Husband Who Murdered Pregnant Wife & Daughters Tried To Blame His Mistress!

[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

Chris Watts is a truly despicable human being.

As you may know, the 36-year-old is currently serving five life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of his then-pregnant wife Shanann and their young daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. During the investigation, Chris initially claimed it was Shanann who killed the kids on August 13, 2018 — before eventually admitting he was the murderer.

But now, The Sun is reporting that the convicted murderer tried to blame the killings on someone else while behind bars: his mistress, Nichol Kessinger!

The revelation was made by David Carter, a former inmate who said he spent two spells with Watts in Dodge Correctional Facility, Wisconsin. Carter told the outlet that Watts tried to deflect blame for the murder of his daughters by pointing the finger at Kessinger, his co-worker he had been having an affair with at the time.

The 35-year-old told the publication he was serving time for possession of methamphetamine and theft when he became close with Watts, explaining:

“We were on the same unit together, unit 11. It’s for people that can’t fit in with the general population and people with medical issues. He was there for his protection and I was there for psychiatric issues and for cutting myself. One day we were reading the Bible and talking about God, this was in October 2020. I told him that I couldn’t judge him for what had happened, but I’d like to know what was going through his head.”

Carter said that’s when Watts claimed that “Nichol had smothered the girls with their blankets and they suffocated,” before allegedly adding that she helped him “get the girls in the oil tanks and dig the grave for Shanann.” The ex-inmate added:

“He wanted to start a new life with Nichol and Shanann was in the way. Chris said it made him feel sad that the girls were killed but that one of them woke up and saw that Shanann was dead and would be a witness.”

That’s a much different story than what Chris told investigators after he failed a polygraph test during the investigation. Eventually, he admitted to strangling his wife at their home in Frederick, Colorado. Following his sentencing in November 2018, Watts confessed that he smothered his daughters at an oil site leased by the company he worked for, then dumped the girls’ bodies in oil storage tanks after burying his wife in a shallow grave nearby.

However, Carter said Watts tried to blame everything on Nichol, claiming he “wasn’t able to stomach killing his own kids and he said that’s why Nichol killed them.”

To prove the two know each other and have kept in touch, Carter showed The Sun a letter he claimed Watts sent to him — the handwriting on which appeared to match that of other letters Watts sent to writer Cherlyn Cadle, who wrote the book Letters From Christopher about her chats with the killer.

After Watts was arrested, Kessinger took on a new identity and moved away from her home in Arvada, Colorado. She told investigators Watts had lied that he was separated from his wife and planned to divorce her, which she believed.

Kessinger’s web browsing history supported her story. Shortly after they began their affair in July 2018, Kessinger reportedly searched the phrase “Man I’m having affair with says he will leave his wife.” In August, she spent hours browsing wedding dresses on Google and searched topics relating to “marrying your mistress.”

After she heard the news of his family’s disappearance, Kessinger said she texted Watts demanding to know if he was involved. He allegedly wrote back hours after murdering his family, writing:

“I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky.”

She claimed those were the last texts they exchanged before Watts was arrested on August 15, 2018.

There’s no evidence that she was truly involved in Watts’ crimes in any way. For what it’s worth, though, Carter said Watts told him Kessinger had written to him while in prison using her new name.

Watts also confessed to the murders in his correspondence with Cadle, revealing that he knew the day before the murders he was going to kill his daughters. He wrote:

“August 12th when I finished putting the girls to bed, I walked away and said ‘That’s the last time I’m going to be tucking my babies in’. I knew what was going to happen the day before and I did nothing to stop it!”

A continuously tragic story.

[Image via Netflix]