Many stories involving death are hard to hear or read about, but the story of Chris Watts and the murder of his whole family is something else entirely.
This tale of pure evil and malevolence is not for the faint-hearted, and while it is sickening, it is also just absolutely tragic.
Watts receiving his sentencing / Picture Credit: My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult on YouTube
Who is Chris Watts?
Chris Watts was born in 1985 in Colorado.
Watts is known for murdering his pregnant wife, Shan’ann, and their two daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste, in August 2018.
The following November, Watts pleaded guilty to first degree murder on multiple counts.
He was sentenced to life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
Marriage and occupation
Watts married 34-year-old Shanann Rzucek in 2012.
During their six-year marriage, the pair had two children, Bella and Celeste.
They also had a son on the way, who they planned to call Niko Lee.
The couple had moved to Frederick, Colorado where Watts worked at Anadarko Petroleum, and his wife was a marketing representative.
The couple ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2015.
Watts family murder
When Watts got home from a business trip early one morning in August 2018, he and Shanann got into a heated argument. This was when Watts told his wife that he was having an affair and wanted a divorce.
According to Watts’ confession to authorities, Shanann (who was about 15 weeks pregnant at the time) threatened Watts, saying that he would never see his children again.
This prompted Watts to strangle his wife to death.
It was said that his four-year-old daughter, Bella, walked into the room where her mother’s body lay, and asked her father “What are you doing with Mommy?”
Watts’ lawyer claimed that Watts had told Bella that her mother was sick, and that they needed to go to the hospital.
He proceeded to place his wife’s body in the car, along with the two girls, and drove to his work site.
Once he arrived at the site, Watts suffocated three-year-old Celeste with her favourite blanket and pushed her body into an oil tank.
He then returned to his car for Bella, who saw what he did to her sister a allegedly plead with her father, saying “please Daddy, don’t do to me what you did to CeCe.”
Despite this heartbreaking plea, Watts still murdered his daughter Bella, and pushed her body into another oil tank.
He buried Shanann’s body in a grave on the property site.
The Mistress
In November of 2018, Watts’ mistress, 30-year-old Nichol Kessinger, spoke publicly about their short affair.
According to Kessinger, she and Watts had only met and became intimate that July, in 2018.
She alleged that Watts told her that he was in the middle of a divorce, and was still finalising financial details with his wife.
Once Kessinger heard that Watts’ wife and two children were missing, she began to question Watts.
She felt Watts was lying to her, she contacted the police and fully cooperated with the authorities.
“It got to a point that he was telling me so many lies that I eventually told him that I did not want to speak to him again until his family was found,” Kessinger told The Denver Post.
It seemed that Kessinger simply wanted to help, and would not put up with Watts’ lies and deceit.
Confession, charges and sentencing
When Shanann missed multiple appointments the same day Watts murdered her, her friend Nickole Atkinson contacted both Watts and the police.
Watts initially denied knowing where his wife was, claiming they were having marital problems. However, Watts confessed to the murders just days after committing them, having failed a polygraph test.
The bodies of his wife and unborn son, along with those of his two daughters were recovered the next day.
In late August 2018, Watts was charged with first-degree murder on five counts. One additional count is added for any child under 12 years old. This was in addition to one count of illegal termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of criminally disposing of deceased bodies.
After pleading guilty for the murders in November 2018, Watts was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Shanann’s family did not pursue the death penalty.
Watts is currently serving five life sentences, three consecutively and two concurrently (at the same time), and was transferred in December 2018 to Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin.
During an interview conducted in February 2019, Watts told investigators that he was remorseful for the murders, and has supposedly found God.
This story can be seen as unbelievable, as the murder of your family including a pregnant woman and two small children can be viewed as nothing other than inherently evil.
Written by Melissa, who you can follow on Twitter @melissajournal
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