"It has changed": the texts show a gap between Chris Watts and his wife before killing her

COLORADO – In the weeks leading up to the murder of his pregnant wife and two daughters in Colorado, Chris Watts saw her suddenly cold and distant and she canceled a party where she had to reveal the sex of her unborn child , according to new documents.

Authorities say Watts, 33, killed his 34-year-old wife, Shanann, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, on August 13, before disposing of them on an isolated site where he worked. .

This month, he pleaded guilty to first degree murder and other charges. He was sentenced Monday to five life sentences without parole.

Shanann Watts realized that her marriage was in danger by the time she and her daughters made a trip this summer a week to see their family in North Carolina, the last week that Chris Watts went to. is attached to them, investigative documents released this week by the County Attorney Weld. office show.

While they were separated from June 27 to July 30, Watts, apparently unbeknownst to his wife at the time, had appointments with a mistress in Colorado, said investigators in the documents.

The talks between Watts and his wife intensified when he found his family back in North Carolina in late July and early August. When they returned to Colorado, Shanann Watts, about 15 weeks old, told friends that her husband had told him he did not want the baby, friends told the police.

"I do not know how you fell in love with me in five and a half weeks, or if it's been a long time, but you're not planning another baby if you're not in love," Shanann wrote. her husband on August 8, according to a police report on his phone data included in the investigation documents.

"Chris said we are not compatible anymore"
A friend reported the disappearance of Shanann Watts on August 13, claiming that she was not responding to messages shortly after returning from a brief work trip from Arizona. The police found no one at home.

Returning from work, Chris Watts told police that he had informed his wife early in the morning that he wanted a separation. They had not discussed, but they were both upset and crying, he told the police, according to an affidavit. He told the police that she had indicated that she was leaving for the house of an anonymous friend.

A day later, Chris Watts, in an interview with KMGH, affiliated with CNN, at his home in Frederick, north of Denver, pleaded for the return of his family.

But later in the week, Shanann Watts' body was found in a shallow grave and Bella and Celeste's bodies were found in commercial oil tanks at a company where Watts had been working. Chris Watts had strangled his wife and choked the children, the authorities said. He was stopped.

While they were investigating, the police turned to several friends of Shanann Watts, who told them that Chris Watts had recently become distant with her.

"In North Carolina, Shanann called (a friend) to tell him that he (Chris Watts) would not touch her anymore and would not kiss her anymore," wrote a Frederick police officer in the # 39, one of the documents. "Shanann told him that Chris did not want the baby she was pregnant with and was scared. He was happy to have only the two girls.

This friend told the officer that after Shanann and the children had spent five weeks without Watts in North Carolina during the summer, "Chris came back to Shanann, a different man.

Another friend told the police that she helped organize a party on August 19 during which the baby's sex would be revealed. But the girlfriend learned on August 8 – a day after the North Carolina family's return – that Shanann was canceling the party.

The friend asked, by SMS, if everything was fine. Frederick's police documented the exchange:

Shanann: "No, I can call you tomorrow and tell you."

Shanann: "Chris said we're not compatible anymore"

Friend: "… Oh my god what?"

Shanann: "He said we are no longer compatible! He refused to take me in his arms. He said that he thought that another baby would settle his feelings. He refused couples consultations! "

…

Friend: "What's the hell changed in 6 weeks?"

Shanann: "He said that he had plenty of time to think."

"Why did not you say you were done?"
Recently released documents include a police investigator's analysis of Chris Watts and Shanann Watts' phone data. The messages show growing tension as Shanann's summer trip to North Carolina unfolds. Some excerpts from the documents:

July 10th:

Shanann writes to Chris: "How are you? It's like you do not want to talk, I tried to talk and I had to get out of it?

Chris replied, "I'm fine baby. The last few days of work have empowered me with new people. I did not want to look like little Boo. I love you to madness. "

Shanann answers, "I miss you and I feel like you just want to work and run."

Watts said that running helped me "clean my head".

Shanann responds: "I would like my husband to want to talk to me."

July 24

Shanann notices that Chris has been slow to answer him.

"I thought something had happened. But you do not care about other people's feelings … Or think you're with another girl, or worse. No consideration for others.

Later, Shanann writes:

"I realized (during) this trip what is missing from our relationship! It is only in a sense emotions and feelings. I can not come back like that. I need to meet you halfway. You do not consider others at all, you do not think about the feelings of others. "

Watts responded that he was sorry and that he liked it, writes the investigator.

Shanann replied, "I try to give you space, but while you work and live the single life, you wear our third and we fight every day with our two children to try to earn money. . It is not difficult to send you SMS and miss you. If you do not think so, I understand it, but we have to talk. I kept looking at my phone all night and no response from you. I like it seriously! We did not just start dating yesterday! We have been together for 8 years and have 2.5 children together. "

July 29

After a 14-minute phone conversation, Shanann writes, "It would have been nice for my husband to be interested in how the girls and I are, as well as the baby. I have finished begging you to speak. "

5 August

To date, Chris has found his wife and children in North Carolina.

Shanann told Chris, "I do not know how you fell in love in five and a half weeks or if it's been a long time, but you do not plan another baby if you're not in love. Children do not deserve a broken family … You show up and I have to practically ask for a kiss at the airport.

Later, she adds, "Being away from you, I did not miss the help because I handle it. It was exhausting, but with the school, it is not difficult. I missed your smell, you touch me when you cook, you touch me in bed, you touch me alone! I missed you and I snuggled against you. … If you're done, do not like me, do not want to fix it, are not happy anymore and just stay because of the kids, I NEED to tell you. "

August 6

Shanann writes to Chris: "Your only answer last night was," I do not want to lose the kids! "" You used me to have a "boy!". The only reason you wanted another child ?! I can not handle that and it suits you. Why did not you just tell me you were done? Why get pregnant?!?

Chris responds, "I do not just stay because of the kids. They are my light and that will not change. I did not lose love in 5 weeks, it's impossible. I do not want to erase 8 years like that. I am not sure what I have in my head. "

Later, Shanann wrote that at one point, she was trying to convince him to take her in his arms and "make me feel safe." Chris replies that "all this will be fixed".

"No, I do not need words, shit," Shanann answers. "You just told me you do not want this baby."

August 7th

In a text with a friend, Shanann writes: "Chris told me last night that he was very scared of this third baby and that he was happy with Bella and Celeste and that he did not want another baby. "

After the friend wrote that Chris was scared and that everything would be fine for the baby's birth, Shanann wrote, "He has changed. I do not know who he is. … He did not touch me all week, kissed me, talked to me, except when he tries to figure out what's wrong … He's distant since I left.

Another woman tells her story
According to an unsealed affidavit regarding the arrest of Weld County, investigators say they discovered that Watts was "actively involved" in a case. According to documents released this week, Nichol Kessinger told the FBI that she had developed an intimate relationship with Watts.

In a report analyzing Kessinger and Chris Watts' phone records, police reported that they had had appointments with his wife in North Carolina, including in the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Reserve, in southern Colorado, and in a museum in Boulder.

Kessinger, 30, told the Denver Post that she had met him while he was working for the environmental department of an oil contractor.

"We had just met," Kessinger told the newspaper. "I hardly knew him."

He was not wearing a wedding ring when they were introduced, and she found him attractive, with a soft voice and a good listener, she said. When they met for the first time outside of work at the end of June, he told her that he was about to get divorced. She has never met any of her relatives or friends, Kessinger told The Post.

Watts texted her on August 13 to announce that her family had disappeared and that she did not understand why the media were at home.

"When I read the news, I discovered that he was still married and that his wife was 15 weeks pregnant," Kessinger told the newspaper.

She asked him questions through phone calls and text messages, and he changed his story about the divorce, showed little emotion for the disappearance of his family and tried to change the subject.

"He came to a point where he told me so many lies that I finally told him that I did not want to talk to him until his family was found," she said. told the newspaper, explaining that she had called the police on August 15 reports Watts' lies.

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