Christopher Watts, the Colorado man sentenced to life in prison for killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters in 2018, says he has found peace through the Gospel and believes God has forgiven him.

Watts, now 40, is serving his sentence at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. In recently revealed letters to a female pen pal, he claimed he is no longer the same man who carried out the horrific crimes that shocked the nation.

“I am a new man,” Watts wrote. “I am not the person who committed those horrible acts. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.’ That’s me. I’m a new creature.”

A Claim of Forgiveness

Watts said he has confessed his sins before God and believes his past no longer defines him.

“I know that God does not see me as a sinner who killed his family; he sees me as His child. I have confessed my sins. I am forgiven. The hardest thing I have had to do was to forgive myself,” he said.

The former petroleum worker was convicted of murdering his wife, Shanann, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and their daughters, Bella and Celeste, at the family’s home in Frederick, Colorado. He later admitted to burying his wife’s body and disposing of his daughters’ remains in oil tanks at a job site.

Despite the gravity of his actions, Watts insists that he has experienced redemption. “God has separated me from my sin as far as the east is from the west,” he wrote. “But forgiveness of self is another matter entirely, and it has taken me years to find my peace, the peace that passes all understanding.”

A Turning Point Behind Bars

Watts has been claiming since 2019 that he turned to God after confessing his crimes to investigators. Speaking with Business Insider at the time, he described his newfound faith as “amazing grace.”

“I never knew I could have a relationship with God like I do now … but I just wish nobody had to pay any kind of price for this,” he said. He recalled a prison church service that left a lasting impression: “The pastor said you’re not defined by one moment in your life. And I think people are defining me by one moment in my life. They don’t know what happened before and what can happen later.”

Shadows of the Past

In his letters, Watts also wrote about the affair he was having with a co-worker, Nichol Kessinger, at the time of the murders. He blamed the relationship for clouding his judgment, referring to her as “a Jezebel who led me astray.”

Still, he emphasized that he takes responsibility for his actions: “I have always taken full responsibility for what I did … I was weak and I let her cloud my morals and my judgment.”

A Controversial Testimony

Watts’ claims of forgiveness will inevitably stir debate. For many, the enormity of his crimes makes his testimony difficult to accept. Yet his words echo the heart of the Gospel — that no sin is beyond God’s grace when there is true repentance.

As Watts concluded in one of his letters, “I am finally at peace with myself.”