Warning: this article discusses the death of a child which some readers may find distressing
An unnerving interview conducted by a local news outlet showed Chris Watts claiming to have no knowledge about the whereabouts of his missing pregnant wife and young daughters.
On 13 August 2018, pregnant Shanann Watts and her two young daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three, would be reported missing by a family friend after the 34-year-old mother failed to show up for a scheduled appointment.
Extensive searches would take place in the local areas, while Watts appeared on local TV stations claiming to have no knowledge of what had happened to his family.
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Just a day later, he would be arrested on suspicion of their murders after failing a lie detector test. Watts would later confess to killing his Shanann to his father and gave the authorities' directions to where the family's bodies were buried in the Anadarko oil fields.
Video footage from Watts' initial interviews remain online, with viewers left unnerved by how the 39-year-old could calmly suggest his family had either been abducted or run away, despite already knowing that Shanann, Bella and Celeste were deceased.
"Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you're out there just come back. If somebody has her just please bring her back," he told Denver 7.
Chris would also recount Shanann's last movements after returning to Colorado from a work trip to Arizona, before making his plea to anyone watching the interview.
His seeming lack of emotion has since been noted by the hundreds of people who have watched the clip in the years since the case, with one person writing: "He was so focused on acting calm, he forgot to act concerned," while a second added: "I can't believe he thought giving this interview was a good idea. His attempt at being a normal human being is terrifying."
After initially admitting to killing Shanann, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their son, Watts would later confess to taking the lives of his young daughters while in custody.
Watts was subsequently charged with three counts of first-degree murder, including an extra count for the 'death of a child who had not yet attained 12 years of age and the defendant was in a position of trust', as well as three counts of tampering with a deceased human body and unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
He was later found guilty of all counts and given five life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was spared the death penalty, which was legal in Colorado at the time, in exchange for giving a guilty plea.
Topics: Community, Crime, True Crime
Brenna Cooper