| Watts family murders | |
|---|---|
 The Watts family, seen here nine months before the murders. Chris poses with his wife Shanann and their children Bella (standing) and Celeste. | |
| Location | Frederick, Colorado, U.S. |
| Date | August 13, 2018 |
Attack type | Familicide, mass murder, uxoricide, filicide, child murder, feticide |
| Victims | 4[a] (including an unborn child) |
| Perpetrator | Christopher Lee Watts |
| Verdict | Pleaded guilty |
| Convictions |
|
| Sentence | Three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 84 years |
In the early hours of August 13, 2018, in Frederick, Colorado, American oil field operator Christopher Lee Watts (born May 16, 1985)[1] murdered his pregnant wife Shanann (34) by strangulation, and their two children Bella (4) and Celeste (3) by suffocation. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave near an oil-storage facility, and dumped his children's bodies into crude oil tanks. Watts initially maintained his innocence in his family's disappearance, but was arrested on August 15, after confessing in an interview with detectives to murdering Shanann. He later admitted to murdering his children.
On November 6, 2018, Watts pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree murder as part of a plea deal when the death penalty (which was later abolished in Colorado in 2020) was removed from sentencing. He was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, three to be served consecutively.
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- ^ "Chris Watts has 'no hope for his future' after killing wife, kids". New Zealand Herald. May 14, 2020. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved March 2, 2021.