A man claiming to be the secret lover of Chris Watts, who is accused of murdering his wife and their two kids, has come forward to say he engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship with Watts for nearly a year.
To make a long and truly horrifying story short: Watts is charged with murdering his pregnant wife and two kids in Frederick, Colorado.
His wife Shannan’s body was found buried in a shallow grave in Watts’ former boss’s yard. Their daughter’s bodies were found submerged in crude oil in drums nearby.
At first, Watts played the victim by making public pleas for his family’s return to local media outlets. After the bodies were discovered, he told police he killed Shannen after she strangled their daughters because he told her he wanted a divorce.
Now, an unidentified man who says he was Watts’ lover spoke with HLN host Ashleigh Banfield to talk about their alleged affair.
The man claims they met on the dating app MeetMe and engaged in an “instant” sexual relationship.
“He reached out to me and messaged me,” the man alleged in the interview. “It was small talk. He told me his age. He had two daughters. He told me he was looking for a relationship in the long run.”
“I asked why his profile said straight. He said he was not out and not ready to be out as far as sexuality.”
The man claimed he and Watts maintained a close relationship for about 10 months.
“We had many conversations,” he said. “I asked him to make sure he’s not bisexual cause he had two children. He told me he didn’t know.”
“At that moment he was attracted to me as a male.”
The man went on to explain that eventually that, in the beginning, Watts lied and said he was single. It wasn’t until much later that he admitted he was married, but that he and his wife “didn’t have sex anymore.”
“I asked why he lied to me. He told me he knew he wouldn’t have a chance with me if he told me he was married. He told me what I wanted to hear. He knew I had good morals.”
The man also said Watts said Shannen was an abusive partner and that their marriage was miserable.
“He told me his wife was verbally and emotionally abusive,” he alleges. “He told me he didn’t love her. She didn’t love him. I knew something was wrong at home. If nothing was wrong, he wouldn’t have pursued me.”
“I could see in his eyes he was very unhappy.”
Asked whether thought Chris had committed the crime, the man responded, “no and yes.”
“You never really know what someone is capable of and the way he portrayed himself as the victim and made me feel sympathy for him,” he said. “Sociopath’s can easily lead to different lives and different emotions.”
“I hope he gets convicted and I hope he stays in prison for the rest of his life.”
Rock-N-RollHS
Is this a thing: find some crackpot who claims they were the lover of an accused psychopath?
Don’t believe a word. And where is the journalistic support for his claims? This is where QTY enters National Enquirer and Confidential and Weekly World News territory.
Rock-N-RollHS
Correction: accused hot psychopath.
JAWIWA
did you miss the part about the man having been interviewed by CNN Headline News’ Ashley Banfield, who is a trained and respected journalist?
startenout
Banfield later confirmed that her show, Crime & Justice, isn’t able to independently verify the anonymous man’s claims. So we’re just spreading gossip…the source may as well be TMZ
gaimingfoxer
@JAWIWA cause well known journalists never rush to a story without checking, right?
Who cares who the journalist was? All that matters is the evidence they brought to support it.
barkomatic
If he has the messages to back up his claim over this app it should be pretty easy to verify right?
dbmcvey
Which is what HLN should have done before they put this shit on the air.
Giuseppe
It’s not mentioned here so there’s no way to know whether of not HLN did any kind of fact-checking, you assume they would before printing this.
dbmcvey
Who says “he was attracted to me as a male”. That they admit they can’t verify this and yet still report it is why we can’t trust the media.
dean089
When I first read that I thought maybe the he does drag or something. Otherwise you’re right, it’s a very awkward statement — sort of like the way straight people say “gay marriage” and “gay sex.” Gay people just say “marriage” and “sex.”
Lacuevaman
hang on gurls….. there is more to this story coming…..
Paco
I had a feeling when I saw him interviewed. I knew it was only a matter of time when some anonymous guy would show up with these claims.
darren michaels
Paco..I have to admit when I saw him and heard him talking I couldn’t help but immediately think he was not “fully invested” in the lifestyle he spoke of.
It’s truly unfortunate that so many men and women feel marriage is the choice that will make them who they hope to be. Unfortunately being with women doesn’t make gay men straight. In the last year, through work or friends, I think I’ve met at least half a dozen guys who have been married, had kids and then at some point in their lives come out. The pressure to do whats expected in the eyes of others can be so destructive.
gayjim1969
Bingo!
My first impression during his interview–Smiling when saying you want your wife back and no other emotion–equals you killed her.
My second impression during his interview–Wife and children are a beard.
God! This homophobic society creates situations which degrade LGBT+ people and others by making them hide and conform to social norms.
dean089
Oh great, now we will no doubt hear about how it wasn’t really his fault because society had ‘trapped’ him in a loveless heterosexual marriage. And because he’s attractive thousands of silly gays will send him love letters, money, and other forms of support. And the rest of us will just shake our heads and say “This is why we can’t have nice things.”
Toofie
He’s a good looking man for sure. Whether he’s gay or not, it’s irrelevant. He’s a vile murderer.
djmcgamester
If this @sshole can provide the messages from his dating app, fine. But why turn this tragedy into an opportunity to gain 15 minutes of fame? In fact, that truth is irrelevant and won’t make Shannan’s parents feel any better. It won’t help Watts’s own parents reconcile what their son did.
Chris Watts was [email protected] up. You don’t deal with verbal abuse, and the desire to get a divorce, by killing your kids. Honestly, why anyone would want to link himself with Watts is beyond me.
nitejonboy
I still have a feeling there’s more to this story underneath the surface…I’m not condoning ANYTHING, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the wife didn’t kill the children then he killed her and hid the bodies. Stranger things have happened.
batesmotel
Pictures or it didn’t happen. There are always these unverified and unproven stories that rise up with people coming out of the woodworks to say, “I had an affair with him as well. He was a tender lover. I hope they throw the book at him.”
jackjohnson
the first time I saw him I thought he was attractive but instinctively I thought he was gay, in fact, I thought he looked like a porn star; he just had that look and when he made his ‘plea’ for his family’s return, I felt not one scintilla of truth or emotion emanating from him! his crossed arms was another body clue that he was not being forthcoming! I still can’t fathom how he could kill his children and their mother! Clearly there was no emotional investment in them despite how others say he was a ‘devoted dad’! Obviously his mental illness (no excuse) had been brewing for some time and something lit the fuse! People suffering from what I call ‘clositis’, (a deep denial of one’s true sexual nature) often wind up going off the deep end; we cannot live as fragmented beings; body, mind, soul and spirit must be integrated and in harmony; this guy was not in harmony within himself. Now four souls are destroyed as well as family members on both sides! As to this anonymous ‘lover’ I’m not sure what to believe but the idea of it doesn’t surprise me!
topsyturvy
“the first time I saw him I thought he was attractive but instinctively I thought he was gay, in fact, I thought he looked like a porn star”
Same here.
Prax07
Could be a true story, won’t know until the actual proof comes out.
I kinda believe it though.
GayEGO
Well, he had two daughters so he could be a bi-sexual, but it is too bad he murdered his wife and two kids, maybe he is a homophobic. I knew one who said that gays are worse than murders, so maybe this guy felt he could murder them, and then he felt guilty about his same-gender affair.
MaxTaste
Spouses kill each other all the time. Passion makes people do crazy things. But killing your children? I can’t fathom such an action. He is a psychopath and needs to be locked up forever.
QueerTruth
I hope this isn’t true, but sadly I wouldn’t be surprised.
calpoidog
“I asked him to make sure he’s not bisexual cause he had two children. He told me he didn’t know.”
Who talks like that?
“They didn’t have sex anymore” She was like 6 weeks pregnant or whatever….
The guy’s cute..sounds more like someone’s fantasy/wishful thinking than anything else.
prarie pup
Message to the editorial staff at Queerty: EVIDENCE, PLEASE!
avesraggiana
He’s so handsome. Too bad he’s a murderer. Besides being a psychopathic murderer, he’s also got terrible taste in men. Trent Bolte. Allegedly.
just a dude
I’ve been following this story since I saw a headline about a husband/father pleading for the safe return of his wife and two missing daughters. I watched the interview and like many people are saying I immediately noticed his arms crossed and his body rocking back and forth. At first I thought it was nervousness and then when he laughed and smiled and said “I just want my family back” I thought hmmmm. And then he made a couple of other comments which I thought were strange. I too thought damn he’s hot. Not sure if I got a gay vibe or not. Kind of looks like a “player”. Sadly what he is accused of doing is not that uncommon. You see spouses killing each other and kids all too frequently. In fact lately there have been a shit load of moms killing their kids in the news. So I do agree with one other poster here that said it is quite possible that the mom killed the girls.
But damn this dude could have almost any guy he wanted and after seeing what this Trent person looks like I find it rather hard to believe. And like someone else above said…why on earth would you run to the media spouting off that you were with an alleged killer?