The Watts County District Attorney’s Office release new videos related to the Chris Watts investigation on Thursday afternoon, including one of the convicted murderer driving off with the bodies of his victims.
Surveillance footage captured by Watts’ neighbor shows the married father leaving his home on the morning of August 13 at around 5:30am.
He can be seen emerging from the house getting the truck, which he then backs up into the garage.
Then, after loading his truck, he drives the vehicle down the driveway and pauses for a moment before driving off down the road.
Captured: Chris Watts can be seen loading up his truck and driving off on the morning of August 13 after killing his family (above)
Victims: The footage was captured by his next door neighbor’s surveillance system, and shows Watts first backing his truck up to the garage (Watts with his daughters Bella and Celeste)
Watts had taken the girls to a birthday party on the afternoon of Sunday, August 12, and while Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, played in the pool their father started texting co-worker Kodi Roberts.
At 5.06pm that evening, Watts set in motion his plan for disposing of his wife and daughters’ bodies, as he texted Roberts that he would be making the drive out to one of the more distant oil fields that was managed by his company, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.
It is also where the bodies of Shanann, Bella and Celeste were discovered just days after they went missing.
Watts, per his own admission in interviews with law enforcement officials, then took his daughters home, gave them both showers, fed them pizza and got them each a snack before putting them to bed.
He noted that both girls were eager to see their mother, who was due to return home late that night.
Hours later, the girls and their mother Shannan were all murdered in the house, and their bodies disposed of at Cervi 6-29.
Shanann’s father was one of the last people to see the girls, revealing he spoke to them on FaceTime on Sunday evening.
Frank Rzucek stated in an interview with law enforcement officials that he spoke with both Watts and Bella, who was eating cold pizza and candy.
He made no mention of seeing Celeste.
Watts claimed that he put the girls down before 8pm and that Bella woke up twice, running out to ask when her mom would be returning home.
The young girl’s father and soon-to-be-murderer admitted to assuring her that she would see her mother in the morning.
A babysitter, who was the sister of the birthday boy whose party Watts and the girls attended that Sunday, also spoke with an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation.
She said that on Saturday Watts had asked her to watch the children while he attended a Rockies game, though it was later revealed that he was actually on a date with his mistress, Nichol Kessinger.
She had babysat for the girls the previous evening, when Watts had claimed to be attending a Colorado Rockies game.
The babysitter said that while watching the girls Shannan called at 7.50pm to check on the children’ while she was away and later posted a photo.
There was nothing remarkable that happened that night save for Watts returning home at 10.30pm, later than he had promised to be back at the house.
It was also her first time babysitting for the family, with the normal sitter who is a close friend of Shannon’s not called in for reasons that are not stated in the reports.
Watts set up the babysitter the night before by texting her father, stating: ‘Do you think McKenna is available to watch the girls for a few hours tomorrow night? I won a raffle at work for a Rockies game. lt’s with people I don’t know from work, but I haven’t been to a game in a while where the kids aren’t involved and only last an inning lol.’
The babysitter did have a different version of events as to what happened the following day though, saying that Watts left the party much earlier than he told authorities.
Happier times: Shanann was planning a romantic getaway for herself and husband Chris (above) to try and repair their marriage in the days before her murder
Watts’ mistress, Nichol Kessinger (above) claimed that his financial troubles were the main catalyst for the murders. Prosecutors say he wanted to start a new life with her, though
‘[The babysitter] stated the following day, Sunday August 12, 2018, Chris, Celeste and Bella came to her home for a birthday party for her younger brother,’ reads the CBI report.
‘Celeste and Bella are friends of her younger brother. [The babysitter] recalled Chris and his daughters left her home at about 3.30pm.’
Watts’ co-worker Roberts later told the an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that it was ‘unusual’ that Watts had texted him on a weekend, and stated that he did arrive to the site alone on Monday morning.
That day he did not seem to be out of sorts according to Roberts, but did make multiple trips to his car.
Unbeknownst to Roberts, he had just buried his wife in a shallow grave and dumped his daughters in an oil tank.
After strangling his wife with his hands and smothering Bella and Celeste last August, Watts loaded their bodies into his truck.
He spent a normal day at work and frequently texted his girlfriend, even as police began investigating his family’s disappearance.
He made calls to a real estate agent about selling the family home and told the girls’ school that they would not enroll that fall as planned.
Within days, he was charged with killing his family.
The girls’ bodies were found submerged in separate oil tanks on property owned by his employer. His wife’s body was found in a shallow grave nearby.