Chris Watts’ parents say they want their son to take back his guilty plea

The parents of Chris Watts have finally broken their silence just a week after their son pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and their two children.

Ronnie and Cynthia Watts said their son isn’t a ‘sociopath’ despite him telling them that he killed his 34-year-old wife, Shanann. 

‘I know he confessed, but he was railroaded into it,’ Cynthia told the Denver Post on Monday. 

Chris Watts, of Colorado, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to killing Shanann and their two daughters Bella, four, and three-year-old Celeste in August after striking a deal with prosecutors.

That means the 33-year-old will not face the death penalty, but his mother says she told him not to confess to something he didn’t do.

 

Ronnie and Cynthia Watts (pictured) have finally broken their silence just a week after their son, Chris Watts, pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and their two children

Christopher Watts pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and their two children last Tuesday after striking a deal with prosecutors which means he will not face the death penalty

Shanann and their two children Bella and Celeste

Christopher Watts (left, and right with his family) pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant wife Shanann and their two children Bella and Celeste last Tuesday after striking a deal with prosecutors which means he will not face the death penalty

‘I want him to take back the plea deal,’ she said, adding that she believes the story her son told his father, that he killed his wife after he discovered Shanann had strangled their daughters to death, according to the Post.   

Cynthia also told ABC 7 Denver that she believes the lawyers were only thinking about saving her son’s life. 

But to her saving his life and life in prison are no different. 

‘He’s going to die in prison. I just want him to fight. I don’t want him to take this plea deal. I want him to plead not guilty to the children,’ she told the station.

‘If he didn’t kill the children, I want him to face that and let them prove it,’ Ronnie also told the station.

Ronnie said they are still looking for answers to a lot of questions about the case. 

‘Everything happened too quick there, from a case status to a plea,’ Ronnie added.

Chris Watts had initially denied the murders which happened in August this year. 

Cynthia Watts

Ronnie Watts

Chris Watts’ mother (left) said that she just wants her son to fight as his father, Ronnie said: ‘If he didn’t kill the children, I want him to face that and let them prove it’

Watts’ wife Shanann and their daughters Celeste and Bella were found dead in oil tanks just days after he reported them missing and made shifty television appearances pleading for them to come home.

Shanann was found in a shallow grave in a crude oil field where her husband worked. 

She was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy who she planned to name Nico. It later emerged that Watts had been cheating on his wife. 

Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy she was going to name Nico at the time of her tragic death 

Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy she was going to name Nico at the time of her tragic death 

The plea deal was approved by Shanann’s family who told the district attorney they did not want to end his life as he did their daughter’s and grandchildren’s. 

They did not speak after the hearing last Tuesday but watched somberly as the DA announced the outcome of the hearing.  

When the bodies were found, Watts changed his story to say his wife killed the girls after he told her he was leaving her. 

He claimed he then killed her in a vengeful rage for murdering them. 

As part of his defense, his lawyers refused to hand over DNA samples from his hands and feet, likely to stop prosecutors from being able to match it to any found on the girls or their mother’s body.  

Because the girls bodies were in oil for three days before they were found, any DNA evidence left on them is likely to have been compromised. 

Last Tuesday, Watts pleaded guilty to nine counts; four counts of murder (one for each child, his wife and their unborn child), unlawful termination of pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body. 

Before the victims' bodies were found, Watts made a shifty appearance on television pleading for his family's safe return

Before the victims’ bodies were found, Watts made a shifty appearance on television pleading for his family’s safe return

Shanann's parents Frank and Sandra Rzucek are pictured at the press conference after Watts' hearing on Tuesday. They did not speak

Shanann’s parents Frank and Sandra Rzucek are pictured at the press conference after Watts’ hearing on Tuesday. They did not speak

As part of the deal, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for the first four counts of murder. 

Sentencing will begin for the other crimes on November 19. 

Weld District Attorney Michael Rourke revealed after the hearing that Shanann’s family did not want her husband to be executed 

He said her mother Sandra Rzucek told him: ‘He made the choice to take those lives. 

‘I do not want to be in the position of choosing to take his.’  

Rourke added that a factor in the decision was the impending gubernatorial election which could determine whether or not a governor would even enforce the death penalty if it applied. 

Taking a stab at Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, who had repeatedly opposed the execution of another death row inmate Nathan Dunlap, Rourke said: ‘We explained to them the extraordinary delays that currently exist in the state of Colorado as a result of in part the actions of our current governor.

‘They were very strongly in favor of a resolution in this case short of the death penalty.   

‘That to me was the most important consideration in deciding how to proceed in this a case.

‘I don’t know how I could have sat in Sandy’s kitchen and asked her to commit the next 25 years of her life to the criminal justice system without any assurance that the sentence would ever actually be imposed,’ he said.  

The killings sparked national sympathy. Above is the family home in Greeley, Colorado 

The killings sparked national sympathy. Above is the family home in Greeley, Colorado 

Rourke said they had established a partial motive but would not say what that was. 

The victims’ autopsy reports remain under seal. Rourke said he was ‘sick’ and ‘saddened’ over the case. 

‘No one wins today. I never wanted to have to stand up and have a press conference like this. There is no cause for celebration.’ 

During the plea hearing on Tuesday, he said the falsehood that Shannan killed the children was corrected. 

‘The spotlight that he tried to shine on Shanann, falsely and incorrectly – a flat out lie – has been corrected. The spotlight shines squarely on him,’ he said. 

Shanann had returned home from a business trip when she was killed.

She was reported missing by a work colleague who became worried when she did not respond to messages. 

At first, Watts said he and his wife had been up all night having an emotional conversation. 

He said he went off to work and only knew something was wrong when he was contacted later by her colleagues.  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk