The mistress of killer Chris Watts revealed the haunting final message he sent her before he was finally caught.
Nichol Kessinger was having an affair with Watts before he brutally strangled his pregnant wife Shannan and smothered the couple's two young girls, aged just four and three, in August 2018.
A string of texts between the two were revealed to police in an interview as the net closed in around Watts - who was playing the haunted victim of a lost husband and father at the time.
Nichol told police she texted her then secret partner: "If you did something bad, you’re going to ruin your life. And if you did something bad, you’re going to ruin my life. I promise you that."
Hauntingly, Watts replied: "I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky."
Their relationship was breaking down by the time Watts was arrested by police and he sent a message Nichol took as a form of 'goodbye'.
The killer said: "Just don’t forget the person that you knew me to be when you were with me."
Watts is now serving five life sentences as well as another 48 years in prison for his lone crimes, without the possibility of parole.
He managed to avoid the death penalty, later abolished in the state of Colorado, by pleading guilty.
As Watts played the victim, he told live news about his missing wife and children: "Last night...I had every light in the house on, I was hoping that I would just get just ran over by the kids running in the door and just like barrel-rushing me, but it didn't happen and it was just a traumatic night trying to be here.
"I mean, my kids are my life...Those smiles light up my life."
Watts and Shannan's relationship was already unravelling by the time he killed her.
Shannan told a friend: "He has changed. I don't know who he is...He hasn't touched me all week, kissed me, talked to me except for when I'm trying to figure out what is wrong."
The bodies were found two after the murders at an Anadarko Petroleum site where Watts worked around 40 miles away.
Shannan was buried in a shallow grave, while daughters Bella and Cece were discovered dumped in crude-oil storage drums.
American Murder: The Family Next Door, is a Netflix documentary that takes a deep dive into the events leading up to and after the murders, including text messages, details of the affair and Watts' failed attempts to cover up his crimes.
