Cervi 319 was a remote Anadarko Petroleum oil well site in Weld County, Colorado, near the town of Roggen, where Chris Watts disposed of the bodies of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their daughters Bella and Celeste after killing them on August 13, 2018. Watts worked for Anadarko and drove to the site in a company truck. The location has since been plugged, abandoned, and demolished.
What Happened at the Site
In the early hours of August 13, 2018, Watts strangled Shanann in the couple’s bed in Frederick, Colorado. He loaded her body and both girls into his Anadarko work truck and drove roughly 40 miles east to Cervi 319.1CBS News. Christopher Watts Confession: Murders of Pregnant Wife, Daughters
At the site, according to Watts’s own account given during a February 18, 2019 prison interview with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the FBI, and Frederick Police, he smothered and strangled three-year-old Celeste with a blanket in the backseat and dropped her body feet-first through the eight-inch hatch of a crude oil storage tank. Four-year-old Bella then asked, “Is the same thing gonna happen to me as CeCe?” He killed her the same way and placed her in a separate tank. Shanann he buried in a shallow grave nearby.2Denver7. In Prison Interview, Chris Watts Tells FBI, Police About Murders of Pregnant Wife, Daughters
Autopsies later found crude oil in the throats, stomachs, and lungs of both children. Bella’s 38-pound body had been forced through the narrow hatch opening, leaving abrasions along her arms and legs.3Craig Daily Press. Autopsy Reports Show Cruelty of Killings, Body Disposal in Christopher Watts Case
How Investigators Located Cervi 319
Shanann’s mother, Sandra Rzucek, alerted Frederick police the day after the family vanished. Watts appeared on television pleading for their return. On August 15 he failed a polygraph and began offering shifting stories about what had happened.4Denver Post. Christopher Watts Case File Released
The break that pointed investigators to the well site came from Anadarko’s fleet. All of the company’s field vehicles carried GPS tracking. Data pulled from Watts’s work truck showed three seatbelts had been buckled the morning of August 13, and the coordinates led straight to Cervi 319.5Inside Edition. Chris Watts Murder Investigation FBI
The Recovery
A recovery team reached the site on the night of August 16, 2018. Shanann’s body was found first, in a shallow grave wrapped in a fitted sheet that matched a set from the family’s home, where the same sheet was missing from the trash.6CBS News Colorado. Chris Watts Murder Weld County Frederick She was pronounced at 5:00 a.m.
The girls were harder to reach. Investigators initially questioned whether a child could fit through the tanks’ eight-inch hatches. CBI Agent Kirby Lewis described draining the tanks as a “very complicated process.”7Oxygen. How Investigators Found Shanann Watts’ Body A strand of hair belonging to one of the girls was found at a tank hatch. Celeste was recovered first, still wearing her nightgown, and pronounced at 3:40 p.m. Bella was pronounced at 5:50 p.m. that same afternoon.
What Cervi 319 Looked Like
Cervi 319 was an oil battery site: a cluster of crude oil storage tanks tied to a producing well, sitting on open ground outside Roggen, Colorado. By the time of the murders it was 21 years old and low-producing, and reports indicate it had already been scheduled for decommissioning.8Unilad. Well Site Where Chris Watts Dumped Bodies After Murdering Family Demolished The tanks Watts used to dispose of the girls’ bodies were part of that battery, with the narrow top hatches typical of crude storage.
The Site Today
Cervi 319 no longer exists. Well records show it was plugged and abandoned, with the last production data recorded in December 2019. All equipment has been removed and the ground razed. There is no official memorial at the location. Observers reported that the site had drawn curious visitors making pilgrimages to the area, which may have accelerated the landowner’s decision to have everything cleared away.8Unilad. Well Site Where Chris Watts Dumped Bodies After Murdering Family Demolished
The Case Against Chris Watts
On November 6, 2018, Watts pleaded guilty in Weld County District Court to nine charges: three counts of first-degree murder after deliberation for the deaths of Shanann, Bella, and Celeste; two counts of first-degree murder of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust; one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy; and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
The plea removed the death penalty from consideration. Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said he traveled to North Carolina to consult with Shanann’s family, the Rzuceks, who asked prosecutors not to seek execution. Rourke cited the family’s desire for a quicker resolution, the “extraordinary delays” in Colorado death penalty cases, and the stance of then-Governor John Hickenlooper, who had refused to carry out executions while in office. Rourke agreed to take death off the table but declined to drop any of the nine charges.9Denver7. Chris Watts Reaches Plea Deal to Avoid Death Penalty10Times-Call. Death Penalty Expert: Weld County DA Made Right Choice in Watts Case
On November 19, 2018, Judge Marcelo Kopcow sentenced Watts to three consecutive life terms without parole for the three murders, two additional life sentences for the position-of-trust counts, 48 years for the unlawful termination of pregnancy, and 36 years for the three tampering charges. Judge Kopcow called it “the most inhumane and vicious crime” he had handled in 17 years on the bench.11Denver7. Chris Watts Sentenced to Five Life Terms Without Parole
Watts is serving his sentence at Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he was transferred shortly after sentencing for safety reasons.12People. Chris Watts Birthday in Prison: No Special Privileges, Visitors