KUSA — There is no question about what is going to happen to Chris Watts on Monday.
Weld County District Judge Marcelo Kopcow is going to sentence him to a minimum of three consecutive life terms with no chance of parole for the murders of his pregnant wife and the couple’s young daughters.
The sentence is specified in the plea deal that Watts reached with prosecutors on Nov. 6 for the killings of his wife, Shanann, 34, and his children, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
Kopcow will have the discretion to tack more years onto that sentence for some of his other crimes – he pleaded guilty to nine separate felonies – but none of it will alter this reality: Watts, 33, will die in prison.
But it’s expected to be a day fraught with tension – the sentencing hearing will provide Shanann Watts’ parents and brother the chance to confront him directly.
And it’s also expected that a number of lingering questions will be answered. Questions such as the suspected motive. The cause of death for the three victims. And the reasons investigators concluded Chris Watts was lying when he initially told them his family was home safe when he left for work the morning of Aug. 13 and didn’t know what had happened to them.
Shanann Watts had returned from a business trip early that morning, dropped off by a friend just before 2 a.m. at the family’s home in the 2800 block of Saratoga Trail. Shanann Watts, who was 15 weeks pregnant with a son she and her husband planned to name Nico, and the two girls were reported missing about 12 hours later when that same friend became concerned and went to the family’s home.
The friend discovered that Shanann Watts’ car was parked in the garage, but no one answered the door so she called Chris Watts and asked him to come home, fearing Shanann was suffered some kind of medical issue, according to the arrest affidavit in the case.
She also called police.
The first officer at the scene found all the doors and windows were locked. After Chris Watts arrived, he let the officer into the home.
According to the affidavit, Chris Watts told the officer his wife had come home around 2 a.m., he’d awakened later “and began talking to Shanann about marital separation and informed her he wanted to initiate the separation,” the affidavit said.
“Chris stated it was a civil conversation and they were not arguing but were emotional,” the affidavit said.
Watts said that around 5:30 a.m., he backed his truck into the garage to load it with his work tools, then headed off – events captured on a neighbor’s security camera. According to the affidavit, he said Shanann and the girls were in bed when he left.
Watts also allegedly told the officer that his wife had told him she and the girls would be going to a friend’s house later in the day.
But the officer and detectives who subsequently responded were suspicious of the fact that Shanann Watts’ cell phone, purse, wallet and medication were in the house, according to the affidavit.
A detective found that bed in the master bedroom had been stripped of its bedding – but they found no signs of foul play.
A day later, Chris Watts spoke to 9NEWS, calling the disappearance of his family “earth-shattering” and making a plea for their return.
But within 48 hours, police had taken him into into custody, and the next day investigators found Shanann Watts’ body buried in a shallow grave and the remains of the two girls in nearby oil tanks in rural Weld County.
That day, Chris Watts asked to speak with his father, according to the affidavit, who was at the Frederick police station, telling detectives he would tell the truth afterward. That account was confirmed to 9NEWS by his mother, Cindy Watts, in an interview at the North Carolina home where she and her husband raised him and his older sister.
“They called Ronnie and said that your son wants to talk to you before he tells us anything,” Cindy Watts told 9NEWS. “And that’s when Christopher broke down and cried and said, ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’ He said, ‘I went into a rage and I killed her after she killed CeCe and Bella.’”
Following that conversation, according to the affidavit, Chris Watts made the same claim to investigators – that his wife had killed their daughters after the discussion about splitting up and that he had subsequently killed her. Then, it said, he loaded the bodies into the back seat of his work truck and took them to an Anadarko petroleum well site a little more than three miles north of Roggen in Weld County.
There, he told officers that he buried Shanann Watts and dumped the girls’ bodies into oil tanks, according to the affidavit.
A drone search of the area revealed the presence of a bed sheet that matched a pillowcase and another sheet found in a trashcan at the family’s home, according to the affidavit.
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke didn’t give Chris Watt’s story any credence: Not only did he charge Chris Watts with all three murders, the criminal complaint also suggests the girls may have been killed as early as Aug. 12 – when Shanann Watts was on that business trip and he was home with his daughters.
After those charges were announced, Shanann Watts’ father, Frank Rzucek, offered thanks to Frederick police, the other agencies involved, and people who attended a candlelight vigil outside the family’s home and offered prayers.
“Keep the prayers coming for our family,” Rzucek said.
At that point, it was anticipated that the court case would drag on for a year or more. And then, in a surprising development, Chris Watts pleaded guilty to nine felonies in a deal that saw the death penalty taken off the table:
- Three counts of first-degree murder after deliberation for the slayings of Shanann, 34, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
- Two counts of first-degree murder where the victim was under age 12 and the killer was in a position of trust for the deaths of Bella and Celeste.
- A single count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy for Shanann’s unborn child, a boy the couple had planned to name Nico.
- Three counts of tampering with a deceased human body for burying Shanann’s remains in a shallow grave and dumping the corpses of the girls into oil storage tanks.
Cindy Watts has suggested that he should withdraw his guilty plea -- something that could be done if there is a "fair and just" reason to do so. But barring that surprise, he will walk out of court for the last time Monday, headed to the Colorado Department of Corrections and a life sentence.
Contact 9NEWS reporter Kevin Vaughan with tips about this or any story: kevin.vaughan@9news.com or 303-871-1862.