CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The mother of Chris Watts, the man accused of murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters, is questioning her son's decision to accept a plea deal in the case that captured the nation's attention earlier this year.
Cindy Watts told NBC Charlotte sister station KUSA in Denver that his attorneys advised his family not to speak with Chris or correspond with him since his arrest. Both Cindy and her husband Ronnie believe their son was forced into taking the plea agreement with prosecutors.
"I don't see why he's pleading guilty," Watts said. "I wouldn't. I'd fight. I'd fight to the end."
She told KUSA that she, her husband and her daughter were each given 30 minutes to visit with Chris and his attorneys "shut me down" when she tried to discuss the plea deal.
Watts pleaded guilty on November 6 to nine felony charges. They include three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of his wife, Shanann, 34, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. He was charged with two counts of first-degree murder where the victim was under age 12 and the killer was in a position of trust and a single count of unlawful termination of pregnancy for Shanann's unborn child, a boy the couple planned to name Nico. Watts was also charged with 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.
In exchange for the guilty pleas, Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke agreed to take the death penalty off the table. Chris Watts is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, November 19. He faces a minimum of three consecutive life sentences with no possibility of parole under the deal.
Cindy Watts said she can't shake the horrific details of the case.
"You ask yourself, would a normal person put...dispose of the bodies the way he did? It scares me to death to think that he could've done all this," she said.
Cindy said Chris became an auto technician in 2011, the same year he met Shanann. The couple was married a year later. Cindy said she and Shanann never got along but the couple's two young daughters brought the entire family pure joy.
Now, Cindy Watts is struggling to cope with the loss of her grandkids and daughter-in-law, allegedly at the hands of her son.
"I just don't know how to get through it," Watts said.
