“The ruling included $3 million for the deaths and $3 million for the emotional pain the family suffered,” according to Tsion Chudnovsky, a wrongful death lawyer. Nearly a year later the family prevailed with Weld County judge Todd Taylor ruling that Chris owed the family $6 million. The same day Chris Watts pled guilty, Shanann’s parents filed a civil wrongful death case against Chris. The death penalty wasn’t on the table because Shanann’s family didn’t wish to go through a trial. Afterwards, he buried his wife in a shallow grave while putting his children in oil tanks located on the site.Īfter making a plea deal, Chris Watts pled guilty in court and was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole. He had incapacitated his pregnant wife at home, then drove the body and his two daughters to an oil well site. Months later, Watts revealed this was not the case. Initially, Watts justified attacking Shanann because he saw his wife strangling their children.
While he claimed innocence at first, Chris Watts ultimately confessed to being the cause of death for his pregnant wife Shanann and their two children Bella & Celeste.
Watts’s affair and obsessive nature seems to have been the catalyst for this horrific crime.ĭue to heavy exposure on social media, the Watts family case went viral in August 2018. Two years after confessing, Chris Watts has given more details as to why he murdered his wife and two daughters. By: Victoria Stuewe Chris Watts claims his obsessions led to the murder of his family