A new documentary from Fox Nation revisits Chris Watts' case, one of the most disturbing family murder cases in recent American history. The program examines the events leading up to the murders of his pregnant wife and two daughters, Bella and Celeste, while exploring how the tragedy continues to haunt investigators and the community.
Chris Watts Murders Re-Examined
On 13 August 2018, Chris Watts strangled 34-year-old Shannan Watts, his pregnant wife, to death, before murdering their children, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. He dumped their bodies at an oil site located in a remote area.
Watts pleaded guilty to the murders in a plea deal that spared him the death penalty, allowing prosecutors to avoid a lengthy trial. In November 2018, Chris Watts was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Watts told news outlets in an interview in August 2018 on his wife and kids going 'missing,' 'My kids are my life. I mean, those smiles light up my life. When I came home and then walked in the house, nothing. Vanished. Nothing was here.' He was portraying the worried dad narrative. In the days that followed, Chris Watts gave his confession of the murders, and the victims' bodies were found.
The Confession
Watts, who also later confessed of being in an extra-marital affair with his colleague, said in his confession that his wife threatened him of not seeing their daughters again after letting her know he was leaving her and ending their marriage. This resulted in him strangling his wife to death.
According to authorities, Watts may have been planning to start a new life with his mistress, later identified as Nichol Kessinger. Watts reportedly told Kessinger he was finalising his divorce with Shannan. In his statement to investigators, he said Kessinger 'never asked him to get rid of his family,' adding that their relationship 'contributed' to his heinous crimes, per Fox News.
Watts said his 4-year-old daughter, Bella, had watched him wrap Shannan's body in a blanket after telling her that her mother was feeling unwell, and that when he went back inside the house after putting Shannan's body in the trunk of his car, his 3-year-old daughter, Celeste, had also woken up. He said he then put both of them in the backseat and drove toward the oil site.
Further Details of Confession
In Watts' confession, he said that he initially had not planned to kill his daughters, saying that as he was taking Shannan's body from the trunk of his truck while at the oil site, they asked, 'What are you doing to mommy?' prompting him to smother first Celeste, then Bella, with their blanket.
He told police that Bella's last words were, 'Daddy, no!' as she struggled. He put his daughters' bodies in oil tanks, while his wife was buried in a shallow grave close by.
Watts led the police to the site where his family was buried following his confession after failing a polygraph test on 15 August 2018. Investigators recovered the bodies in an oil and gas site under Anadarko Petroleum in Colorado.
The Fox Nation special that looks into Watts' murder case will air from 16 March on Fox One.
