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WELD COUNTY, Colo. — Documents and interviews from the Chris Watts murder case have been released weeks after Watts pleaded guilty to killing his wife, Shanann, and their two daughters.
Chris Watts was sentenced to five life terms, three to run consecutively, all without the possibility of parole, KMGH reported.
In August, Chris Watts had said that his wife, who was pregnant, and their daughters were missing. But as it turned out, Chris Watts had killed his family, burying Shanann in a shallow grave, and putting the bodies of his 4- and 3-year-old daughters in oil tanks at his work.
Prosecutors said Shanann Watts was strangled to death in the couple's home Aug. 13, shortly after she returned from a brief business trip to Arizona. Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, who had remained home with their father while their mother was gone, were killed Aug. 12 or 13.
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This photo combo of images provided by The Colorado Bureau of Investigation shows, from left, Bella Watts, Celeste Watts and Shanann Watts. The Frederick Police Department said Chris Watts was taken into custody. Watt's pregnant wife, 34-year-old Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste were reported missing Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. The police said on Twitter early Thursday that Chris Watts will be held at the Weld County Jail. He has not yet been charged. (AP)
Police investigating the young family’s disappearance soon learned that Chris Watts had been having an affair. During questioning, he admitted that he’d killed his wife, but said he had done so in a rage after Shanann Watts strangled the girls.
Their autopsies showed, however, that Bella and Celeste were suffocated, prosecutors said. Bella bit through her tongue multiple times as she fought for her life.
"(Watts') initial 'confession' was patently false, absurd, and grotesque," a lawsuit filed by Shanann Watts' family said.
Chris Watts disposed of his family at an oil tank battery belonging to the company he worked for. Shanann Watts and Nico, the couple’s unborn son, were buried in a shallow grave and Bella and Celeste were shoved into two tanks of crude oil on the property.
This 2018 Google Maps image shows the location where Chris Watts, 33, of Frederick, Colorado, disposed of the bodies of his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, 34, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and 3-year-old Celeste. Investigators found the girls' bodies submerged in crude oil inside the two tanks shown. Shanann Watts' body was buried in a shallow grave near the tanks. The bodies were dumped at a work site belonging to Anadarko Petroleum Corp., for whom Chris Watts worked prior to his arrest, about 60 miles from the family's home. (Google)
Their bodies were found by investigators after Chris Watts confessed to hiding them.
Thursday's release follows the release of thousands of pages of interviews and other information from the law enforcement investigation that shed light on the couple's relationship, how Watts killed Shanann and their children and where he hid their bodies, KMGH reported.
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Christopher Lee Watts, 33, is pictured in a photo taken at the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center. Photo Credit: Colorado Department of Corrections
Cox Media Group
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