Chris Watts shared a chilling confession about one of his daughters' last words before he brutally took her life.
On August 13, 2018, Watts killed his pregnant wife, Shanann, 34, along with their daughters, four-year-old Bella, and three-year-old Celeste.
He buried Shanann in a shallow grave near an oil-storage facility, and forced his children's bodies into crude oil tanks, before pretending that he had no knowledge of where his family had disappeared to.
Watts was arrested two days later after confessing to Shanann's murder, and pleaded guilty to killing his children as well, in order to avoid the death penalty.
Investigators who'd been assigned to the case shared the heartbreaking last words of one of Watts' daughters just moments before he coldly took her life.
FBI Special Agent Graham Coder and Colorado Bureau of Investigation Field Agent Tammy Lee revealed during a speech at the 2022 Northeast South Dakota Family Violence Prevention Conference that Watts finally confessed that he killed his family during a six-hour interview after he failed a polygraph test.
Coder explained: "Once his family was found, he confessed to everything. He knew he had no other choice. He told us what he had done."
In a police interview conducted in prison, Watts gave chilling details of the murders to Coder and Lee, telling them that Shanann "may have been" praying as he strangled her to death inside their bedroom.
Watts revealed that he drove her lifeless body to his job site and buried it in a shallow grave as their two young daughters waited in the car.
He then smothered both girls, and confessed that their last words haunt him every time he closes his eyes.
Watts revealed that his older daughter, Bella, begged him not to kill her, screaming "Daddy, no!" as he went to smother her with the same blanket he'd killed her little sister Celeste with moments earlier.
The killer admitted: "I hear it every day, when Bella was talking to me. When she said, 'Daddy, no!'"
That particular detail of the "horrific" and "disgusting" murders has stuck with the investigators long after the case was closed.
Coder and Lee added that Watts had no prior criminal record or history of domestic violence before killing his whole family.
Lee explained: "This case shows that domestic violence can happen anywhere. It affects so many families — and sometimes, the results can be deadly."
If you or anybody you know is experiencing domestic violence, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), text “STRENGTH” to 88788, or message online at https://www.thehotline.org/.