– JayIs4Justice Podcast has obtained audio of a Chris Watts jail-house call with his girlfriend & a private investigator.
– Chris references studying in law library & discusses potential plans to file paperwork under ’35c’: Colorado’s Post-Conviction Relief, which is a way to attempt to vacate verdicts.
– Believes it was “God’s plan” for him to go to prison
– Says “I just want to get out of here”
With the release of the Netflix documentary American Murder, there has been a resurgence of interest in the Chris Watts case. From the outside, the Watts appeared to be a picture-perfect American family. Shanann Watts, age 34, was the Colorado mother of two adorable girls (Bella, 4, and Celeste ‘Cece’, 3) and was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy. Husband Chris Watts, 35, was by all accounts a doting father who worked long hours as an operator at a petroleum company to provide for his family. But on August 13, 2018 in an act of unspeakable violence and brutality, Chris Watts (who had been living a secret double life engaging in an extra-marital affair with a co-worker) viciously murdered his entire family.
The Watts Family murders quickly became one of the most famous cases in modern history, as the world struggled to comprehend how something so senseless could happen at the hands of a man with no history of violence or abuse. Thousands of pages of case documents and hours of investigatory video were publicly released, with journalists and true crime YouTuber’s analyzing every detail for their audiences.
With Chris Watts currently serving life without parole at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, insight into his life behind bars has been slim. ‘Jay is 4 Justice’, a YouTuber & podcast host, has been comprehensively covering the case from the beginning and is one of the few outlets that have accessed & released new, original material this year.
On September 29, 2020, ‘Jay Is 4 Justice Podcast’ channel published a prison phone recording with Chris. During the 15 minute audio, Chris speaks with two individuals: an unknown male labeled as a ‘Private Investigator’, and a female named Anna who is allegedly Chris’ current girlfriend.
Prison is certainly not known for having high-end phone systems, and therefore portions of the recording can be extremely difficult to comprehend. We have created a transcript of the recording to hopefully make it easier to follow along while you’re listening to the call. Link to Chris Watts Prison Phone Call on Jay Is 4 Justice Podcast .
[ Begin Chris Watts Prison Phone Call Transcript ]
Private Investigator (Male Caller): Hey Buddy, how’s it going?
Chris Watts: Not too bad. Thanks for taking the call.
Private Investigator: Yeah, is it just you, or is Anna on also?
Anna: I’m here too.
Private Investigator: Alright, cool. Alright, so just talk to me. I don’t want a big, long, monopolizing conversation, so…. tell me what you want to know from me. Just tell me what’s on your heart.
Chris Watts: Well, you know, just going to the law library as much as I have, I’ve seen a lot of cases, I’ve heard a lot of cases around here–I’ve seen a lot of cases where the D.A. or the judge have had a lot of misconduct, but the judge has ruled it’s not egregious or it’s not that well or accurate enough to really play in the defendant’s favor. I’m looking at the things that I know…I mean, I’ve never I mean… I’ve never dealt with the law school [unintelligible] I’m winging it in the law library as I am. And you know, God directed me through little things, like through the poisonous tree, The Brady Law, and different cases that, you know, they pop out of nowhere, but I know if God put them in front of me, and I see all these things that relate to my case. I just don’t know, like, how to frame this? Where, like, when I do the 35c [Note: 35c is a reference to pursuing Colorado’s Post-Conviction Relief in an attempt to vacate verdicts or sentences] I’ve had this paperwork with me for probably a couple months. I know all we have is a year left to appeal some of those Class B and C felonies that have a three-year limit and a two-year limit. And I really want to figure out where I can do it in the right time frame, but also like not rushing anything and…. I just, I’m gonna tell you something, I just wanna get out of here. I know that God has a plan for me and it’s not—it’s to be in prison right now, but not major . Cause he brought me here for a reason, but he obviously wants me to do something on the outside, and I know I can’t just sit here and just wait. I know there’s waiting doing nothing, and there’s waiting that I’m seeking an action verb, that’s what I’m doing. But I also wanna know, like, what action to take ‘cause I have no…no intellect when it comes to the law. But I know He can teach me. And that’s what I’m just waiting for, things to fall into place. I just don’t know how to do it.
Private Investigator: I got you. Um…and you don’t have the benefit of an attorney that is in your hip pocket, so to speak. Okay. I’ve got a couple attorneys here I can talk to that can maybe help, you know, get some good results…get some good advice for you in terms of forms and what to say, things like that. That’s not gonna be an overnight process for me to, you know, get the results, you know, we want. It’s going to take some time. But I’m not saying overnight, but I am saying maybe several days to a week or so.
Chris Watts: Okay.
Private Investigator: So let me see what I can do along those lines. I know you’re in a tough spot and– how do you know how to do something when you don’t know what it is you need to do?
Chris Watts: Exactly.
Private Investigator: So, it’s tough. So, I get it.
[Crosstalk]
Chris Watts: —but I know when the law, like, you’re gonna run into certain things where the motion’s gonna get denied, or like whatever I write down they just might think “…well, that’s not…what you’re claiming isn’t enough to go back to you’re not [unintelligible] want a mistrial. you’re not wanting to have this appeal granted. You know, denied”. And I’m just like, well, what do I do then? You know?
Private Investigator: Yeah.
Chris Watts: And I just…I don’t want to get hit hard when that happens. I know it will probably happen at some point. Not all motions or all appeals are granted. But [unintelligible] they’re like ‘Wait’. When it goes there they see like oh well. It’s like, do I put everything down that I know? Or just like…I don’t want to put everything down so they know everything that I’m on, you know?
Private Investigator: Well okay, let me address a couple things in what you just said. First of all, you live in a closed society now. Every door is shut in your face. You cannot go from one–you go to one wall, you can’t go further. You’ve got to turn to your left, you can’t go any further so, you know what I’m saying? You’re in this perpetual…this room with no doors, so you cannot get through. You go that, you understand that? What I’m trying to say?
Chris Watts: Yep.
Private Investigator: Your world is controlled. You hear the word ‘No’ probably more than you hear the word ‘Yes’ in that system. So one thing you need to be very accustomed to is being denied. Being turned down. Being told no. You with me?
Chris Watts: Yep.
Private Investigator: Okay. Now, some people will lose hope very, very quickly because everywhere they turn, every time they talk to someone, they’re hearing things they don’t want to hear. They’re being told no. You can’t have this, you can’t have that. You can’t go here, you can’t go there. You know, you’re a—whatever legal action you’re trying to do—
[Automated recording cuts in] —attorney calls may be monitored and recorded.
Private Investigator: —whatever you’re trying to do you’re always being told ‘No’. What you can’t do is allow yourself to lose hope Don’t take no for an answer! And don’t give up the first time you’re told no. You understand?
Chris Watts: Yeah.
Private Investigator: So they key in all this is you gotta be strong. You gotta be physically strong, you gotta be mentally strong. And you got to understand that you know what, you’re the underdog… but underdogs can win. They can be a dog in the fight. So I want you to get this attitude that no matter what you do, we’re not gonna take no for an answer. They tell us no, we’re gonna try again. They tell us no again, we’re gonna try again. You just gotta keep persevering and don’t lose hope, okay? Cause I tell you what, you lose hope, you lose your life. Alright?
Chris Watts: Yep.
Private Investigator: So just keep a positive attitude about all that, and don’t take any steps back, just keep moving forward, even if it’s a small step, move forward and not backward, okay?
Chris Watts: Okay. Just like in my Devotional today it was Esther it was that door of hope, and yeah. The Lord was speaking to Esther and she was saying to The Lord I’ve led you to the wilderness, but I will plant in that wilderness vineyards and you’ll go through the valley and quarrel with the valley of trouble, I’ll put a door of hope. Even though you’re in the wilderness and he’s gonna put nightmares in that wilderness and put you in the valley of trouble, there will be a door of hope in that trouble.
Private Investigator: That’s great. Well, I’m proud of you. Good job. Keep that up, keep your nose in that book, too.
Chris Watts: I will.
Private Investigator: Yeah.
Anna: So Chris, what were you saying before we got cut off about, ah, when he asked I can’t remember what it was, but you were talking about the evidence and your confession that wasn’t true.
Chris Watts: I just feel that I’ve never experienced anything like that before. From the custody that happened, from the law enforcement to the interrogation, the jail, the prison. All this is still heavy. I know that… did happen before, I knew the shock and the trauma was there in my mind. I didn’t know how to process things. Every question that they asked me, I was just agreeing with them and going along with what they cause I was like ‘well, guess I have to tell them something’. And, you know when they came here to prison and interrogated me, they were in their street clothes acting like, you know, they were just talking to me…where in retrospect, they were actually interrogating me again. I know for a fact that, you know [unintelligible] so all that is like, null and void. Still, they’re going to try to use all this stuff against me. But I know that from that interrogation to the first one, all that was like a coercive type psychological intimidation of someone that, you know, had never been in that situation before, and they used that to their advantage.
Private Investigator: Well Chris, what you witnessed first hand is a game. It’s like getting back to the old biblical days where you’ve got the big Roman soldier in the pen with the little guy and you’re fighting for your life and you don’t know what to expect, but you just–that’s a terrible analogy and I’m sorry, but I’m just saying you just didn’t know what was going on.
Chris Watts: No.
Private Investigator: And it’s a game that’s why I tell so many people this a game that they’re playing. You are the prey, they are the hunter. You’re the prey and they’ve got you exactly where they want you and most times they’re gonna get what they want because you know what? They keep you for hours, they deprive you of your basic needs and every second that you’re with them in that chair and they’re bearing down on you, your mind is actually deteriorating. Your mind is playing games against you and that’s why we have so many times where people give confessions for things that they just did not do. It’s because you know what, they want to get out of there. They want to just tell ‘em what they need to know, what they’re asking, what they’re interested in so they can get out and go home. Well you know what? Guess what doesn’t happen? They don’t go home, and their life is forever changed. So—
Chris Watts: Yeah. Again, after I told them what they wanted to here then they offered me food.
Private Investigator: Exactly.
Chris Watts: So it was strange. The thing I know–like what you’re talking about playing a game– ‘cause when the CBI Agent and the FBI Agent…like, when the CBI…a woman, when she like, questioned me for hours, and after those hours of interrogation she puts a polygraph up. And then I’m like, you know, exhausted at this point…and then after that I’m sitting in there alone and I hear them outside the door, you know, the FBI Agent comes up “Oh, how did you do?”. And, she said, “Oh, he did pretty good, but I think we can get some more out of him”. And they come in with this game face saying “Okay, you lied”. I’m thinking to myself ‘Wait…I thought she just said I did pretty good?’. And I didn’t question them about it, I just believed what she said. They said I failed. But I know, I know for a fact she said “he did pretty good but I think we can get some more out of him”. I’ll only think about this stuff way after it happened. And I was like, wow!
Private Investigator: Chris, that’s a little game and I can tell you for a fact that they did not administer the polygraph in the proper way. You should have been on the top of your game mentally, spiritually, physically when they gave you that polygraph. You should have had a good night’s rest before they gave you that polygraph. So, I don’t trust the polygraph. I don’t trust the results, and they use that as a hammer over your head to scare you. Because the polygraph scares everyone! Because of its reputation. We can talk more about that later.
Chris Watts: Yeah. (Sighs) Well, thank you for taking another call. I think I have only like 30 seconds left, but I know that, you know, God can lead me on how to write this thing up to get it back. And I just thank you for helping me and just going through that discovery. I mean, you don’t have to do it but you’re doing it. I just believe that God can lift liberation on your heart and it’s really gonna [unintelligible] so you know what to do.
Private Investigator: Good. And we’re with ‘ya.
Anna: Alright, he got cut off.
Private Investigator: Alright. Okay. Um, next time that you need me to come online, Anna, do this: call me and then if I don’t answer immediately, text me.
Anna: Okay.
Private Investigator: So, I have to tell you my phone screws up sometimes and I don’t want to miss a call or a text, so, just as a backup plan.
Anna: Okay.
Private Investigator: Alright, is there anything we need to talk about?
Anna: Ahh, nope. I’m just gonna call his parents now and let them know.
Private Investigator: Okay.
Anna: Okay, sounds good.
Private Investigator: Alright, just stay in touch with me.
Anna: I will, and if he calls back and wants to talk again then I’ll just text you or call you.
Private Investigator: Alright, sounds good.
Anna: Okay, thank you.
Private Investigator: Alright, thank you.
Anna: Yeah.
Private Investigator: Alright, bye-bye.
Anna: Bye-bye.
[End Chris Watts Jail Phone Call Audio Transcript]
Additional Chris Watts Transcripts:
Chris Watts Confession Transcript
Chris Watts Confession Transcript Part 2
Additional Jay Is 4 Justice Links:
