Cherlyn Cadle, author and pen pal of Chris Watts, revealed that the killer dad had drugged his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, with the potent painkiller oxycodone weeks before her murder. 

Cadle said Chris Watts told her that he never wanted that baby and that it was easier to cheat if his wife was not pregnant. However, the reported attempt was unsuccessful, though Shanann Watts did become ill, Oxygen reported.

The author of "Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders," noted that Chris had confessed to her through a letter that he tried "to poison Shanann with a large dose" of oxycodone because he "wanted her to do was for her to miscarry."

Cadle further noted that the killer dad also tried to murder his two daughters in the bedroom before killing his wife. Cadle also said it was possible Chris drugged Shanann again on the morning of the murder. Chris allegedly admitted to Cadle that he did drug his wife. However, he later denied it, Crime Online reported.

Cadle noted that she believed that Shanann would have fought back if she was not drugged, and there was no sign that she fought back at all.

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Further Details About the Watts' Family Killing

Chris Watts allegedly wrote to Cadle that he had sex with Shanann after she returned from a business trip. The killer dad then tried to smother the two girls as he did not want them to hear him murder their mother. He added that he planned his actions ahead of time.

Cadle said that Chris did not admit to the cheating. However, he said that he told Shanann that he no longer loved her. This was the same story that he told to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Shanann Watts said that if he were to end their marriage, he would never see his daughters again. Cadle said this comment enraged him enough to kill her at that moment, even though he allegedly already thought the girls were dead.

Watts' pen pal also said that Chris' buried his wife's body away from their kids' bodies because he hated her so much at that time.

Chris Watts Murder Case

The couple had filed for bankruptcy in June 2015, stating that their $3,000 mortgage and $600 car payments took most of their $4,900 in monthly expenses. The couple then moved to Colorado and started a new life.

On Jun. 11, 2018, Shanann Watts had surprised his husband with the news of her pregnancy, to which he replied, "That's awesome," according to the Biography timeline.

In July 2018, Chris Watts and Nichol Kessinger started a physical relationship, with it being about four or five times a week.

Chris Watts had told Nichol Kessinger that he was almost divorced. Later that month, Shanann and the girls were out of town in North Carolina. This was the moment when the killer dad told her that their divorce is final.

Weeks after they started talking, Nichol Kessinger's cell phone data showed that she was looking at wedding dresses online for two hours.

On Aug. 13, 2018, Chris Watts had killed his pregnant wife and two young daughters. Two days later, the killer dad had failed a polygraph test and admitted to killing his pregnant wife while alleging that Shanann had smothered their daughters.

In November 2018, Chris Watts had pleaded guilty to all nine criminal accounts, while Shanann's family requested not to seek the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Weld County Judge Todd Taylor has ordered Chris to pay Shanann's parents $6 million for emotional pain. The amount will grow with eight percent interest each year.

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