Featured Image Credit: RJ Sangosti/Getty
Topics: Colorado, Crime, Religion, US News, True crime
Liv Bridge
Topics: Colorado, Crime, Religion, US News, True crime
Chris Watts has claimed God has 'forgiven him' for murdering his wife and children in a series of disturbing letters.
In August 2018, Chris Watts strangled his 34-year-old wife, Shannan, who was 15 weeks pregnant at the time, and suffocated their two children, Bella, four, and Celeste, three, from their Colorado home.
Shannon's body was later discovered dumped in a shallow grave on the site of an oil and gas company, while the young girls were hidden in oil tanks nearby.
Despite claiming to have no idea what happened to his family, even going on TV to beg for their safe return, cops soon charged him with murder.
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Watts confessed to committing the horrific crimes and was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The 40-year-old has since built up a rapport with some of his jailhouse penpals from his Wisconsin cell, including author Cheryln Cadle which included graphic descriptions of how he killed his family.
In another letter sent to a fellow inmate, he even tried to justify his actions, branding Shannan a 'control freak' and suggesting he was lured by the 'forbidden fruit' of his mistress, Nichol Kessinger.
It is reported that the mom-of-two had asked Watts for divorce after uncovering his affair with his co-worker.
Now, in another series of letters, Watts has claimed he is a 'new man' and has turned to religion which has helped him 'forgive [himself].'
In the confessionals seen by the Daily Mail, he penned: "I am a new man. I am not the person who committed those horrible acts. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says 'if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.' That's me. I'm a new creature.
"I know that God does not see me as a sinner who killed his family; he sees me as His child. I have confessed my sins. I am forgiven. The hardest thing I have had to do was to forgive myself," he added.
"God has separated me from my sin as far as the east is from the west. But forgiveness of self is another matter entirely and it has taken me years to find my peace, the peace that passes all understanding."
The convicted killer concluded: "I am finally at peace with myself."
In another letter to a penpal written in April, Watts again pointed the finger at Kessinger, suggesting she was really to blame for his killing spree.
"I have always taken full responsibility for what I did, even though I was misled by a wicked woman," Watts wrote.
"She was a harlot, a Jezebel who led me astray. Who spoke sweet words of destruction.
"But I will let God have his justice with her. I was weak and I let her cloud my morals and my judgement."
It's not the first time Watts has taken aim at the woman, who claimed Watts had told her he was going through a divorce before anything happened romantically.
"I was having an affair with this girl and I ended up in love with two women at the same time," he said in another letter in 2019.
"It's what led up to what happened. She is of evil spirits, like Jezebel."
In 2020, he also wrote a letter to God, stating it was the 'words of a harlot' and 'her flattering speech' like 'drops of honey that pierced my heart.'
Police do not believe Kessinger was involved in the killings and has not been charged with any crime.
If you have experienced a bereavement and would like to speak with someone in confidence, contact The Compassionate Friends on (877) 969-0010.