Haunting texts reveal Chris Watts’ strained marriage as first pic of him with his lover emerges – after he’s jailed for murdering his wife and kids
CHILLING text messages between Chris Watts and his wife show how their marriage was crumbling before he killed her and their two young daughters.
Evidence of Watts' rocky relationship with Shanann was revealed as the first picture of him and his mistress also emerged.
The messages are contained in newly released documents, which also include an interview with the triple murderer's lover, Nichol Kessinger.
Watts, 33, was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for murdering his pregnant wife Shanann, their daughters - four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste - and unborn son Nico.
Now more than 2,000 pages of documents about the case from the Weld District Attorney's Office have been released to through a public records request.
The report reveals how Shanann filmed a video revealing her third pregnancy to Watts - a clip which doesn't appear to show any sign of problems in the relationship.
But messages sent about three weeks later suggested their relationship was falling apart.
According to the report, one message Shanann sent to Watts read: "How can you sleep? Our marriage is crumbling in front of us and you can sleep."
His mistress Kessinger told police that Watts was struggling with finances, and that she did not know if he could afford another kid.
In her interview, Kessinger said Watts and Shanann, 34, "did not get along well" and that the couple's financial life was "troubling".
Investigators wrote: "She said Chris was struggling with finances and now he had a third kid on the way and she does not know if he could afford another kid.
"Shanann was not responsive to this financial trouble. Nichol said Chris always told her he wanted a third child and wanted a boy."
Kessinger said that while she doesn't believe her affair with Watts was the catalyst for the murders, it may have "accelerated the process".
She told investigators that ";money is the biggest catalyst for this event happening".
But prosecutors say Watt's motive for the murder was his desire to start a new life with Kessinger, whom he had been secretly dating for about two months.
Watts, 33, will spend the rest of his life behind bars after receiving five life sentences for slaughtering his pregnant wife and their daughters.
He pleaded guilty on November 6 to three charges of murder.
He also admitted two counts of murdering a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
Prior to Watts' sentencing on Monday, prosecutors said they agreed not to ask for the death penalty in exchange for Watts' guilty plea, after seeking approval from Shanann Watts' family.
First-degree murder charges in Colorado require a minimum sentence of life without a chance at parole for adults.
Judge Marcelo Kopcow, who has 17 years on the bench, told the packed courtroom in Weld County District Court: "This is perhaps the most inhumane and vicious crime I have handled."
Calling the murders "senseless" the judge slammed as "despicable" the way in which the bodies were dumped in an oil field, so Watts could pursue a romantic affair.
Judge Kopcow handed down five life sentences – three consecutive and two concurrent – with no possibility of parole. Watts also received an additional 48 years for the death of his unborn son, who was to be named Nico Lee, and 36 further years for crimes related to his disposal of their bodies.
Shanann’s father, Frank Rzucek, told the court his pregnant daughter and granddaughters’ lives had been taken by an “evil, heartless monster” who “took their bodies out like the trash”.
He added: “God only knows what happened that night but life will never be the same. They had all their lives to live.
“They were taken by a heartless one, taken by an evil monster… You took them out like trash, you disgust me.”
A friend asked police to check on Shanann Watts on August 13 when she could not reach her and grew concerned that the 34-year-old who was pregnant with a third child missed a doctor's appointment.
Local police initially handled the search and soon sought support from Colorado investigators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
At the same time, Christopher Watts spoke to local television reporters from the front porch of the family's home in Frederick - a small town on the plains north of Denver where drilling rigs and oil wells surround booming subdivisions.
Watts pleaded for his family to return home, telling reporters their house felt empty without four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste watching cartoons or running to greet him at the door.
Within days the 33-year-old was arrested and charged with killing his family.
According to court records, Watts admitted to police that he killed his wife.
He told investigators that he strangled her in "a rage" when he discovered she had strangled their two daughters after he sought a separation.
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Prosecutors have since called Watts' account "a flat-out lie."
The girls' bodies were found submerged in an oil tank, on property owned by the company Watts worked for until his arrest.
Shanann Watts' body was found buried nearby in a shallow grave.
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