Chris Watts, the Colorado man serving multiple life sentences for murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters, has reportedly found a new romantic partner behind bars.
The pair are now seeking permission to marry.
Chris Watts has spent years corresponding with women from prison, but his relationship with Lizzie Henderson appears to have progressed further than his previous connections. According to reports, Henderson has visited him repeatedly at Wisconsin’s Dodge Correctional Institution, where he is serving his sentence.
The relationship has sparked renewed attention because of the horrific crimes that landed Watts in prison in the first place.
In August 2018, Watts killed his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. He later pleaded guilty to the murders and was sentenced to multiple life terms without the possibility of parole.
Now, years later, he is reportedly preparing for another marriage.
The woman who wants to marry him
Henderson, who has reportedly lived in Ohio and Wisconsin and previously worked in real estate, is said to have met Watts while he was incarcerated.
The pair have reportedly applied through the Wisconsin prison system to marry. Court records also show that a woman named Lizzie Henderson filed for a confidential legal name change in 2025, although the records do not publicly establish that the filing was connected to Watts.
Henderson has confirmed her relationship with Watts in a phone interview with the Daily Mail. She admitted that some people may view their relationship as “weird,” but she chose not to reveal how they first connected, saying, “How things began is between me, him and God.”
When asked about the murders and her relationship with Watts, Henderson told the Daily Mail:
“He knows how I feel. I don’t know all the people involved but I would want to respect them.”
She also described the murders as “something harsh for anyone to experience.”
The comments have understandably drawn attention given the brutality of what happened to Shanann and her two little girls.
The four words that still haunt the case
Perhaps the most heartbreaking part of Watts’ story remains what happened to his daughters. After killing Shanann, Watts drove her body to an oil site where he buried her. He then killed Bella and Celeste.
According to his account to investigators, 3-year-old Celeste was killed first. When Watts later attacked Bella, she fought back and cried out two devastating words:
“Daddy, No!”
Those two words have become one of the most haunting details of the case, a glimpse of a terrified child desperately trying to understand what was happening.
Bella was only four years old.
A new life behind bars?
During a five-hour interview with Colorado investigators in February 2019, Watts revealed that he kept photos of Shanann and their daughters inside his prison cell. According to People, he said he would “talk to them every morning and night.”
He also said he would read his daughters’ favorite bedtime story to their photographs each evening, along with passages from the Bible.
A family friend identified only as Kim told People that Watts spent much of his time reflecting on what he had done and the pain he had caused.
“He’s sad that everyone is hurting,” Kim said. “He wishes he could go back in time. He wish he had handled things differently.”
Chris Watts has remained incarcerated since his arrest in 2018. Over the years, he has reportedly exchanged letters with female admirers and has spoken extensively about religion and remorse.
In letters later obtained by the Daily Mail, Watts portrayed himself as a changed man, claiming he had been forgiven and was no longer “the person who committed those horrible acts,” but rather “a new creature.”
The possibility of marriage has added another startling chapter to the story.
According to reports, Lizzie Henderson has visited Watts numerous times during his incarceration, and the two have continued their relationship despite the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment.
Any marriage would still require approval from prison authorities.
For the families and loved ones of Shanann, Bella and Celeste, however, the consequences of August 2018 can never be undone.
While Watts may now be looking toward a new relationship, the names of the three people whose lives he took remain at the center of the tragedy—and Bella’s final “Daddy, No!” remains one of the most painful details of the entire case.
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