A new Fox Nation special goes into the harrowing case of Chris Watts’ plot to murder his pregnant wife and their two young daughters.
The new special will be available to watch on Fox One starting on March 23.
Watts was sentenced in November 2018 to life without parole for the murders of his wife, Shanann Watts, 34, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
Watts, then 33, pleaded guilty to all charges against him in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing the death penalty, the Weld County District Attorney’s office said.
LISTEN TO ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST
Immediately after the crime, in August 2018, Watts told responding officers from the Frederick Police Department in Colorado that his wife and two young daughters had up and “vanished.”
“My kids are my life,” he told KMGH. “I mean, those smiles light up my life. When I came home and then walked in the house, nothing. Vanished. Nothing was here.”
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
Within days of the disappearance, Chris Watts was arrested and the bodies of his pregnant wife and children were found.
A break in the case came after a neighbor provided home security video showing Chris backing up his truck into the driveway early in the morning the day Shanann and the children disappeared. The video did not show Shanann or the children leaving.
Along with the video, authorities also tracked Watts’ digital footprint, including his cell phone data and GPS tracking data.
After failing a polygraph on August 15, 2018, he confessed during an interview. He led investigators to an oil and gas site operated by Anadarko Petroleum near Roggen, Colorado, where the bodies were recovered.
Shanann Watts, who was approximately 15 weeks pregnant at the time, was found in a shallow grave.
Bella and Celeste were found, authorities said, inside separate crude oil storage tanks at the same site. Their bodies were recovered after the tanks were drained.
Watts confessed that he strangled Shanann in their bed after he told her their marriage was over, and she said he would never see their children again. Watts said his wife correctly suspected that he was having an affair, but he did not tell her about his ongoing relationship with a co-worker before killing Shanann.
Authorities have speculated that Watts wanted a chance to start over with the woman. Watts told investigators that the woman “never asked him to get rid of his family” but their relationship may have “contributed” to his actions.
After he strangled Shanann, Watts said Bella came into their bedroom clutching a blanket and asked what was wrong with her mother. Watts claimed his wife wasn’t feeling well. Their daughter continued watching as Watts wrapped the body in a bedsheet and began crying when he pulled it down the stairs of their home, he said.
Watts said he put her body on the floor of his truck’s back seat. When he went inside, Celeste was also awake.
According to Watts, he put the girls into the backseat of the truck, where they occasionally napped on each other’s laps as he drove.
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
Watts claimed he had no plan for his daughters but drove to an oil work site about 40 miles east of the family’s home. He worked there as an operator for an oil and gas producer. He told police he pulled Shanann’s body from the truck as the girls asked, “What are you doing to mommy?”
Watts confessed he went back to the truck and used Celeste’s blanket to smother her as Bella watched from a seat beside her sister. He then put Celeste’s body inside an oil tank before returning to the truck and smothering Bella using the same blanket. Her last words were, “Daddy, no!” he told police, adding that Bella struggled under the blanket. He said he put her body inside another oil tank and buried Shanann’s body nearby.
Watts insisted that he did not plan to kill his wife or children.
The Associated Press and Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
