Who Is Nichol Kessinger? New Details On Chris Watts' Mistress: "He Lied About Everything"
She is a geologist.
getty Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife Shanann and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, in August.The dead bodies of Chris Watts’ wife and two girls were found at the bottom of an oil tank near his workplace. On the night that he murdered his family, he reportedly told his wife that he was having an affair with a co-worker and wanted a divorce. The identity of the woman he was having an affair with remained unknown until now. Watts is facing murder charges in connection with the death of his wife and daughters. He is expected to be sentenced to life in prison on Monday. His mistress, Nichol Kessinger is listed as a witness in the case. Who is Nichol Kessinger?
1. She's from Colorado
According to her now deleted LinkedIn profile, Nichol Kessinger graduated from Colorado State University in 2013 with a B.S. in Geology. She also had an Associate of Science degree from the Community College of Aurora, where her focus was on Geological and Earth Sciences and Geosciences. Over the past decade, she had worked her way up from a bookkeeping position to a field engineer. She also worked for Halliburton in the past. She has lived in Colorado for most of her life in Fort Collins, Littleton, Denver, and Aurora.
2. She didn't know he was married
Nichol Kessinger told the Denver Post that when she and Watts started dating she thought he was a "thoughtful, soft spoken man," who was at the end of his divorce proceedings. She didn't know that he hadn't even started divorce proceedings until after Shanann, Bella and Celeste went missing. She had been dating Watts for two months at that point and although she was shocked by his arrest, she also "never doubted that he killed his wife." Kessinger approached investigators before Watts' arrest. She took part in several police interviews after his arrest during which she described their relationship and what he had told her about his family.
3. How did she meet Chris Watts?
Kessinger met Watts while she was working in the environmental department of the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, where Watts worked. He went into her office and introduced himself. She thought he was attractive and noticed he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. They began to talk and Watts told her that he had two daughters and was separated from his wife. Kessinger said that Watts told her he needed to find a new apartment for himself and his daughters.
4. Her relationship with Chris Watts
The first time Nichol met Chris Watts outside of the office was in late June. She asked him questions about his divorce. He told her it was a mutual decision and nearly over. He claimed the financial details had to be worked out and then it would be final. They began to be physically intimate in early July and got together four or five times a week. She told him she wanted to take it slow so that he had the time to focus on helping his young daughters adjust to the divorce.
5. He texted her after the murders
On the day Watts' wife and daughters went "missing," he texted Kessinger to tell her they were "gone." He told Kessinger that Shanann had taken the girls to a playdate and didn't return. She told the Denver Post he didn't show any emotion. She was worried, but since Watts was not concerned, she decided not to make a big deal about it. When news reporters showed up at Watts' house that night, the story started to unfold. She told the Denver Post she was shocked to find out he was still married and his wife was 15 weeks pregnant. She became worried about the missing woman and children that she'd never met. “I thought, ‘If he was able to lie to me and hide something that big, what else was he lying about?’”
6. She called the police
She spoke to Watts on the evening of August 13th, the night his family went missing. Watts continued to be unconcerned about them. She asked him if he had noticed anything odd in the house such as was there forced entry and were the girls' car seats still at the house. Watts kept trying to change the subject. “It seemed off. It got to a point that he was telling me so many lies that I eventually told him that I did not want to speak to him again until his family was found,” she told the Denver Post. The next morning she called the Weld County Sheriff's office to tell them about her relationship with Watts and the lies she had caught him telling over the past few days. She met with the FBI that day.
7. Did the affair lead to the murders?
There have been reports that Watts' affair with Kessinger may have directly influenced his decision to kill his family. Kessinger insists that she barely knew him and never met anyone in his family. She never doubted he was responsible for the deaths of Shanann, Bella and Celeste. Kessinger said: “He's a liar. He lied about everything. I don’t think there is a logical explanation for what he did. It’s a senseless act, and it’s horrific.”
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.