Chris Watts is serving a life sentence for killing his pregnant wife Shanann and their two daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
New details from a jail interview have drawn renewed attention to the case, including Watts’ claim that he keeps photos of Shanann and the children inside his cell and speaks to them daily.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation has released audio from a five-hour interview with Watts, recorded on February 18, following an open records request.
The disclosure prompted a strong public reaction, including a Change.org petition that has collected more than 16,000 signatures calling for correctional staff to take the pictures away.
Prison authorities later said they do not plan to remove them.
“Incarcerated inmates are permitted to possess certain identified items of property, including photographs,” the Wisconsin Department of Corrections said in a statement. “Some photographs are not allowed, such as those depicting gang signs, colours, or insignias or photographs that include nudity.”
In the recorded interview, Watts told investigators he regretted killing his family.
“I have pictures of my wife and kids in my cell, and every morning and every night, I talk to them. I have this book I used to read for CeCe, and I remember that book, I read it to her every night,” he said.
He also described turning to faith while incarcerated. “I never knew I could have a relationship with God like I do now. It’s like the amazing grace with all of this, but I just wish nobody had to pay any kind of price for this.”
Watts killed Shanann — who was pregnant — and their two daughters on August 13, 2018. During the interview, he gave a graphic account of what he says happened that day.
He claimed that before the murders, he and Shanann had sex and went back to sleep. He said he later woke up, made breakfast, then returned upstairs and told her he no longer loved her. At the time, he was having an affair with Nichol Kessinger, a co-worker.
According to Watts, Shanann became upset, accused him of cheating, and told him he would not see their children again. He then said he wrapped his arms around her and strangled her.
“I just wished I could’ve let go. But I just couldn’t let go,” he said. “Like someone was just holding you, keeping you from letting go.”
He told investigators Shanann did not fight, and he believed she may have been praying while he strangled her.
He then described four-year-old Bella entering the room.
“She had her little pink blanket with her. She was like, ‘What is wrong with Mommy?'” Watts recalled. “I said, ‘She doesn’t feel good.'”
Watts said he loaded Shanann’s body into his truck, got the girls into the vehicle, and drove to an isolated oil site connected to his work. He claimed he killed both children using Celeste’s blue Yankees blanket, placing Celeste into an oil tank before returning for Bella.
“[Bella] said, ‘What happened to CeCe? Is the exact same thing going to happen to me as CeCe?'” Watts recalled.
He has said Bella’s last words were “Daddy, no!”, and that he continues to be haunted by the memory.
“I hear it every day in prison when Bella was talking to me,” he said.
Watts later pleaded guilty, avoiding a trial, and received three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
“I didn’t want anybody else, I didn’t want them to go through this for 2 or 4 years…I didn’t want my attorneys to lie for me for 2-4 years…they would’ve done anything I told them to do,” he said.