Chris Watts: Letters Reveal Family Murders

Chris Watts is serving five consecutive life sentences for the murders of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, in Colorado [1]. After initially pleading for their safe return on television, he later confessed to strangling his wife and smothering his children at a remote oil work site where he was employed [1]. Subsequent investigations and letters written from prison have revealed disturbing details about the premeditated nature of the crimes and the events leading up to the deaths [2].

Key takeaways

• Watts pleaded guilty to nine charges, including murder and unlawful termination of a pregnancy, receiving five life sentences without parole [1].
• In letters to an author, Watts claimed he had been planning the killings for weeks and smothered his daughters before strangling his wife [2].
• An attorney for the victim's family stated that Watts strangled his wife after she told him he would not see their children again following his admission of an affair [3].
• Experts classify Watts as a "family annihilator," a profile often involving men in their 30s who kill their families following an inciting incident like infidelity [3].

Confessions contradict initial claims

Watts reported his family missing on August 13, 2018, and appeared on local news expressing shock and pleading for their return [1]. However, the bodies of 34-year-old Shanann and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, were found days later at the oil site [1]. While he initially told police he simply wanted a separation, he eventually pleaded guilty to nine charges, including murder and tampering with deceased bodies [1].

In letters written from the Dodge Correctional Institution to author Cheryln Cadle, Watts provided a graphic account that differed from his initial narrative [2]. He wrote that he had been contemplating killing his wife for weeks and that the morning of the murders, he smothered the girls in their beds with a pillow before arguing with his wife [2]. He described strangling Shanann and later burying her, noting that she appeared to have given birth post-mortem, which made him angry [2].

Motives and final moments

The murders were reportedly driven by Watts' desire to leave his family for a co-worker with whom he was having an affair [3]. An unsealed warrant revealed the affair, though the woman, Nichol Kessinger, claimed Watts told her he was in the final stages of a divorce [1]. Steven Lambert, an attorney for Shanann Watts' family, revealed on television that the final argument occurred when Watts told his wife about the affair and she responded that he would not see the children again [3].

The accounts of the children's deaths vary slightly by source. Watts claimed in letters that the girls woke up after he initially smothered them and followed him as he moved their mother's body [2]. He stated that Bella fought back, saying she knew he was killing her [2]. Conversely, Lambert stated that Watts told the girls their mother was sick and took them to the hospital before smothering them in his truck [3]. Regardless of the specific sequence, Watts disposed of the children's