These are the chilling last photos of pregnant Shanann Watts and her young daughters taken just hours before they were murdered by her twisted husband Chris Watts.

Watts, 33, sent photos of the girls – Bella, four, and Celeste, three – to Shanann on the day he finalised his plans to wipe out his family so he could start a new life with his secret lover.

Sent at their mum’s request, they show the sisters having breakfast at a dining table inside the family’s home in Frederick, Colorado.

Shanann, who was away on a business trip and was desperately trying to save her marriage, later responded with a selfie showing her smiling in the sunshine before her flight home.

She later told him: "Thank you for taking good care of the kids this weekend so I can learn and work, I appreciate it!"

The following day, the 34-year-old mum and girls were dead and Watts later appeared on TV pretending they were missing as he pleaded for their safe return.

The girls were dumped in oil tanks and Shanann was buried in a shallow grave at an Anadarko Petroleum site where Watts worked.

The pictures of Bella, Celeste and Shanann were sent through instant messages and revealed in a 2,000-page document prepared by police.

The document became public after Watts admitted murdering his daughters and wife, who was 15 weeks pregnant with a boy she planned to call Nico.

Watts, who also admitted unlawfully terminating a pregnancy, was jailed for life on November 19 in a plea deal that saw him avoid a possible death sentence.

Police said the pictures of Bella and Celeste were taken on the morning of August 12, about 18 hours before they were murdered in the early hours of August 13.

Shanann sent a selfie a couple of hours later.

Earlier that morning, she had sent text messages to her husband, saying: "Good morning, baby, love you" and "Miss you guys".

She went on to tell a friend about problems in her marriage and how she wanted to work things out.

Watts, however, had become withdrawn and cold. His wife didn’t know he was having an affair and wanted to start a new life with his mistress Nichol Kessinger.

Shanann, a distributor with Le-Vel, asked her husband to call her because "I’d love to talk to you". He said "OK", but he never called.

Hours later, Watts took the girls to a birthday party and didn’t respond when his wife texted him to say "I love you".

Police have said he finalised his plans for the murder that day.

Watts, who didn’t want a third child, told a colleague he would head straight to a work site from his home on the morning of August 13.

He then had a nearly 12-minute phone conversation with his mother-in-law, Sandy Rzucek.

At 7.46pm on August 12, Shanann, who was preparing for her flight home from Phoenix, texted to ask if the girls were in bed, and after Watts said yes she wrote: "They must be exhausted."

Watts resent the photos of the girls at the dining table, and also sent the last known photo of Bella in life, showing her sat on a chair at the birthday party.

Shanann wrote: "Thank you for taking good care of the kids this weekend so I can learn and work, I appreciate it!"

She then made plans for dinner the following night, asking Watts what kind of vegetables he wanted.

"Green beans," he replied.

He didn’t answer when she called hours later, and he texted back claiming he had "passed out on the couch".

Shanann returned home just before 2am on August 13, and was murdered a short time later.

Watts left the family’s home at 5.48am with the bodies of his family piled in the back seat of his truck, and then drove to the oil site where he dumped them.

Friends and colleagues said he didn’t seem too upset when he claimed his wife and daughters were missing.

He gave an interview to a local TV station on August 14, but his lies quickly unravelled as police dug deeper into the case.

Watts was arrested on August 15 and the bodies were found on August 16.

Read More

The Watts family murders

Source: Read Full Article