2018 Watts family murders / Chris Watts

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in august 2018, Chris Watts (CW) murdered his 15 week pregnant wife, Shanann Watts (SW) and their two daughters, Bella (4yo) and Celeste "CeCe" (3yo), in Frederick, Colorado. CW claims SW suspected he was having an affair, so he told her he did not love her, to which she replied he would never see the kids again. that's when he said he strangled her to death, wrapped her in a sheet, dragged her down the stairs, then loaded her body into his work truck. the girls were still alive and in the backseat during the 45min drive to an oil site owned by his employer. there, he first smothered Celeste while in her car seat, then did the same to Bella. he placed their bodies in separate crude oil tanks and buried Shannan in a shallow grave nearby.

CW initially claimed his family was missing after SW had 'ran away' with the kids, and appeared on local news begging for their return, portraying himself as a worried husband. investigators quickly became suspicious - he eventually failed a polygraph test and confessed. it was later revealed that he had been having an affair with a coworker, Nichol Kessinger. it was also revealed that the Watts were in decently serious financial trouble. he presumably wanted to start a new life without his family. he pleaded guilty to all charges and is now serving multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.

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i've gotten all of these images/documents from the final report by the Weld county District Attorney's office. it is 2000 pages long, so it includes a lot of information, and i might've missed some.

this compilation is going to focus mostly on the actual forensic/technical/physical elements of the case. it won't include any interviews, witness statements, interrogation transcripts, confessions, other backstory, etc. as it's a pretty high profile case and it's been reported on extensively before.

Perpetrator​

• general info

• mugshots

• snapchat account

Victims​

• BOLO issued by FPD

• endangered missing advisory report form

• initial crime scene search

• photos taken by drone during initial search

• body retrievals report

• crime scene diagram

• Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) agent's account of the autopsies

• some of the items submitted for forensic testing

Shannan Watts​

SW was found buried in a shallow grave at a remote oil site owned by CW's employer. her body was in fetal position facing down and showed moderate decomposition. the autopsy confirmed manual strangulation as the cause of death. there was evidence of partial fetal extrusion - her 15-week-old fetus had been expelled from the uterus into the vaginal canal along with the amniotic sac, a common occurrence in late first or early second trimester pregnancy after maternal death. there were no significant defensive wounds.

• general info

• snapchat account

• letter written for CW

• autopsy report

• toxicology report

Bella Watts​

Bella was recovered from one of the two oil tanks at the work site. her body had been submerged in crude oil for several days, leading to advanced decomposition and chemical breakdown of tissue. despite this, the autopsy documented injuries consistent with smothering, along with notable trauma to the frenulum and tongue area. these findings, paired with the condition of her hands and face, were interpreted as significant signs of self-defense. the cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to smothering.

• general info

• autopsy report

• toxicology report

CeCe Watts​

CeCe was found in the other oil tank at the site. her body had also been submerged in crude oil for several days, resulting in severe decomposition and chemical damage that limited the ability to detect external injuries. the cause of death was determined to be asphyxiation due to smothering.

• general info

• autopsy report

• toxicology report

Letters sent to CW while in prison​

at the time of the report he had had a decent amount of letters sent to him. most of them were from religious people, others were simply offering friendship (???), and there were a couple of fangirly ones. i've only included a few, as there are about 60 letters that i cba to sit and read

• religious letters

• friendship-seeking letters

• candace

candace needs a JOB

• tammy

tammy needs a JOB

• fangirlish

• bro got fired while behind bars

• hate mail!

funnily enough he had to be moved to another facility where he'd be less known because other inmates kept yelling through their cells at him telling him to kill himself lol

• ???

Miscellaneous​

• craigslist listing for "chris watts semen stained boxers"

• some weirdo made a facebook post saying she had been on regular outings with CW. rightfully earned herself a call from the CBI and got scolded for wasting resources lol

• Nichol foreshadows

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LONG POST SORRY
i truly hope Shanann, Bella, CeCe, and baby Nico are at peace now. this case is incredibly heartbreaking. i can’t imagine the pain both sides of their family carry, i hope they've found some healing.

the following screenshots are from Cheryl Cadle's 'Letters From Christopher' book. it is worth noting that it is an exceptionally bad book - her writing is atrocious and all over the place, she plagiarized another book boldly enough that she was sued for it and had to take this version down from every store it was on (the book she copied n pasted from was Anne K. Howard’s true crime book 'His Garden: Conversations with a Serial Killer', centered on William Devin Howell, one of Connecticut’s most prolific serial killers), and is overall a hot mess. the only reason to even think about reading it would be that it contains letters written by CW, and even then there's an unreliable narrator downside, but they're interesting nonetheless. these contain CW's retelling of the murders:




he keeps mentioning this almost uncontrollable feeling of anger that he had that drove him to kill his family. in other letters in the book he keeps going on and on and on about how demons caused him to do this and how he's since found god and forgiveness and whatever other ridiculous bullshit he came up with to try and absolve himself of any guilt. the book also goes along with that, agreeing with and expanding on it, pleading the reader to hear CW's side before drawing conclusions on him and his actions. she also plays into the idea that NK (the affair partner) conjured up some dark spiritual forces that took over CW's mind. actually laughably despicable. overall a -1/10 book don't read