When Did Chris Watts Kill His Family? Motive, Plea, and Prison

Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, in the early morning hours of August 13, 2018, at the family’s home in Frederick, Colorado. He pleaded guilty in November 2018 and is serving five life sentences without the possibility of parole at a maximum-security prison in Wisconsin.¹

What Happened on August 13, 2018

Shanann Watts, 34, arrived home from a business trip at about 1:48 a.m., dropped off by her friend and colleague Nickole Atkinson.² She was 15 weeks pregnant with a boy the family had already named Nico.³ Watts strangled her in their bed. By his later accounts, the confrontation that preceded it involved Shanann saying the marriage was over and that he would never see the children again.⁴

The children were still alive. Watts wrapped Shanann in a bedsheet, dragged her downstairs, and loaded her into his work truck. He put four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste in the backseat. A neighbor’s surveillance camera captured him backing the truck into the garage at around 5:18 a.m. and leaving the home shortly after.⁵

He drove roughly 40 minutes to an oil work site operated by his employer, Anadarko Petroleum, about 12 miles northeast of Keenesburg, Colorado.⁶ In a February 2019 prison interview, he admitted both girls were alive during the drive, that they dozed off leaning against each other, and that they asked “What are you doing to mommy?” as he laid Shanann on the ground at the site.⁷ He smothered Celeste first with a blanket and dropped her body into an oil storage tank. Bella asked, “Is the same thing gonna happen to me as Cece?” before he killed her the same way and placed her in a second tank.⁴ He buried Shanann in a shallow grave nearby.

Autopsies classified all three deaths as asphyxiation: strangulation for Shanann, smothering for the girls.³ The coroner documented bite marks on Bella’s tongue and trauma to her mouth and jaw, evidence prosecutors cited that she had fought for her life.⁸

How He Was Caught Within Days

Nickole Atkinson spent August 13 trying to reach Shanann without success. She checked with Shanann’s doctor to see if she had made a scheduled appointment. She had not. When Atkinson went to the house and confronted Watts, he said Shanann was on a playdate but could not name which friend she was visiting. The children’s car seats were still in the family car at the house.⁹

Inside, Atkinson noticed the children’s beds were unmade and the master bed had been stripped, with sheets piled in a corner. She told investigators Shanann “never started something she didn’t finish.” At 1:40 p.m. she reported Shanann and the girls missing.¹⁰

Watts gave interviews to local television calling the disappearance a “nightmare.” A neighbor’s doorbell camera had already captured footage of him loading items into his truck before dawn, contradicting his account.¹⁰ Investigators also noticed him referring to his wife and daughters in the past tense.¹¹

Watts agreed to a polygraph and failed. He then asked to speak privately with his father, Ronnie Watts, who had come to Colorado. Investigators allowed the meeting as a deliberate strategy.¹² He told his father, “She hurt them. And I freaked out and I hurt her,” offering a fabricated version in which Shanann had strangled the children.¹³

Investigators knew the story was a lie, but it gave them enough to find the bodies. Watts was arrested on August 15 and charged with three counts of murder and three counts of tampering with evidence. On August 16, all three victims were recovered from the Anadarko work site after a drone search revealed freshly disturbed earth. A bedsheet at the site matched linens recovered from a trash can inside the Watts home.⁶

His admission that the girls had been alive during the drive and that he alone killed them did not come until the five-hour February 2019 prison interview, months after his conviction.⁴

Why He Did It

Watts was involved in an extramarital affair with a coworker, Nichol Kessinger. Kessinger told investigators Watts had claimed he was in a “mutual divorce” and did not wear his wedding ring around her. She said she had no idea Shanann was pregnant. Once Shanann went missing and Kessinger realized Watts was still married, she contacted police.¹⁴

Money troubles had shadowed the household for years. The couple filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July 2015, listing nearly $449,000 in liabilities. Their combined income had dropped from over $147,000 in 2013 to about $40,000 by mid-2015.¹⁵ At filing, their savings accounts held less than $10 each.¹⁶

At sentencing, Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke rejected the framing of a man trapped by circumstance. “Why not get a divorce?” he asked. “You don’t annihilate your family and throw them away like garbage.”¹⁷

The Guilty Plea and the Sentence

On November 6, 2018, Watts pleaded guilty to all nine charges at the Weld County Courthouse in Greeley, Colorado, before Judge Marcelo Kopcow.¹⁸ The charges were five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.¹⁹ Under a plea agreement, the death penalty was taken off the table in exchange for guilty pleas on every count, with the consent of the victims’ family.

Sentencing came on November 19, 2018. Judge Kopcow called it “perhaps the most inhumane and vicious crime that I have handled out of the thousands of cases that I have seen” and said “anything less than the maximum sentence would depreciate the seriousness of this offense.”²⁰ Watts received three consecutive life sentences without parole, two additional concurrent life sentences for the first-degree murder of children under 12, 48 years for the unlawful termination of pregnancy, and 36 years for the tampering counts.²¹

Shanann’s mother, Sandy Rzucek, told the court she did not want the death penalty. “I didn’t want death for you because that’s not my right. Your life is between you and God.”¹⁷ Shanann’s parents also filed a wrongful death lawsuit the same day; a judge later ordered a $6 million judgment against Watts, plus 8 percent annual interest.²²

Where Chris Watts Is Now

Watts was transferred in December 2018 to the Dodge Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in Waupun, Wisconsin. He was moved out of Colorado for safety reasons and is held in protective custody. He works as a custodian within the facility and has received two disciplinary reports during his incarceration: one in 2020 for unauthorized communication and transfer of property, and another in 2021 for disobeying orders and possessing contraband.¹

There have been no appeals or legal challenges to his conviction. In letters to pen pals that surfaced in media reports through 2024 and 2025, Watts has claimed to be a “new man” who has been “forgiven” by God while blaming his former mistress for leading him astray, calling Kessinger a “harlot” and a “Jezebel” and writing that he was “misled by a wicked woman.”²³ Earlier handwritten notes shared by a fellow inmate and published in 2024 showed him continuing to shift blame onto Shanann as well.¹ Kessinger was never implicated in the murders. She cooperated with investigators before Watts’s arrest and has since sought a legal name change in Colorado, citing threats and public harassment.²⁴

1
People. Where Is Chris Watts Now
2
Biography. Chris Watts Wife Daughters Murder Mistress Confession Timeline
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ABC15. Autopsy Reports Released in Chris Watts Case
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Denver Post. Christopher Watts Confession Murder Details
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Business Insider. Chris Watts Murder Timeline
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Mercury News. Map Where and How Chris Watts Family Was Found
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ABC7NY. Chilling New Details Emerge in Chris Watts Prison Interview Tapes
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KOCO. Prosecutors Autopsy Shows 4-Year-Old Fought for Her Life
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Craig Daily Press. Christopher Watts Neighbors Police Interview Details Suspicion Eerie Feeling
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NBC News. Husband Arrested in Connection Missing Colorado Woman Their Two Kids
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E! Online. How Investigators Got Chris Watts to Confess to Murdering His Family
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Oxygen. Why Chris Watts Allowed Meet Dad Questioning
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ABC7NY. The Interrogation Tapes Chris Watts Changes His Story
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6ABC. Chris Watts Mistress He Lied About Everything
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People. Shanann Chris Watts Bankruptcy Filing
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NBC Miami. Colorado Family Killing Financial Struggles
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CBS News Colorado. Chris Watts Shanann Watts Bella Celeste Nico Weld County
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Colorado Public Radio. Christopher Watts Pleads Guilty to Killing Pregnant Wife Two Daughters
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Weld County District Attorney. Chris Watts Admits to Killing Pregnant Wife and Two Young Children
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Coloradoan. Christopher Watts Murder Sentencing
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NBC News. Colorado Dad Christopher Watts Sentenced Life Prison
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Coloradoan. Chris Watts Ordered Pay Wrongful Death Lawsuit
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New York Post. Killer Dad Chris Watts Claims He’s Forgiven by God for Murdering Wife Daughters
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New Zealand Herald. Chris Watts Mistress Nichol Kessinger’s Request Two Years After Horror Murder Case