33-year-old Christopher Watts, who was accused of killing his family, claimed that he saw his wife strangling their daughters that’s why he killed her.
Authorities didn’t buy his story and now, he faces nine felony charges, including five murder charges.
Watts said that when he went downstairs, he saw his wife from the baby monitor killing one of their two children.
“He observed Bella “sprawled” out on her bed and blue and Shanann actively strangling Celeste,” said an affidavit. “Chris said he went into a rage and ultimately strangled Shanann to death. Chris said he loaded all three bodies onto the back seat of his work truck and took them to an oil work site.”
After further investigation, police found that Watts ‘was actively involved in an affair with a co-worker’ – which he initially denied.
His claims (that it was the wife who killed the kids) is likely the reason why Atty. Megan Ring asked for DNA swabs to be taken from the children’s necks.
Christopher was charged with nine felony counts, including unlawfully terminating a pregnancy. He was also charged with two counts of first-degree murder of a child under 13, three counts of first-degree murder, and three counts of tampering with bodies.
These charges come one week after the 33-year-old had reported his children, Celeste, 3, and Bella, 4, and wife, Shanann Watts, 34, missing. He even visited a local television to beg them to return home even though he already knew that they were dead.
Watts has been held at Weld County Jail on the outskirts of Greely, according to Fox News. He is also being kept away from other inmates for his own safety.
Shanann’s body was found two days after she disappeared from their home in Colorado. She was also 15 weeks pregnant with a boy they wanted to name Nico. The bodies of the two children were found the next day submerged in cans of crude oil.
Frank Rzucek, Shanann’s father, cried as he spoke at a press conference. “I’d like to thank everyone in the Frederick Police Department and all the agencies involved for working so hard to find my daughter, granddaughters and Nico.
I’d like to thank everyone for coming to the candlelight vigil and saying all your prayers. They are gratefully appreciated — and keep the prayers coming for our family.”
The couple’s friends have suggested they were experiencing marital problems. Amanda and Nick Thayer said Shanann told them before that she thought her husband was cheating.
Nicole Atkinson, 37, who reported that her friend and workmate was missing, also said that Christopher had told Shanann they were planning to separate.
“I didn’t find out that they were going to separate or anything like that until I called Chris that morning. When I called him and asked him where she was, that’s when he told me and I basically told him that that wasn’t my (concern) at that particular moment,” Atkinson said.
“He just kept saying that he didn’t know where she was and that she was on a playdate,” she told ABC’s Clayton Sandell. “But he couldn’t give us the name of the friend. I knew he had something to do with it the day I was at his house with him, but I didn’t want to think that.”
“Anyone in their right mind will start piercing things together and think something had happened, but you don’t want to go there. You want to believe the best in people,” she added. “He was defending himself, but it just didn’t make sense. Like in that moment it is kind of surreal. He was just sitting there waiting for something to happen; it just didn’t seem right to me.”
Investigators said that they believe Watts had killed his wife and children in their home and taken them to the windswept high prairie land.
What’s your take on this? Do you think that Watts is lying or saying the truth? Let us know in the comments section below!
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