Chris Watts sent what has been described as "racy love letters" while in prison after he murdered his wife and kids.
Watts, the Colorado dad who shocked the world by murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters in 2018, is now behind bars for life.
The gruesome details of Watts’ killings gained renewed attention after the release of Netflix’s 2020 documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door, which captivated millions with its chilling look at what seemed to be a perfect family — and the evil hiding underneath.
But since being sentenced to five life terms plus an additional 48 years without parole, Watts has received “dozens” of letters, some including risqué photos, from women seemingly unfazed by his crimes, per the Mirror.
Prosecutors from the Weld County District Attorney have released many of the letters Watts has received. Some are flirtatious, others disturbingly passionate.
One woman wrote: "In my heart, I know you are a great guy. If you do write me back I'd be the happiest girl alive, that's for sure #teamchris #chrisisinnocent #lovehim #socute."
Another sent a bikini photo with the message: "I've found myself thinking a lot about you." She added that she hoped the image would “brighten” his day.
Yet another admirer gushed that Watts was her “soulmate” in a handwritten letter, while one fan even posted her note from as far away as Australia.
According to Crime Online, some of the messages are “racy,” with a tone that borders on obsession.
A source told People: "He got a lot of letters at first. Many of them are from women who thought he was handsome and felt compassion for him. He had nothing better to do, so he wrote them back. And he started having pen pals. A couple of them stood out, and they've kept in contact."
"But then he gets letters from women who want to connect with him, you know, romantically."
This bizarre fascination is believed to be linked to hybristophilia — a condition where individuals are sexually attracted to people who commit heinous crimes.
Before Watts’ monstrous actions came to light, he was leading a secret double life — including an affair with co-worker Nichol Kessinger. She’s now revealed the chilling last message she received from him after the murders.
“I kept asking him, ‘What did you do, Chris? What did you do?’ I asked, ‘Where’s your family?’” she said in a police interview shared by E! News.
“So I texted Chris one last time, and I told him, ‘If you did anything bad, you’re going to ruin your life and you’re going to ruin my life. I promise you that.’ And he responded, ‘I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky.’”
“That was the last text,” Kessinger added. “I never said another word to him after that.”
She recalled his behavior in hindsight, saying: “His behavior wasn’t anything out of the ordinary or anything that would scare me... Even to this day, even after everything that I’ve found out, I still look back at that, and I don’t see any red lights about the way he spoke about his family.”
On August 13, 2018, Watts strangled his wife Shanann — who was 15 weeks pregnant — after an argument about divorce. He then placed her body in the backseat of his truck, with daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, seated next to their mother’s corpse.
He drove the children to an oil field where he smothered them near the site he had chosen to dump their bodies. The girls were shoved into a crude oil tank, and Shanann was buried in a shallow grave nearby.
In a disturbingly candid letter to one admirer, Watts admitted it took two attempts to kill the girls — they initially woke up after his first attempt to smother them with a pillow.
After the murders, Watts appeared on TV pretending to be a heartbroken husband, pleading: “Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody.”
He eventually pleaded guilty to nine charges, including the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.