Who Cares if Chris Watts Hates Holidays in Prison?
By: Jennifer Friebely
Tags: True Crime, Domestic Violence, Murder, Family, Relationships

I wrote an article in October about the Watts family murders because the story became a Netflix documentary that went to #1 the week it was released. I wondered why people were so fascinated with such a horrible crime. What is it that draws us to want to know about hideous acts committed by a family annihilator?

There are many reasons we want to know. It’s not just one. See my article here where I go into detail about our fascination with murder.

After I wrote that article, a few weeks later there was more press about how there were details about the horrific crime that the Netflix documentary left out. They were important details that I felt talked about toxic masculinity in our society. There were red flags with Chris Watts that would have indicated that he was actually seething beneath the surface like a time bomb ready to blow. This crime did not take place “out of the blue” as many thought. He wasn’t this perfect guy that suddenly snapped. I write about it here.

Now, it’s December — two months after I’ve written about Chris Watts. Those articles have been filed away. Suddenly I notice that my “views” in my Medium stats are going up rapidly and I can’t see why — at first.

Then I see it. People are reading my second story on the Chris Watts murders. The story is going viral. But why? Why is it going viral? What did Chris Watts do? Has something happened?

Nope. Here’s what I learned: Chris Watts hates the holidays in prison. Three media outlets are covering this piece of “news” — People Magazine, The New York Post, and Fox News. Who cares about a horrible murderer?

People Magazine’s article entitled, Chris Watts ‘Hates the Holidays’ in Prison, Says Source: ‘He’s in a Hell of His Own Making’ — In the article, writer Steve Helling reports,

“He doesn’t like talking about his life before prison,” says the source, “but he has said that he used to be a huge fan of Christmas: decorating the house, spending time with family. And he knows 100% that it’ll never happen again, and that it’s his own fault. He’s in a hell of his own making.” “The prison has a ‘Christmas dinner,’ but it’s basically bland turkey and potatoes,” the jail source continues. “It’s not exactly the feast you’d imagine for Christmas. In a sense, that’s more depressing, because it reminds the inmates that it’s Christmas and that they’re getting an inferior copy of the holiday.”

Then The New York Post’s article entitled, Convicted family killer Chris Watts ‘hates the holidays’ in prison by Jackie Salo — pretty much repeats information from the same source but adds:

Watts instead will reserve any holiday cheer for his pen pals, the source told the outlet. “He’ll write his penpals this season, and they’re sending him notes, as well,” the source said. “It’s literally all he can do at this point. He hates the holidays.”

Fox also repeated the same primary source information with one difference:

While in prison, Watts has communicated with several women, People reported in October. He also reportedly has photos of his family hanging on his cell wall.

In an effort to understand further why we want to delve into the details of a grisly crime — I dug deeper. I found an article from NPR Book Reviews by author Ilana Masad entitled Why Do We Find True Crime Fascinating? ‘Savage Appetites’ Looks For An Answer.

In the book “Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession,” journalist Rachel Monroe writes: “Most of the explanations I read for why women are drawn to true crime ended up feeling reductive and unsatisfying.”

The book reviewer, Ilana Masad discusses the book further regarding the question of why we want to know crime details:

It doesn’t give us easy answers for why women are the main consumers of true crime narratives, because there aren’t any because women as a category are not monolith and because it’s complicated and nuanced and different for everyone. The book is important also because I suspect there are more than a few of us who, like Monroe herself, feel conflicted about their desire to consume stories of murder and mayhem and wonder what it reflects about the world around us and ourselves.

In Conclusion

There are many reasons why we want to know about what makes murderers tick and why we are so fascinated with their stories. I suppose with the Chris Watts story, the thing that bothers me is that he is getting all of this attention for betraying his family in the worst possible way — as though he’s some celebrity. It makes me a little sick. Why do we care about how he feels at the holidays or if he has a shitty Christmas dinner? He deserves so much worse.