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GREELEY, Colorado –
The father of Colorado, who admitted to killing his pregnant wife and two girls, was sentenced Monday to life imprisonment.
Christopher Watts was sentenced on Monday nearly two weeks after pleading guilty to avoiding the death penalty. Prosecutors said Shanann Watts' family had agreed to the plea agreement.
When sentencing, the judge stated: "This is perhaps the most inhuman and vicious crime I've had in all the cases I've seen, and nothing less than the maximum penalty would be appropriate. "
Watch more court moments in the media player above.
He also pleaded guilty to unlawfully ending a pregnancy and altering a dead human body. At age 33, he is not eligible for parole.
The couple grew up in North Carolina.
"We loved you like a son": Shanann's parents speak to Watts
On Monday in court, Shanann Watts' parents spoke in public for the first time.
"You disgust me," said his father Frank Rzucek Sr. in a tearful statement to Watts. "Life will never be the same without Shanann."
He called Watts "evil monster".
"We loved you as a son," said his mother, Sandra Rzucek. "We trusted you, your faithful wife trusted you, your children loved you and they trusted you too, your daughter Bella Marie sang a song with pride, I do not know if you can see her, Is "Dad, you are my hero." I do not know who gave you the right to commit suicide, but I know that God and his mighty angels were present at that time. there to take them home to heaven. "
"Why? Why would you do that? You do not deserve to be called a man," said Frankie Rzucek, Shanann's brother, in a statement read by a lawyer. "What kind of person is killing people who love him the most? Did you really think you were going to get away with it? Did you really think it was the best option – throw your family as if it was a trash can They deserve better and you know it.I hope you spend the rest of your life watching the ceiling every night, haunted by what you did.
"His motive was simple, your honor," said the prosecutor. "He wanted to make a fresh start and start a relationship with a new love that dominated all decency and feeling for his wife, daughters and unborn son."
The disappearance of Shanann
Shanann reportedly disappeared on August 13 after missing a doctor's appointment.
Her husband first appeared on television asking for help to find his wife and daughters. Later, he admitted to having killed them.
Watts' parents
Watts' parents, through a lawyer, said Monday in court that they accepted that their son had committed the horrific crime.
It's despite saying in a previous interview that they believe that there is more to the story.
"It goes back to: I just want to know the truth about what really happened," said Chris's father, Ronnie Watts, in an interview. "If he did everything, I can live with it, otherwise I want him to fight for it."
On Monday, they said that they still love their son.
"We love you from the beginning and we still love you now," said Cindy, Watts' mother, in tears.
Prosecutors said Shanann Watts' relatives, living in North Carolina, had asked them not to ask for the death sentence when defense lawyers made the offer.
The girls' bodies were found immersed in a separate tank on a property belonging to the Watts company for which they worked. His wife's body was found in a shallow grave nearby.
As the prosecutor described the injuries found on the bodies, Rzucek leaned forward, gasping. Michael Rourke said Shanann Watts had been strangled, but his lack of significant injuries suggested a slow death.
The girls were choked and Rourke said that there were signs that Bella "is beaten for her life". Celeste has had no visible injuries, he said.
Christopher Watts' parents, Cindy and Ronnie Watts, were allowed to speak as grandparents of the girls.
"We love you," said Cindy Watts in a microphone before turning to look directly at her son. "And we forgive you, my son."
Watts wiped a tear with his shirt after his parents left the podium. He kept his head down for most of the hearing, only speaking once to confirm that he did not wish to make a statement before Judge Marcelo Kopcow did not pronounce sentence.
Shannon Watts' friends lined up inside the courthouse Monday morning. More and more people have entered a passing room to watch a video stream.
The killings drew national media attention and became the focus of crime blogs and online video channels, showing dozens of family photos and videos that Shanann Watts shared on social media. and showing the smiling family.
Prosecutors said the footage belied a hidden truth that Christopher Watts had an affair.
On August 13, a friend asked the police to check if Shanann Watts was unable to reach her. She feared more and more that the future mother had missed a doctor's appointment.
Rourke stated that the police later discovered that Watts had spoken to a real estate agent about the sale of the family's home and had called the girls' school to report that they could not be present at the beginning. fall classes.
The investigators quickly began to mistrust him after he was unable to claim that his family had disappeared from a tightly-secure home located in a busy subdivision.
Meanwhile, Watts met with local television reporters from the front steps of the family home in Frederick, a small town on the plain north of Denver, where drilling rigs and oil wells Surrounding subdivisions in full swing.
Rourke said that Watts had never discussed the motive of the murders with the police, but that the investigators had found no explanation other than his current case with a colleague.
"I can not explain why someone took the steps that he took … We found nothing that was a sufficiently important reason to annihilate your family," he said. he declared.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
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