Chris Watts' Murder Case: See The Sickening Crime Scene and Evidence Photos Including The Grave He Dug To Dump Wife Shanann's Dead Body — After His Jailhouse Letters Are Revealed
Chris Watts pleaded guilty to the murders of his wife Shanann and their two daughters.
April 22 2025, Published 7:30 p.m. ET
The recently revealed jailhouse letters from killer Chris Watts have revived interest in his wife Shanann and their two young daughters' murders, as he blamed his wife and his mistress for his heinous actions.
RadarOnline.com has revisited the crime scene photos, including Shanann's clothes and the shallow grave and oil tanks where Chris carelessly disposed of his family members' bodies.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS BELOW
Chris dumped his pregnant wife and two young daughters' bodies at a oil storage facility.
In the early morning hours of August 13, 2018, Chris brutally killed his pregnant wife by strangulation at the family's home in Frederick, Colorado.
He then killed their two young daughters – four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste – by suffocation.
Chris then drove their bodies out to an oil storage facility, where he dug a shallow grave for Shanann and put his daughters' bodies in crude oil tanks.
Chris buried Shanann in a shallow grave on the property.
Hours before she was murdered, Shanann was driven home by her friend and colleague Nickole Utoft Atkinson after returning from a business trip in Arizona.
Shanann's friends were almost immediately concerned for her well-being after she failed to return text messages and missed a business meeting and a doctor's appointment.
Atkinson went to the Watts home a little after noon to check on her. She then called Chris and the Frederick police.
Police recovered the blood-strained shirt Shanann was wearing when he was killed.
The black bra Shanann was buried in was also photographed as evidence.
Chris gave police permission to search his home, where responding officers found Shanann's cell phone, purse and medicine, but no signs of the pregnant mother or the two young girls.
Initially Chris told police he was not sure where his wife would be and claimed he last saw her at 5:15 A.M. that morning.
He additionally pleaded for his wife to come home in eerie local news interviews taken from outside their home.
Shanann was wrapped in a white sheet, which was covered in dirt form the shallow grave.
A day after Shanann and her daughters were reported missing, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and FBI joined the case.
On August 15, Chris failed a polygraph test. He then confessed to his father, Ronnie, and then to authorities. He was arrested the same day.
He initially claimed he killed Shanann after he discovered her in the process of suffocating Celeste after she killed Bella. He also claimed he killed Shanann after she returned home, they had sex and then she discovered he was having an affair.
After his arrest, Chris led authorities to the oil storage facility, where they recovered Shanann, Bella and Celeste's remains.
Shanann was strangled and her two daughters were suffocated.
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Chris was charged with three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of "death of a child who had not yet attained 12 years of age and the defendant was in a position of trust."
He was additionally charged with unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
On November 6, Chris pleaded guilty.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Chris appeared to blame everyone but himself for the deaths of his wife and two daughters in leaked jailhouse letters.
In the letters, which he wrote to friends, acquaintances and even God, Chris claimed Shanann was a "control freak" who didn't give him enough attention.
Chris further claimed Shanann drove him to have an affair with his mistress, Nichol Kessinger, who he referred to as a "harlot" and "evil woman" who tempted him with "flattering speech" and "lust in her eyes and flesh."
