# Chris Watts and the Frederick, Colorado Family Murders

- Link: https://thedarksideofhumanity.com/chris-watts/
- Published: 2026-10-11T14:00:59-04:00
- Author: Mandi Martyr

Case File / Family Murders / Colorado Chris WattsPleaded guilty 2018Five life termsNo paroleTDSH fileEvidenceThe Weld County Court House in Greeley, Colorado.Photo: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, 34, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, in the early hours of August 13, 2018, in Frederick, Colorado. Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with a son the couple planned to name Nico (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Watts strangled Shanann in their bed, drove her body and the two girls to a remote oil and gas well site run by his employer, Anadarko Petroleum, smothered both daughters in the back seat of his work truck, put their bodies inside two separate crude oil tanks and buried his wife in a shallow grave nearby (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273; NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Christopher Lee WattsFrederick, ColoradoAugust 13, 2018Nine countsGuilty plea, Nov. 6, 2018Five life terms plus 84 yearsWatts made his court appearances, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Weld County District Court in 2018.Case statusCase file: TDSH-CF-2018-USA. Updated: October 11, 2026. Legal status: Christopher Lee Watts pleaded guilty on November 6, 2018, to all nine counts: five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body. On November 19, 2018, he was sentenced to five life terms without the possibility of parole, plus 84 years. 00 Case Overview The lies, the confession, the record 00 For two days he played the frightened husband, telling Denver television crews on his front lawn that he wanted his family home. On August 15 he failed a polygraph, admitted to killing Shanann and was arrested. On November 6, 2018, he pleaded guilty to all nine counts in a deal that took the death penalty off the table with the agreement of Shanann’s family (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018). He is serving his sentence at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin (NBC15, Dec. 14, 2018; People, May 17, 2024). This case file sets out what the court record, the Weld County District Attorney’s released discovery files and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s own reports establish. Content note: this file describes the murders of a pregnant woman and two young children. It does not describe the condition of the remains beyond what the official record states. Contents:Quick answersThe victimsThe family on Saratoga TrailThe mistressAugust 13, 2018The missing persons reportThe TV interviewsThe confession and arrestThe oil siteThe chargesThe plea dealSentencingThe discovery releaseThe prison confessionWhere is Chris Watts nowDocumentariesTimelineSources. 01 Chris Watts case: quick answers The case in short answers 01 Who is Chris Watts? Christopher Lee Watts, born May 16, 1985, was a field coordinator for Anadarko Petroleum in Weld County, Colorado (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). He is a convicted murderer who killed his pregnant wife and two daughters on August 13, 2018. Who was Shanann Watts? Shanann Watts was a 34 year old mother of two who had moved with her family to Colorado from North Carolina. She was 15 weeks pregnant with a son, Nico, when her husband strangled her (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). How did Chris Watts kill his family? The Weld County District Attorney, Michael Rourke, told the court at sentencing that Watts strangled Shanann and smothered Bella and Celeste (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Where is Chris Watts now? At Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he was moved on December 3, 2018, for safety reasons (NBC15, Dec. 14, 2018). The Wisconsin Department of Corrections confirmed he was still there in May 2024 (People, May 17, 2024). Who was the Chris Watts mistress? Nichol Kessinger, an Anadarko coworker he met around June 1, 2018 (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). She was 30 in November 2018 and told The Denver Post he had lied to her that his divorce was nearly final (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Why did he not get the death penalty? DA Rourke removed the death penalty from consideration, with the agreement of the victims’ family, in exchange for guilty pleas to all nine counts (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018). Is there a Chris Watts documentary? Yes. The best known is Netflix’s American Murder: The Family Next Door (September 30, 2020), built from the family’s own videos, texts and police footage. See the documentaries section below. SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • 02 Shanann Watts, Bella, Celeste and Nico: the victims Four lives 02 Victim roster Victim 01Shanann Watts3415 weeks pregnant Victim 02Bella Watts4Daughter Victim 03Celeste Watts3Daughter, called CeCe Victim 04NicoUnborn sonCount 6: unlawful termination of pregnancy Shanann Watts was 34. Bella Watts was 4 and Celeste Watts, called CeCe by her family, was 3 (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). The CBI’s 2019 report records Celeste as “CELESTE ‘CECE’” and gives Bella’s age as four (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with a boy the couple planned to name Nico (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Watts told CBI agents in 2019 that Nico was an Italian name Shanann had always liked (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273).“You thought you would get away with this. You carried them out like trash.” At the November 19, 2018, sentencing hearing, Shanann’s father, Frank Rzucek, called his son in law a “heartless monster” and told him: “You thought you would get away with this. You carried them out like trash.” Her mother, Sandy Rzucek, told Watts she had not wanted him put to death “because that’s not my right” (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Shanann’s brother asked the court: “What kind of person slaughters the people they love the most?” (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Because Watts pleaded guilty, there was no trial and no jury. The nine counts he admitted are the legal record of what happened to each of them: three counts of first-degree murder, one for each of Shanann, Bella and Celeste; two further counts of first-degree murder covering the deaths of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust; one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy for Nico; and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018; CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). 03 The Watts family on Saratoga Trail in Frederick, Colorado Saratoga Trail 03 EvidenceExhibit 01Frederick, Colorado, at the corner of Oak and 5th Street, photographed in February 2018, six months before the murders.Photo: Jared Winkler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.EvidenceExhibit 02Weld County, Colorado, with Frederick highlighted in red in the county’s southwest corner.Map: Arkyan / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, from US Census Bureau data.EvidenceExhibit 03Colorado’s active oil and gas wells and municipalities, mapped by the US Energy Information Administration in 2019.Map: US Energy Information Administration, public domain.The family lived at 2825 Saratoga Trail, Frederick, Colorado 80516, the address the CBI listed for Watts in its 2019 report (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Frederick is a small town in southwestern Weld County, north of Denver along Interstate 25. Both Chris and Shanann had grown up in North Carolina, and Watts told agents that the four of them had moved west from there (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Weld County is the heart of Colorado’s oil and gas industry. A 2019 US Energy Information Administration analysis found that more than a third of the state’s roughly 40,000 active oil and gas wells were in Weld County. Watts worked in that field. The CBI report lists his occupation as field coordinator; Watts told agents he had been promoted to that job from a “rover” position shortly before he met Kessinger (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273; Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019).The Watts family lived in a newer subdivision on the town’s edge.The Weld County Courthouse in Greeley, where the case was heard, sits near the center of the county.The dense cluster north of Denver is Weld County, where Watts worked as a field coordinator for Anadarko. In his 2019 prison interview, Watts described a marriage in which Shanann made most of the family decisions, and a long feud between Shanann and his own mother and sister. He told agents his family did not attend the couple’s 2012 wedding in North Carolina, and he described a July 2018 incident in which, he said, his mother gave Celeste pistachio ice cream although the child had a severe nut allergy (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). These are Watts’s own accounts, given after his conviction; they are not findings of any court. 04 Chris Watts and his mistress, Nichol Kessinger Nichol Kessinger 04 Watts told the CBI that he met Nichol Kessinger around June 1, 2018, at Anadarko, when he brought her a gas meter that needed fixing. Around their fourth meeting he mentioned that “we” had moved from North Carolina and showed her a picture of his daughters; she also saw Shanann’s picture on his lock screen (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Kessinger, then 30, later told The Denver Post that Watts had told her he was finishing his divorce and, a month into the relationship, that it was final (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). According to the Greeley Tribune’s account of the CBI recording, the two first met outside work at a park in Thornton after Watts returned from a June 22 to 26 trip to San Diego with Shanann. Through July, while Shanann and the girls were visiting family in North Carolina, Watts stayed at Kessinger’s apartment almost every night (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). The relationship came to light only after his family vanished. Police learned he had lied to them about it, and that lie helped collapse his story (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). In the 2019 interview, agents also asked Watts about two other people who had told police they had sexual encounters with him. He denied both and said Kessinger was his only affair (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273; Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). Those claims were never proven and TDSH does not repeat the names. SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • 05 August 13, 2018: the murders Before dawn 05 Shanann came home from a business trip and arrived at the house around 2 a.m. on Monday, August 13 (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019; NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). The killing that followed is described here only as far as Watts admitted it in court and in his February 18, 2019, interview with the CBI, the FBI and Frederick police. Watts told the agents that early that morning he woke Shanann and told her he no longer loved her and did not think the marriage would work. He said she told him he would never see the girls again. He said she told him not to hurt the baby. He then put both hands around her throat and strangled her in their bed (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273; Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). In the 2019 interview Watts recalled the prosecutor telling the court at sentencing that strangulation takes two to four minutes, and asked: “Why couldn’t I just let go?” (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). EvidenceExhibit 04Hudson Town Hall, 557 Ash Street, Hudson, Colorado.Photo: Jeffrey Beall / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.The Greeley Tribune described the Anadarko well site where Watts took his family as lying near Hudson, in rural southern Weld County.Watts said Bella walked into the room as he was wrapping Shanann in a bed sheet and asked what was wrong with her mother. He told her Mommy was sick. He dragged the body down the stairs; Celeste woke. He backed his Anadarko pickup into the driveway, put Shanann on the rear floorboard, and put both girls on the rear bench seat with their blankets. He also put a gas can in the truck. He told agents he had thought about killing himself at the site (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). He drove to an Anadarko well site in rural Weld County, which the Greeley Tribune described as 45 minutes to an hour away, near Hudson (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). He told agents the girls dozed and held each other on the way, and that Bella said, “Daddy, it smells” (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). At the site he laid Shanann’s body on the ground. He then smothered Celeste in the back seat with a blue New York Yankees blanket over her head, one hand over her nose and mouth and the other on her neck, while Bella sat beside her. He put Celeste into an oil tank through the hatch on top (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273).Sources differ on the location: the Greeley Tribune’s November 2018 reporting placed the tank battery north of Roggen, 39.1 miles from the house. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 23, 2018] Watts said Bella then asked him, “Is the same thing gonna happen to me as CeCe?” He put the same blanket over her head and killed her the same way. He told agents her last words were “Daddy, No!” He put her into a second, separate tank, then dug a hole with a shovel and buried Shanann (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). He threw the blanket and his clothes into a construction dumpster in his neighborhood on the way home from work that day (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Watts told agents he wanted to bang his head against the wall when the prosecutor said in court that Bella bit her tongue repeatedly (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). 06 The missing persons report and the welfare check The welfare check 06 Shanann, 15 weeks pregnant, stopped answering texts and calls that Monday (CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). Her best friend, Nickole Atkinson, went to the house. Watts told agents he had just finished burying Shanann when his phone alerted him that someone was at his front door in Frederick (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). Atkinson asked police for a well-being check (CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). According to the arrest affidavit unsealed on August 20, Watts let Frederick officers into the house. They found Shanann’s cell phone, purse and wallet still in the house (CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). Watts told detectives he had talked with Shanann about separating that morning and left for work just before 5:30 a.m. He suggested she had taken the girls to a friend’s house (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018).Police body cameras recorded the neighbor, Nathaniel Trinastich, playing his driveway footage for officers while Watts watched and said he had been loading tools and a lunch box. [CNN, Dec. 13, 2018] 07 The TV interviews and the investigation On camera 07 EvidenceExhibit 05A Colorado Bureau of Investigation office, 79 North Silicon Drive, Pueblo West.Photo: Jeffrey Beall / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. (This is a CBI office, not the Denver office that handled the case.)CBI agents worked the Watts case with the FBI and Frederick police under CBI case number 2018-273.As the FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation joined the Frederick Police Department, Watts stood outside his house and gave interviews to Denver television stations, making a public plea for his family’s safe return (NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018). A neighbor’s home security camera had recorded the Watts driveway in the early hours of August 13. The footage, released by the Weld County District Attorney’s Office on November 29, 2018, shows Watts walking between the house and his truck, backing the truck partway into the garage and placing a red gas can in the bed before driving off (CBS Colorado, Nov. 29, 2018). Rourke told CBS4 the truck was used to move his family’s bodies to the oil site (CBS Colorado, Nov. 29, 2018).On August 15, before Watts confessed, investigators including the CBI were already at the Anadarko tank battery. A drone camera located a fitted bed sheet matching the Watts house, which was missing a fitted sheet, and a patch of recently disturbed earth. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 23, 2018] The day before the murders, Watts texted a co-worker that he would go to the site alone the next morning; an hour after leaving home on August 13, he texted the same co-worker to ask where he was. He later told police he could not recall the site’s name. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 23, 2018] 08 The polygraph, the confession and the arrest August 15, 2018 08Frightened husbandFalse confessionGuilty pleaPrison confession On August 15, Watts agreed to a polygraph examination and failed it when asked whether he had caused his wife’s disappearance (NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018). Police had also learned he lied to them about his affair (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Videos the DA later released show him first admitting to his father, Ronnie Watts, that he killed Shanann, then telling investigators (Denver7, Nov. 2018). His first confession was a lie. The affidavit says he claimed he saw Shanann strangling one of the girls, and that he then “strangled Shanann to death” in a rage (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018; CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). In other words, he blamed his dead wife for the murder of their children. Prosecutors said after his sentencing that the story was false and that he had killed all three (Denver7, Nov. 2018). Watts himself admitted in the 2019 interview that he killed both girls (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). He was arrested on August 15. Anadarko fired him that day (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • 09 The oil site: Cervi 319 Anadarko well site 09 EvidenceExhibit 06Location map of the Wattenberg field, the oil and gas field north and east of Denver that covers much of southern Weld County, where Anadarko operated wells in 2018.Map: Fraxinus2 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.Watts told investigators where to find the bodies and how to get into the oil tanks (Denver7, Nov. 2018). The bodies were recovered from the Anadarko site the next day, August 16, 2018. Shanann was found in a shallow grave on the property; Bella and Celeste were found inside two oil tanks (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). MEAWW, Unilad and the Daily Star, in May 2023 reports quoting the released crime scene records, identify the well site as Cervi 319, an Anadarko well location in rural southern Weld County. The tank hatches Watts used were about eight inches across (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). Watts told agents he did not know why he put the girls in separate tanks and that neither was alive when he put them in (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). TDSH does not describe the remains further. The causes of death were stated in open court by DA Rourke at sentencing: strangulation for Shanann, smothering for Bella and Celeste (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018).The Weld County Coroner’s reports, released after sentencing, concluded that all three died of asphyxiation: Shanann was strangled and the girls were smothered. All three were pronounced dead on August 16, 2018. [Denver7, Nov. 2018] Forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Burson performed the autopsies for the Weld County Coroner on August 17, 2018 (cases AW18-155, AW18-156 and AW18-157). [Coroner’s report copy, autopsyfiles.org] Case filePeople v. Watts · Weld County, 2018Forensic Evidence SheetOn the recordWhat the public record says about the scene, the autopsies, the evidence and the lab question, stated clinically.Crime sceneThe house, Aug. 13Watts let Frederick officers into the house. They found Shanann’s cell phone, purse and wallet still in the house. [CNN, Aug. 20, 2018]The well site, Aug. 16Shanann was found in a shallow grave on the property; Bella and Celeste were found inside two oil tanks. The tank hatches Watts used were about eight inches across. [NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018] [Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019]Before the confessionOn August 15, before Watts confessed, investigators including the CBI were already at the Anadarko tank battery. A drone camera located a fitted bed sheet matching the Watts house, which was missing a fitted sheet, and a patch of recently disturbed earth. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 23, 2018]Marking the tanksAfter confessing, Watts marked the tanks for investigators; a picture with the girls’ initials on each tank was sent to officers at the scene. The recovery the next day took more than 12 hours. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 23, 2018] [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 30, 2018]AutopsyCoroner’s findingsThe Weld County Coroner’s reports, released after sentencing, concluded that all three died of asphyxiation: Shanann was strangled and the girls were smothered. All three were pronounced dead on August 16, 2018. [Denver7, Nov. 2018]Shanann WattsHer report records patterned abrasions on her neck and the left side of her face and notes she was in the second trimester of pregnancy. DA Rourke told the court the lack of significant injuries suggested her death came slowly. [Denver7, Nov. 2018]Bella and Celeste WattsBella’s report records blunt force trauma to the jaw and injuries inside the mouth, which Rourke said showed she “fought for her life.” Celeste had no visible injuries. [Denver7, Nov. 2018]ExaminationsForensic pathologist Dr. Michael Burson performed the autopsies for the Weld County Coroner on August 17, 2018 (cases AW18-155, AW18-156 and AW18-157). [Coroner’s report copy, autopsyfiles.org]Cause of deathStated in open courtThe causes of death were stated in open court by DA Rourke at sentencing: strangulation for Shanann, smothering for Bella and Celeste. [NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018]EvidenceNeighbor’s driveway cameraThe footage shows Watts walking between the house and his truck, backing the truck partway into the garage and placing a red gas can in the bed before driving off. [CBS Colorado, Nov. 29, 2018]DisposalHe threw the blanket and his clothes into a construction dumpster in his neighborhood on the way home from work that day. [CBI report I2019-2]Polygraph, Aug. 15Watts agreed to a polygraph examination and failed it when asked whether he had caused his wife’s disappearance. [NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018]Co-worker textsThe day before the murders, Watts texted a co-worker that he would go to the site alone the next morning; an hour after leaving home on August 13, he texted the same co-worker to ask where he was. He later told police he could not recall the site’s name. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 23, 2018]Body camera, Aug. 13Police body cameras recorded the neighbor, Nathaniel Trinastich, playing his driveway footage for officers while Watts watched and said he had been loading tools and a lunch box. [CNN, Dec. 13, 2018]DNA & labDefense swab motionJudge Marcelo Kopcow denied a defense motion asking that the girls’ necks, throats and hands be swabbed for DNA: “The court cannot order the prosecution and/or coroner how to conduct their investigation.” [CNN, Aug. 20, 2018]Swab request in the autopsy recordEach autopsy report records the public defender’s request to swab the girls’ necks for trace DNA; the defense expert expected trace DNA to survive several days in a tank of oil, water and sludge. [Coroner’s report copy, autopsyfiles.org]TestimonyNo forensic testimonyNo forensic expert testified, because there was no trial: the causes of death entered the public record through the DA’s statement at sentencing and the coroner’s reports. [Weld County DA, Nov. 6, 2018] [Denver7, Nov. 2018]RecordDiscovery releaseOn November 29, 2018, the DA’s office released 66 video files, including the neighbor’s driveway footage and the interrogation recordings. [Denver7, Nov. 2018]Scale of the fileThe case file ran to about three terabytes of data, starting with more than 2,000 pages of documents. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 30, 2018] 10 The charges: nine counts filed August 20, 2018 Nine counts 10 EvidenceCourt record ChargedAug. 20, 2018: nine counts, Weld County District Attorney Counts 1 to 5Murder in the first degree Count 6Unlawful termination of pregnancy (Nico) Counts 7 to 9Tampering with a deceased human body PleaGuilty to all nine counts, Nov. 6, 2018; death penalty taken off the table with the family’s agreement SentenceNov. 19, 2018: five life terms without parole, plus 84 years Nine countsWeld County District Court · Nov. 19, 2018123Counts 1–3Murder, first degree · after deliberationLife, no parole · consecutive45Counts 4–5Murder, first degree · child under 12Life · concurrent6Count 6Unlawful termination of pregnancy48 years · consecutive789Counts 7–9Tampering with a deceased human body36 years · consecutive5 × life+ 84 yearsNo parole EvidenceExhibit 07The Weld County Court House in Greeley, Colorado.Photo: David Shankbone / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.Watts made his court appearances, pleaded guilty and was sentenced in Weld County District Court in 2018.On August 20, 2018, the Weld County District Attorney formally charged Watts with nine counts (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018; CNN, Aug. 20, 2018): Counts 1 to 5: murder in the first degree (class 1 felony). Three counts are for the deaths of Shanann, Bella and Celeste after deliberation; two additional counts charge the death of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust. Count 6: unlawful termination of pregnancy (Nico). Counts 7 to 9: tampering with a deceased human body (class 3 felony), one for each victim. Watts, 33, was held without bond (CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). The case went before District Court Judge Marcelo Kopcow, who denied a defense motion asking that the girls’ necks, throats and hands be swabbed for DNA, ruling: “The court cannot order the prosecution and/or coroner how to conduct their investigation” (CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). That motion fit the false story Watts was telling at the time, that Shanann had killed the girls.Each autopsy report records the public defender’s request to swab the girls’ necks for trace DNA; the defense expert expected trace DNA to survive several days in a tank of oil, water and sludge. [Coroner’s report copy, autopsyfiles.org] 11 The plea deal: November 6, 2018 November 6, 2018 11 On Tuesday, November 6, 2018, Watts pleaded guilty to all nine counts. The DA’s release that day stated the terms: Watts had faced the possibility of the death penalty or life in prison without parole. “With the agreement of the victims’ family, DA Rourke eliminated the death penalty from consideration in exchange for pleading guilty to all nine counts” (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018). Sentencing was set for Monday, November 19, at 10 a.m. in Division 16 (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018). Sandy Rzucek later told the court she had not wanted death for him (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Colorado itself abolished the death penalty in 2020 (Colorado General Assembly, SB20-100), so the question would not arise for a crime committed today. 12 Sentencing: November 19, 2018 Greeley 12 EvidenceExhibit 08The Weld County Courthouse, seen looking south from Lincoln Park in Greeley.Photo: Peter Romero / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.The 1917 building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.At the November 19 hearing in Greeley, Judge Kopcow sentenced Watts to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murders of Shanann, Bella and Celeste, plus two more life sentences, served concurrently, for the counts covering the deaths of children under 12. He added 48 years for unlawful termination of pregnancy, to run consecutively, and 36 years, consecutively, for the three tampering counts (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). The CBI later summarized the total as three consecutive life terms “(+84 years) without the possibility of parole” (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Rourke told the court that Watts strangled Shanann and smothered Bella and Celeste, and that he had loaded their bodies into his truck calmly and deliberately, “not in a hasty or disorganized way” (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). Watts’s own parents, Cindy and Ronnie Watts, told the court the murders “should have never happened” (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). 13 The discovery release and the neighbor’s camera The record released 13 After sentencing, the DA’s office released the case file in response to open records requests. In the week after November 19 it released thousands of pages of documents, and on Thursday, November 29, it released 66 video files, including the neighbor’s driveway footage and the interrogation recordings (Denver7, Nov. 2018; CBS Colorado, Nov. 29, 2018). The release included footage of Watts failing the polygraph and the moment he admitted to killing his wife (NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018). The case file ran to about three terabytes of data, starting with more than 2,000 pages of documents. [Greeley Tribune, Nov. 30, 2018]Those files are the source of most of what is publicly known about the case: the affidavit, interview transcripts, texts between Shanann and her friends, the timeline of Watts’s phone and the search of the oil site. They also show how fast investigators moved. Watts was in custody within three days of Shanann coming home. 14 The February 18, 2019 prison confession Wisconsin, 2019 14 On February 18, 2019, CBI Agent Tammy Lee, FBI Special Agent Grahm Coder and Frederick Police Detective Dave Baumhover interviewed Watts in prison in Wisconsin for about five and a half hours. The CBI’s redacted report, I2019-2 under case 2018-273, was approved on February 22 and released on March 7, 2019 (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273; Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019).“an anger with SHANANN that he took out on everyone in front of him that morning” This interview is where Watts finally gave a full account of killing his daughters, much of it quoted in the murders section above. He said he had been segregated in the Weld County Jail and had listened to other inmates pounding on the walls at night telling him what they wanted to do to him (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). He said the killing of the girls came from “an anger with SHANANN that he took out on everyone in front of him that morning”, and called it “the epitome of being angry” (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). He denied having planned the murders (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). He also said: “Right now, I would have a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old and a 1-month-old beautiful boy. And now it’s just me” (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). 15 Where is Chris Watts now? Dodge Correctional 15 EvidenceExhibit 09The entrance to Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, where Chris Watts has been held since December 2018.Photo: TheCatalyst31 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (public domain dedication).EvidenceExhibit 10Buildings at Dodge Correctional Institution, Waupun.Photo: TheCatalyst31 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (public domain dedication).EvidenceExhibit 11The welcome sign for Waupun, Wisconsin, on State Highway 26.Photo: Royalbroil / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.Chris Watts is at Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum security prison in Waupun, Wisconsin. The Colorado Department of Corrections moved him there on December 3, 2018, for safety reasons, under the Interstate Corrections Compact, which allows states to exchange inmates; the Wisconsin Department of Corrections confirmed the transfer through an open records request on December 14, 2018 (NBC15, Dec. 14, 2018). A Wisconsin Department of Corrections spokesperson told People in May 2024 that Watts remained at Dodge and had received two conduct reports there: one in 2020 for unauthorized forms of communication and unauthorized transfer of property, which cost him phone and canteen privileges for several weeks, and one the following year for possessing contraband and disobeying orders, which cost him electronics for 10 days. People had reported in 2023 that he worked as a custodian (People, May 17, 2024).The complex was formerly the Central State Hospital for the Criminally Insane.Watts is serving five Colorado life sentences here under the Interstate Corrections Compact.Waupun is home to several state prisons, including Dodge Correctional Institution. He is now 41. Under his sentence he will never be eligible for parole. 16 Chris Watts documentaries and films On screen 16 American Murder: The Family Next Door (Netflix, September 30, 2020). Built almost entirely from Shanann’s own social media videos, text messages, police body camera footage and interrogation video. Chris Watts: Confessions of a Killer (Lifetime, January 26, 2020), a scripted film in Lifetime’s Ripped from the Headlines series. Criminal Confessions (Oxygen), season 3, episode 1 (December 2019), with the investigators who interviewed Watts. For how true crime streaming shapes a real case, see TDSH’s analysis of Netflix and the Ed Gein story. For other cases of a parent killing a whole family, see the Cedar Grove familicide and the Karolkiewicz family annihilation on Riverside Trail; for a family killing that went the other way, children killing parents, see the Menendez brothers case. Colorado’s best known earlier murder case history includes Ted Bundy’s 1977 escapes from custody in Aspen and Glenwood Springs, covered in the Ted Bundy victims timeline. SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • SARATOGA TRAIL • FREDERICK, COLORADO • CERVI 319 • WELD COUNTY • AUGUST 13, 2018 • 17 Chris Watts timeline Dates and sources 17 May 16, 1985: Christopher Lee Watts born (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). About June 1, 2018: Watts meets Nichol Kessinger at Anadarko (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). July 2018: Shanann and the girls visit North Carolina; Watts stays with Kessinger most nights (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). August 13, 2018, about 2 a.m.: Shanann returns from Arizona (Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). Before dawn, Watts kills Shanann at home and Bella and Celeste at the Anadarko site (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). Shanann reported missing; police welfare check (CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). August 13 to 15: FBI and CBI join the case; Watts pleads on TV for his family’s return (NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018). August 15: Fails polygraph, confesses to killing Shanann with a false story, arrested; fired by Anadarko (NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018; NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). August 16: Bodies recovered at the oil site (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018). August 20: Charged with nine counts; affidavit unsealed (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018; CNN, Aug. 20, 2018). November 6: Pleads guilty to all nine counts; death penalty removed (Weld County District Attorney, Nov. 6, 2018). November 19: Sentenced to five life terms without parole plus 84 years (NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018; CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273). November 29: DA releases 66 video files (CBS Colorado, Nov. 29, 2018). December 3: Moved to Dodge Correctional Institution, Waupun, Wisconsin (NBC15, Dec. 14, 2018). February 18, 2019: Full confession to CBI, FBI and Frederick police; released March 7 (CBI report I2019-2, case 2018-273; Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019). September 30, 2020: Netflix releases American Murder: The Family Next Door. May 2024: Wisconsin DOC confirms he remains at Dodge (People, May 17, 2024). Citations & Sources 18 Sources Records and reporting 18 Weld County District Attorney’s Office, “Chris Watts Admits to Killing Pregnant Wife and Two Young Children,” Nov. 6, 2018: weldda.com Colorado Bureau of Investigation, report I2019-2, case 2018-273, follow-up interview with Christopher Lee Watts, Feb. 18, 2019 (redacted, released Mar. 7, 2019): DocumentCloud Frederick Police Department arrest affidavit, as reported by CNN, Aug. 20, 2018 Sentencing hearing, Weld County District Court, Nov. 19, 2018, as reported by NBC News, Nov. 19, 2018 Weld County DA discovery release, as reported by CBS Colorado, Nov. 29, 2018, Denver7, Nov. 2018 and NBC News, Nov. 30, 2018 Prison confession coverage: Greeley Tribune, Mar. 7, 2019 Wisconsin Department of Corrections records, as reported by NBC15, Dec. 14, 2018 and People, May 17, 2024 Denver7, “Autopsy reports released in Chris Watts case,” Nov. 2018: https://www.denver7.com/news/chris-watts-case/autopsy-reports-released-in-chris-watts-caseWeld County Coroner autopsy report (AW18-156, Bella Watts), coroner’s report copy as posted by autopsyfiles.org; the AW18-155 and AW18-157 reports are posted on the same site: https://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/Other/watts,%20bella_report.pdfGreeley Tribune, “Documents show investigators were closing in before Christopher Watts confession,” Nov. 23, 2018: https://www.greeleytribune.com/2018/11/23/documents-show-investigators-were-closing-in-before-christopher-watts-confession/Greeley Tribune, “Audio, video recordings reveal first contact with Christopher Watts, investigative process,” Nov. 30, 2018: https://www.greeleytribune.com/2018/11/30/audio-video-recordings-reveal-first-contact-with-christopher-watts-investigative-process/CNN, “Chris Watts appears nervous in hours after murder, new video shows,” Dec. 13, 2018: https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/us/chris-watts-new-evidence