The Colorado father serving multiple life sentences for the murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters sent letters from prison that contain shocking revelations that conflict with claims Chris Watts made to law enforcement officials.
The Daily Mail obtained the letters from Cheryln Cadle, author of the upcoming book “Letter from Christoper,” to be published on October 7. Little is known about the 65-year-old author, who reportedly said that she regularly spoke with Watts on the phone and visited him in a Wisconsin prison three times.
According to the Daily Mail report, Cadle said she was upfront with Watts, who confessed last year to killing his wife Shannan and their daughters Bella and Celeste, that she was not another of his adoring pen pals and that she believed what he did was evil. The author said that Watts agreed to participate in the book project if she promised to include his “testimony of coming to God and the forgiveness he received.”
In the handwritten letters, seen on Daily Mail’s website, Watts reportedly told Cadle that he attempted to kill his 3- and 4-year-old daughters before he strangled his pregnant wife — contradicting what he told law enforcement agents in a lengthy jailhouse interview in February. During that interview, Watts told state and federal agents that he killed Shannan at home before driving her dead body with his daughters in the car to an oil field where he strangled or smothered the girls before dropping their bodies into separate oil tanks.
In the letter, Watts reportedly said that he attempted to kill his daughters Bella and Celeste in their Frederick, Colorado, home before he killed their mother — and initially believed he was successful.
August 13th, morning of, I went to the girls’ room first, before Shanann and I had our argument. I went to Bella’s room, then Cece’s room and used a pillow from their bed (to kill them). That’s why the cause of death was smothering. After I left Cece’s room, then I climbed back in bed with Shanann and our argument ensued. After Shanann had passed, Bella and Cece woke back up. I’m not sure how they woke back up, but they did. Bella’s eyes were bruised and both girls looked like they had been through trauma.
CrimeOnline has not independently verified the authenticity of the letters.
According to the report, Watts also indicated that he dropped his daughters in the oil tankers to make sure they were actually dead, though he reportedly assured investigators he knew they were dead when he dropped them in.
“I had to put the girls in the tanks so they wouldn’t get up the second time,” Watts reportedly said. He also said that he was surprised at how easy it was to drop Celeste through the hole at the top of the tank — though investigative documents released after Watts’ sentencing indicated that the girls barely fit through the 8 inch-wide holes, and that the girls had skin displacement.
Although Watts told investigators that killed his wife in a sudden rage, he reportedly said in the letters that he knew at least a day before the murders that he was going to kill his family — so that he could be free to be with his mistress, Nichol Kessinger.
“August 12th when I finished putting the girls to bed, I walked away and said ‘That’s the last time I’m going to be tucking my babies in,'” Watts reportedly said. “I knew what was going to happen the day before and I did nothing to stop it!’ he wrote.
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