A woman who began corresponding with convicted murderer Chris Watts following his heinous crimes has recounted her initial encounter with him.
Chris Watts was anticipating the birth of his third child with his wife, Shannan, when she and their two daughters vanished from their Colorado home in August 2018.
Initially, Watts claimed ignorance about his family’s whereabouts, but it was later revealed that he had killed all three, disposing of his children’s bodies in oil tanks and burying Shannan in a shallow grave.
Watts confessed to the murders and received a life sentence without the possibility of parole. His chilling story captivated the public, leading many to send him letters while he was incarcerated.
Cherlyn Cadle was one of these correspondents. She later authored two books about Watts’ crimes and confessions.
One of these books, titled Letters from Christopher, is promoted as an ‘entirely truthful account of what happened to Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and (unborn baby) Nico Watts’.
After starting their communication through letters, Cadle was approved to visit Watts in prison. Nonetheless, Watts feared their conversations might be recorded, opting instead to write down his confessions.
In Lifetime’s docuseries Cellmate Secrets, Cadle shared her experience meeting Watts for the first time, saying: “I hate to even admit this because he is a murderer and what he did is so horrendous, but when I first met him, he had this boyish demeanor.
“He was gentle, soft-spoken and just appeared as a nice guy. And he remained that way throughout our communications. That changed when he started talking about the murders.”
Cadle, who described her encounter with Watts to Inside Edition as ‘very surreal’, also recounted the change in Watts’ expression when discussing the murders of his wife and daughters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68-4_nOL3po
She said: “At times when he would talk about the murders, his eyes would turn so black. He just would get a different look on his face and he talked about it so nonchalantly.”
Cadle noted her interest in Watts’ case from his first TV appearance, revealing: “When I saw his first interview, I don’t know, I looked at him that morning and I just felt something really spoke to me.
“It was like a calling for me to contact him and see if he would share his story with me. I knew he was guilty. You could tell by the way he was talking, the body language. But it was just one of those things where I really felt like I was supposed to do it.”