Chris Watts, the Colorado man serving multiple life sentences for murdering his pregnant wife and their two young daughters in 2018, is reportedly seeking permission to marry a woman with whom he developed a relationship while incarcerated. Watts, now 41, is being held at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, where he was transferred after his conviction. Recent reports identify the woman as Lizzie Henderson, a 39-year-old former real-estate professional who previously lived in Ohio before relocating to Wisconsin.
Henderson has repeatedly visited Watts in prison, and reports published in August 2026 say the couple has begun the formal process required to request permission to marry. Any wedding would still be subject to approval under Wisconsin Department of Corrections procedures. The reported relationship has attracted attention because of the crimes for which Watts is imprisoned. In August 2018, he murdered his wife, Shanann Watts, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and their daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste, often called Cece.
The family lived in Frederick, Colorado. After Shanann and the children disappeared, Watts initially appeared publicly as a concerned husband and father asking for information about their whereabouts. Investigators soon discovered major inconsistencies in his story, however, and within days he was arrested. He eventually admitted responsibility for all three deaths. Watts pleaded guilty in November 2018 to multiple felony counts, including first-degree murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
The plea agreement removed the possibility of the death penalty, a decision supported by Shanann’s family, who did not want prosecutors to pursue an execution. He was later sentenced to multiple consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole, along with additional prison time connected to the crimes. The sentences mean that his reported plans to marry do not change the fact that he is expected to spend the remainder of his life in custody.
Henderson has reportedly developed a close relationship with Watts through communication and prison visits. According to recent reporting, she visited him approximately 23 times over a period of about 15 months. She is also reported to have moved from Ohio to Wisconsin, placing her considerably closer to the prison where Watts is housed. Henderson confirmed that she and Watts are in a relationship but has chosen to keep some details private, including precisely how their connection began. She has indicated that the circumstances of their relationship are personal and rooted partly in her religious beliefs.
Public records have added another layer of attention to the relationship. Reports say Henderson sought a confidential legal name change in 2025 and has been described as using the surname Watts, although publicly available records do not by themselves establish the reason for every aspect of that filing. She has also reportedly been seen wearing a ring. Those details have fueled discussion about the seriousness of the relationship, but the strongest current reporting is that Watts and Henderson have applied through the prison system to marry. A formal prison marriage cannot simply take place without the necessary institutional approval.
Henderson has acknowledged that people are likely to find her relationship with Watts unusual. When questioned about his crimes, she indicated that Watts knows how she feels and that she wants to remain respectful toward the people affected by the case. Her relationship with a man convicted of murdering his family has nevertheless generated widespread criticism and renewed public interest in a case that has remained prominent in true-crime coverage for years. Reports have also indicated that members of Henderson’s own family have reservations about the relationship.
Watts has received attention from women before. Since entering prison, he has reportedly exchanged correspondence with several female admirers. The renewed visibility surrounding the case, particularly after documentaries and other media coverage, contributed to people contacting him from outside prison. Some correspondence reportedly became personal or romantic in nature. Henderson’s relationship appears to have progressed considerably further than many of those earlier communications because she has repeatedly visited him and is now reportedly trying to marry him.
Nothing about Watts’ current relationship changes the documented history of the case that sent him to prison. In the early morning hours of August 13, 2018, Shanann returned home from a business trip. Her disappearance and the disappearance of Bella and Celeste were reported soon afterward. Watts initially denied knowing what had happened and participated in television interviews asking for his family to return safely. Investigators examining the case, however, quickly focused on him as evidence and his statements began to conflict.
Watts initially gave investigators a false version of events that shifted responsibility away from himself. He ultimately admitted that he had killed Shanann and both girls. Investigators also learned that Watts had been involved in an extramarital relationship with a co-worker and had been considering separation. Prosecutors later described his desire for a different life as part of the circumstances surrounding the murders. The woman with whom he had been involved cooperated with investigators and was never charged in connection with the killings.
After killing his family, Watts transported their bodies to an oil field connected with his employer. Shanann was buried at the site, while the bodies of Bella and Celeste were placed in separate oil tanks. Investigators eventually recovered all three victims. The details were presented extensively during the investigation and later became part of Watts’ more complete confession. Because of the ages of the victims and the nature of the crime, the case generated intense public reaction in the United States and internationally.
One of the most painful details emerged from Watts’ later account to investigators. He described Bella realizing something terrible was happening and resisting before her death. Statements attributed to the child during his confession have frequently been repeated in coverage of the case. Because those details involve the final moments of a four-year-old murder victim, they remain among the most distressing aspects of the investigation. They also underline why renewed attention to Watts’ personal life continues to generate strong reactions years later.
In February 2019, investigators from Colorado traveled to Wisconsin and conducted an extensive prison interview with Watts. During that conversation, he provided additional details about the murders and discussed his life in prison. The interview also revealed that he kept photographs of Shanann, Bella and Celeste in his cell. Watts told investigators that he spoke to the photographs and maintained personal routines connected to memories of the family. The presence of the pictures eventually generated controversy outside the prison.
Reports from the period said Watts described talking to photographs of his wife and daughters regularly. His comments led some members of the public to question why a person convicted of murdering his family should be allowed to display their photographs in his cell. An online petition was even created asking prison officials to remove them. The Wisconsin prison system nevertheless treated the photographs according to institutional policies rather than public opinion.
Over the years, Watts has also increasingly spoken about religion. Letters and reports concerning his prison life have described him as claiming that he has changed spiritually and believes he has received forgiveness. Those are Watts’ own religious beliefs and personal claims; they do not alter his convictions, sentences or legal responsibility for the murders. He remains incarcerated for the rest of his life unless extraordinary legal circumstances were ever to change his sentence. There is currently no indication that his reported marriage plans would have any effect on his incarceration.
His life at Dodge Correctional Institution is considerably different from his life before August 2018. Recent reporting describes Watts as working as a custodian and exercising while in prison. Because of the notoriety of his crimes, his interactions within the prison environment are restricted, and he has reportedly spent significant time separated from the broader inmate population for safety reasons. Communication with people outside prison has therefore become an important part of his limited social life.
That outside communication is how his relationships with female correspondents have drawn attention over the years. Some women contacted Watts after learning about the case through news reports, documentaries and online discussions. The Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door, released in 2020, brought another wave of international attention to the murders by using archival footage, messages and other material from the investigation. Recent reports indicate that increased attention also contributed to additional correspondence being sent to Watts.
Henderson’s involvement appears different from ordinary correspondence because of the number of in-person visits reported and the couple’s apparent intention to marry. Recent accounts say she has spent considerable time maintaining the relationship despite Watts being imprisoned permanently. Reports also indicate she moved geographically closer to the institution, further suggesting that the relationship has become an important part of her life.
Still, a prison marriage would not create the kind of married life available to couples outside incarceration. Watts cannot leave Dodge Correctional Institution, establish a household with Henderson or resume an ordinary family life. Any communication, visitation and potential marriage would remain subject to prison regulations. The relationship therefore exists entirely within the restrictions imposed by his multiple life sentences.
The possibility of another marriage has inevitably caused people to revisit the contrast with Watts’ first marriage. Shanann was 34 when she was murdered. She was a mother to Bella and Celeste and was expecting the couple’s third child, a boy the family planned to name Nico. Her family and friends have consistently remembered her as a devoted mother whose life, along with the lives of her daughters and unborn son, ended because of Watts’ actions.
Those victims remain central to understanding why developments involving Watts continue to receive attention. A report about a prison romance can easily become focused on the unusual nature of someone wanting to marry a notorious convicted murderer. But the central facts behind his imprisonment remain unchanged: Shanann, Bella and Celeste were killed in August 2018, and Watts admitted responsibility and pleaded guilty.
The reported relationship with Henderson represents a new development in Watts’ prison life, not a new development in his criminal case. His convictions remain in place, and his sentences provide no possibility of parole. He continues serving those sentences at Dodge Correctional Institution while the Wisconsin correctional system considers any requests concerning marriage according to its policies.
Henderson, meanwhile, is an adult making her own decision to maintain the relationship despite knowing Watts’ criminal history. Her reasons for doing so are ultimately her own, and public reporting cannot establish motivations she has not personally explained. She has acknowledged the unusual circumstances but has kept significant parts of the relationship private.
The story therefore contains two separate realities. One is the current report that Watts and Henderson have developed a relationship serious enough that they are seeking authorization to marry. The other is the permanent legal reality created in 2018: Watts is a convicted murderer serving multiple life sentences without parole for killing his pregnant wife and two daughters.
Whatever happens with the marriage request, it cannot undo those crimes or their consequences. For Shanann’s relatives and the people who loved Bella and Celeste, the events of August 2018 remain an irreversible loss. The passage of eight years, Watts’ religious claims, his prison relationships or a possible future marriage do not change the reason he remains incarcerated.
Whether prison authorities ultimately approve the reported request remains part of the developing story. What is already established is that Watts and Henderson have maintained a relationship involving repeated prison visits and have reportedly taken steps toward marriage.
Chris Watts is expected to remain behind bars for life. A marriage could alter his personal relationship status, but it would not alter his sentence, his convictions or the documented history of the murders. Eight years after the killings, the case continues to attract public attention, but any account of his current life is incomplete without keeping Shanann, Bella and Celeste at the center of why he is in prison in the first place.
