Chris Watts’ parents revealed that their son asked them to read a letter he wrote for his wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste, at their graves less than two years after he killed them.
In the letter dated January 10, 2020, Chris, 41, addressed Shanann while wishing her a happy birthday.
“Hey boo! Happy Birthday! Thirty-six years young today. This is the first time of year when I could always say you’re ‘two’ years older than me. You didn’t like that too much, but I liked messing with you,” Watts wrote in the letter, which his parents, Cindy Watts and Ronnie Watts, shared with the Daily Mail. “There’s so much I wish I could say to you and make up for what I did to our family. No one needed to go through this. You and our babies had a long life ahead of them and deserved to see that life.”
He went on to say that “the man you married isn’t the man who turned his back on his family” and that the man who killed his family “was an aberration brought on by an evil outside source.” Chris continued, “You know the husband and dad I am and would testify to that today.”
“I look outside my window and wonder what we would be doing and then I get this overwhelming feeling you’re looking at me with our babies saying, ‘We love you!’” he added. “All of you are a blessing to my life and your memory lives in my soul every waking moment. I close my eyes and imagine the light of God shining across your cheeks and radiant smiles beaming down from Heaven when you look down upon us.”
Chris said that the “love you felt down here won’t compare to the love you feel up there – God’s love – and I’ve dedicated the rest of my time on this earth to showing the love He has shown me.”
“Cheer me on as I walk the path God is putting in front of me. I love you all to the moon and back!” he concluded.
Shanann and the girls went missing in August 2018, and they were found dead three days later. At the time, Shanann was pregnant with the couple’s third baby.
Chris was arrested soon after, and it was revealed he was having an affair with a coworker when the killings took place.
He eventually pleaded guilty on November 6, 2018, before the case could go to trial. He was then sentenced to serve five consecutive life sentences.
Eight years after he murdered his family, Chris has moved on with new girlfriend Lizzie Henderson. The pair met while he was in prison, and they are reportedly so serious that Henderson relocated from Ohio to Wisconsin so that she can be closer to him.
