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Published 15:40 01 Jun 2026 GMT
New details about the murders committed by Chris Watts have resurfaced through letters he wrote from prison.
Watts, 41, killed his wife, Shanann Watts, 34, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and daughters Bella, four, and Celeste, known as Cece, three, in Frederick, Colorado, in August 2018.
Initially, the father-of-three portrayed himself as a desperate husband searching for his missing family.
"Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, just come back," he said before he was arrested. "If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody, I need to see everybody again. This house is not complete without anybody here."
His story later collapsed, and he eventually admitted to killing his entire family while pursuing a relationship with his co-worker, Nichol Kessinger.
The murders later became the subject of Netflix's 2020 documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door, which introduced millions of viewers to one of the most notorious family homicide cases in recent memory.
According to letters published by author Cheryln Cadle in the book, Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders, the father had been contemplating the murders for weeks before carrying them out.
"August 13, morning of, I went to the girls’ room first, before Shanann and I had our argument,” he wrote. "I went to Bella’s room, then Cece’s room, and used a pillow from their bed (to kill them). That’s why the cause of death was smothering. After I left Cece’s room, then I climbed back in bed with Shanann, and our argument ensued."
Watts went on to describe strangling Shanann, writing that her eyes "filled with blood" while black mascara "streamed down her face".
The father claimed that Bella and Cece later woke up after he had already killed their mother.
He wrote that Bella "looked like she had been through trauma" and that her "eyes were bruised".
"I realize now the girls getting up and walking around may have been God’s third attempt to stop what I was doing," he wrote.
After killing his family, Watts transported their bodies to an Anadarko Petroleum oil site where he worked.
A pregnant Shanann was buried in a shallow grave, while his daughters were forced through separate eight-inch openings into oil tanks.
Nearly eight years later, details from the investigation and autopsy findings continue to draw attention.
A woman who communicated with the killer during his time behind bars claimed he was particularly concerned about information contained in the girls' autopsy reports becoming public.
"He didn't want it to get out," she said, per Daily Mail. "I think once he realized what he had done, the idea was just too gruesome.
"If you read the reports, they're horrifying. He didn't want that to be out there, because that makes him look like even more of a monster," she added.
When Bella's body was recovered, she was still wearing a pink pajama-style top decorated with hearts and butterflies. Pathologists documented green-black oily fluid and debris in her stomach, as well as injuries inside her mouth, trauma to her jaw, and bite marks on her tongue.
Celeste was recovered wearing a pink-and-black t-shirt, a diaper, and underwear, all covered in oil and debris.
Watts ultimately pleaded guilty to nine charges, including murder and the unlawful termination of a pregnancy, on November 6, 2018.
He is currently serving five life sentences without parole in Wisconsin.
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