Colorado killer gets life sentence
Man strangled wife, murdered 2 kids
GREELEY, Colo. — A man who strangled his pregnant wife and suffocated their two young daughters wanted to escape his marriage and growing family, prosecutors said Monday as a judge imposed a sentence of life without parole after a plea deal kept the killer from facing the death penalty.
Christopher Watts, who pleaded guilty two weeks ago, did not speak during the hearing. One of his attorneys said Watts was “sincerely sorry.”
As Watts listened with his head down, Shanann Watts’ parents detailed their ongoing struggle to understand how he could murder the three people who considered him a hero — Shanann, 34, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. Frank Rzucek said he was disgusted by the way his son-in-law took his wife and two daughters “out like the trash” and dubbed him an “evil monster.”
“Prison is too good for you,” Rzucek said. “This is hard to say, but may God have mercy on your soul.”
Prosecutors have said Shanann Watts’ relatives, who live in North Carolina, asked them not to seek the death penalty when defense attorneys made the proposal.
Watts, 33, was formally sentenced to consecutive life sentences for the murders. He also received a 48-year sentence for unlawful termination of a pregnancy and 12 years each for tampering with a corpse, totaling 84 years.
The girls’ bodies were found submerged in separate oil tank on property owned by the company Watts worked for. His wife’s body was found in a shallow grave nearby.
As a prosecutor detailed the injuries found on the bodies, Rzucek leaned forward, gasping. Michael Rourke said Shanann Watts was strangled, but her lack of significant injuries suggested that her death came slowly.
The girls were smothered, and Rourke said there were signs Bella “fought for her life.” Celeste had no visible injuries, he said.
Christopher Watts’ parents, Cindy and Ronnie Watts, were permitted to speak as the girls’ grandparents.
“We love you,” Cindy Watts said into a microphone before turning to look directly at her son. “And we forgive you, son.”
Watts wiped away a tear with his shirt after his parents left the podium. He kept his head down for much of the hearing, speaking only once to confirm that he did not want to make a statement before Judge Marcelo Kopcow imposed his sentence.
Friends of Shanann Watts lined up inside the courthouse Monday morning.