Likely in what was one of last times anyone sawShanann Wattsalive, she returned from a business trip with a friend early on Aug. 13 and walked into her home, in Frederick, Colorado.
In the days between his wife’s reported disappearance on Monday and his arrest in their deaths Wednesday night, Chris gave multiple local news interviews where he spoke outas a grieving — even traumatized — husband.
Now he sits behind bars,charged with three counts of first-degree murder, among other crimes.
Here’s what we know about the case so far.
Shanann Watts /Facebook
Shanann & Her Girls Vanish
Shanann, 34, and her daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste,were missing for four daysbefore authorities announced that all three were found dead.
Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant when she disappeared, according to investigators. She and her daughters were last seen in the Frederick area, where the family lived.
According to authorities, Shanann was reported missing about 1:40 p.m.
Chris and Shanann Watts.Shanann Watts/Facebook
Shanann Watts/Facebook
One of Shanann’s friends reportedly wrote on Facebook that she left her phone, purse, car seats and her children’s medicine at home.
Shanann’s bodywas found on Thursdayin a “shallow grave” on Anadarko Petroleum Corporation’s property, an oil and gas company where Chris, 33, had worked until reportedly being fired the same day he was arrested.
The remains of Bella and Celestewere located later Thursday, hidden in oil tanks near Shanann’s body, officials said.
A Grieving Husband?
Chrisinitially told news station KUSAthat he was “hoping right now that she’s somewhere safe.”
Speaking with station KDVR, Chris said his “heart [was] racing a mile a minute.”
“It’s not something I could ever, ever fathom would happen in my lifetime, and I have no inclination of where she is,” he said. “She said she was going to a friend’s house with the kids and that’s the last thing I heard, and that was it. It was very vague.”
Chris also shared his apparent concernswhen speaking with KMGH on Tuesday, saying then that his wife returned from a work trip early on Aug. 13 and that he left for his own job about three hours later.
“When I came home, walked in the house, nothing — vanished,” he said. “Nothing was here: She wasn’t here, the kids weren’t here, nobody was here.”
Addressing the camera directly, he said, “Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you’re out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody, I need to see everybody again. This house is not complete without anybody here.”
Death Inside the Home
On Thursday, prosecutors revealed that they believeShanann and her daughters were murdered inside their home, but they declined to say more.
Weld County Sheriff’s Office
“Like, this house is not the same. Last night was traumatic,” he said. “Last night was — I can’t really stay in this house again with nobody here.”
At his hearing on Thursday, Chris was ordered held without bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday to be advised of his formal charges.
His attorney did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Social Media Shows a Bustling Family
Before her slaying last week, Shanann was an active social media user and extensively documented her work and the life of her young family across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
She had been employed Le-Vel, a health and wellness companybest known for Thrive, a series of supplements and other health products marketed as a “lifestyle system to help you experience peak physical and mental levels.”
Chris had worked at Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, they confirmed to PEOPLE. While a company spokeswoman declined to specify when he worked there or in what position, public records show he had been an operator after being hired around early 2015.
Shanann’s Facebook page shows she and Chris were apart much of the summer. In June, July and a portion of August, she and the daughters spent six weeks in North Carolina with her family.
They returned home to Colorado on Aug. 7. Shanann was home Aug. 8 and Aug. 9, then left for Scottsdale, Arizona, for a work trip, according to her Facebook. She got back on Monday.
Candlelight vigil for Watts family.RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post/Getty
Friend Talks Marital Problems
One friend told ABC News this week that Chris had grown distant before the triple homicide: “He wasn’t being the loving Chris that he normally was. He wasn’t touching or hugging or doing stuff like that.”
On Valentine’s Day, Shanann wrote on Instagram, “I love this man more than words can say! He’s my Rock, my love, my biggest fan, supporter and my husband! I couldn’t of hand picked a better man to call my husband and father to our girls!”
After reading the post, one of Shanann’s friends commented that she had a “storybook” life.
However, a family friend previously told PEOPLEthat there was marital discord between Chris and Shanannand public records show they had faced financial issues in the past, including a bankruptcy in 2015.
More recently, it seemed, the family had returned to financial stability,theDenver Postreported, citing social media posts about their extensive travels.
Frederick Police
Family Shares Grief and Torment
Shanann’s relatives have declined to comment to PEOPLE, saying they were not ready to speak, but in a statement to local media some of them shared their turmoil:
On Facebook, Shanann’s brother, Frank Rzucek Jr.,spoke even more directly, writing in one post: “I just want 30 seconds alone with that heartless psychopath.”
“My blood is boiling,” he wrote. “Nothing absolutely nothing would get in my way of taking away his life like he did mine and my ENTIRE FAMILY.”
In a later post, Rzucek grieved for the deaths of his sister and his nieces: “My sister and nieces meant the absolute world to me. They made me strive to be an even better man. … I wish I could go back in time and be there to keep you safe from harm. Sorry uncle couldn’t save you.”
According to her brother, at the time of her death, Shanann was pregnant with a boy to be named Niko.
Chris Watts.Joshua Polson/AP/REX/Shutterstock
What We Still Don’t Know — and What the Husband Says Happened
Causes of death have not yet been released, but an arrest affidavit for Chris that was unsealed Mondayshows that he claimed he killed Shanannafter watching her strangle one of their daughters.
At that point, Chris claimed, he “went into a rage and ultimately strangled Shanann to death” before loading “all three bodies onto the back seat of his work truck,” according to the affidavit.
The affidavit also states that, before he made this startling allegation, authorities confirmed Chris was “actively involved” in an affair with a coworker. (Investigators have not commented on what they suspect to be the motive for the murders.)
Speaking at a makeshift memorial last week outside the Watts’ home, friend Ashley Bell said she saw no signs of tension in Chris and Shanann’s relationship, describing them both as loving parents.
The triple slaying shattered that certainty,according to ABC News.
Bell said, “I just don’t understand it.”
source: people.com
