Chris Watts is getting romantic fan mail from women pen pals while behind bars

(TMU) – For some reason, murderers always seem to have fans and penpals when they end up in prison, even after it is proven that they are guilty of atrocities. In many cases, killers who preyed on women, still maintain relationships while behind bars, with women who seem unconcerned about their prior crimes.

This happens so often that it is typically expected in high profile cases, but it is still surprising to see people like Chris Watts corresponding with women as he sits in prison for the murder of his pregnant wife and their two daughters.

A source that has spoken with Watts in jail recently told People that he began responding to fanmail out of boredom and now has developed a deeper bond with some of his pen pals.

“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.

When asked if the women were disturbed by what Watts did to his family, the source said, “Believe it or not, no. They have compassion on him, despite what he did.”

Not all of the letters were from fans though, some of them were people who wrote in anger, and many of them came from religious people.

“Some of the letters are angry. A lot of them are from people of faith who want to pray for him. But then he gets letters from women who want to connect with him, you know, romantically. He responds because he doesn’t have anything better to do,” the source said.

Watts had the largest shipment of mail when he was first jailed, because the story was so viral online and in the media, but the stream of letters slowed down until recently, when the Netflix series based on the murders began streaming on September 30th. The series is titled, American Murder: The Family Next Door.

Now Watts has started to get more letters now that his story is on Netflix.

Watts pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Shanann, and then driving her body to a job site at the oil company where he worked. He then killed his two daughters Bella, and Celeste, ages 3 and 4. Watts was believed to be having an affair with a co-worker who thought that he was already separated. Instead of handling the situation like a rational adult, he lashed out in violence and killed his entire family.

He is currently serving a life sentence in a Wisconsin prison. Due to the high profile nature of his case, Watts is being held in protective custody at the prison. He is only about to leave his cell for an hour each day for showers and exercise, and is separated from the general population. He will never be eligible for parole so he will be spending the rest of his life in prison.