The summer of 2018 was expected to be a joyful time for the Watts family. Chris Watts, 33, and his wife Shanann, 34 had recently learned they were expecting a son, who would soon join their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste, in their suburban home in Frederick, Colorado.
However, two days later, Chris Watts was taken into custody in connection with the deaths of his family.
From the outside, they seemed like a happy suburban family, but Shanann had recently confided in friends about growing tensions. Still, no one could have imagined the horrifyingly brutal murders that would soon shatter their picture-perfect life. Here’s the Watts murder case timeline presented through TrialLine, a legal timeline software.
The Watts Family
On Facebook, Shannan lists Passaic, New Jersey as her hometown, but she later moved to North Carolina, where she met Chris through social media.
“I got a friend request from Chris on Facebook. I was like, ‘What the heck? I’m never going to meet him.’ Accept. One thing led to another; eight years later, we have two kids, we live in Colorado, and he’s the best thing that happened to me,” says Shannan in a released Facebook video.
The couple tied the knot in Charlotte, North Carolina and on December 17, 2013, Shannan gave birth to their first child, Bella Marrie Watts. Their younger daughter, Celeste Cathryn Watts, followed on July 17, 2015.
On June 11, 2018, Shannan surprised Chris with a shirt that read, “Oops… we did it again,” revealing the news of their third pregnancy. Chris responded by saying, “That’s awesome.”
Chris Gets Secretly Involved with a Coworker
While balancing Chris’s job as an operator at Anadarko Petroleum and Shannan’s frequent business trips for the nutrition supplement company Le-Vel, the couple’s lives revolved around their daughters, as reflected in Shannan’s regular Facebook posts.
June 2018: Chris starts talking to Nichol Kessinger
Nichole Kessinger, who worked in the environmental department of Anadarko Petroleum, often saw the operators, including Chris, as she passed by the fridge. One day, Chris stopped by her office and started a conversation. Later that month, they had their first meeting outside of work.
July 2018: Chris begins a physical relationship with Kessinger
According to The Denver Post, Chris sees Kessinger about four or five times a week and their physical relationship began in early July. He told her he was nearly divorced. Later that month, while Shanna and their girls were in North Carolina, he informed Kessinger that the divorce was finalized.
Insider reports that Kessinger visits Chris’s home for the first time on July 4, and they have their first recorded phone call on July 7. They also go on a date to the Shelby American Collection car museum on July 14 and spend the night at the Great Sand Dunes National Park on July 28, all while his family is away. On July 30, Chris gives her a love note before joining his family on vacation.
A Series of Unfortunate Events
July 31, 2018: Chris reunites with his family.
Chris travels to North Carolina for the last weeks of his family’s vacation. Their reunion does not seem to be joyful, as indicated by a text Shanann sent to Chris, which she later forwarded to a friend.
August 04, 2018: Celeste’s peanut allergy.
Shannah sends her husband a lengthy text accusing him of not defending her after his parents exposed their daughter Celeste to nuts, to which she was allergic.
In the text, Shannan also tells Chris that he hasn’t shown any indication of missing her during the weeks they’ve been apart.
Later that day, Shannan seems to have a disagreement with her in-laws leading them to miss Celeste’s birthday party that summer.
Meanwhile, while Chris is away, Kessinger spends over two hours searching for wedding dresses online according to a review of her cellphone data.
Things Get Cold
August 7, 2018: Shanann confides in her friends about the issues she is experiencing with her husband
Shanann texts, “ He has changed, I don’t know who he is.”
“He hasn’t touched me all week, kissed me, talked to me except for when I’m trying to figure out what is wrong.
“Addy, I have no idea what happened?” she later added.
August 9, 2018: Shanann cancels the baby’s gender-reveal party
Shanann tells a friend that Chris went to her ultrasound but was distant, leading her to cancel the baby’s gender-reveal party.
In one of her texts to a friend, she says, “ I grabbed his hand during the ultrasound and he didn’t grab back.
“Only thing I can think of even though I don’t think he has it in him is another girl.”
August 9, 2018: Shanann leaves for a business trip to Arizona
After sharing her struggles with Chris’s friends, Shanann texts a friend saying they had their “best talk yet” before she left for a trip. She even writes him a handwritten letter saying she doesn’t know how they “fell out of compatibility,” quoting him.
August 11, 2018: Chris hires a babysitter to go out with Kessinger
Chris hires a babysitter, claiming he’s attending a Colorado Rockies game with coworkers. In reality, he takes Kessinger on a date to a sports bar in Erie, Colorado.
Chris Commits the Unthinkable
August 12, 2018: Shanann plans a speech for Chris
Shanann shares a draft of a speech with a friend that she intends to give to her husband when she returns to Colorado the following day.
“I try to fix things and make them better and this is making me crazy,” she plans to say.
August 13, 2018: Shanann returns home from her business trip
In the early hours of August 13, 2018, at 1:48 AM, a neighbor’s surveillance camera recorded Shanann returning home from her business trip. Her friend, Nickole Atkinson, gave her a ride home on the 2800 block of Saratoga Trail.
Chris later told investigators that he was asleep when his wife arrived home. He claimed that she initiated sex, and afterward, they went to bed.
August 13, 2018 (early morning): Chris kills Shanann and their daughters
Chris wakes Shanann while preparing for work and wants to discuss their marriage and future. They engage in a heated argument, during which, according to his testimony, Shanann accuses him of cheating. He claimed he “snapped” and then strangled her to death, despite her being pregnant with their unborn child, whom they had already named Nico Lee.
Their 4-year-old daughter Bella, disturbed by the commotion, enters the bedroom and asks, “What’s wrong with Mommy?” According to Chris, Bella then witnesses wrapping Shanann’s body in a sheet and dragging it out of the truck.
August 13, 2018, at 5:27 AM: Surveillance footage shows Watts loading up his work truck
Surveillance footage shows Watts loading his truck and leaving his home. Chris later tells investigators that both girls were seated on the bench seat of his truck while he drove to an oil site where he works to dispose of Shanann’s body.
At the oil fields, Chris smothers Celeste in the backseat and places her body in an oil tank, then does the same with Bella in another tank.
According to the police report, Bella in a soft voice, asked, “Is the same thing gonna happen to me as Cece?” Chris also told investigators that Bella resisted as best as she could, with her last words being “Daddy, no!”
After disposing of his daughters’ bodies in the oil tanks, Chris buries Shanann’s body in the ground.
August 13, 2018, at 1:40 PM: Atkinson grows concerned and contacts local police
Later that day, Atkinson becomes concerned when she doesn’t hear from Shanann. “I called and texted her multiple times”, she says. “I knew she had a doctor’s appointment that morning because she’s pregnant. She didn’t show up for it… and I was even more concerned.” Shanann was reported missing around 1:40 PM.
Atkinson contacts the police who perform a welfare check. They found Shanann’s phone, keys, and purse at the house. According to news reports, Chris says, “She mentioned she was going to a friend’s house with the kids, and that was the last I heard. It was very vague.”
After inspecting the house, a neighbor invites Chris and a police officer to his property to review his home surveillance footage, which refutes Chris’s claims that his wife and the girls left while he was at work.
Concealing the Crimes
August 14, 2018, afternoon: Chris appears on Denver 7
Chris appears on Denver 7 to discuss the disappearance of his wife and their daughters.
At one point, he says, “Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, please come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody. This house is not complete without anybody here.”
August 15, 2018, evening: Chris fails a lie detector test
After police find out that Chris Watts has a mistress and he fails a lie detector test, he confesses to his father Ronnie to strangling his wife and burying her in a shallow grave at an oil site. However, he falsely claims that the reason for his murder was because she had smothered their daughters.
At 11:40 PM, Chris Watts is arrested on suspicion of three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of tampering with a deceased body.
August 16, 2018, afternoon: Shanann, Bella, and Celeste’s bodies are found
The three bodies are recovered at Chris’s worksite. That same day, Chris appeared in Weld County court for a bond hearing which was denied.
Meanwhile, Kessinger speaks to police, stating, “I legitimately think his cheese was sliding off his cracker long before he met me.”
August 21, 2018: Chris is arraigned
Shanann’s family is present in the county for Chris’s arraignment. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder, along with two additional counts for the victim being under 12 years old.
Chris also faces charges for the unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a body, bringing the total to nine charges.
Facing the Consequences
September 1, 2018: Funeral is held for Shanann and daughters in North Carolina
Shanann, Bella, and Celeste are honored at their funeral held at Secret Heart Catholic Church in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The 90-minute service began with the singing of “Amazing Grace,” and Chris was never mentioned.
The priest read a statement from Shanann’s father, Frank Rzucek: “You were pure love, always, caring for everyone. You will always be daddy’s little girl.”
November 6, 2018: Chris Watts pleads guilty to all nine counts
Chris Watts pleaded guilty to all nine counts against him.
By pleading guilty to five counts of first-degree murder, Chris Watts retracted his initial claim that his wife killed their daughter and took full responsibility for the murders of all three.
Two additional murder charges were filed due to the children’s ages being 12.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of tampering with a deceased body and one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy.
November 15, 2018: Kessinger speaks with The Denver Post
In an interview with The Denver Post, Kessinger stated that Chris Watts told her he was separating from his wife and that she had no knowledge of Shanann Watts’s pregnancy.
“He lied about everything”, she said.
November 19, 2018: Chris is sentenced to three consecutive life sentences
Judge Marcelo Kopcow described the murders as “perhaps the most inhumane and vicious crime I have handled out of the thousands of cases I’ve seen”, sentencing Chrs to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, including 48 years for unlawful termination of Shanann’s pregnancy and 36 years for disposing of his family’s bodies.
On the same day, Shanann’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Chris.
December 3, 2018: Chris is transferred to a Wisconsin correctional facility
Due to safety reasons, Chris is transferred from Colorado to Dodge Correctional Facility in Waupun, Wisconsin.
February 18, 2019: Chris confesses to killing daughters in a detailed explanation
In a five-hour prison interview, Chris recounts the heartbreaking details of his young daughters’ final moments, confessing to their murders and the disposal of their bodies. “This was the epitome of anger, the epitome of rage, the epitome of losing your mind,” he said, even admitting that his older daughter Bella asked if he was going to do to her what he did to his sister — and that the 4-year-old tried to fight back.
American Murder: The Family Next Door
September 30, 2020: Netflix releases a documentary on the case called “American Murder: The Family Next Door”
Netflix released a documentary featuring firsthand footage that examines the events leading to the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, revealing shocking and chilling details.
October 6, 2020: Chris receives letters from women after the Netflix documentary
People magazine reports that since the release of the Netflix documentary, Watts has received a surge of letters from women.
“He got a lot of letters at first,” a source who has spoken with Watts in jail told People.
“Many of them are from women who thought he was handsome and felt compassion for him. He had nothing better to do, so he wrote them back. And he started having penpals. A couple of them stood out, and they’ve kept in contact.”
October 8, 2020: Chris Watts’ parents still love their son despite what he did
Chris Watts’ parents Ronnie and Cindy Watts, told The Sun that they still love their son despite his actions.
Ronnie told The Sun that they speak with their son regularly, saying he is “heartbroken” and has turned to religion.
Cindy shared that “not a day goes by” without her thinking about what her son did to her daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
“I go to sleep with them on my mind, I will never, ever get over this. It’s something that stays with you, “Cindy said.
The Watts Murder Timeline in a Legal Timeline Software
August 13, 2024, marked the sixth anniversary of Chris Watts’ horrific murders of his wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste. This case remains one of the most shocking in American history. It continues to capture public attention, particularly with recent updates that have caused outrage, such as Watts receiving letters from women who find him attractive and his possession of photos of Shanann, Bella, and Celeste while in prison.
To help visualize the sequence of events, we present the case timeline using TrialLine, a legal timeline software.
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Please note that this information is not intended to provide details about specific cases, nor should it be used for legal advice. Sharing details of real-life cases can be harmful and retraumatizing for victims. This information is intended for general purposes only.