Chris Watts was a Colorado man who murdered his fifteen-week pregnant wife, Shanna Watts, and his two daughters, Bella and Celeste Watts.
Wiki/Biography
Chris Watts was born on Thursday, May 16, 1985 (35 years old in 2020) in Spring Lake, North Carolina, United States as Christopher Lee Watts. His star sign is Taurus. He attended Pine Forest High School in North Carolina.
appearance
Height (approximate): 5′ 10″
Eye Color: Brown
Hair color: gray and white
Family and Race
Parents and siblings
He is the son of Cindy Watts and Ronnie Watts.
Chris Watts’ parents
He has a younger sister named Jamie Lynn Williams.
Chris Watts and his sister
Wife, Children, and Relationships
In 2010, he met Shanann Watts, an independent representative for “Le-vel,” a multi-level marketing company that sold “Thrive” products. On November 3, 2012, they were married in Mecklenburg County.
Shanann and Chris Watts wedding photos
They have two daughters: Bella Marie Watts (born December 17, 2013) and Celeste Cathryn “Cece” Watts (born July 17, 2015).
Chris Watts and his family
At the time of his death, Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with their son, whom the couple named Nico Lee Watts, due on January 31, 2019. While he was married to Shanann, he began dating Nichol Kessinger. He began dating her just two months before the Watts family was murdered.
Chris Watts and Nichol Kessinger
Murder
At 1:48 a.m. on August 13, 2018, Chris was at home with the children after Shanann returned home from a business trip to Arizona. During an interview with investigators, Chris described how he killed his wife and two daughters. According to Chris, he strangled Shanann in their home in Frederick after an argument over their separation. After killing Shanann, he dragged her body down the stairs when Bella saw him. According to Chris, Bella cried,
What happened to mom?
He then lifted Shanann to the floor and carried Bella and Cece to the back of his work truck. He drove them about 45 minutes to an oil field, property of Anadarko Petroleum, where he worked. Once there, Chris suffocated Cece with a blanket and threw her into an oil tank. He returned and did the same to Bella. According to Chris, Bella asked him before she died,
Will the same thing happen to Cece and me?”
Where Chris Watts’ children are hidden
After throwing his two daughters into an oil tank, he buried his wife in a shallow grave nearby.
Shanann Watts burial site
Chris missing and arrested report
On the morning of August 13, 2018, Shanann’s former friend and co-worker Nickole Utoft Atkinson dropped her off at the airport to go home.
Nickole Utoft Atkinson, friend and colleague of Shanann Watts
Later that day, Nicole began to worry because Shanann missed her business meetings and OB/GYN appointments, and Shanann wasn’t even responding to her messages. Nicole arrived at Shanann’s house at 12:10 p.m., but no one answered the doorbell. Nicole contacted Chris, who had gone to work, and then called the Frederick Police Department. Around 1:40 p.m., an officer came to his home for a welfare check. Chris also arrived and allowed the officers to search his home. During the welfare check, Shanann and his daughter were missing. Searchers later found Shanann’s wallet, which contained her cell phone and keys, her car in the garage, and her wedding ring was found on the couple’s bed. The next day, the FBI and Colorado Bureau of Investigation joined the investigation. Initially, Chris told police that he didn’t know where his daughter and wife were and that he hadn’t seen his wife since he left for work at 5:15 a.m. on the 13th. He gave many media interviews in which he pleaded for his wife and daughter to return safely. In one interview, Chris said,
Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, come back. If someone took her, bring her back. I need to see everyone.”
He was arrested on August 15, 2018.
Chris Watts arrested
According to the arrest affidavit, Chris failed a polygraph test and confessed to Shanann’s murder. Before pleading guilty, he asked investigators to speak with his father.
During the investigation, he claimed that he killed his wife in a rage after she killed their daughter in response to her demands for a divorce. He claimed that he strangled Shanann and took the three bodies to a remote oil depot.
Chris Watts confessed to his crime in front of his father and investigators
He was fired the day he was arrested. Authorities found the bodies on August 16. Later, during an interview with police, he confessed to killing his pregnant wife and daughter. After Chris was arrested for his wife’s murder, his mistress, Nicole Kessinger, went to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and told them that she thought Chris was about to divorce his wife. She said,
Chris often paid for his dates with gift cards—probably to keep his wife from tracking his spending. He always paid with gift cards. Always. But on the night of their last date, August 11, something changed. Instead of paying with his usual gift cards, Watts paid with a personal credit card. It was like he had nothing to hide. Or nothing to lose.”
Charges and sentencing
On August 21, Watts was charged with five counts of first-degree murder for the murders of his wife and two daughters, one count each of “killing a child under the age of 12 who was in a position of trust with his two daughters,” unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a corpse. At his first court appearance, he was denied bail, and at a later hearing, his bail was set at $5 million, of which Chris had to pay 15% in order to be released.
Chris Watts at a court hearing
On September 1, Watts was released after paying $750,000, pending legal proceedings. On November 6, he pleaded guilty to murder, and at the request of Shanann’s family, who accepted the plea agreement, the district attorney did not seek the death penalty against him. On November 19, Chris was sentenced to five life sentences – three consecutive and two concurrent, without the possibility of parole; he was also sentenced to 48 years in prison for illegally terminating his wife’s pregnancy and 36 years in prison for three counts of tampering with a corpse. Chris later revoked his $5 million bail and was immediately remanded in custody. On December 3, 2018, Watts was transferred to an out-of-state location due to “security issues,” and on December 5, 2018, he arrived at Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in Waupun, Wisconsin.
property
Chris and his wife Shanann own a five-bedroom, four-bathroom house at 2825 Saratoga Trail in Frederick, Colorado. The house was purchased with a $392,709 loan in April 2013. As of 2020, the house is valued at $583,500.
Chris and Shanann Watts Home
salary
As an employee of Anadarko Petroleum, he earned $61,000 a year, according to bankruptcy records filed by the company in 2015.
Facts/Trivia
- In high school, he was a bright student who aspired to become the chief technician for NASCAR.
- In 2003, he took third place in the North Carolina Automobile Dealers Association competition in Winston-Salem and received $1,000 scholarships to Universal Technical College and NASCAR Technical College in Mooresville.
- In June 2015, Chris and Shanann jointly filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in a Colorado federal court. At the time, Chris was an employee of Anadarko Petroleum, and Shanann and Chris needed to repay $44,800 in debts; their bankruptcy case was closed in October 2015.
- In July 2018, Shanann and Chris’ homeowners association, “Wyndham Hill Master Association Inc.”, sued them for some financial reasons and demanded $1,533 in damages.
- The Watts family murders were featured on many news channels and talk shows, including ABC News television news magazine 20/20, The Dr. Phil Show, and The Dr. Oz Show.
Dr. Phil Show Discusses Watts Family Murders
- On January 26, 2020, the American cable TV channel Lifetime released a movie titled Chris Watts: Confessions of a Killer. In the movie, Sean Cryer and Ashley Williams play the roles of Chris Watts and Shanann Watts respectively. However, Shanann’s family was unhappy with the movie because they were not consulted and were not aware of the movie’s existence.
- In September 2020, the Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door, directed by Jenny Popplewell, was released about the Watts family murders. The documentary contains archival footage of the case, social media posts, law enforcement recordings, text messages, and home videos, but without any narration or performances.
- Many authors have written books about the Watts Family Murders and Chris Watts; some of these books are: The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder Case by John Glatt (2020), Letters from Christopher: A Harrowing Confession of the Watts Family Murders by Cheryln Cadle and Christopher Watts (2019), My Dad Was a Hero: How Chris Watts Went from Family Man to Murderer by Lena Derhally (2019), Double: A Mysterious Mistress and a Confession by Nick Van Der Leek (2019), Double: Forgotten by Nick Van Der Leek (2019), and The Perfect Father: The True Story of Chris Watts, His All-American Family, and a Shocking Murder Case by John Glatt (2020). Leek (2019), Two-Faced: What the Drilling Revealed, by Nick Van Der Leek (2020), and Chris Watts’ Mistress: The Last Interview with Nichol Kessinger, August 23, 2018 – by Cindy George (2020).
- Tania Hagan’s novel No Tendency: Inspired by the Chris Watts Case, published in January 2020, was inspired by the Watts family murders.
- He has a tattoo of the band Metallica on his back, a sun symbol and barbed wire on his left arm, and a snake head and diamond on his right arm.
Chris Watts Tattoo
- He was a huge fan of the band Metallica, and according to investigative documents in the case, he searched for the lyrics of the band’s “Battery” on Google after killing his wife and daughter.
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education