Chris Watts' female pen pals still claim he's innocent despite his chilling murder confessions

Chris Watts has been keeping in touch with a number of pen pals while in prison, some of whom believe he's innocent.

In 2018, the 38-year-old murdered his wife, Shanann, their two daughters, Bella and Celeste, and unborn son, Nico.

At the time, Watts created a story that Shanann had disappeared, telling police he had no idea where she and their kids were.

However, as was depicted in the Netflix documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door, it was eventually revealed that he was in fact responsible for their deaths, and that he had been having an affair.

After pleading guilty to the three murders, Watts was sentenced to life in prison, with an additional 48 years for the unlawful termination of Shanann's pregnancy and 36 years for 'tampering' with the bodies.

RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images

He is currently serving his sentence at Dodge Correctional Institute, where he reportedly works as a custodian, and keeps himself to himself.

However, he is said to keep busy by responding to letters he receives from pen pals, many of whom are women who still believe him to be innocent, despite his guilty plea.

Speaking to Inside Edition back in 2021, Cherlyn Cadle, who had corresponded with Watts at length, said he went into detail about the murders.

She told the show that Watts had admitted to her that he had planned on killing his wife and kids for months.

Cadle claimed that he had also told her that Shanann had OxyContin in her system at the time of her death because he had been dosing her with it in the hope she would have a miscarriage.

"At times, when he would talk about the murders, his eyes would turn so black," Cadle explained.

Netflix

"He just would get a different look on his face, and he talked about it so nonchalantly, like going down to get a cup of coffee."

Cadle later went on to publish a book, The Murders of Chris Watts, in which she included Watts’ letters where he detailed how he tried to kill his children.

Watts wrote: "August 13, 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 failing to murder his daughters, they woke to find him getting rid of Shanann's body.

He said: "After Shannan 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."

Topics: US News, Crime, True Crime, Netflix

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

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