Officials request autopsy reports be closed

The prosecutors who charged a Frederick man with murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters requested Monday that a judge keep the victims’ autopsy reports from the public until trial, court documents show.

The bodies of Shanann Watts and her daughters, 4yearold Bella and 3yearold Celeste, were found last month on Anadarko Petroleum Corporation property in rural Weld County.

The girls’ bodies were hidden in an oil tank and their mother was buried in a shallow grave nearby. Police charged Christopher Watts, Shanann’s husband and the girls’ father, in their killings.

Neither law enforcement nor prosecutors have officially released how the three died, though a defense motion filed last month suggested that the girls had been strangled to death. Prosecutors with the Weld County District Attorney’s Office believe the release of the autopsy reports could damage the continuing investigation.

“The disclosure of this information to the public prior to trial could result in tainting witnesses that have not yet been interviewed and impacting future jurors,” the prosecution’s motion states.

Autopsy reports are considered public records in Colorado and are generally accessible to anybody. But Colorado law states that a judge may close autopsies from the public if it would “do substantial injury to the public interest.”

Christopher Watts’ public defenders already believe their client’s ability to have a fair trial has been impacted. In a document filed Monday, the defense cited “significant damage already done to Mr. Watts’ rights to a fair trial and a fair and impartial jury” in its argument that Watts should not have to provide swabs of his cheeks or finger and palm prints.

Watts remains in the Weld County Jail without bond.