Chris Watts, Who Murdered His Wife and Smothered His Daughters, Lives in Fear of Inmates: ‘They Want to Kill Him’

Chris Watts is now living in a small prison cell at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, serving a life sentence for his crimes.

Isolated and largely silent, he spends his days reading the Bible and reflecting on the brutal murders of his wife and two young daughters in 2018.

The Post has interviewed three individuals who have had contact with the 39-year-old convicted killer behind bars. 

They all say the same thing: Watts lives a lazy lifestyle, has gained a lot of weight, and has lost most of his hair.

Moreover, the triple murderer often avoids eye contact with other inmates for his own safety. 

During Bible study sessions, he tends to keep to himself, avoiding conversations with new people. 

"A lot of guys would like to get their hands on him," said Eddie Nieves, who spent a year at the prison alongside Watts. 

"He killed two little girls who didn’t do nothing to deserve it. He’s the lowest of the low at Dodge. A lot of people want to get their revenge for those girls."

Watts confessed to strangling his pregnant wife Shanann in their Colorado home in August 2018. 

Afterward, he transported her body to a job site at the oil company where he worked and disposed her body there.

When he returned home, he then smothered his daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, as they begged for their lives.

Following his guilty plea and subsequent life sentence without the possibility of parole, Colorado prison officials arranged for Watts to be transferred to Wisconsin for his safety. 

"They protect him at Dodge," Nieves continued. 

"If the guards weren’t always around, everyone would take a swing at him." 

Watts’ former cellmate from 2018-2020 echoed these sentiments, stating that Watts is often in danger behind bars.

"He’s an outcast," said Dylan Tallman, who worked on an unpublished devotional book with Watts. 

"When people found out that his victims were two little girls, they wanted to kill him. He had nowhere else to turn; I think I was his only friend."

Authorities have said that Watts committed the murders because he was having an affair with Nichol Kessinger, a co-worker who later claimed she believed he was already separated. 

"Every day, he thinks about what he did," Tallman said. 

"He has photos of the girls and he prays for forgiveness every day. But he knows he can’t undo what he did."

A spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections reported that Watts has had no scheduled visitors for several weeks, with the exception of occasional pastoral visits. 

His mother visited him earlier this year. 

Despite this, Watts maintains several prison pen-pals, mostly women.

"At times, when he would talk about the murders, his eyes would turn so black," his one-time pen pal Cherlyn Cadle told Inside Edition in 2021. 

"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."

"He’s f–ked in the head," added Nieves.

"When you’re in prison with a lot of guys who did really bad things, but you’re still considered the worst person there, you’re just evil." 

[source]