The mother ofChris Wattsis worried about how her triple-murderer son will fare in prison, she said in a recent interview.
“There’s no telling what would be done to him in prison. I just want him to fight,” Watts’ mother added.
Chris Watts, 33,pleaded guiltyearlier this monthto the August murdersof his wife of nearly six years, 34-year-old Shan’ann Watts, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
Shan’ann was about 15 weeks pregnant with a son at the time, andher family later said she planned to name him Niko Lee.
Cindy Watts said in the interview she wishes her son had not admitted to the charges against him.
“I asked Chris, ‘If you did not do this, do not confess to something you didn’t do,'” she told the station. “[His attorney] shut me down. She completely shut me down.”
When the reporter asked Cindy if she believed her son was coerced into pleading guilty, she didn’t have an answer.
“I don’t know. I have no idea,” she said. “To me, all they wanted to do was save his life, just save his life. Save his life and life in prison — to me there’s no difference. He’s going to die in prison. I just want him to fight. I don’t want him to take this plea deal. I want him to plead not guilty to [killing] the children.”
Chris Watts.Joshua Polson/AP/REX/Shutterstock
In the interview, Watts’ parents also claimed he was in an abusive relationship with Shan’ann. They claimed Watts changed when he married her and that Shan’ann isolated Chris from his family.
“It was a very hard relationship,” Cindy Watts said. “It was a very hard relationship with her as far as I’m concerned. I couldn’t do anything right.”
Shan’ann’s parents reportedly issued a rebuttal describing Watts’ parents’ claims as “vicious, grotesque and utterly false.”
Shan’ann Watts (center) and her daughters.Shanann Watts /Facebook
After his August arrest, under police questioning,Chrisallegedly said he would “tell the truth” after investigators told him they found out he was having an affair with a co-worker, according to an affidavit supporting his arrest that was unsealed in late August.
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But in court earlier this month, Chris pleaded to nine charges, according to prosecutors: five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a dead body.
In pleading guilty, Chris essentially admitted his earlier explanation was a lie.
He will be formally sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
source: people.com
