Despite serving a life sentence for murdering his wife and daughters, Chris Watts is reportedly receiving dozens of racy love letters from women across the United States.
The once-doting dad made international headlines following the disturbing 2018 murder of his pregnant wife Shanann and their two young daughters, Bella and Celeste - whose bodies were found in a remote oilfield in Colorado where Watts had been working.
Initially, Watts had reported Shanann and the children missing on Monday, August 13 2018 - giving a series of television interviews begging the public with any information on their whereabouts to contact the local authorities in Colorado, where the family was living.
Just three days later, on August 16, Shanann's body was found at the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation - an oil and gas facility where Watts had been working. She had been strangled by her husband. The bodies of Celeste and Bella were located in an oil tank close by, with investigators revealing that they'd been smothered by their father, PEOPLE detailed.
As more details came to light, it was discovered that Watts had been having an affair with a colleague. He also tried to pin the murders of the couple's children on Shanann, and claimed that he only killed her out of rage. However, after seeing the evidence the jury did not agree with this, and Watts was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility for parole for the shocking murders.
This hasn't seemed to deter any potential admirers, though, as it is reported that Watts is receiving dozens of love letters from women across the country - despite his callous crimes.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the convicted killer has been sent "racy love letters" from numerous admirers, including one that read: "In my heart I know you are a great guy. If you do write me back I'd be the happiest girl alive that's for sure."
While another woman sent a note saying that she was "thinking a lot about you," along with an image of herself in a bikini inside the envelope. Someone else revealed they felt a "connection" to Watts in yet another letter.
Other prominent serial killers - such as Richard Ramirez and Ted Bundy - had also been the recipients of erotic and racy love letters from women who felt a sexual attraction to them.
Psychology Today refers to this sexual attraction to serial killers as hybristophilia (also referred to as Bonnie and Clyde Syndrome). A person with hybristophilia is described as someone who "derives sexual arousal and pleasure from having a sexual partner who is known to have committed an outrage or crime, such as rape, murder, or armed robbery."
In 2016, Vice interviewed a young woman who revealed that she had a sexual attraction to serial killers, stating: "I'm sexually attracted to people who have committed violent crimes. I think my favorites are the ones who were into necrophilia.
"I was watching a documentary about Dahmer and I thought he was attractive, even though he was gay. It took me a while to realize I actually liked him because he killed and ate people."
Another Psychology Today article gave reasons why women wish to form relationships with - and even marry - serial killers. "Some believe they can change a man as cruel and powerful as a serial killer. Others 'see' the little boy that the killer once was and seek to nurture him," it read.
"Some mental health experts have compared infatuation with killers to extreme forms of fanaticism. They view such women as insecure females who cannot find love in normal ways or as 'love-avoidant' females who seek romantic relationships that cannot be consummated. Yet while this might be true in some cases, several devotees have been strikingly beautiful, educated and even married. A few have been lawyers, psychologists or judges," the article goes on to explain, per the New Zealand Herald.
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