Chris Watts’ mother has revealed a disturbing comment he made before murdering his wife and children.
Watts is currently serving time for killing his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two young daughters. While the story has since been covered in a documentary, not everything made it on screen. One moment that didn’t was a conversation he had with his mom.
A relationship already breaking down
In an interview with 9News in 2018, Cindy Watts described trying to make sense of what had happened, and looking back at warning signs she may have missed.
According to her, Chris had told her that he and Shanann were “not compatible” and that he wasn’t happy in the relationship. At the time, the couple had already been discussing divorce. When Shanann became pregnant again, Cindy said her son didn’t react with excitement.
She admitted that she initially saw the possibility of a divorce as something that could benefit both of them.
Financial pressure behind the scenes
Long before the murders, the family had been struggling financially, and in 2015, the couple filed for bankruptcy. Court documents cited by CNN showed that after buying a $400,000 home, they were dealing with around $70,000 in student loans and credit card debt, according to VT.
At the time, Chris was the primary earner, bringing in roughly $63,000 of their combined $91,000 annual income. But by 2018, things had shifted. Shanann had started working, and her income increased significantly. Her job also involved travel. During these trips, Chris stayed home with their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. It was during that period that he began a secret relationship with a co-worker.
Letters that revealed even more
Watts is now serving five life sentences at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. But even after his conviction, new details have continued to emerge, including through letters he sent from prison.
In 2019, Cheryln Cadle published “Letters From Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders,” which included his own account of what happened. In those letters, he made it clear that the murders were planned.
“I walked away and said, ‘That’s the last time I’m going to be tucking my babies,’” he wrote about the night he put his children to bed, according to VT.
He added: “All the weeks of me thinking about killing her, and now I was faced with it.”
He also claimed that he initially tried to smother Bella and Celeste in their beds, but they survived.
“They woke back up,” he wrote. “It makes the act that much worse knowing I went to their rooms first and knowing I still took their lives at the location.”
In another revelation, Watts said he had previously tried to end Shanann’s pregnancy.
“I thought it would be easier to be with Nichol if Shanann wasn’t pregnant,” he confessed.
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