Friends, neighbors and social media describe the Watts family as "perfect," but after the Colorado husbandwas arrested on suspicion of killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters, many are left wondering how and why.
Christopher Watts, 33, is accused of killing his wife, 34-year-old Shanann Watts, and their two children,Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, after Shanann returned from a business trip in the early morning hours ofAug. 13.
Watts told police he and Shanann spoke "emotionally" about possibly separating early that morning, and after that conversation Shanann strangled both children. Watts then admitted to strangling Shanann in a fit of rage, according to arrest documents.
Police were first alerted to Shanann's disappearance on Aug. 13 by a friend who said Shanann wasn't answering her phone just hours after she had dropped Shanann off at home from the business trip.
Shanann, who worked as a brand promoter for a nutrition and supplement company Le-Vel since January 2016, was always on her phone for workso it was unlike her to miss calls, her friend Nickole Atkinson told ABC News.
"It wasn't making sense to me," Atkinson told ABC.
Atkinson also told ABC she was concernedthat Shanann missed a doctors appointment themorning of Aug. 13, since she was 15 weeks pregnant with the couple's third child.
An expectant couple
Shanann and Chris met in North Carolina after a mutual friend introduced them on Facebook in 2010, Shanann said in a live video she posted in May. They got married in North Carolina on Nov. 3, 2012, according to her Facebook page.
In the live video, Shanann said that she met Chriswhile going through a health crisis.
"I met Chris because of those health challenges," she said in the video."Because I got so sick, I let him in ...He's the best thing that has ever happened to me."
Prior to meeting Chris, Shanann was married and had the last name King, according to public records. She was divorced in 2009.
In a video posted to Shanann's Facebook page on June 11, she surprises Chris when he comes home from work with the news that she's pregnant with their third child. She's wearing a shirt that says "Oops, we did it again."
Earlier this summer, Shanann and her daughters went to North Carolina for six weeks to visit family. Chris stayed behind in Frederick for the most part, but was on the East Coast at the beginning of August.
North Carolina mother,Michele Greer, said she met Shanann in line for a ride at Myrtle Beach. She later noticed Shanann in one of her photos from the day. In the image Shanann and her father, Frank Rzucek, are watching one of Shanann's daughters playing on a bungee trampoline.Chris Watts is seen behind Shanann.
Michele said the picture she took is chilling to her now — a happy moment frozen in time before the tragedy unfolded.
Financial troubles
Public records show Shanann and Chris bought their Frederick home in 2013.
Chris started a job at Anadarko Petroleum in early 2015, according to a June 2015 bankruptcy filing. He was reportedly fired from the company the day of his arrest Aug. 15.
Bankruptcy documents indicateChris and Shanann made a combined income of about $100,000 per year when they filed in 2015, and they were paying about $3,000 per month for a mortgage on their house they purchased for nearly $400,000.
The family was also being sued by their homeowners association, Wyndham Hill Masters Association, Inc. for $1,533.80. They were due for a court appearance in that case on Aug. 24.
Life in Colorado
Shanann's Instagram and Facebook show her and Chris going on trips to places like San Diego, Las Vegas and Puerto Vallarta, all paid for by Shanann's employer, Le-Vel.
Most of Christopher Watts' online presencehas been removed since his arrest.
Since then, a video of him giving a speech in 2009 on relationship deterioration and repair for a communications class in Broomfield has surfaced.
"Sometimes when you have children and your relationship starts to deteriorate, a child could help repair it," Watts says in his speech.
Chris — who according to arrest documents admitted to having an affair with a coworker prior to Shanann's death — also talks about fidelity in the presentation.
“Even at the job. You might meet a new person and (it) could strengthen into something else and could weaken the bond you have with the partner you have.”
“And you feel that you might be better with someone else that you’ve met,” he declares. “You think that you can no longer do — that your partner is someone that you can’t be with.”
Since Chris Watts' arrest, friends and neighbors have reported that they had no idea he was capable of the crimes he's accused of.
"They were always hugging or holding hands or kissing," Amanda Thayer told Coloradoan sister station 9News of the couple. "They had the perfect family."
Nick and Amanda Thayer, who took Chris Watts into their home in between Shanann's disappearance and his arrest, said their families spent many holidays together and their children were all close as well.
"If we had any inclination that he was involved at all, no way would I have let him into my house," Nick Thayer told 9News.
Christopher Watts has been formally charged with nine felonies, including three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by a person in a position of trust, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
He is scheduled to appear in court again on Nov. 19. He's being held in Weld County Court without bond.
All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in court. Arrests and charges are merely accusations by law enforcement until, and unless, a suspect is convicted of a crime.
►Update 11/6/2018: Chris Watts pleads guilty to murder of wife Shanann and two daughters.
►Christopher Watts hears charges in slayings of wife, daughters in Colorado
►Timeline: Key dates in investigation of deaths of Shanann Watts, 2 daughters in Colorado
►Colorado murder suspect claims pregnant wife strangled 2 young daughters
►Court documents: Shanann Watts' body was found in shallow grave
►Candlelight vigil for slain Colorado mother, daughters draws hundreds
