The Colorado Bureau of Investigation released this morning records pertaining to Chris Watts’ Feb. 18 confession to law enforcement about how and why he killed his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste.
Update: 11 a.m.
When Shanann returned home about 2 a.m. Monday, Aug. 13, Watts felt her get into bed and the couple made love for the last time. But something felt different.
Watts told investigators on Feb.18 his last intimate moment with his wife felt like a test. Two days earlier, Watts was on a date with his mistress, Nichol Kessinger. He paid for their dinner with a debit card linked to the family bank account.
“I knew something wasn’t right,” Watts told investigators. “I knew that she knew. What I did Saturday night — going out with someone else, using the bankcard, not trying to hide it — it was the last straw.”
Watts woke up later that morning with the feeling that he was going to come home from work and either Shanann and the kids wouldn’t be there, or he wouldn’t be allowed in the door. He woke Shanann up so they could talk.
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Watts, for an unknown reason, decided to climb on top of his wife and straddled her while they spoke. He told her he didn’t think they were compatible anymore and that he didn’t think their relationship was going to continue to work. He asked if they could cancel a trip the two planned to take together to Aspen.
Watts told investigators he and Shanann talked in circles, with the conversation jumping back and forth between staying together and separating. At one point, Watts asked it they could move to Brighton, to get out of their Frederick home and take advantage of a change of scenery.
They both cried, Watts told investigators. Shanann’s pillow became stained with make up she didn’t wash from her face when she arrived home earlier that morning.
The conversation, which lasted about 30 minutes, took a turn when Watts told Shanann he didn’t love her anymore. She told him to get off of her. Instead, he wrapped his hands around her throat and applied pressure.
“Every time I think about it, I’m like, ‘Did I know I was going to do that before I got on top of her?'” Watts said. “Every time I think about that morning, I think I didn’t want to do this, but I did it. It just felt like — I don’t want to say it felt like I had to — it just felt like there was something already made up in my mind and I had no control over it.”
Watts told investigators one thing that has stayed with him since that morning was his wife made no effort to fight back.
“I don’t even want to know what she saw when she looked back at me,” Watts said. “She wasn’t fighting.
“It’s like during the sentencing hearing, that prosecutor said it takes two to four minutes to for something like that to happen. Why couldn’t I just let go?”
Check back often to GreeleyTribune.com, as we will be updating this story throughout the day.
Update: 9 a.m.
The interview begins somewhat casually with Watts entering the Wisconsin prison’s computer room to find CBI Agent Tammy Lee, FBI Special Agent Grahm Coder and Frederick police Det. Dave Baumhover asking if he remembers them. Coder then set the ground rules about why the officers were there and assured Watts he wasn’t still under investigation.
But Coder told Watts that the three officers have thought and spoken about him a lot in the months since they first interviewed him in August about the murders. He said they thought his life leading up to the murders seemed “really interesting” and they thought Watts was “unique.” Coder talked about one of the last things Watts said to him, which was an apology for lying about what had happened.
“That has stuck with me the last couple months,” Coder told Watts. “It’s been ringing in my head. I’ve never, ever worked a case like this and had someone tell me that, ever.
“As I walked away, I thought, ‘Chris is different, Chris is a little different in that regard.'”
The investigators and Watts then briefly talked about the differences between his incarcerations in Colorado compared to Wisconsin. Watts said his current living situation is a lot better than before because he’s not isolated and allowed to interact with other inmates.
Conversely, while housed at the Weld County Jail, Watts was in isolation. There was another inmate in the cell next to his, but he never saw that person. The jail had to go into total lock down just so Watts could walk down the hallway.
“I was segregated in Colorado, but I had to listen to people pounding on the walls all night telling me the things they wanted to do to me and that I should kill myself,” Watts said. “People here don’t seem, they don’t judge you as soon as you walk in.”
The investigators also spoke to Watts about some of his alleged extramarital affairs, including a possible homosexual relationship with Wyoming resident, Trent Bolte. Coder and Lee said Bolte told them he and Watts met on a dating app, had a handful of sexual encounters at Bolte’s apartment, with some of Bolte’s friends and a rendezvous or two in remote parking lots.
Coder described Bolte as meek, but also a bit flamboyant. He commented about Bolte’s lip injections and how he had skin care products and make up with him during his interview with investigators. Coder said Bolte told them Watts once bought him skin care products as a gift.
“I’ve never been to Wyoming, let alone driven there to meet up with a guy,” Watts said, adding he only knew who Bolte was because one of this attorneys showed him a picture after his story appeared in the media.
The investigators also spoke with Watts about a second reported affair with a woman named Amanda McMahon. McMahon told investigators she had a one time sexual encounter with Watts in the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A.
But Watts said it never happened, confirming that his only extramarital affair was with Nichol Kessinger.
