Convicted killer Chris Watts, who is serving multiple life sentences for the murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters, has reportedly applied to marry a woman he met while incarcerated. The woman, Lizzie Henderson, a 39-year-old realtor from Cleveland, has relocated to Wisconsin to be closer to Watts at Dodge Correctional Institution (DCI) in Waupun, according to the Daily Mail.
Relationship Details and Name Change
Henderson's relatives told the Daily Mail that the pair have applied to marry within the prison system. She has also begun going by “Lizzie Watts” after filing an application to legally change her name. Court records show that a Lizzie Henderson applied for a confidential name change, but details of the case are sealed.
Since relocating from Ohio to Wisconsin, Henderson has been a frequent visitor to the maximum-security prison. She confirmed her relationship with Watts over the phone to the Daily Mail, acknowledging that others may perceive it as “weird,” but refused to explain how the two met, stating, “How things began is between me, him and God.”
Background of the Crimes
On August 13, 2018, Watts strangled his pregnant wife, Shanann, in their Colorado home. He then drove her body to a job site at the oil company where he worked, disposed of her body, and smothered his daughters — Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. After pleading guilty to the murders, he received five life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Authorities said Watts committed the murders because he was having an affair with a co-worker who thought he was already separated. In the days before the killings, Shanann reached out to a friend and shared her growing concerns about her marriage, but she never suspected her life was in danger.
Henderson's Response and Prison Correspondence
When asked about Watts’ crimes, Henderson told the Daily Mail: “How I feel about it? He knows. He knows how I feel. I don’t know all the people involved but I would want to respect them.” She then described the killings as “something harsh for anyone to experience.”
A source who spoke with Watts in jail said he was passing time by corresponding with multiple women. “He got a lot of letters at first. Many of them are from women who thought he was handsome and felt compassion for him. He had nothing better to do, so he wrote them back. And he started having penpals. A couple of them stood out, and they’ve kept in contact,” the source said.
Watts began to receive more mail after the 2020 release of the Netflix documentary about his case, American Murder: The Family NextDoor. By 2022, he was sending “racy” letters to some of his penpals. “They send sexy pictures, and he responds,” a source who had spoken with Watts several times in jail told PEOPLE. “There are a lot of women who think he’s handsome and misunderstood. They send a lot of letters.”
The source continued, “He’s got nothing else to do, so he feeds his ego in that way. Because he’s not popular at all in prison. He’s in protective custody. The only outlet he has is with these letters.”
