More than six years after committing one of the most infamous family murders in recent American history, Chris Watts is still trying to reshape how the world sees him. The 40-year-old killer, who is serving a life sentence in Wisconsin, has been writing to a female pen pal from behind bars and in those letters, he insists that he is “a new man” and “forgiven” by God. The disturbing correspondence offers a window into the warped self-image of a man whose crimes horrified the nation.
In the handwritten notes, obtained by the Daily Mail, Watts describes himself as a “new creature,” citing scripture as proof of his supposed transformation. He portrays his time in prison as a spiritual rebirth, claiming that he no longer identifies with the man who murdered his entire family in 2018.
“I have confessed my sins. I am forgiven,” he wrote, before admitting that the greatest challenge has been learning to forgive himself. For Watts, religion has become a shield against the reality of what he did, even as the rest of the world remembers the brutal truth.
Only after presenting himself as reformed does Watts acknowledge the crimes that led him to prison. On August 13, 2018, he strangled his pregnant wife, Shanann, inside their Colorado home. She was 34 years old and 15 weeks along with their third child. Hours later, he turned on their daughters (4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste) suffocating them before disposing of their small bodies in oil tanks near his worksite, as previously reported. Investigators later concluded that Watts carried out the murders to start a new life with his mistress, whom he has continued to reference from prison.
Even now, Watts shifts some of the blame onto her. In his recent letters, he described the woman he was having an affair with, Nichol Kessinger, as a “Jezebel” and a “harlot” who “led me astray.” He accused her of speaking “sweet words of destruction” and clouding his judgment, while also claiming that it was ultimately his weakness that allowed him to carry out the killings. Kessinger, who briefly dated Watts in the months before the murders, has never been implicated in the case.
For all his claims of redemption, Watts’ words ring hollow to many who followed the case, and his letters serve as a chilling reminder that even behind bars, the man responsible for such unimaginable violence continues to cast himself as both villain and victim.