Well here's a plot twist we didn't see coming: Chris Watts, the infamous Colorado dad who murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters in 2018, reportedly struck up an unlikely friendship behind bars. According to a new book, Watts grew close to convicted killer Jake Patterson, who is now serving time for the kidnapping of 13-year-old Jayme Closs and the murder of both her parents, which occurred that same year. As it turns out, the pair have more in common than you might think.
It's all detailed in 'The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder.'
The true crime book, which was written by author John Glatt and is set to publish July 21, is already gaining a lot of interest for its juicy details.
Glatt wrote that Patterson was placed in a cell next to Watts when he was booked at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, back in December 2018, according to the Daily Mail. Remarkably, Watts would even step in to calm Patterson whenever fellow inmates would yell obscenities at them.
"When they'd go out for rec, other prisoners would start yelling at them and Patterson would start yelling things back," Watts' mother Cindy told Glatt in an interview for the book. "Christopher told him, ''Don't do that. Just calm down.'"
The pair also bonded on a spiritual level, Cindy shared.
Watts and Patterson would allegedly read passages from the Bible together every night, and the two would even spend hours discussing them.
If that sounds hard to believe, so were the initial reports about Watts' so-called "spiritual awakening," which actually have been circulating since early 2019. That was when the father sat down with investigators to share the grisly details behind the murders, and his lawyers told Dr. Phil that he was finally coming clean after he "found God" in prison.
Watts was given five life sentences November 19, 2018, for killing his wife Shan'ann, their unborn son, Nico, and daughters Celeste and Bella.
He was given an additional 48 years for the unlawful termination of Shan'ann's pregnancy, as well as 36 years for crimes related to the disposal of all three bodies, and has been denied the possibility of parole, according to CNN.
But when you consider the crimes he committed, Watts is more than getting what he deserves in jail. In fact, the judge handling the case at the time actually called it "the most inhumane and vicious crime" he had ever seen in his career.
The Frederick, Colorado, father confessed to strangling Shan'ann, 34, in their bed during the early morning hours of August 13, 2018.
His lawyer, Steven Lambert, claimed it happened in the heat of the moment, following a fight in which Shan'ann confronted her husband about having an affair.
"That it was pretty much over between them, and she had said something to the effect of, "Well you're not going to see the kids again,"' Lambert relayed. "As a consequence of that conversation he strangled her to death."
Watts then wrapped up his wife in a bedsheet and began dragging her down the stairs when his 4-year-old daughter Bella awoke and asked him, "What's wrong with Mommy?"
Her cries soon woke 2-year-old Celeste as well, which was when Watts made a tragic and fateful decision.
After loading Shan'ann's body into the back of his pickup truck, Watts also had the girls hop into the front cab.
From there, he drove for 45 minutes, until they reached an oil site he managed for his job at Anadarko Petroleum. Watts later told investigators that he dug a shallow grave to quickly bury Shan'ann's body, and then — in perhaps the most gruesome and unbelievable part of the crime — he strangled his girls one by one with his bare hands.
First came 2-year-old Celeste (aka "Cece"), who he smothered to death with her favorite blanket. As 4-year-old Bella watched in horror, the father carried his toddler toward one of the large oil tanks, climbed the ladder with her body, and shoved it inside the oil drum.
When he returned to the truck, a horrified Bella protested, saying, "Please, Daddy, do not do to me what you just did to Cece."
Sadly, Watts smothered his 4-year-old in much the same manner, before shoving her body in another oil drum.
The next day, a worried friend called Watts and then police after Shan'ann failed to show for an appointment.
A search of the Watts home revealed that Shan'ann's keys, purse, shoes and car were all still on the premises — but Shan'ann and the girls were nowhere to be found. In a matter of hours, Watts' story began to unravel, and it didn't take long before he confessed to the killings and led police to her body. He also admitted to having an affair with a coworker, Nichol Kissinger, and blamed the relationship for causing some kind of mental break.
"When Chris talks to me about Shan'ann, he talks about how great she was and how much he loved her," a woman named Anna, who claimed to communicate regularly with Watts in prison, told Lies, Crimes & Video last year. "Chris feels like he had a break in reality like he snapped, like he was demon-possessed."
As for Patterson, he was just 21 years old when he murdered James and Denise Closs on October 15, 2018.
According to reports, he had developed an obsession with their 13-year-old daughter, Jayme, whom he had seen only briefly after passing her school bus one day. In a letter later written to a local news station, Patterson insisted that he hadn't premeditated the crime, and that it had simply happened "on impulse."
Whatever the case, the 21-year-old forced entry into the family's Barron, Wisconsin, home shortly before 1 a.m., shooting James Closs through the window when he came to answer the front door.
Patterson bounded through the home, where he found Denise inside a bathroom comforting Jayme and trying to call 911.
Within seconds, Patterson forced Denise to duct tape Jayme's mouth before shooting the mother as he turned his head away. After binding the teen's ankles and wrists, he dragged her outside to his car, where he tossed her in the trunk and sped off.
Cops arrived just four minutes after the 911 call was made, but it was already too late. Jayme would endure an agonizing 87 days in captivity, as Patterson kept her locked inside a small home he lived in that was owned by his parents.
But finally, on Day 88, Jayme made her escape when Patterson left the home for several hours. She made her way to a nearby roadway, where a passerby picked her up and brought her to safety. Patterson was arrested soon after, and he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murder.
Last summer, Patterson was transferred from Dodge Correctional Institution to a prison in New Mexico.
The exact location of the prison is unknown, though USA Today reported that the transfer was recommended by corrections officers who felt he should be held at a maximum-security prison out of state, because of "security concerns based on the publicity this case has received."
It's unknown whether he still communicates with Watts, who remains at Dodge Correctional.
