Chris Watts was 'NOT insane' when he killed wife and two daughters, says expert: 'The murders seem premeditated'
Chris Watts was arrested in August 2018 for brutally murdering his three-month pregnant wife and two daughters. He had confessed to killing 34-year-old Shanann and two young daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste and admitted to disposing their bodies.
While society is yet to come to terms as to how he could commit the act, Lena Derhally, a licensed psychotherapist and author of 'My Daddy is a Hero: How Chris Watts Went from Family Man to Family Killer' shed light on his mindset in an exclusive with HollywoodLife.
According to the interview, Derhally said his behavior was "not a psychotic break" and he "wasn't insane at the time of the murder". She was drawn towards the case after seeing his plea on television where he shared the gory details of what happened.
"That was what drew me into the case initially," Derhally shared. "There was something just really weird because he looked like this really nice, handsome guy from a middle-class family. He just seemed like a normal guy."
"But most people I think had this very strong gut feeling that something was off with what he was saying. As soon as people saw that interview, they were like, 'Oh, it’s got to be him. Without even having evidence, it was just something about his interview, there's something not right here."
"He became suspect number one based on that interview, and I think I felt the same way when I watched; like he has something to do with this." She added: "It was clear based on Chris’ behavior after the crime that this wasn’t a psychotic break or some kind of schizophrenia or mental illness."
"He was completely of sound mind. One of Chris’s confessions, he does describe premeditating these murders for weeks and I believe a lot of the evidence backs that up. It does seem quite premeditated based on his behavior in the weeks before he killed them."
We had previously reported that Watts pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree murder last year and was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, three to be served consecutively and two to be served concurrently.
He also received an additional 48 years for the unlawful termination of his wife's pregnancy and 36 years for three charges of tampering with a deceased body. Watts is currently serving his sentence at the Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison, in Waupun, Wisconsin.