Chris Watts' prison penpal shares what it was like meeting him for the first time

A woman who wrote to convicted killer Chris Watts after he murdered his wife and children has described meeting him for the first time.

Watts was expecting his third child with his wife, Shannan, when she and their two daughters suddenly disappeared from their Colorado home in August 2018.

The father initially denied having any idea what had happened to his family, but eventually it came out that Watts had killed all three of them, putting his children's bodies in oil tanks and Shannan in a shallow grave.

Watts pleaded guilty to their murders and was sentenced to life in prison without parole, but his story intrigued members of the public and prompted people to start writing letters to him while he was behind bars.

One of Watts' penpals was Cherlyn Cadle, who went on to author two books about Watts' story and his confessions.

One of the books, titled Letters from Christopher, is described as the 'completely truthful account of what happened to Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and (unborn baby) Nico Watts'.

After initially connecting with Watts through letters, Cadle was put on the visitors' list to go and see him in prison. However, he is said to have feared their conversations were being recorded, so instead wrote his confessions down.

Chris Watts was sentenced to life in prison (RJ Sangosti - Pool/Getty Images)

Speaking on Lifetime’s docuseries Cellmate Secrets, Cadle described her first meeting with Watts as she said: "I hate to even admit this because he is a murderer and what he did is so horrendous, but when I first met him, he had this boyish demeanor.

"He was gentle, soft-spoken and just appeared as a nice guy. And he remained that way throughout our communications. That changed when he started talking about the murders."

Cadle, who described meeting Watts to Inside Edition as 'very surreal', also recalled the look on Watts' face when he talked about what he did to his wife and young daughters.

She said: "At times when he would talk about the murders, his eyes would turn so black. He just would get a different look on his face and he talked about it so nonchalantly."

Cadle said she became interested in Watts' story from the first time he appeared on TV, explaining: "When I saw his first interview, I don’t know, I looked at him that morning and I just felt something really spoke to me.

"It was like a calling for me to contact him and see if he would share his story with me. I knew he was guilty. You could tell by the way he was talking, the body language. But it was just one of those things where I really felt like I was supposed to do it."