Convicted killer Chris Watts is reportedly blaming his wife for her own murder, offering up an excuse that she was too controlling in their relationship.
According to the New York Post, Watts’ handwritten letters from the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, depicted his slain wife, Shanann Watts, as a “control freak,” while addressing thoughts about his mistress, Nichol Kessinger, who he claimed was “everything my wife wasn’t like with me.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Watts pleaded guilty to murdering Shanann at their home in Frederick, Colorado, in 2018. She was pregnant with their third child. He also admitted to killing their two young daughters.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and was moved to the Wisconsin facility for security reasons.
After Watts strangled Shanann at their home, he drove her body to a worksite, where he suffocated his daughters, Bella and Celeste. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave and dumped the girls’ bodies inside oil storage tanks.
Watts was having an affair at the time.
Watts also disclosed his feelings to fellow inmate Dylan Tallman, who was once in a neighboring cell at the Wisconsin prison. The two reportedly developed a close bond.
Tallamn later published a three-part series titled “The Cell Next Door,” that described how Watts admitted that his marriage to Shanann was troubled.
“I met Nichol,” Watts allegedly said. “She was just nice, and not a control freak. We could make decisions together.”
“We knew each other for a while, but we didn’t start messing around until six weeks before. I was not thinking. We worked together, we had chemistry, and I fell into temptation. She was the forbidden fruit.”
Watts later began calling Kessinger “the death of me.”
“The words of a harlot have brought me low,” he wrote in a 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.”
In 2018, however, Watts sent text messages to Kissinger only hours after killing his family, claiming his innocence. Kessinger told police that Watts said he “didn’t hurt his family,” marking the last text he sent to her.
Despite initially blaming his wife for the children’s deaths, Watts ultimately pleaded guilty to the murders to avoid the death penalty.
According to people who have interacted with him behind bars, Watts leads a sedentary lifestyle, has gained considerable weight and has significantly balded. He also keeps to himself and isn’t popular among most of the other inmates.
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[Featured Image: Watts Family/Facebook]