Chris Watts avoids death penalty after pleading guilty to murdering wife and children

On November 6, Christopher Watts, the 33-year-old Colorado man charged with murdering his two young daughters and pregnant wife, pleaded guilty in court to all charges against him.  That guilty plea will spare Watts from the death penalty but also guarantees that he will spend the rest of his miserable life behind bars without the possibility of parole.  According to NBC News:

… Watts pleaded guilty to all nine counts against him — including five counts of first-degree murder — in the deaths of his wife, Shanann Watts, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, whose bodies were found on the property of an oil and gas company where Christopher Watts worked …

On August 13, the same day he reported his wife and children missing, the murderous dad was on TV delivering an emotional performance, playing the victim, pleading for the safe return of his wife and kids and was quoted in a separate report from NBC News as saying, “I don’t feel like this is even real right now,” Watts said. “It’s like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.”

By August 15, the FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation were assisting Frederick Police with the investigation of the missing girls. And by the early morning hours of August 16, the Fredrick Police Department reported that:

In the evening hours of August 15th, The Frederick Police Department, in conjunction with the FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, has made an arrest in connection to the missing person’s case involving Shanann Watts and her two daughters, Bella and Celeste.

Chris Watts, the husband of Shanann, has been placed into custody and is awaiting charges at this time. He will be held at the Weld County Jail. ~ per FPD

In a strange and macabre twist in the murder case against Watts, an arrest affidavit released by the Frederick, Colorado, police states that Watts confessed to murdering his wife – but only because it was his wife that murdered the couple’s two young daughters.  Prosecutors didn’t Watts’ story though, according to an August 21 report from CNN. Watts’ story went like this:  he and his wife had an emotional confrontation in the early morning hours of August 13 when Watts told his wife he wanted to proceed with a separation that the two had previously discussed.

A short time later, Watts said that he could see on a baby monitor that his wife Shanann Watts, 34, was actively strangling the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Celeste.  Watts went on to say that he could also see on the baby monitor that the couple’s other daughter, four-year-old Bella, was already dead. He told police that he could see Bella already blue and sprawled out on her parents’ bed.

Watts said he flew into a rage and strangled his wife to death – but that it was the wife who strangled the couple’s two daughters to death.  Watts originally confessed to killing his wife, but not his children.

Watts confessed to burying his wife in a shallow grave near two oil tanks filled with oil where he dumped his two daughters’ bodies.

The girls’ bodies were in an “oil well filled with crude oil for several days,” Chris Watts’ attorneys indicated in a court filing. ~ per CNN

Prior to murdering his wife and children, it was revealed that the Watts family was struggling financially.  The Watts’ filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and were currently in debt to the tune of $70,000, “most of it from student loans and credit card purchases, according to the filings. The couple reported two savings accounts with a total of $9.51 and a joint checking account with $864,” according to WTKR.

Court documents also alleged that Chris Watts was actively involved in an extra-marital affair with a co-worker before he killed his wife, according to People. Watts denied that affair.

Yesterday, Watts pleaded guilty to five counts of murder in the first degree, three counts of tampering with a deceased human body, and one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy, according to NBC.  Watts’ sentencing is scheduled for November 19.

Also see:

• Chris Watts: Colorado dad charged with murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters
• Chris Watts says he murdered his pregnant wife because she killed the couple’s 2 young daughters

 

https://youtu.be/nexfLhhdqOA

~ Written by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter