Chris Watts

A new book goes inside the mind of Chris Watts, who murdered his wife and girls

EARLIER THIS YEAR, true-crime fan Cheryln Cadle, a grandmother of 11, wrote a letter to murderer Christopher Watts, asking him if she could write a book about his story. To her surprise, he agreed.

The 65-year-old began to visit and correspond with Watts, 34, who is serving life without parole in Wisconsin Prison for murdering his pregnant wife, Shanann, 34, and their two daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.

In her new book, Letters From Christopher, out now, Cadle reveals insights into the killer’s life behind bars and his state of mind.

In April, Watts shared a dream he had featuring Celeste, nicknamed Cece. “I don’t know if this was a spiritual visit, but I had a dream Cece was dancing next to the chair in my cell,” Watts reportedly wrote to Cadle in an April 23 letter published by the Daily Mail. “When she was dancing, all of my folders on the chair started moving and I thought she was in trouble, so I said, ‘Watch out, get away, watch out!’ Then I woke up. I’m hoping she comes back! I hope everyone comes to visit me.” He reportedly also told Cadle he’d had contact with his dead wife over the phone.

Watts, who strangled his wife and smothered their daughters, does not believe he is mentally ill, claims Cadle, who says Watts told her he was under the “spell” of his mistress, Nichol Kessinger, when he committed the horrific crimes. “Christopher has said that he felt ‘darkness’ on him for weeks before the murders and it put thoughts into his head,” Cadle told DailyMailTV.

After spending 15 hours with Watts and interviewing his parents, Cadle paints a picture of a shrewd criminal who contradicts himself. “He feels famous. He’s very careful, he wants people to think good of him,” said Cadle. “It’s very hard for him to be called a monster or to be called a murderer. He doesn’t like that. I said, ‘But Christopher you are a murderer, which makes you a monster for what you did.’ But he does not agree with that.

“He’s not a monster, he says, and he says he’s not necessarily a murderer … even though he’ll say, yes I killed my family.” •

Shanann (with Watts, Bella and Celeste) was pregnant with a son she’d named Niko.

“He’s the best thing that has ever happened to me,” said Shanann, four months before her death.

“I’m still a dad! I’m still a son! No matter what,” wrote Watts in a letter to his mother, Cindy, after the murders.