Was Chris Watts cheating on his pregnant wife with multiple women?

In the Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door, its theorized that Chris Watts murdered his wife & children because he wanted to start a new life with his mistress. Watts was having an affair with a co-worker named Nichol Kessinger, and he made tentative plans to have a child with her once his family was out of the picture. 

But Kessinger wasn’t the only person Watts was cheating with. OK! Magazine revealed that Watts had a Tinder profile prior to the murders, and he used it to have a one night stand with a woman named Amanda McMahon. 

Tinder tryst

The publication claimed that Watts & McMahon connected through Tinder and agreed to meet at a local Chick-fil-A parking lot. They agreed their relationship would be purely physical, so they decided to go back to McMahon’s house.

McMahon later told investigators that Watts frightened her. She claimed that Watts became “really fast & aggressive” during their hookup, and tried to “stick it in her butt” at one point despite her reluctance. McMahon also said that Watts put his arms around her throat and began to describe what he called a “rape fantasy.” McMahon didn’t meet up with Watts again. 

Alleged gay affair

The allegations don’t stop there. A male escort named Trent Bolte claimed that he had a ten-month affair with Watts in 2018. “I performed oral sex on him, he performed oral sex on me, after that there was intercourse and he much panicked and then didn’t say much and left,” Bolte stated. He said that Watts eventually introduced him to his kids. “He was very proud of his daughters,” the former escort added.

Bolte told Inside Edition that their romance grew to be much deeper than mere physical attraction, however. “He said he didn’t know if he was bisexual or gay,” he stated. “Chris said that he was in love with me. He said he’d never been so comfortable with someone. He said he could actually be himself.” When Bolte asked Watts why he didn’t divorce his wife, Watts allegedly voiced concern over not being able to see his daughters.

Adamant denial

Bolte claimed credit for ending the affair shortly before Watts murdered his family. He blamed the split on “Watts’s lies” and recalled feeling ill when he heard that his former lover had become a killer. “I wish I had never met him,” he told the outlet.

Watts denied having affairs with McMahon & Bolte. He told that he had never even met these people, and that they were merely trying to profit from the infamy of his name & his checkered marital history. “[My attorney] John Walsh had told me about one dude from Wyoming, [Trent],” Watts told reporters. “I’ve never been with a guy. Nichol was the only one.”

Prison flirtation

Despite having confessed to the murders of his wife & kids, Watts continues to draw the romantic interest of others. An insider told People that Watts receives “snail mail” from women who find him sympathetic & attractive. 

“He got a lot of letters at first,” the insider revealed. “Many of them are from women who thought he was handsome and felt compassion for him. He had nothing better to do, so he wrote them back and he started having pen pals. A couple stood out, and they have kept in contact. He gets letters from women who want to connect with him, you know, romantically.”

Authorities told Oxygen that some of Watts’s pen pals include trinkets & various other items in their letters. One woman included a photo of herself in a bikini, while another mailed a drawing adorned with hearts. A third pen pal is a woman also behind bars for federal crimes. In her letter, she cites Watts’s high profile as an “inspiration” and said that she felt a strong “connection” with him. 

Kessinger distances herself

Watts’s former mistress Nichol Kessinger has denounced him for his heartless actions. “I don’t think there is a logical explanation for what he did,” she told the Denver Post. “It’s a senseless act, and it’s horrific.” 

Kessinger has not contacted Watts since he was convicted, and is in the process of getting her name changed to avoid association with the murderer. “She has received several threats,” a source told Daily Mail. “She plans to start fresh with a new name, new town, and ultimately a new identity.”