US5 min(s) read
Published 12:43 15 May 2026 GMT
The final words of Chris Watts' daughter have resurfaced as never-before-seen texts from the murderer's late wife were made public.
Watts, 40, is currently serving five life sentences without the possibility of parole at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
He was sentenced after being found guilty of killing his wife, Shanann, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and their daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three, in Frederick, Colorado, back in August 2018.
The American convict strangled his wife and smothered his daughters, before stuffing their small bodies into oil tanks with eight-inch openings at the top, while Shannan was buried in a shallow grave nearby.
Watts' case gripped the nation, as aside from the chilling details, the father of three had first acted like he was a desperate husband who was searching for his missing family.
It has recently emerged, though, that Shanann Watts opened up to a friend about her marriage troubles in the weeks leading to her brutal murder, as she suspected Chris was having an affair.
In an interview with KMGH at the time, he claimed: “When I came home and then walked in the house, nothing. Vanished. Nothing was here. My kids are my life.” But just days later, he confessed to killing all three.
According to a report released by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, Bella's final words were: “Daddy, no!” - a plea Watts said he still hears “every time he closes his eyes," The Mirror reported.
Before that, Bella had watched in silence as Watts strangled her younger sister, Celeste, with her own blue Yankees blanket. She then asked her father: “Is the same thing gonna happen to me as Cece?”
The killer admitted that before the brutal slayings, he gave his wife OxyContin in an attempt to kill their unborn baby. He told investigators he had been thinking about murdering her “for weeks".
Their final argument reportedly began when Shannan confronted him about his affair and told him: “You’re never gonna see the kids again," according to a report that was released in February 2019 via CBS News.
Watts said he responded by telling her he didn’t love her, then strangled her with both hands.
“Every time I think about it, I’m just like, did I know I was going to do that before I got on top of her?” he later told investigators. “I just felt like there was already something on my mind, I wasn't planning it but I was going to do it. I woke up that morning, and it was going to happen, and I had no control over it.”
He claimed Shannan didn’t fight back. Their daughter Bella walked in shortly after and asked: “What’s wrong with Mommy?”
Watts then drove all three bodies to an oil site owned by his employer. He said the girls fell asleep in each other’s laps in the back of his truck. Shannan’s body was on the floorboard.
At the burial site, Bella and Celeste reportedly asked: “What are you doing to mommy?” before Watts killed them both and placed their bodies in separate oil tanks.
Shanann had cancelled a baby shower prior to her death, despite spending hundreds of dollars on it, after Chris announced that he did not want a third child.
The mum-of-two, 34, had organized the party to be held at the family’s home in Frederick, Colorado, on August 19, 2018.
Soon after, she started to suspect something was wrong.
In messages obtained by The Daily Mail, Shanann explained to a close friend why their marriage was failing, saying: “Chris told me last night he's scared to death about this third baby and he's happy with just Bella and Celeste and doesn't want another baby.
“He said we're not compatible anymore.
"He refused to hug me after he said he will try to 'work it out.'"
In another message, sent the day before she cancelled the baby shower, Shanann said: “I grabbed his hand during ultrasound, and he didn't grab back.”
On August 7, she voiced her suspicions that her husband was having an affair to a friend, then cancelled the party and asked for a divorce.
The text message said: “I haven't slept most of the week.
"My eyes burn from crying so much. I canceled the gender reveal.
"Nicki is going to tell me [the baby's gender] today. I need happy news today.”
The next day, Shenann left for Arizona on a business trip, telling her friends that she would figure things out on her return, but quite the opposite happened.
When she returned home early on August 13, Chris confessed that he was having an affair, and after having sex just hours before, he murdered her before suffocating their two young daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three.
Watts later admitted that he left his late wife's wedding ring on the counter to make it look like she had walked out on the family.
After first blaming Shannan for the murders of their children, Watts eventually pleaded guilty to all charges.
His in-laws requested that prosecutors not pursue the death penalty, and he was sentenced to five life terms, three to be served consecutively.
In December 2018, Chris Watts was sentenced to five life terms without the possibility of parole, in addition to other charges related to tampering with a corpse and the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
