US3 min(s) read
Published 09:39 15 May 2026 GMT
In the weeks leading up to her brutal murder, Shanann Watts opened up to a friend about her marriage troubles and fears her twisted husband was having an affair.
The pregnant mom-of-two also cancelled a baby shower she had spent hundreds of dollars on after Chris announced that he did not want a third child.
Shanann, 34, had organized the party to be held at the family’s home in Frederick, Colorado, on August 19, 2018, but she cancelled the event on August 7 and asked her husband for a divorce.
Just days later, on August 13, Chris strangled her to death, then suffocated their two young daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three.
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, Shanann 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.
According to his confession, while the couple was arguing about their relationship, Shanann threatened to take her daughters with her when they split.
Chris admitted that he then strangled her in the bedroom of their family home.
After wrapping his wife's body in a blanket and putting his wife’s body into the back of his truck, Chris then put his daughters into the passenger side and drove them to his work, a site belonging to the oil company he worked for.
He then buried Shanann in a shallow grave near an oil tank.
Later in his trial, Chris told police cops that moments after dumping the body, he smothered Celeste while Bella begged him to stop.
Then he smothered Bella and dumped their little bodies in separate oil tanks nearby.
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.
