Convicted family murderer Chris Watts has ended his engagement-style relationship with the woman he had planned to marry in prison, telling her that he believed God wanted them to separate, Our News Outlet can exclusively report.
Watts, 41, broke things off with Lizzie Henderson only weeks after Our News Outlet revealed that the pair were considering a wedding at the Wisconsin facility where he is serving multiple life sentences for killing his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters.
Two sources have confirmed that the romance has ended, saying Watts’ family—especially his mother, Cindy—had urged him to rethink the relationship.
“She never accepted Lizzie,” a family source close to Watts said. “But nobody supported him being in a relationship with her. Chris takes his family’s views seriously.”
“He would never marry a woman his mother disapproved of—even while serving time in prison.”
Cindy’s reservations about the women in her son’s life are longstanding. She and Shanann had a strained relationship, and Watts later told investigators that his mother believed Shanann was not good enough for him.
Watts’ parents skipped his 2012 wedding to Shanann, and the conflict between Cindy and her daughter-in-law persisted in the years leading up to the killings.
According to sources, Watts told Henderson that he no longer felt “peace” about their future and had come to believe God was signaling that they should not remain together.
Our News Outlet revealed last month that 39-year-old Lizzie Henderson was romantically involved with Watts
The relationship has now ended after Watts faced pressure from his family
Watts smothered his daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste, before placing their bodies in oil tanks
The sudden split marks a striking turn for a couple who had appeared to be progressing quickly toward marriage.
Henderson, 39, moved from Ohio to Wisconsin so she could be closer to Watts at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, where she became a regular visitor.
She also submitted a confidential legal petition seeking to change her name and had started identifying herself as Lizzie Watts.
Watts’ claim that God wanted him to leave the relationship is notable because religion had featured prominently in the couple’s account of how their romance developed.
When Our News Outlet located Henderson last month, she acknowledged the relationship but declined to explain how she had become involved with one of America’s most notorious killers.
“The way it started is something shared by me, him and God,” she said.
Henderson also characterized Watts as a born-again Christian.
Sources now say Watts is again referring to his faith—this time as the reason he believes the relationship must come to an end.
Last month, Our News Outlet exclusively reported that Henderson had formed a relationship with Watts, who is serving five life sentences without parole for the 2018 murders of Shanann and their daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three.
Henderson had relocated with her mother from Ohio to Wisconsin to be closer to Watts’ cell
She could not be reached for comment about the breakup
The relationship was called off after pressure from Watts’ mother, Cindy, who is seen alongside his father Ronnie in 2018
Henderson, a realtor originally from the Cleveland area, moved to Wisconsin with her mother after becoming involved with the convicted killer.
Prison records showed that she visited Watts 20 times in 2025. She also spent Christmas Day with him in 2024.
But Our News Outlet has also confirmed that Henderson was not the only woman who Watts was romancing during that time period.
Other women have previously come forward with handwritten love letters that are also dated in 2025, bearing Watts’ distinctive writing style containing multiple references to God’s will.
But Watts’ relationship with Henderson seemed to have progressed far beyond that of a typical prison pen pal.
One visitor even says she witnessed the couple kissing during a prison visit in August 2025.
Lisa Johnson told Our News Outlet last month that she was stunned when she realized the man sitting nearby with Henderson was Watts.
Johnson said Watts was holding a Bible during the visit and that Henderson appeared smitten with him.
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Watts has had a string of admirers and pen pal girlfriends since he was convicted in late 2018
Watts told police in 2018 that he murdered his family so he could start a new life with Nichol Kessinger, with whom he was having an affair
At the end of the visit, the pair embraced and kissed before exchanging ‘I love yous.’
And Henderson’s commitment seemed to extend well beyond regular prison visits.
In September 2025, she filed an application in Racine County to legally change her name. The details of the case were sealed, but family members said Henderson had already begun referring to herself as Lizzie Watts.
Relatives also told Our News Outlet that Watts and Henderson had applied for permission to marry within the Wisconsin prison system.
When confronted by Our News Outlet about the relationship, Henderson acknowledged that outsiders would likely struggle to understand it.
Asked about Watts’ horrific crimes, she said: ‘He knows how I feel. I don’t know all the people involved but I would want to respect them.’
She described the murders as ‘something harsh for anyone to experience.’
But Watts’ mother apparently had reservations of her own about the woman hoping to become her daughter-in-law.
Religion has played an increasingly prominent role in Watts’ life since he was sent to prison.
The convicted murderer has described himself as a born-again Christian and has spent years studying the Bible behind bars.
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.
Watts murdered his wife Shanann and children then pretended to be a concerned husband to police and local media
Lisa Johnson claims she saw Watts and Henderson engage in a steamy embrace during a 2025 visit
Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with the couple’s son, whom they planned to name Nico.
Watts initially portrayed himself as a distraught husband and father, appearing on local television and pleading emotionally for his family’s safe return.
But investigators quickly began to suspect him when they realized he was having an affair with his coworker Nichol Kessinger, who claimed she believed he was separated.
As the affair headed up, Watts became more distant with Shanann – and the two talked about divorcing.
Watts 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 and then turned on his daughters, suffocating 3-year-old Celeste first while a horrified Bella, 4, looked on. 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.
It is unclear what has become of the ring Henderson wore when we tracked her down last month
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 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.’
