Facebook Chris Watts, pictured in his mugshot and with his wife, Shanann and daughters, has been charged with murder in their deaths.
In August 2018, Chris Watts pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and their two daughters. Three months later, he was sentenced to five life sentences, three of which would be served consecutively, without parole.
Today, he is serving time at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, according to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. KKTV reports that he was moved out of his Colorado institution in December for “safety reasons.”
After his transfer, Mark Fairbairn, a Colorado Department of Corrections spokesperson, told A&E, “He has been moved out of Colorado for security concerns due to him being a high-profile offender.” They add that this likely meant he was receiving threats in prison.
Larry Levine, director of Wall Street Prison Consultants, tells the outlet, “Colorado is a big state, but Watts’ crime touched the community on a lot of levels… People who [commit crimes against] children … are the most hated people on the inside. He couldn’t just blend in. Everybody knows who he is. He was probably getting death threats.”
The Dodge Correctional Institution is a maximum-security correctional facility in Wisconsin. A&E reports that it once housed serial killer Ed Gein, as well as Chris Coleman.
InstagramChris and Shanann Watts.
In April, CNN reported that a petition was circling to remove photos that Watts put up in his cell of his two young children and his wife.
One section of the petition reads, “Allowing a murderer to keep a trophy of his victims goes against the purpose and mission statement of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, which emphasizes public safety and victim advocacy. We, the public and taxpayers, demand that any pictures of Watts’ murder victims are confiscated and that he does not receive favorable treatment due to the publicity of his criminal case.”
As of August, over 17,000 people have signed the petition.
One man who has spoken out about the horror he experienced as a result of Watts’ actions is Frank Rzucek, Shanann’s father, who recently told ABC News that he is being bullied by online trolls. “For the past 11 months, piled on top of pain and the grieving of this devastating loss, our family has been subject to horrible, cruel abuse, outright bullying, on a daily basis,” Rzucek told reporters one Monday in July. “I don’t want to draw more attention to the viral material that has been posted online,” he said, “but I will say that our family, including Shanann and her children, our grandchildren, have been ridiculed, demeaned, slandered, mocked in the most vicious ways you can imagine.”
Tonight, on an all-new episode, Frank and Sandra Rzucek, Shanann’s parents, will speak to 20/20 about life since their daughter and two young granddaughters were murdered. They say they have now turned to their Catholic faith for strength.
Be sure to tune into tonight’s episode of ABC News’ 20/20 to watch the interview.
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