20/20 - True Crime Vault: The Devil In Disguise

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

It was a case that made national headlines. Shanann Watts and her two daughters, missing. Her husband Chris on television, pleading for their return. Then their bodies found at the oil site where he worked. What secret had Chris Watts been keeping?  Originally aired: 12/07/2018 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Deborah Roberts. Welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault. Each week we reach back into our archives and bring you a story we found unforgettable. You broke her teeth. You broke her bones. Poisons that you could use that would be undetectable. Oh my goodness! What have you done? Take a listen. Coming up... See my hat? I love it.

A wife and mother telling the story of her life online. I got a friend request from Chris on Facebook. One thing led to another. We have two kids. And he's the best thing that has ever happened to me. Then her posts suddenly gone silent. We began tonight with breaking news. Shanann Watson, her two young daughters,

haven't been seen in the last two days. Her husbands plead for their return. Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you're out there, just come back. But in his mind was another woman already taking her place. Kessinger describes it as very passionate that they were having sex three, four times a day. And were there warning signs in their marriage. I didn't believe it. I was like, there's no way this happened to them. Not them. Who? Why?

A husband accused of murder. I think that you killed these girls. I love those girls. And a heartbreaking discovery. Whereabouts? This man and the ghost. Never in my wildest dreams did I think of what happened. The wife's parents speak out.

If you read your Bible, the devil comes to you in any shape, size, and form. Devil in disguise. If you read your Bible, the devil comes to you in any shape, size, and form. Devil in Disguise. I'm John Quinones. It was a story that gripped the nation. Shanann Watts and her two small daughters missing, her husband taking to television to plead for their return. But that return would never happen.

Shanann and the girls were found murdered. And Chris Watts, it would be revealed, was not the loving husband he seemed to be. What was it that brought their storybook romance to such a tragic end? In 2018, Amy Robach set out to unravel the story behind the headlines. Shanann's parents and friends talk about her marriage and her final days. And they raise the question, do you ever really know the one you love? Meet 34-year-old Shanann Watts.

Hey, guys. We're here from the vote today. A social media maven and master of the digital stage. I am so excited. I'm the digital stage. I am so excited. I'm thriving with you. I am confident. I am determined and I'm successful. She was fun, full of life.

She did so many things. She had her hand in everything. She was amazing. Love you guys. Have a great day. Just about every waking moment of Shanann's life streams live over Facebook. We get to enjoy your life and live again and have a blast. Shanann's views on life. I'm grateful. Can you see it? Beauty. Isn't it so fun to watch someone take off their makeup?

Parenting. Careful. Shanann's parents, Sandra and Frank Rusak. She was very open on Facebook and if you were from the outside looking in, she seemed to have the perfect life. She did. Did you believe that she was happy? Absolutely. Absolutely. Chris and I are sitting here.

Going out? Waiting to board our flight to Miami. We're going to Toronto in June. You guys have an amazing day. Bye, see my hat? I love it. Next to Shanann, that's her husband Chris, a field coordinator at a local oil company.

I love the hat. Shanann loves sharing their love story, which started, not surprisingly, on Facebook. I got a friend request from Chris on Facebook. One thing led to another, and he's the best thing that has ever happened to me. And because of my health challenges,

because I got so sick, I let him in. Shanann suffers from the debilitating disease lupus. You just don't sleep very good with lupus. And she had her head on his lap and they were watching TV, and he didn't move. He let her sleep for four hours. And I told her, God must have sent him to you. What did you all think of him?

Loved him. Less than two years later, Shanann and Chris are married. He was so in love with her, oh my God. He did everything he could for her to make her happy. The couple has two little girls, four-old Bella and 3 year-old Celeste also known as Cici say hi Cici. Careful ball time. It's like my mom.

I got this is so good. Fire some cookies. A lot of snow. Nicole Atkinson is Shanann's close friend. Tell me about Bella and Cece. Bella was a picky eater. I do remember that. She had to have her hamburger a certain way.

I heard Cece was a spitfire. Oh, she was. She was a daredevil. She would try anything and everything, even if she was told no. She always ate her pizza upside down. How was Chris as a father, as far as you could see? He was a very loving father.

As far as I knew, he loved his family. Addie, who asked that we not use her last name, looks up to her friend, Shanann. She was always the social butterfly. She was the person who was always taking pictures and always just on. She was always on. Addy also admired Shanann's parenting skills.

I just felt like she did everything the right way with so much patience. She was an amazing mom. She'd do anything for her children. And she wanted them to have everything growing up. There's nothing she wouldn't do for those children and she wanted them to have everything growing up. There's nothing she wouldn't do for those children. And then in June 2018, another baby is on the way. I got a doctor appointment in two hours.

I know, boy, boy, Chris wants a boy. I hope it's a boy for him. It'll make him happy. That's just a test. As luck would have it, it's a boy. him. It will make him happy. That's just a test. As luck would have it, it's a boy. She had a name for him already? Nico. She had to keep it Italian, you know?

She was very proud to be part Italian. Christina Meacham and Shanann Watts have been close friends for 14 years. I looked at Bella and I would look at Shanann and I was like, you guys are exactly the same. Da da da da da! With Cece, she was just joy. I look at Bella and I look at Shenanahs, like you guys are exactly the same. Na na na na na! With Cece, it was just joy, like complete joy. The Watts home?

Frederick, Colorado, a tight-knit Denver suburb with a family-friendly motto, built on what matters. For Shenanah and Chris, family matters most. It was amazing just to see how they were as parents and as a couple. We could organize the basement, so. They had a great marriage. What happens in space? Chris was a good dad.

He would come home from work and take care of the girls. My daddy is a hero. He helped them shower and get them ready for bed, anything that he needed to. Can you guys tell I'm super happy, excited? She was a hard-driven, hard worker. She would work 12, 14 hours a day. In 2016, Shanann takes that strong work ethic to Lavelle, a multi-level marketing company that sells vitamin-infused patches.

I'm very determined and I am going to be extremely successful. She not only loved her job, she excelled at it, even winning an award from the company. Our team is just loaded with a lot of passion, a lot of heart, and I love that we're out there sharing the love with everybody. Shanann was reaping the rewards of her hard work. Everything's paid for. And I got to spend it with my husband. That's the best part. Company sponsored trips to San Diego and New Orleans.

So excited, guys. It's about to start. And then in August 2018, another company trip to Arizona. This time, Chris stays behind with the kids, but her friend and co-worker, Nicole Atkinson, was with her on the flight home. Being that she was pregnant on the flight home, she was very uncomfortable on the plane. And I believe it was around 1.45 in the morning that you dropped her off? Roughly, yeah. What was the last thing you said to her?

I just told her, if you need help in the morning, let me know. And we gave each other a hug, and I watched her go into the house. That morning, Shanann Watts goes offline. She didn't text me, which is really odd, because she texts me every morning. The hunt for Shanann Watts.

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That's ShipStation.com code 20. Nothing says summer in Frederick, Colorado quite like the town's annual hot air balloon festival. But in August 2018, resident Nicole Atkinson has fear, not fun on her mind. Her friend Shanann Watts is missing. What was your first feeling in your stomach and your gut that something was wrong? She didn't text me.

I tried calling. She didn't answer, which is really odd because she texts me every morning. But on this morning, no communication from the pregnant Shanann. Nicole decides to try her in person. She knows the code to the front door. What happened when you got to the house? I couldn't get in. They had the latch on the top like they do in hotel rooms, kinda. So it was locked from the inside?

It was locked from the inside. And then I called Chris and asked if he knew where Shanann was. And he said she went on a play date. And I said, Chris, her car's in the garage. How could she have gone on a play date? I went both spellings's in the garage how could you've gone on a playdate I'm at both Bell and C's here in curcies. Nicole goes to Shanann's OBGYN where she knows she had an appointment but Shanann is a no-show. Your friend Shanann who was so excited about having this third baby she wouldn't miss that

doctor's appointment and then you knew something was really wrong. As Nicole impatiently waits for the cops, Shanann's husband, Chris Watts, who's at work, calls her friend Cassie Rosenberg to see what's going on. He called me and I was screaming at him. I was frantic. You need to get to the house. Nikki's calling the police so they can break down the door. He said, no, don't call the police. I don't want to get them involved. He said, you're an idiot and you need to get to the house because something's wrong. Frederick police officer Scott Coonrod races to the Watts house.

How are you guys doing? You're Nicole? Yes. This is real-time footage captured on his body camera. I'm just going to check the back, see if I can see anything. After a quick check of the perimeter, Chris Watts finally shows up. Scott, how you doing? So this is the only vehicle she would have. She would drive. Okay. Officer Coonrod then asked to search the home. Mind if I look around the basement, bedrooms, bathroom. The only signs of life?

The barking dog. Chris tells police he saw his wife early that morning before he left for work. The last I talked to her was this morning. She said she was going to take the kids to a friend's house, and that's where she was going to be. And then I've texted her today and never heard anything. The house appears neat and orderly, nothing out of place or rummaged through. We all ran through the house kind of looking for her. You checked upstairs, she's not there.

It was odd, the things that you did see. It didn't make sense to me. Shanann's purse and wallet on the counter, wedding ring on the nightstand, and unmade beds. So does she normally make the beds, the kids' beds? No. No. And their beds would have definitely been made.

Yes. And her sheets wouldn't have been stripped off the bed. No. They wouldn't have. Or even if they had, it wouldn't have been in the manner that they were. There were sheets missing from a couple of the beds. There was a sheet missing from the bed in the master bedroom. Oh, that wasn't on there?

No, this was on. The matching sheet, the non-fitted or flat sheet was found in the garbage can. Eventually, they find her cell phone. Does she work? Yeah, she works from home. Eventually, they find her cell phone. Her phone's here. Does she work? Yeah, she works from home. Oh, from home? She works and misses her life line.

And in the kitchen. Do your kids take any medication? Cece takes Singulair and Mephazol. The biggest clue of all, medicines, including little Cece's EpiPen. My daughter never leave the house without her phone or the EpiPens Police get a break in the form of the Watts next-door neighbor Nate Trinastich He is a security camera on the front of his house right there above your head What I did is said I have the video surveillance the only thing I caught

Was Chris backing his truck into the garage. Chris comes over to your home along with the police to watch that surveillance footage. Yes, he was standing right in my living room basically watching it. Some of the tools that I have from the toolbox. And he looked very frantic. Park out there on the side. He had his hands like this in the air on his shoulders. He had his hands like this in the air on his shoulders. And he was really swaying back and forth. Was he saying anything? No, he wasn't saying anything. He basically, the only time I saw him show any emotion

was a little bit of nervousness when he was watching that tape. My detective just showed up. You just want to go talk to him. The only time I saw him show any emotion was a little bit of nervousness when he was watching that tape. My detective just showed up. You just want to go talk to him? I'm going to get his info real quick. No? Seemingly desperate to find his family, Watts turns to the media for help. Going into the interview, you know, we were just going to ask the husband, you know, do you know where she could have went? Are you afraid? Are you afraid for their safety? It's one of those type of stories. Thomas Hoppo of ABC's Denver Station KMGH is the first reporter to interview Watts. The kids are my life. I mean, those smiles light up my life.

His demeanor was very calm. He was very relaxed. I really hope that all this can lead to something positive. Which was a little bit weird for me and my photographer. Everything seemed repetitive or rehearsed. Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you're out there, just come back. Like, if somebody has her her just please bring her back. I need to see everybody. So this driveway obviously played a role,

the surveillance camera over here, but this was the very porch where Chris Watts talked to the media. Right. Pleading for his wife and children's safe return. There's two things to look at here, which is verbal and nonverbal behavior. Typically when we cross our arms it means we're into a defensive mode and we want to hold in. If they're not safe right now that's

what's that's what's tearing me apart. I miss this. I want that. So it's like the interview is all about him. And they go into their rooms and know that I wasn't gonna turn the rain machines on rooms and know that I wasn't going to turn their rain machines on. I know that I wasn't going to turn their monitor on. Did he sound worried? No, he didn't give a flying flip. I said, Chris, you know, I said, I don't think

you should do any media. I said, you're the last one to have seen them. So I don't think you should. And yet he did. I thank God he did it. I thank God in heaven that he didn't listen to me. Who did you see on that front porch? Not him.

Definitely somebody else. It was frightening. When we come back, warning signs inside the marriage. Chris said he wasn't happy anymore. Private text messages, hidden photographs, and a strange visit to the police station by this woman. You can lie to me about this. What else are you lying about?

Next. Celeste are missing. Her husband Chris has turned to the media, pleading for their safe return. But as images of the seemingly grief-stricken spouse spread across the country, those closest to Shanann say those pictures may not tell the real story. Once again, here's Amy Robach. We began tonight with breaking news.

The disappearance of a pregnant Frederick woman and her two children has captured the nation's attention Shanann Watson her two young daughters haven't been seen in the last two days. They always just seem like a normal family It was a media frenzy and among those covering it ABC News Denver correspondent Clayton Sandell Chris was actually on television doing interviews. He admitted that he and his wife had heated words before she disappeared. It wasn't like an argument. We had an emotional conversation, but I'll leave it at that.

So what was happening behind closed doors in the weeks before the family went missing? On Facebook, Shanann was ecstatic about the summer. I feel really blessed this summer. Six weeks we're going to be in North Carolina. That's easy, right? We're going to have a little, a lot of fun. She was very excited to be going to North Carolina,

seeing her family. The children love the grandparents so much. We were with them for six weeks. Six weeks. We went to the beach. We played in puddles. You played in the rain, we got all wet. We went to the zoo, goodness. We had a lot of fun.

Chris stays home in Colorado working, but even from across the country, Shanann senses a change in her husband. How did your daughter describe it? Did she say it happened suddenly? A few weeks, maybe a month. Just cold as ice and not responding and replying Text messages between Chris and Shanann show their marriage unraveling while you are working and living the bachelor life

I'm carrying our third and fighting with our two kids daily. It's not hard texting. Love you and miss you She was looking forward to him getting there Did you ever at any point feel like anything was going on in their marriage? She just couldn't understand why he was so cold. Something had changed. Yes. Nothing that was really that I could physically see. I don't know how you fell out of love with me in five and a half weeks.

I left you, you couldn't take your hands off me. You show up and I have to practically ask for a kiss in the airport." A few minutes later, she asks, If you are done, don't love me, don't want to work this out, not happy anymore, and only staying because of kids, I need you to tell me. I'm not just staying because of the kids. They are my light, and that will not change. I'm not sure what's in my head. What did she told you? She just told me that Chris said he wasn't happy anymore and that she didn't know what was wrong.

And once they are back home, the relationship appears to be going from bad to worse. Shanann texts her friend. Chris told me last night he's scared to death about this third baby and he's happy with just Bella and Celeste and doesn't want another baby. He has changed. I don't know who he is. With her crumbling marriage in mind, Shanann goes on that business trip to Arizona, leaving Chris with the girls and her bubbly self behind. She wasn't herself. She was trying really hard but her mind and her heart were

really with what was happening in her marriage I sometimes can be bitchy and he gets that side of me I know I tend to make him feel like he isn't able to do things because I have control issues Just trying to figure out how she could fix it. She was very much analyzing everything She said or did she was reading a book that weekend too. She wanted to make it work. She wanted to try and fix it. She did. A mutual friend of ours had recommended a book and she wanted to fix it so bad that she read it all weekend. That's normally not what she would do when we went on a trip like

that. She was focused on work normally? Normally she was not focused on work at all that weekend. Did she ever suspect another woman? I think that she entertained the idea because she did get, I don't know if she checked the bank account or if she got an alert on her phone. An alert to a credit card charge from the Lazy Dog Sports Bar that certainly looked fishy. A $62 salmon dinner that's literally not adding up. She realizes or believes that that's too much money

for just one person and suspects that Chris is having dinner with somebody else. And her suspicions are right. That somebody is a young, pretty brunette named Nicole Kessinger. This is audio from an interview she would later give police. We got along really well.

I thought what we had, it was very comfortable for me. I enjoyed it. I think he did very much as well. Kessinger is a co-worker in Chris's office, and he tells Nicole that he is separated and that they're working on getting a divorce. These are photos released by authorities of their time together. He didn't have a wedding ring on his finger. He didn't even mention his kids right away either.

And then one day he told me that he had two kids. I thought it was kind of cute. I was like, oh, he's a dad. The relationship between Chris and his coworker mistress heats up pretty quickly. And Kessinger describes it as being very passionate that they were having sex three, four times a day in the beginning. Chris appears to be falling hard for Nicole, searching on Google,

when to say I love you for the first time in a new relationship. So did he ever tell you that he loved you? Yes he did. Did you ever tell him the same? A couple times. By all accounts and by all descriptions it sounded like they were beginning a dating and intimate relationship. A blossoming romance with love letters and all. Have you read those love notes that Chris Watts was writing Nicole Kessinger?

Something like, you turn me on, you make me melt, and then you cool me off like rain? Really? They had gone to a Mustang car museum. They had gone camping and hiking in the sand dunes. All these videos and photos, including nude pictures of Nicole, would end up in a secret app camouflaged as a calculator in Chris' phone. My daughter, she had no clue. She was clueless. Back in Arizona, a storm delays Shanann's flight home. At dinner, she confides in her closest friends.

She was definitely wanting her friends to be able to give her some advice, support. Her friends don't know it then, but the very next day, Shanann would vanish. And when word of her disappearance hits the news... Tonight, police issued a missing, endangered alert for Shannon Watts and her two daughters. Nicole Kessinger learns Chris's wife is not only missing, but she's 15 weeks pregnant and decides to go to the police. I just realized that he was lying to me and I was like, well, if you can lie to me about this, what else are you lying to me about?" That's exactly what police want to know. In another interrogation room, Chris Watts makes a rather unusual request, asking for his father

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with your first purchase after signing up for their newsletter. Visit guardianbikes.com to take advantage of these deals The vast open field surrounding Frederick, Colorado, have become ground zero in an all-out search for mother, Shanann Watts, Watts and her daughters Bella and Cece. This became a massive law enforcement effort to find Shanann and the two girls. It was all hands on deck. The FBI, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, had joined the Frederick Police Department. Monster Lions from the Frederick Police Department. Have you seen this lady? This young lady and her kids are missing right now.

We've got a whole team of people working on this. They were setting up roadblocks so that anybody coming in and out of the area who might have seen something were handed a flyer, asked if they had heard or seen anything suspicious that might lead them to Shanann and the girls. How you doing? We're handing out flyers regarding the missing woman in the neighborhood. Have you heard about her?

Okay. With Chris Watts' permission, authorities bring out canine units to track a scent. Barking But over in North Carolina, Shanann's parents smell a rat. You immediately suspected Chris. I told the police to find his GPS because his GPS is going to tell them where my family is. The GPS from Chris Watts' work truck showed he left his house at 5.46 a.m. and arrived at the Cervie 319 oil well 47 minutes later, exactly what he had told police.

I'm going down the street right here, Chris. Is it on this? Yep. Saying he has nothing to hide. But you don't have to worry. It's not on or anything right now. It's not going to have a seat right here, Chris. Sit on this? Yep. Saying he has nothing to hide. But you don't have to worry. It's not on or anything right now. It's not going to. Watts agrees to a polygraph exam. Did you physically saw Shanann's disappearance?

No. Are you lying about the last time you saw Shanann? No. Do you know where Shanann is now? No. In the end, the polygraph shows that he's being deceitful, that he's not telling the truth. So, it was completely clear that you were not honest during the testing.

I think you already know that. You did not pass the polygraph test. I did. Okay. I didn't lie to you on that polygraph, I promise. I need to talk about what actually happened. Investigators press watch. There's a reason you feel sick to your stomach. And I can just tell on your face, I can tell from the second you walked in, Investigators press Watts.

It appears to work, sort of. He doesn't admit to a crime. Instead, Chris Watts confesses to an affair. I choose his honor, and I feel horrible for it. She was pregnant. But he refuses to name his mistress. Who was her? I don't want to get involved in this. I don't want to ruin her life. She's a wonderful person.

I saw her, took my breath away, and I never thought in a million years that could happen. I never felt that way about anybody, anybody in my lifetime. Struck me as very odd because investigators even said, well, can we stop talking about the other woman and get back to trying to figure out where your wife and two daughters are? Can you leave her out of it? Okay, get back to your wife and your daughters. Okay. Where are they? They were at the house when I left.

They were there. They weren't there. They didn't leave. They vanished. The only way they could have left is in your truck. There's no way. The agents seem to be getting nowhere, so they switch strategies.

Did Shanann do something? Did she do anything to these kids? We both loved them with all our hearts. switch strategies. The key here is to find some lever in Chris that will get him to tell the truth, whether it's saving face, whether it's to minimize what he in reality he has done, but also to maybe blame other people. But I want to know if something happened to these baby girls first that you had to take into your own hands and deal with. You had to clean it up for Shana. Chris, go tell us. There's something that happened to these baby girls. Eventually, Watts asked to speak with his father, Ronnie Watts, who has just flown in

from North Carolina. It's a stunning statement. Chris Watts claims in the middle of the night, Shanann had attacked the kids and he killed her in a fit of rage. He speaks quietly. He's not very animated, he's just kind of laying it out, matter of factly. Was it a choke like this or was it like a headlock? A choke. Like that? And your wife, you saw her with one hand or two hands? I just kind of moved back, I couldn't really like to tell.

Never attempted resuscitation, never checked on them, never called 911, never asked for assistance. According to him, he knew that they were already dead by their appearance. I think that you killed these girls before their mom came home. It just doesn't make sense. If I walked in and my kid was decapitated,

I'd come on ambulance. I think we're very, very close to the truth, but not if I dare to. I'm not a monster. I didn't kill my babies. He blames her for the murders of her two little girls. That would never happen. He lied to take the blame off himself.

With everything that we knew about Shanann, we knew that she had just gotten home from this work trip, that the first thing that she would have done when she got home, according to her family and and friends was run upstairs, check on the girls, tuck them in, kiss them goodnight and then go to bed herself. And then all of a sudden for some inexplicable reason for her to get up in the middle of the night and according to the defendant, strangle them to death made zero sense. Authorities arrest Chris Watts for the murder of his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and his two daughters, four

year old Bella and three year old Cece. How do you reconcile the Chris you loved with the one who's being arrested? The devil comes to you in any shape, size and form and can be transformed into anything. Did he snap? He must have snapped because there's nothing else I could figure out what happened to him. Next, police have a suspect in custody, but they need to know

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Save up to 25% on bikes, no code needed. Plus, get free shipping and a free bike lock and pump with your first purchase after signing up for their newsletter. Visit guardianbikes.com to take advantage of these deals and secure your holiday gifts today. Happy riding. In a dramatic turn of events, Chris Watts is in jail. When you learned that Chris was 100% involved, how did you react? To be honest with you, I kind of went numb.

I sat in my bed and watched the news. I couldn't move and I couldn't move. And I couldn't breathe. Once Chris Watts admits that his wife and his daughters are dead, the question now is, where are they? Back inside that interrogation room, Chris reveals the heartbreaking details of how he disposed of his family's bodies. He's asked to point in a photo, the exact location. Is that Ashford, Shanann? Okay. And where are the girls at?

Watts marks the spots with their initials, the two girls in separate oil tanks, their pregnant mother, Shanann, in a shallow grave nearby. The missing bedsheet also found on the scene. Where he pointed to where he put your daughter and your granddaughters. Sick thing, isn't it? How do you react to that? Devastated, you know? He is a monster.

How do you put someone you love into an oil tank? Especially your children. This had to be one of the most grim scenes any investigator could come across. At some point, Chris has to take the bodies of his three-year-old and four-year-old daughters and he's got to basically stuff them into these tanks. Chris's mistress breaks down, thinking about what he did to his daughters. He's so disgusting. I'm so ashamed of him and everything.

And I just, oh, those little girls. They're so little. They're so little. They're so little. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

How? I don't even understand how you could bring yourself to do that to somebody who's that big. The little girl's autopsies are key to district attorney Michael Rourke's case. They weren't strangled. Those girls were smothered. His statement that he had seen Shanann strangle those girls all of a sudden became an enormous lie. This kid keeps me going.

I knew in my heart of hearts that a friend that I cared so much for would never hurt her babies. They knew from day one that that was not true. Oh, and Bella has her baby. Bella, the four-year-old, had tried to struggle back against her father as he smothered her. To find out that my granddaughter struggled to live, that probably threw us over the edge. live, that probably throws over the edge. Amazing grace.

People I know came from all across this country to where your daughter and Chris lived, to pay respects, to light candles, to leave stuffed animals. That had an impact on you. Oh yeah? Yeah, it did. Let them know that there will be a day that they will hold those babies again. That they will see Shanann's beautiful smile. As this small community in mourning comes to grips with the depths of its loss.

It's too close to home. It's heartbreaking. Shanann Watts' family celebrates the lives of their loved ones in a funeral that not surprisingly streams live over the internet. It gave everybody a chance kind of virtually to be there, pay their respects, mourn together. We did scream at God, yes we did. Why? That's the big word. Why? There appeared to be some serious financial trouble in the Watts home.

They were months behind on their mortgage. They had thousands of dollars in debt. The motive that we know of is wholly unsatisfactory. The result in this case because of some newfound love coupled with the occasional financial issues that arise in many households just didn't make any sense. Mommy has a baby in her belly. A belly! When you look at pregnant women that are killed, right behind automobile accidents is homicide. The reason people like Chris don't get a divorce is that they want to get out from under the financial hardship of soon to be three kids and a wife.

What's interesting about him is he comes across as a rather passive, introverted person, but you really have to be this narcissistic, anti-social person that's full of anger and rage to commit this type of crime. You know what makes this case so scary? That he seemed like a good guy. A really good guy. I have listened over and over to audio of his little girl singing, Daddy's my hero. And he was.

He was the mom's hero. She loved him so much. There was not a clue. That's why it's so scary. You think you have a good one, and you have Chris Watts. Next year to the developing headline out of Colorado tonight, and to a father and husband offering a plea deal to save his own life.

In November 2018, Chris Watts agrees to plead guilty to killing his pregnant wife and young daughters in exchange for no death penalty. First degree murder, disposing of a body and the unlawful termination of a pregnancy. He took responsibility for all of it. Just three months after murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters, it is judgment day for Chris Watts. Watts must listen to victims' impact statements. You carry them out like trash.

You buried my daughter Shannon in a shallow grave, and then you put Bella and Celeste in huge containers of crude oil. This is hard to say, but may God have mercy on your soul. Shannon's mother, Sandra. We loved you like a son. We trusted you. I didn't want death for you because that's not my right. Your life is between you and God now, and I pray that he has mercy for you.

Watt's mother, Cindy, speaks directly to her son. Our families have been irreparably broken by the needless deaths of Shanann, Bella, Cece, and Nico. This is something we will never get over. Now to my son Christopher, we have loved you from the beginning and we still love you now. It is when Cindy turns to look into her son's empty eyes that he finally breaks down. But we will remain faithful as your family, just as God remains faithful because of His unconditional love for us all. We love you and we forgive you, Son.

But for many in this packed courtroom, there is very little room for forgiveness. You know, I have sat in court many, many times. I would look over at the defendant and wonder why. But here, getting rid of them was expeditious. There goes debt, there goes problems, there goes the issue of a divorce. It was just simply the easiest thing to do in his mind. Through his attorney, Watts issues a short apology. Mr. Watts has asked us to share this morning that he is devastated by all of this. And although he understands that words are hollow at this point, he is sincerely sorry for all of this. Chris Watts is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

I love the smile on her face in that one. Oh, I love that picture. Isn't that beautiful? It really is. How do you want your daughter to be remembered? How do you want the world to remember her and your granddaughters? She was an amazing daughter. Bella wanted lipstick on like mommy today.

Show her your lips. And CC too. No kisses. She wanted to soar the earth and she always said, Mom, I want to leave my mark on the earth. And she did. Sandra's unshakable faith gives her the strength to keep alive the happy memories of Shanann and her beloved granddaughters.

Oh my goodness. Come give me a hug. Oh, oh. I love you. This is Deborah Roberts. Join us next time for another edition of the 2020 True Crime Vault. Tune in Friday nights at 9 o'clock for all new broadcast episodes of 2020 on ABC. Thanks for listening. of 2020 on ABC. Thanks for listening.