Chris Watts Gets Life For Killing Pregnant Ex-NJ Mom, 2 Kids

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — The husband of a former New Jersey woman was sentenced to five life sentences in prison following her death and the death of their two young daughters in Colorado.

Weld County District Court Judge Marcelo Kopcow said the case against Chris Watts, was the "most inhumane and vicious crime" had ever presided over, Denver, Colorado Patch reported Monday.

The sentencing comes more than a week after Watts pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder, unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body. (See related: Chris Watts Pleads Guilty To Killing Pregnant Ex-NJ Mom, 2 Kids)

Watts admitted murdering his pregnant wife, Shanann, 34, and two daughters, Celeste and Bella, ages 3 and 4, in August, the Weld County District Attorney's Office in Colorado announced earlier this week. The family lived in Weld County, Colorado.

Originally, Watts faced the possibility of the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Because Watts agreed to a plea deal, the Weld County District Attorney's Office eliminated the death penalty from consideration.

Shanann said on her Facebook page that she was from Passaic, though she eventually moved with her family to North Carolina. They moved to Colorado five years ago.

She posted a loving video on Facebook about a year ago for the couple's anniversary. She posted a slideshow of the couple and a paragraph declaring her love for her husband.

Watts gave an interview with Denver7 in August where he said Shanann and his daughters had disappeared, leaving her keys on the table. Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant.

"I just want them back. I just want them to come back," he told the station. "If they're not safe right now, that's what's tearing me apart right now."

Watts claimed in the interview Shanann had returned from a work trip to Arizona and arrived home from the airport around 2 a.m. and he had left the house around 5:30 a.m. while she was still in the house. He claimed she was not responding to texts from him around 12:30 p.m., "but she didn't get back to any of her people as well."

According to an affidavit, Watts told police he took the bodies of his wife and children, put them into the backseat of his work truck and took them to an oil work site. Watts told police he buried Shanann and put his daughters' bodies inside oil tanks, Patch reported on the affidavit.

Additional reporting by Jean Loutus, Patch staff

Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com

Image: Christopher Watts, booking photo via Weld County Sheriff