A colleague of Chris Watts has opened up about the killer’s concerning behaviour before he went on to murder his family.
In August 2013, Watts strangled his pregnant wife, Shanann, to death and smothered his two young daughters, Bella, four, and Celeste, three.
He carried out the unspeakable crimes after having an affair following marriage difficulties and wanting to start a new life.
Advert
The sick killer then buried his wife’s body at a work site, 40 miles away from their Colorado home, before dumping his daughters’ bodies in crude oil barrels.
The horrific crimes shocked people across the world and he was sentenced to five life sentences at the end of 2018.
Two years later Netflix released a true crime documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door, based on the tragic events.
Watts was working as an oil field operator at Andarko Petroleum in Frederick at the time and from the outside it looked like he was living an ordinary suburban life.
Now, one of his co-workers has opened up about the moment he realised Watts started to change.
Brian Spence, a contractor who worked alongside Watts for several years, told People: “Things changed; he changed. I watched him get more and more unhappy with his life. He went from being a friendly guy to being withdrawn and angry.
“I saw him lose his temper over little workplace annoyances. He had an irritable side with the contractors. He could be combative.”
Spence said he wasn’t sure what had caused the change in temperament, but he also noticed that Watts was no longer in a hurry to get home to his family.
And if they went out for beers after work, Watts was always one of the last ones to leave.
But despite the signs that something was wrong, Spence never suspected he would commit those despicable crimes against his family.
“That, I didn’t see coming,” he said. “I knew he was unhappy, but he’s not the first unhappy guy in the history of the world, and most of them don’t kill their wives.
“He was obviously in pain. But I didn’t know it was going to end that way. If I had any idea, I would’ve pulled him aside and said something. But he hid it. No one knew.”
Watt’s neighbours also picked up on the signs something wasn’t quite right ahead of his crimes being discovered.
During another documentary, Suburban Nightmare: Chris Watts, released earlier this year, police bodycam footage taken on the day of the murders shows Nate Trinastich whispering to the officer.
“He’s not acting right at all,” he said. “He's never fidgety, he's never rocking back and forth.
“He never talks. So the fact that here's over here blabbing his mouth makes me kind of suspicious of something.”
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Netflix
Anna Verdon