Inmate confesses to beating two child molesters to death in prison
A convicted murderer serving a life sentence recently confessed in a letter to killing two child molesters who were in prison with him. Jonathan Watson, who was convicted of murder in 2009, sent his confession to the Bay Area News Group.
In his letter, Watson said he beat the convicted child molesters with a cane in January. He claimed that he warned prison officials before the attack.
Watson was recently moved to the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran and was given a lower-level security classification. He went from Level III to Level II security, which meant he could be transferred from a single-person cell to dorm-style living, he wrote in his letter.
Watson, however, called the transfer a "careless" mistake and said "a child molester" eventually moved into his pod.
The inmate, who Watson identified as "Molester #1," watched PBS kids in full view of other inmates, which Watson viewed as a taunt, according to the news outlet.
"I could not sleep having not done what every instinct told me I should've done right then and there, so I packed all of my things because I knew one way or another the situation would be resolved the following day," Watson wrote.
He claims he told a prison counselor that he wanted to be moved back to Level III security but he was "scoffed" at.
"I was mulling it all over when along came Molester #1 and he put his TV right on PBS Kids again," he wrote. "But this time, someone else said something to the effect of 'Is this guy really going to watch this right in front of us?' and I recall saying, 'I got this.' And I picked up the cane and went to work on him."
Watson then went to find a guard and confess, but something stopped him along the way. "As I got to the lower tier, I saw a known child trafficker, and I figured I'd just do everybody a favor," Watson wrote.
In January, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said they were investigating the deaths of 48-year-old David Bobb and 62-year-old Graham De Luis-Conti after Watson attacked them, causing head wounds.
Both were serving life sentences with the possibility of parole for aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old, the department said.
Watson has been placed in segregated housing. No new charges have been filed, The Mercury News reported.
A department spokesperson told CBS News that the case is currently under investigation.
In his letter, Watson said he would plead guilty to the killings.
"Being a lifer, I'm in a unique position where I sometimes have access to these people and I have so little to lose," Watson wrote in his letter, adding that molesters are "every parents' worst nightmare" who can change a child's life forever.