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Published 10:29 21 Jun 2026 GMT
A woman who claims she had a secret sexual encounter with convicted family killer Chris Watts has come forward with allegations about a disturbing meeting months before he murdered his pregnant wife and two young daughters.
Per The Daily Mail, the claims are detailed in investigative documents and add another layer to one of America's most notorious murder cases. Watts is currently serving multiple life sentences after admitting to killing his wife, Shanann Watts, and daughters Bella and Celeste in August 2018.
The newly highlighted records also shed light on Shanann's final efforts to save her marriage, as well as previously reported evidence surrounding Watts's affair with co-worker Nichol Kessinger, which became a central focus of the investigation.
According to police records, a Colorado woman named Amanda McMahon told investigators she met Watts through Tinder in February or March 2018, roughly six months before the murders.
McMahon said the pair arranged to meet in a Chick-fil-A parking lot before driving separately to her home. She told detectives that Watts claimed he was separated from his "babies' momma" and said he was not allowed to see his children.
The encounter soon became unsettling, according to her account. McMahon alleged that Watts pulled her hair and wrapped his arms around her neck during sex. She described the experience as a "rape fantasy" and said she pushed him away at one point.
Despite being disturbed by what happened, she told investigators: "No radars went off or anything."
McMahon said she was "99 percent certain" the man was Watts and was able to describe his tattoos and workplace. However, she acknowledged she could not identify him with enough certainty to testify in court.
Watts denied ever meeting McMahon and maintained that his only extramarital affair was with Kessinger.
The files also reveal how investigators discovered a calculator-style app on Watts's phone that concealed photographs, videos and other private material linked to his relationship with Kessinger.
Police found evidence showing the pair exchanged intimate photographs and spent significant time together while Shanann and the children were visiting family in North Carolina during the summer of 2018.
Investigators also reviewed Kessinger's internet search history, which included searches such as "Man I'm having affair with says he will leave his wife" and "marrying your mistress."
According to the records, Kessinger also searched for Shanann Watts's name on September 1, 2017, months before she later said her relationship with Watts began. The documents do not explain why the search was conducted.
After Shanann and her daughters were reported missing, Kessinger searched terms including "Can cops trace text messages" and "How long do phone companies keep text messages." Investigators noted that some of those searches had later been deleted.
Kessinger was never accused of any wrongdoing in the case.
The documents also contain details about Shanann Watts's efforts to repair her marriage during the weeks leading up to her death.
Among the items recovered by investigators was an unopened copy of the relationship book Hold Me Tight, which Shanann had purchased for her husband. Police found it still sealed inside its Amazon box in the family garage after the murders.
Text messages reviewed during the investigation showed Shanann expressing concern about changes in her husband's behavior.
"How many times do I have to ask you to hold me? You hate me that much?" she wrote.
Watts responded: "I don't hate you. I will fix this. It will be better."
Shanann reportedly explored marriage counseling, sought support from friends and organized a planned getaway to Aspen in an effort to reconnect with her husband.
On August 13, 2018, Watts murdered Shanann, who was pregnant with their son Nico, before killing daughters Bella, four, and Celeste, three. He later disposed of their bodies at a remote oil site in Colorado.
After initially denying involvement and appearing in media interviews pleading for his family's return, Watts eventually confessed. In November 2018, he pleaded guilty to multiple murder charges, including the unlawful termination of Shanann's pregnancy and tampering with deceased bodies.
He is serving five life sentences, three of them consecutively.
Published 13:09 08 Jun 2026 GMT
Chris Watts' alleged fetish has been revealed by his former pen pal after he confessed to murdering his wife and two children.
When reports emerged that convicted killer Chris Watts had been pursuing relationships with women while serving a life sentence, author and former pen pal Cherlyn Cadle said she was far from surprised.
Cadle, 72, spent years corresponding with Watts after he was sentenced in 2018 for murdering his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, in a case that shocked the United States.
Like many people, Cadle initially wanted to understand how a man who appeared to be a devoted husband and father could carry out such horrific crimes and then publicly deny responsibility.
What followed was a lengthy correspondence that included hundreds of phone calls, letters, and several books based on their exchanges.
Now, Cadle is opening up about what she says happened during their private conversations, claiming Watts frequently discussed graphic details about his affair with Nichol Kessinger and appeared to enjoy shocking people with the stories.
According to Cadle, their relationship initially felt "motherly," but the tone of their conversations eventually changed.
"He told me dark, sexual things that he did with his mistress," she said. "There were a lot of things you wouldn't tell your mother, but he told me."
Watts was involved in an affair with Kessinger when he killed Shanann, 34, and their daughters Bella, four, and Celeste, three. Cadle claims he often spoke obsessively about the relationship, describing an intense sexual connection.
"He was obsessed by NK," Cadle said. "He talked about her all the time."
She alleges Watts told her he and Kessinger had sex several times a day and regularly engaged in lengthy phone sex conversations. While Cadle declined to repeat many of the details, she said the relationship appeared to play a major role in his mindset before the murders.
"A lot of it is stuff I just won't repeat," she explained. "But his relationship with her was very sexual, very twisted, very mixed up. And that's part of why I believe he did what he did."
The author believes Watts continues to seek attention and validation from women, even while behind bars.
"I think that's just who he is," she said. "He needs that validation."
Looking back on their conversations, Cadle now suspects Watts may have derived satisfaction from sharing disturbing details about both his crimes and his sex life.
"I think there's some sort of fetish there," she said. "To say things to shock people. And he told me, who he saw as a mother figure, those details about different sex acts he did with a woman."
In letters shared with Cadle, Watts repeatedly blamed his affair for setting events in motion.
"If I had not met Nikki, I would never have killed my family," he wrote in one letter.
In another passage, he described how his feelings for Kessinger overwhelmed him in the aftermath of the murders.
"All I could feel was now I was free to be with Nikki. Feelings of my love for her was overcoming me. I felt no remorse."
He continued: "The darkness inside of me had won, it was still in me, though, I thought maybe permanently. I felt evil, swallowed up by this thing inside of me. I felt like I could kill anything and be justified for doing it."
Cadle first contacted Watts in February 2019, around six months after the killings in Frederick, Colorado.
"I thought he was totally guilty and I decided to write him," she recalled. "I didn't ever expect him to write back."
But he did, and the pair eventually exchanged more than 100 phone calls. Cadle even visited Watts at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, where he is serving multiple life sentences.
"He said I was easy to talk to," she said. "In many ways he seemed to think of me as a mother figure.
"I tried not to judge him – at least not to his face, and I listened to whatever it was that he had to say. So he felt he could confide in me."
Over time, however, Cadle said the conversations became increasingly disturbing.
"He confessed, not once, but repeatedly," she said. "He revisited details. He contradicted himself. He rationalized, minimized, and occasionally revealed more than he intended to."
What stood out most to her was what she viewed as a lack of genuine remorse.
"Christopher Watts grieved himself," she said. "That may sound harsh, but it is accurate. He grieved the loss of admiration. The loss of being perceived as a good husband, a good father, a good man."
Watts eventually confessed to strangling Shanann before killing Bella and Celeste at an oil site where he worked. Shanann was buried in a shallow grave, while the girls' bodies were placed inside oil tanks.
According to Cadle, Watts described the murders in chilling detail during their conversations.
Speaking about Celeste, he allegedly said: "I couldn't believe how easy it was to just let her drop through the hole and let her go. I heard the splash as she hit the oil."
He also spoke about Bella's final moments, telling Cadle: "Out of all three, Bella is the only one that put up a fight. I will hear her soft little voice for the rest of my life, saying, 'Daddy, NO!!!'
"She knew what I was doing to her. She may not have understood death, but she knew I was killing her."
One letter from 2019 also saw Watts speculate whether he may have had Asperger's syndrome, writing: "I've never had a psychological exam... the Asperger's symptoms do make a lot of sense and I can match up a bunch of instances in my life that correspond with it.
"It would've been much easier to diagnose me with it when I was 11 years old instead of 33 years old."
Cadle also claimed Watts' mother, Cindy, disapproved of their correspondence.
"She got really ugly about it," Cadle said. "And then we stopped talking as much."
Today, Cadle no longer has contact with Watts, but says the experience left a lasting impression.
Published 13:55 07 Jan 2026 GMT
The horrific murders of Shanann Watts and her two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, sent shockwaves across America.
On August 13, 2018, Chris Watts, 35, committed one of the most shocking family annihilation crimes in modern U.S. history.
After killing his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their daughters, Bella and Celeste, he disposed of their bodies at an oil site where he worked, all while publicly pretending to be a distraught husband.
But behind closed doors, Watts was hiding his affair with a woman named Nichol Kessinger, which ultimately played a role in the deadly acts.
The chilling details of Watts' behavior leading up to the murders have been revealed through various sources, including a new police interview with Nichol Kessinger, his mistress at the time.
In a heartbreaking exchange, Kessinger recounted her final conversation with Watts before she learned the truth about his crimes.
According to Kessinger, she repeatedly asked him where his family was and what had happened. "I kept asking him, ‘What did you do, Chris? What did you do?’ I asked, ‘Where’s your family?’” she recalled.
Kessinger sent him one last message, warning him that his actions would ruin both their lives: “If you did anything bad, you’re going to ruin your life and you’re going to ruin my life. I promise you that.”
Watts' response, "I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky," was the last communication Kessinger received from him. She revealed: “I never said another word to him after that.”
The day after the murders, Watts appeared on television, making a public plea for the return of his wife and children, saying: “Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody.”
His seemingly desperate appeal to the public was a calculated deception, as he had already brutally ended the lives of his family members.
Despite his repeated denials to Kessinger, Watts had already begun to unravel his own dark truths, which ultimately led to his confession.
He later pleaded guilty to nine charges, including murder and the unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and was sentenced to five life terms in prison without the possibility of parole.
While Watts' life behind bars may have seemed like a new chapter for him, disturbing details have surfaced about his behavior and mindset during his imprisonment.
Former cellmate Dylan Tallman, who spent seven months in an adjacent cell to Watts in 2020, has revealed unsettling aspects of Watts' character, particularly his obsession with women.
Tallman explained that Watts’ infatuation with women was a recurring theme even while incarcerated. “He will talk to a girl and she becomes his everything really fast,” Tallman said.
“He becomes obsessed with a woman and she becomes all he can think of - and he’ll do whatever they ask him to do.” Watts would allegedly often spend hours on the phone, writing long letters, and calling women incessantly.
Despite his monstrous past, Watts continued to receive attention from women, many of whom wrote to him in prison. Tallman noted that Watts' obsession with women didn’t stop behind bars.
"A lot of women write him in prison," Tallman added. "He talks to them a lot." In a twisted pattern, Watts' fixation on women reportedly persisted, even after he had already destroyed the lives of his own family.
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Even more disturbing is how Watts attempted to justify his brutal actions by blaming his affair with Nichol Kessinger.
In letters from 2020, Watts referred to Kessinger as a "seductress" who led him astray.
Using Biblical language, he tried to paint her as the root cause of his crimes.
"The words of a harlot have brought me low," Watts wrote in one letter, confessing that Kessinger's “flattering speech was like drops of honey that pierced my heart and soul. Little did I know that all her guests were in the chamber of death.”
Tallman, who described himself as Watts' "spiritual twin," said that Watts' tendency to blame others was evident in his discussions about Kessinger.
Watts sought solace in religion, trying to reconcile his actions with his newfound faith. However, his attempts to excuse his crimes by blaming others seemingly show a lack of true remorse for his actions.
Published 11:29 07 Jan 2026 GMT
Chris Watts, the Colorado man responsible for the brutal murders of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters in 2017, has made headlines once again.
A former cellmate, Dylan Tallman, has opened up about Watts' behavior in prison and some disturbing claims he made regarding his infamous crime. Watts, now 40, is serving a life sentence at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, after pleading guilty to the murders.
Tallman, who spent seven months in an adjacent cell to Watts in 2020, spoke to the Daily Mail about Watts' obsession with women and how he still seems to be driven by his weakness for them. While incarcerated, Watts converted to Christianity, even citing the influence of TV pundit Nancy Grace’s coverage of his case.
Despite this newfound faith, Tallman reveals that Watts hasn't overcome his past demons, claiming that the killer dad blames his actions on a woman he became infatuated with.
Dylan Tallman described Watts as someone who couldn't resist becoming obsessed with any woman who showed him attention. "He will talk to a girl and she becomes his everything really fast," Tallman said. "He becomes obsessed with a woman and she becomes all he can think of - and he'll do whatever they ask him to do."
According to Tallman, Watts would often spend hours talking to women over the phone, writing them long letters, and calling them incessantly.
Many women, Tallman noted, have sent money to Watts through the prison commissary and have become his pen pals. "A lot of women write him in prison," Tallman said. "He talks to them a lot." This behavior suggests that even in prison, Watts remains fixated on finding validation and affection from women, a pattern that seems to tie back to the events that led to his family's tragic deaths.
In letters reviewed by the Daily Mail, Watts is said to have attempted to explain his horrific actions by citing his obsession with Nichol Kessinger, a woman with whom he was having an affair at the time of the murders.
Using Biblical references, Watts reportedly tried to paint Kessinger as a seductress who led him astray. "The words of a harlot have brought me low," Watts wrote in a prayer of confession from March 2020. "Her flattering speech was like drops of honey that pierced my heart and soul. Little did I know that all her guests were in the chamber of death."
Tallman, who described himself as Watts' "spiritual twin," explained that the killer had a tendency to blame others for his actions, including Kessinger, whom he depicted as the cause of his downfall. Watts' reliance on religion to explain his crime reflects his attempt to reconcile his actions with his faith, although it does little to diminish the severity of his actions.
While Watts' crime remains a chilling example of the depths of his depravity, his prison behavior suggests that some of the same weaknesses and obsessions that led to the murders continue to dominate his life behind bars.
Published 09:41 01 Jun 2026 GMT
Nearly eight years after Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife and two young daughters, terrifying photo evidence from the investigation is once again drawing attention.
The 41-year-old is serving five life sentences without the possibility of parole at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin for killing his wife, Shanann, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and daughters Bella, four, and Celeste, three, in Frederick, Colorado, in August 2018.
At first, Watts told police that his wife and daughters had disappeared. When that story fell apart, he claimed Shanann had killed the girls and that he then killed her.
He later admitted to killing his entire family as he pursued a relationship with coworker Nichol Kessinger.
According to a woman who spent years communicating with Watts while he was behind bars, the convicted killer was concerned about how the public viewed the crimes and allegedly wanted some of the most graphic details to remain hidden.
She claimed that Watts was particularly troubled by the findings contained in the autopsy reports for his daughters.
"He didn't want it to get out," she said, per Daily Mail. "I think once he realized what he had done, the idea was just too gruesome."
Watts strangled Shanann before smothering Bella and Celeste. He then transported their bodies to an Anadarko Petroleum oil site where he worked.
Shanann was buried in a shallow grave nearby, while the girls' remains were forced through eight-inch openings into separate oil tanks.
"Think of a dinner plate; he was stuffing the girls through a hole smaller than that," she said. "Just really awful."
"If you read the reports, they're horrifying. He didn't want that to be out there, because that makes him look like even more of a monster," the woman added.
During the early stages of the criminal case, prosecutors tried to temporarily seal autopsy reports, photographs, and forensic evidence ahead of a trial, claiming that public release could affect jury selection and reveal key evidence.
That changed when Watts pleaded guilty in August 2018, eliminating the need for a trial.
According to the woman who remained in contact with him, Watts later privately asked attorneys whether there was any way to stop the records from becoming public despite his confession.
But that failed because, under Colorado law, autopsy reports become public once an investigation is completed, unless a judge decides that their release would harm the public interest.
When Bella's body was recovered, she was still wearing a pink pajama-style top decorated with hearts and butterflies.
The clothing had been saturated with crude oil, and she was wearing only oil-soaked underwear underneath.
Pathologists found green-black oily fluid and debris inside her stomach. The examination also documented injuries inside her mouth, trauma to her jaw, and bite marks on her tongue.
Her younger sister, Celeste, was recovered wearing a pink-and-black t-shirt, a diaper, and underwear, all covered in oil and debris.
Both girls showed severe decomposition after spending days submerged in the tanks. Despite the condition of their remains, investigators determined that both children died from smothering.
Investigators also uncovered details that have sparked speculation that the murders may have been planned.
Days before the murders, Shanann received a picture from Watts showing a large plastic doll wrapped in sheet-like fabric. Watts later claimed the girls had staged the scene while playing.
The image gained attention because of its similarity to the way Shanann's body was eventually discovered in a shallow grave.
Some psychologists have described such behavior as "duping delight," a phenomenon in which deceivers leave subtle clues for their own satisfaction.
Other photos from the investigation documented the clothing Shanann was wearing when she was killed, including a heavily soiled shirt, blue underwear, and a black bra recovered from the burial site.
Watts later claimed during police interviews that he and Shanann had sex on the night of the murders.
Text messages Shanann sent to friends during the final weeks of her marriage suggested the couple's relationship had deteriorated significantly.
On August 7, 2018, less than a week before she was killed, she wrote: "Chris told me last night he's scared to death about this third baby and he's happy with just Bella and Celeste and doesn't want another baby."
She also revealed that Watts told her they were "not compatible anymore."
In another message, she wrote: "I grabbed his hand during ultrasound and he didn't grab back."
Years after the murders, former inmates who interacted with the killer claimed he frequently discussed one particular regret.
Members of a Bible study group at Dodge Correctional Institution said he often spoke about pressuring Shanann to terminate her pregnancy before the murders.
Miguel Canteras, who participated in the group, told The Daily Mail: "He wanted her to have an abortion. He said he really felt bad about that, asking her to get rid of the baby."
Canteras said Watts rarely focused on the murders themselves. "He's really focused on the abortion. That's what he confesses about, that he was ungrateful for the gift of a new baby."
A woman who exchanged letters with Watts recalled a similar admission in correspondence from 2021.
According to her, he wrote: "I didn't want another child, I was selfish. I didn't want more responsibility. It was wrong of me to tell her to do that, because that's not what she wanted."
Shanann, a devout Catholic, opposed abortion.
Former inmates have also claimed that Watts underwent a religious transformation while incarcerated and became a devout Christian.
Published 16:26 21 Jan 2026 GMT
Chris Watts - who brutally murdered his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters - has not abandoned his womanizing tendencies, even from behind bars.
Despite serving a life sentence for the murders, the 41-year-old former oil worker allegedly continues to manipulate and woo women, using emotional and religious tactics to keep their attention.
Watts, who is serving five consecutive life sentences at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, has reportedly been in contact with a number of women, sending handwritten letters that range from several pages long to full of religious symbolism and Bible references.
One of these women, a 36-year-old admirer named Deborah, spoke exclusively with The Daily Mail about her experience with Watts.
Deborah, who first encountered Watts through news reports, was drawn to his "handsome eyes" and his sincere-sounding words. As a Christian, she believed Watts’ claims that he had found religion in prison.
In late 2022, she sent him her first letter. To her surprise, Watts wrote back, and their correspondence continued for several years. Over time, however, their relationship began to change, with Watts becoming increasingly focused on his religious convictions, ultimately telling Deborah that they could no longer be together. In his final letter to her in late 2025, he wrote, "I believe that in a different time, I would have been able to be with you. But God has other plans for my life."
In letters to Deborah, Watts made several unsettling comparisons between his own life and the suffering of Jesus Christ, a tactic some criminal experts have described as typical narcissist behavior.
In a letter dated October 2025, Watts wrote, "God had a plan for me. He wants me in prison. This is His will, just like it was His will for Jesus to die for us. He wants to bring people closer to him through my suffering."
Continuing this comparison, Watts stated, "I will never fully understand what Christ went through when he was crucified, but my trials have given me a glimpse of it." He also expressed his belief that, like Jesus, he was fulfilling a higher purpose. "I am open to God's will, just like Jesus was open to the will of his father. He did not want to die but it was his father's will. I believe it’s his will that I am here. The only thing I regret is that I cannot see you."
While imprisoned, Watts has reportedly corresponded with up to a dozen women at a time. Known for his prolific letter writing, he often sends multiple pages filled with religious rhetoric, painting himself as a transformed man. Despite this, he has not escaped his past manipulative behavior.
Former prison mate Dylan Tallman revealed that Watts "can't resist women's attention" and that his letters often make the women his "everything." Tallman noted that Watts was fixated on female attention and that many women wrote to him in prison, receiving regular responses in return.
In August 2018, Chris Watts carried out a horrifying crime that left the nation in shock. He murdered his wife Shanann by strangling her in their Colorado home, then suffocated their two young daughters, Bella (4) and Celeste (3), before disposing of their bodies at an oil site where he worked. He later claimed that his desire to start a new life with his mistress, Nichol Kessinger, was the driving force behind the murders.
Watts' letters often reference his actions and provide a disturbing glimpse into his distorted justifications. In one letter to Tallman, Watts blamed Kessinger for his family’s deaths, calling her a "harlot" and a "Jezebel."
In his mind, she enticed him to commit the murders, writing, "The words of a harlot have brought me low. Her flattering speech was like drops of honey that pierced my heart and soul. Little did I know that all her guests were in the chamber of death."
In one of his letters, Watts further justified his actions by commenting on divorce and infidelity from a religious perspective. "Marriage was from the beginning," he wrote, adding that divorce was "tolerated due to the hardened hearts of the Israelites."
He described infidelity as a sin against both the wife and God, yet in his correspondence with Deborah, Watts claimed to have changed. "I was a cheater before, I committed adultery," he confessed.
"That was a sin. But I'm a changed man. Christ has forgiven me from everything. I am justified with him, and he views me as a saint. He sees only Christ's righteousness when he sees me; he sees me as sinless."
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