Chris Watts Tried To Blame Mistress For The Murders Of His Daughters, Says Former Inmate
He's still avoiding responsibility.
Chris Watts allegedly told his fellow inmates that his former mistress was responsible for the murders of his wife and children.
Watts is currently serving three life sentences without the possibility of parole for the August 2018 murders of Shanann Watts, who was pregnant at the time, and their two daughters, Bella (4) and Celeste (3).
Chris Watts allegedly told another inmate that Nicole Kessinger smothered his daughters.
Watts was having an affair with Kessinger at the time of the murders but there is no indication that she knew about or had anything to do with the crime.
David Carter, an inmate that allegedly spent time with Chris Watts while incarcerated at Dodge Correctional Facility in Wisconsin, is claiming that Watts had a different version of events.
Carter said that the two were in the same unit, “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.”
Carter claims to have spent a lot of time with Watts and, while the two were discussing the bible, he asked about the killings and what Watts was thinking at the time.
Watts, who had previously admitted to all of the killings after failing a polygraph test shortly after the disappearance of his family said that “Nichol had smothered the girls with their blankets and they suffocated.”
Watts also claimed that Kessinger had helped him move the bodies to where they were later found by police.
Chris Watts wanted to start a new life with Kessinger by killing his wife and daughters.
Carter says that he was shocked by what he heard from the convicted murderer, who said that he was sad that Kessinger had to kill the girls, saying, “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.”
According to the ex-inmate, Watts couldn’t bring himself to kill his daughters, so he had Kessinger kill the girls instead.
There is no evidence to suggest that Nichol Kessinger killed Chris Watts' children.
After the story broke and Watts was arrested, Kessinger moved out of Colorado and took on a new identity.
According to interviews with police during the investigation, Kessinger was under the impression that Watts was separated from his wife and was going to divorce her to be with Kessinger.
Kessinger did not seem to know that Watts was still living with his family at the time and the evidence, as well as the fact that authorities did not pursue her, suggests that she had no involvement in the killings.
It’s unclear why Watts would reveal this information at this point, but it seems to be entirely unsubstantiated.
Dan O'Reilly is a writer who covers news, politics, and social justice. Follow him on Twitter.