Moments before Chris Watts smothered his 4-year-old daughter Bella with the same blanket he had just used to kill her baby sister, she made a final plea, begging her “daddy” to spare her life.
Colorado’s Chris and Shanann Watts appeared to have a picture-perfect life. The couple had two beautiful daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste “CeCe,” and a son, Nico, on the way.
But behind the scenes, their marriage was falling apart. Chris had started a relationship with a co-worker, Nichol Kessinger, during the summer of 2018, and Shanann had become suspicious.
On the morning of Aug. 13, Shannan, 15 weeks pregnant, confronted her husband, accusing him of having an affair.
According to investigators, Watts claimed that after he told his wife that he no longer loved her, she threatened to keep the girls from him.
Watts admitted he was in a rage and “snapped,” taking the anger out “on everyone in front of him that morning.”
Chris Watts hears daughter’s tragic final words
“This was like the epitome of being angry,” he said, per CBS News.
In his confession, Watts described how he strangled his wife in their bedroom, then wrapped her body in a blanket and pulled it down the stairs while a teary-eyed Bella watched.
“What’s wrong with mommy? The child asked her father. “Is mommy okay?”
The killer said he then dragged the body of his wife to his truck, dropping her on the floorboard in the back before placing Bella and CeCe in the seats near their dead mom. He was driving them all to an oil site owned by Anadarko Petroleum, where Watts worked.
According to documents, the children asked their father, “What are you doing to mommy?” Watts later claimed he could not remember how he answered them.
Bodies dumped at remote oil site
After leaving Shannan’s body on the spot she would later be buried, he killed CeCe – who was sitting right next to Bella – smothering her with the blue Yankees blanket she was clutching.
He then dumped the toddler’s body in an oil tank and returned to the truck, where Bella was waiting alone, ABC News reports.
“Is the same thing gonna happen to me as Cece?” Watts recalled the little girl asking.
He thinks he might have told her: “Yes, like a horrible person.”
Bella, the killer explained, tried to fight back but showing no mercy, he suffocated his first born with the same blanket he had just used to kill her baby sister.
Afterward, he stuffed Bella’s body through an 8-inch opening of a separate oil tank before burying Shanann in a shallow grave nearby.
‘Just vanished’
For several days after Shanann and the girls disappeared, Watts publicly acted like a desperate husband and father searching for answers.
Standing outside the family’s home during an interview with Denver7, Watts claimed he had no idea where his family had gone.
“When I came home and then walked in the house and nothing, just vanished, nothing was here,” he said. “I mean she wasn’t here, the kids weren’t here, nobody was here.”
“Those smiles light up my life,” he continued. “Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody, again, this house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring them back.”
The emotional television appearance quickly drew national attention, but investigators had already started noticing inconsistencies in Watts’ story.
Twisted confessions
Watts initially denied involvement during police questioning, but the investigation shifted after he failed a polygraph test.
According to People, Watts first admitted to killing Shanann before later confessing that he had murdered both of his daughters as well. He also revealed he had been having an affair with Kessinger, who had spoken with police before his admission.
In November 2018, he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree murder and other charges, avoiding the death penalty as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced to five consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole and was eventually transferred out of Colorado due to safety concerns.
He is now held at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he was placed in a unit reserved for high-risk or high-profile inmates.
Bella’s final words still follow him
After Watts’ confession, one detail from his prison interviews has continued haunting people who followed the case.
Bella, who watched as her father killed her sister, pleaded for her own life.
“Daddy no!” the child cried, words that Watts told investigators he hears every time he closes his eyes.
“Right now I’d have a 5-year-old…a 3-year-old…and more than likely, a one-month old son…and a beautiful wife…and right now it’s just me,” he told investigators.
What do you think of Chris Watts attempting to show remorse by saying he still hears his daughter’s final words every time he closes his eyes? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and share this story so we can hear from others!
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