Chris Watts, the Colorado man who murdered his pregnant wife and two young daughters, has made a major decision about his sentence – one that adds a chilling new layer to a case already steeped in horror.
On Aug. 13, 2018, Chris Watts strangled his wife Shanann in their bedroom, then wrapped her body in a blanket and pulled it down the stairs while a teary-eyed Bella, 4, watched.
In his confession, Watts, now 40, said he dragged the body of his pregnant wife to the truck and left it on the floorboard in the back before placing his children – Bella and Celeste “CeCe,” 3 – in the seats near their dead mom, the New York Times reports.
The killer father was driving them all to an oil site owned by Anadarko Petroleum, where he worked.
‘Daddy, no’
After leaving Shannan’s body on the spot she would later be buried, he killed CeCe – who was sitting right next to Bella – strangling her with the blanket she was holding. He then dumped the toddler’s body in an oil tank and returned to the truck, where Bella was waiting alone, ABC News reports.
“Is the same thing gonna happen to me as Cece?” Watts recalled the little girl asking.
Bella, the killer explained, tried to fight back but showing no mercy, he strangled his eldest daughter with the same blanket he had used to kill her baby sister.
Her last words were: “Daddy, no.”
Before burying his wife in a shallow grave nearby, Bella was tossed into a separate oil tank.
‘Smiles light up my life’
In the days between their disappearance and discovery, Watts appeared on local television pleading for help, claiming he had no idea what had happened to his family.
“Those smiles light up my life,” Watts told Denver 7 on Aug. 14. “Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody, again, this house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring them back.”
Within days, all three bodies were found, and Watts was arrested and charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder.
Confession
During the investigation, Watts initially denied involvement, but after failing a polygraph test, he admitted to killing Shanann and later confessed to also killing his daughters, People reports.
Watts pleaded guilty in November 2018 and he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. He was transferred out of Colorado for safety reasons and is now serving time at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, in a unit for high-risk or high-profile inmates.
‘The Cell Next Door’
In 2020, Watts was placed in a cell next to Dylan Tallman, an inmate who later discussed their seven-month relationship in a book titled “The Cell Next Door.”
According to Tallman, the two men spoke daily through the thin walls between their cells and developed what he called a spiritual bond.
In a 2021 interview with OK! Magazine, Tallman – who said he believed his “spiritual twin” was innocent – insisted that he knew a side of Watts the public had never seen.
“If you looked up godly in the dictionary, there would be a picture of Chris,” Tallman told OK!. “He’s my brother. He has been there when no one else was, has helped me out when I needed someone to have my back.”
Obsessed with women
However, that perspective shifted over time. In a 2024 interview with the Daily Mail, Tallman shared a more disturbing view of Watts, who he said became fixated on women while in prison.
According to Tallman, Watts formed emotional attachments to any woman who gave him attention – writing letters, making frequent phone calls, and relying on them for validation.
“He will talk to a girl, and she becomes his everything really fast,” Tallman told the outlet. “He becomes obsessed with a woman, and she becomes all he can think of – and he’ll do whatever they ask him to do.” Several of these women reportedly sent money to his prison commissary and maintained pen pal relationships with him.
Watts shifts blame
In letters reviewed by the Daily Mail – notes shared between the prison pals – Watts repeatedly shifted blame for the murders onto both his wife and his former mistress.
He described Shanann as “domineering” and “self‑absorbed,” at times even implying that she was responsible for her own death, while also casting blame on Nichol Kessinger, the co‑worker with whom he had begun an affair in the month leading up to the killings.
“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,” Watts wrote in a March 2020 letter.
‘Jezebel’
According to Tallman, Watts repeatedly portrayed himself as someone led astray and described Kessinger as a woman who had influenced him in destructive ways.
“I was having an affair with this girl, and I ended up in love with two women at the same time. It’s what led up to what happened. She is of evil spirits, like Jezebel,” Tallman writes in the book of what he was told by Watts.
Kessinger, a former co-worker, claimed she had no knowledge of the murders and believed her lover was separated at the time of their relationship.
She has since changed her name and moved to another part of Colorado.
Shocking decision
And, despite earlier claims that he intended to appeal his sentence, Watts has since changed his mind.
Tallman says the convicted killer no longer plans to pursue any legal action. “He says he’s where he belongs,” Tallman told the Daily Mail, adding that Watts hopes others might “come to Christ” after hearing his story.
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- Chris Watts’ cellmate reveals chilling claim he made about murders of wife and two kids
- Shan’ann Watts and children laid to rest during emotional funeral ceremony
