintains active correspondence with several women, many of whom believe he’s innocent, according to Inside Edition.
‘In my <3 you’re a great guy,’ writes Candace. ‘If you do write me back, I’d be the happiest girl alive, that’s for sure.’ She punctuated the note with ‘#TEAMCHRIS,’ ‘#CHRISISINNOCENT,’ ‘#ILOVEHIM’ and ‘#TOOCUTE.’
Convicted murderer Chris Watts – currently serving serving serving five life sentences plus 48 years in prison without the possibility of parole – now works as a custodian while trading details of his killings with female pen pals
Watts was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife Shanann and their two daughters Bella and Celeste in 2018
‘In my <3 you’re a great guy,’ writes Candace. ‘If you do write me back, I’d be the happiest girl alive, that’s for sure.’ She punctuated the note with ‘#TEAMCHRIS,’ ‘#CHRISISINNOCENT,’ ‘#ILOVEHIM’ and ‘#TOOCUTE’
In just a few weeks in prison, Watts received close to 60 letters from complete strangers that expressed both love and hatred for the murderer.
Tatiana writes: ‘I found myself thinking a lot about you,’ in addition to a photograph of herself in a bikini.
Kim told Watts she was ‘hoping to brighten your days’ while Hannah said ‘I feel this connection to you.’
Women have written Watts in the past, with the killer even sharing the gory details of the murders.
Cherlyn Cadle appeared in a new episode of Lifetime’s Cellmate Secrets to share personal details from letters she exchanged with Watts.
Cadle, a Midwest author and grandmother of 12, asserted that the murders were premeditated based on what he’d told her from behind bars.
‘He told me he would daydream about killing Shanann,’ Cadle said. ‘She would be yelling at him or be upset about something and he wouldn’t fight back, but he would just stand there and just daydream about what it would be like to kill her.’
Cadle told Fox News she wrote to Watts in prison after watching his first interview on TV.
In just a few weeks in prison, Watts received close to 60 letters from complete strangers that expressed both love and hatred for the murderer
Kim told Watts she was ‘hoping to brighten your days’ while Hannah said ‘I feel this connection to you’
Many of the women sighned their letters with hearts and x’s and o’s
Cherlyn Cadle, 67, (left) appeared in a new episode of Lifetime’s Cellmate Secrets to share personal details from letters she exchanged with family killer Chris Watts (right)
Cadle wrote her first letter to Watts in February 2019. In a matter-of-fact tone, she laid out her intentions to write a book, saying she had never been in doubt of his guilt. Eventually they built up a correspondence, with Watts telling her about his life and the murders. Pictured: Watts writing to Cadle in April 2019
‘When I saw his first interview, I don’t know, I looked at him that morning and I just felt something really spoke to me,’ she said. ‘It was like a calling for me to contact him and see if he would share his story with me.’
‘I knew he was guilty. You could tell by the way he was talking, the body language,’ Cadle added. ‘But it was just one of those things where I really felt like I was supposed to do it.’
Watts eventually replied to Cadle after her third letter at the beginning of 2019.
‘He was receptive from the very beginning,’ Cadle recalled. ‘He said that God told him to respond. I think because I was a mother and grandmother, he didn’t feel any kind of threat.’
When Watts sent her a 12-page letter outlining details of each murder, Cadle immediately grew emotional.
‘I just broke down and started bawling,’ Cadle admits. ‘I cried and cried. I just couldn’t believe what he did to those girls… It was a real shock to read his letter.’
‘I knew in my heart right then and there that this was the real and true confession. He said it was planned right away,’ she added. ‘It was premeditated. And he wanted to clear the slate. He wanted to start over. He didn’t want to bring any baggage into the new relationship. And there was a good-sized insurance policy… It changed everything for me.’
Calde also mentioned that Watts was already getting a ‘lot of fan mail from women who were sending him pictures of themselves in bikinis’ who stated their love for him.
Watts strangled Shannan and put her body and their two daughters in his truck and drove to isolated oil storage tanks owned by Anadarko. Above, in court three days after the murders
After exchanging multiple letters and speaking to him on the phone several times a week, Cadle agreed to meet Watts in prison.
‘I hate to even admit this because he is a murderer and what he did is so horrendous, but when I first met him, he had this boyish demeanor,’ she said. ‘He was gentle, soft-spoken and just appeared as a nice guy. And he remained that way throughout our communications. That changed when he started talking about the murders.’
It does not appear that Watts wrote back to any of the other women based on follow-up notes from a few of the senders, who often included more photos and expressed their love for the felon and belief that he was innocent of all crimes.
Watts killed Shannan after she came home from a business trip to Arizona in 2018.
He strangled her in bed and then put her body and their two daughters in his truck and drove to isolated oil storage tanks owned by Anadarko Petroleum, where he worked.
He buried his wife in a shallow grave and then smothered his two daughters and placed their bodies inside the storage tanks.
For two days Watts claimed that he had nothing to do with his family’s disappearance and went on television to plead for them to come home.
After his arrest he initially claimed that Shanann had killed the girls after he had told her he wanted a separation, and then he had strangled her in anger.
At his trial, he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, which has since been abolished in Colorado.
He is serving five life sentences plus 48 years in prison without the possibility of parole at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin.
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