Chris Watts: Life in Prison Seven Years After the Murders of Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and Unborn Son Niko
In August 2018, the disappearance of Shanann Watts, who was 15 weeks pregnant, and her daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, gripped the nation. Chris Watts, Shanann’s husband and the girls’ father, initially portrayed himself as a worried parent and spouse. Days later, he confessed to killing his wife and daughters. Investigators determined he had murdered Shanann, buried her near an oil field, and placed the girls’ bodies in oil tanks at his work site. Their unborn son, Niko, was also lost.
Watts, then employed by an oil company in Colorado, had been having an affair with a co-worker and Shanann had confided to friends that the marriage was in trouble. On August 15, 2018, two days after his family vanished, Watts admitted to strangling Shanann after telling her he no longer loved her and that he wanted to separate. He then killed Bella and Celeste.
In November 2018, he pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. He was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder, unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a body. He was sentenced to five life terms without parole and moved in December 2018 to a maximum-security prison in Waupun, Wisconsin.
Behind bars, Watts has kept photographs of his family in his cell, a fact that has caused anger and controversy. He has received conduct reports in prison, including one in 2020 for unauthorized communication and property transfer and another in 2021 for disobeying orders and possessing contraband. Watts works as a custodian and lives in protective custody, with letter-writing being one of his few connections to the outside world.
Nearly seven years later, the murders remain one of Colorado’s most shocking crimes, leaving a lasting impact on those who knew Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and Niko, and on a community that continues to mourn their loss.
