A dad who killed his daughters and pregnant wife tried to blame his mistress for the callous murders, it has been claimed.
Chris Watts is serving five life sentences without the possibility for parole after pleading guilty to the murder of his pregnant wife Shanann, 34, and daughters four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste in Frederick, Colorado, in 2018.
He dumped Bella and Celeste in oil tanks at a site where he worked and buried Ms Watts, who was 15 weeks pregnant, in a shallow grave.
Watts, who did not want another child, was having an affair with a woman from work, Nichol Kessinger, and wanted to start a new life with her.
There is no indication that Ms Kessinger - who has since taken on a new identity and moved homes - was involved in Watts' crimes in anyway.
Watts had reportedly been claiming for some time that he was separated and going through a divorce - when he was in fact still with his wife.
At first, when Shanann and the girls were reported missing, Watts acted the concerned husband and father.
After failing a polygraph test he admitted strangling his 34-year-old partner at their home in Frederick, Colorado, but initially blamed her for the kids' deaths on August 13, 2018.
After he was sentenced in November 2018, Watts admitted smothering the girls and dumping their bodies, and burying his wife in a shallow grave nearby.
David Carter, who spent two stretches in Dodge Correctional Facility, Wisconsin with Watts, has told The Sun that the murderer tried to blame Ms Kessinger for his daughters' deaths.
The 35-year-old told the publication that he's gotten close to Watts while he was inside for theft and possession of methamphetamine on a unit for people who struggled among the broader prison population.
Carter claimed that back in 2020 they were talking about god and forgiveness when he asked Watts what had been going through his head during the killings.
According to Carter, Watts then said that "Nichol had smothered the girls with their blankets and they suffocated"
Watts also claimed she helped him "get the girls in the oil tanks and dig the grave for Shanann" and that his wife had been in the way of him starting a new life with his mistress.
“Chris said it made him feel sad that the girls were killed but that one of them woke up and saw that Shanann was dead and would be a witness," Carter claimed.
Watts tried to blame Ms Kessinger for the murders, telling Carter he "wasn’t able to stomach killing his own kids and he said that’s why Nichol killed them.”
A police interview in which she was grilled about her relationship with Watts at the time of the murders emerged on YouTube earlier this year .
The clip, shared by Ms Watts’ family, reveals a chilling new detail about the last text Watts ever sent his mistress.
When news of the disappearances hit the news in August 2018, Ms Kessinger told police she had grilled Watts for answers.
“I kept asking him, ‘What did you do, Chris? What did you do?’” she said.
“I asked, ‘Where’s your family?’”
Ms Kessinger said she had then messaged Watts a final time before she ended contact with him.
“So I texted Chris one last time, and I told him, ‘If you did anything bad, you’re going to ruin your life and you’re going to ruin my life. I promise you that’,” she said.
“And he responded, ‘I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky.’ And that was the last text. I never said another word to him after that.”
It was while Ms Watts was on a business trip that Watts hatched his sick plan to kill his entire family.
When she returned she and her husband had a huge row and Watts confessed to his affair, leading her to tell him that she would have full custody of their children.
Furious Watts then strangled his wife to death in their home - but his brutal actions were witnessed.
Little Bella walked into the room and asked "what are you doing to mummy?"
The four-year-old, who was said to be bright for her age "knew something was up", according to Steven Lambert, the lawyer representing Ms Watts family, who was speaking on the Dr Phil Show.
Watts then bundled his wife’s body into the boot of the family car, put his two little girls in the backseat and belted them in.
The murderous father drove 45 minutes to an oil field before carrying out the second part of his horrifying plan.
During the journey, Bella is said to have pleaded with her dad to take 34-year-old Ms Watts to hospital.
When they arrived at the oil field, he smothered Celeste with her favourite blanket. Bella witnessed the murder and begged her father not to kill her before trying to run away.
Watts then buried his wife in a shallow grave before disposing of the bodies of his two daughters in an oil tanker before returning to the family home and reporting all three of them missing.
The killer even gave interviews to the press, pleading for his family to come home and claiming he had no clue where they had gone.
Watts even sent his wife text messages, asking her where she was, after he had killed her.
