Killer dad Chris Watts has struck up a prison friendship with Jayme Closs’ kidnapper Jake Patterson after bonding with him over Bible studies, according to an upcoming book about the triple murderer obtained by DailyMail.com exclusively.
Watts is serving three life sentences for the July 2018 killings of his pregnant wife Shanann, 34, and their daughters: Bella, four, and Celeste, three, at their home in Frederick, Colorado.
He is currently locked up at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he is believed to be working in the kitchens, according to new book The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder by John Glatt.
The book, which will be published by St Martin’s Publishing Group on July 21, also reveals that Watts’ jail cell is plastered with photos of his dead family and he still writes letters to his murdered daughters Bella and Celeste – and has his parents read them over the children’s grave.
In one, he even describes himself as youngest daughter Celeste’s ‘safe haven’ and refers to the child as ‘Daddy’s girl’, as well as telling her that he misses her.
Chris Watts is serving three life sentences for the July 2018 killings of his pregnant wife Shanann, 34, and their two daughters. He has struck up a prison friendship with Jayme Closs’ kidnapper Jake Patterson after bonding with him over Bible studies
DailyMail.com can reveal that Watts still writes letters to his murdered daughters Bella and Celeste and has his parents read them out over the children’s grave
Patterson, 23, is serving two life sentences for the slayings of James and Denise Closs at their home in Barron, Wisconsin in October 2018 and for kidnapping their daughter Jayme, now 15
Watts has photos of the girls lining his cell, as well as snaps of wife Shanann who he had planned to dump for his mistress of two months Nichol Kessinger, 33, before deciding to kill her instead.
According to The Perfect Father, Watts met double murderer Patterson when they were placed in neighboring cells shortly after he arrived at the Wisconsin jail in December 2018.
Patterson is seen grappling with another inmate. The pair eventually became so close, Watts would step in to calm Patterson
Patterson, 23, is serving two life sentences for the slayings of James and Denise Closs at their home in Barron, Wisconsin in October 2018 and for kidnapping their daughter Jayme, now 15.
The pair eventually became so close, Watts would even step in to calm Patterson – who was captured on camera fighting another inmate at a New Mexico jail to which he transferred last summer – when other inmates yelled abuse at them.
Speaking to author John Glatt for The Perfect Father, Watts’ mother Cindy said: ‘When they’d go out for rec, other prisoners would start yelling at them and Patterson would start yelling things back.
‘Christopher told him, ”Don’t do that. Just calm down.”’
She also revealed that Watts would read Patterson passages from the Bible every evening and that the two would spend hours discussing them.
According to Cindy, Watts has decorated his cell with pictures of the wife and daughters he murdered and ‘talks’ to them every night.
She also told how he sends letters for his daughters to his parents to read out at their burial place in Aberdeen, North Carolina.
Cindy said: ‘We go to the gravesite and read them out. They’re beautiful letters that brought tears to my eyes.
‘I never knew my son [because] he never expressed emotions. It was hard for him to verbalize, but he can write it down on paper.’
According to Watts’ mother Cindy, Watts has decorated his cell with pictures of the wife and daughters he murdered and ‘talks’ to them every night
According to new book The Perfect Father by author John Glatt, Watts met double murderer Patterson when they were placed in neighboring cells shortly after he arrived at the Wisconsin jail in December 2018
Watts also sends letters on the two girls’ birthdays, including one written for what would have been Celeste’s fourth birthday on July 17, 2019.
In it, he refers to the toddler as ‘Super Girl’ and creepily refers to himself as her ‘safe haven’ – despite smothering her to death and hiding her body in an oil tank.
Watts reminisces about how the little girl would fly ‘into my arms with the biggest smile on your face’.
He wrote: ‘Hey Super girl. Happy Birthday. Four years old today. I have a picture of you at Bella’s second birthday party and you were so tiny.
‘I could tell by your expression you wanted to be splashing around like your sister. Ironically, I have another picture of you the next summer in the neighborhood pool flying into my arms with the biggest smile on your face.
‘You were always flying around so the nickname Super Girl seemed to fit nicely.’
He goes on to talk about how she would follow him around and was always in his arms or holding his hand.
Watts wrote: ‘Every picture I have you are in my arms or on my lap or holding my hand.
‘It doesn’t matter what you were doing or what you were playing with, you would drop everything and dart across the room and tackle my leg.
‘I would pick you up and your head would instantly go on my shoulder. I was your safe haven.’
He also described how the little girl loved reading books and said he would read all her books to her ‘a million times over if it meant being able to see you again’.
He finishes by telling his daughter he misses her and sends his love to both of his daughters, their unborn brother Nico and their mother Shanann.
Watts sends letters on his two daughters’ birthdays, including one written for what would have been Celeste’s fourth birthday on July 17, 2019
Watts had planned to dump his wife Shanann for his mistress of two months Nichol Kessinger, 33, (pictured) before deciding to kill her instead
He wrote: ‘You’re in a place of pure joy and pure love that brings me comfort. I miss you so much CeCe.
‘Tell Bella, Nico and Mommy that I love them and miss them so much. I know you hear me talk to all of you every day and that brings a smile to my face.
‘I love you all to the moon and back, always and forever. Love Daddy.’
Watts pleaded guilty to the murders of Shannan, Bella and Celeste on November 6, 2018 after spending months denying he killed the girls and initially feigning concern after being told his family had vanished.
After he was jailed, it emerged that he had been having a two-month affair with co-worker Kessinger in the lead-up to the killing of his family and had planned a new life with her.
She has always claimed she had no idea of what he was planning and has insisted she believed Watts and Shanann had separated before they began their affair.
Watts had hidden the affair from his wife by installing a secret calculator app on his iPhone which he used to store semi-naked pictures of his mistress, who has now left Colorado and is living under an assumed name.
After he was convicted and jailed, Watts made a full confession in which he described how he had strangled Shanann for ‘two to four minutes’ before she died.
Watts is currently locked up at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he is believed to be working in the kitchens
Shanann, who was 15 weeks pregnant, miscarried their son Nico as she was being murdered and the baby boy was buried by Watts in the same shallow grave as his mother.
He also described how he killed the two girls: smothering them in the back of his truck next to the oil tanks where he disposed of the bodies.
According to his confession, Celeste died first – as Bella looked on.
Heartbreakingly, he revealed that four-year-old Bella asked him if she too would be killed and screamed ‘No Daddy!’ as she fought for her life.
Watts later changed his story for a third time in letters written to a prison pen pal called Cheryln Cadle who turned them into a book called Letters from Christopher.
In the letters, which were first revealed by DailyMail.com in October, Watts claimed to have smothered the girls before killing their mother but, in a gruesome twist, said they woke up as he was burying Shanann.
He said he then smothered both girls for a second time before forcing their bodies into two oil tanks.