Found Deceased CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *Arrest* #39

[Tigerlily75]

I don't believe CW's confession. But one thing I was wondering about was what if he just snapped and accidentally killed one of the girls. He's not used to being alone with them and he's definitely not used to solo parenting. I keep thinking maybe snapped like he said SW did and killed one of the girls. He realizes this is... very, very bad, and kills the other one since she was there and would know what happened. He knows he will never get away with this and has no way to explain it, so he decides he needs to kill Shanann too. Then he does kill her when she gets home as he says he did and disposed of them as we know he did.

Two out of the three are still premeditated murder. Just wondering if it could have snowballed rather than been entirely pre-planned since it didn't seem to be planned very well. (Just an idea, don't throw tomatoes)

This has crossed my mind too. That after 5 weeks of solitude, maybe he wasn’t coping with tantrums and meltdowns. He’s a big guy, one swipe could do a lot of damage to a toddler.

Still, to then go on and murder the rest of your family.. I don’t know. I think in that scenario he’d be more likely to hide the body/bodies and claim kidnapping and not kill SW too. Or claim a child fell down the stairs, or something. The killing the whole family just seems too out of place.

 

[JudgeJudi]

A great idea to have a timeline buried at the beginning of each thread! I would add the 1:48 a.m. that Nicole arrived, the 5:27 a.m. that he backed in and left a short time later, the 12:10 p.m. that Nicole arrived and spoke over the ring,

the 1:40 p.m. as a correction that officer Conrad was *dispatched*,( as far as I know we do not know what time he arrived at the scene is this was not an emergency call).

And that at 2:36 p.m. detective Baumhover arrives.

All of these are from the warrantless affidavit, with the exception of when she and CW communicated at the door which was in a video.

The very first entry under Monday says the security camera catches NUA dropping her off at 1:48. I've gone back and edited my post re dispatch of Coonrod and arrival of Det. Baumhover.

This wasn't meant to be a definitive timeline, just answering the quoted posts.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Absolutely. Thats incredibly useful technology, as modern equipment requires you to push a device over the area you are searching.

Doing that from the air, would allow you to at the very least, determine areas where ground technology could be utilized.

Drones are fabulous for saving lives too. In Oz they've now started using them over many beaches to sight surfers in distress or who have been carried out too far from shore.

 

[JudgeJudi]

And there was a flight delay. I think that interfered with his plan considerably. Jmo

His fate was sealed by the flight delay and NUA's arrival the next day.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Are all households up and wandering downstairs at two o'clock (or whatever of two times he has given)?

I'm curious why he went downstairs for a moment, and I don't believe it was to get some water. It sounds like he wanted to grab something quickly, perhaps something he could strike her with, but something he needed right away.

 

[NuttMegg]

I thought I may as well put in all relevant parts of the timeline.

Monday, Aug. 13
1:48 a.m. — A security camera on a neighbor's house captures SW being dropped off by a friend. (NUA)

5:27 a.m. — The neighbor's surveillance camera captures CW backing his truck up to his garage.

1:40 p.m. — Officer Coonrod was dispatched.

Approx. 2:35 p.m. — Det. Baumhover arrived.

Tuesday, Aug. 14
7 a.m. — A detective requests that a press release about their status as missing be sent out.

Tuesday afternoon — CW speaks with 9News.

Wednesday, Aug. 15
4:15 p.m. — Prior to CW’s confession, police investigators start a drone search of the oil and gas site where they believed the bodies to be located. They spot a bed sheet matching the pattern of several pillow cases and a top sheet recovered from a kitchen trash can in the home earlier that day. Police also spot "fresh movement of dirt consistent with a clandestine grave near the oil tanks."

Wednesday evening — LE learn of the affair with a co-worker. CW "said he would tell the truth after speaking with his dad" who was at the police station at the time. He then confessed “the truth” of what happened.

11:30 p.m. — CW arrested on suspicion of 3 x first-degree murder charges and three charges of tampering with a deceased human body.

Thursday, Aug. 16
2:30 p.m. — CW appears in court – bond denied

Thursday afternoon — SW’s body is found in a shallow grave”. The children are found inside oil tanks located near SW’s grave later that evening.

Timeline: Investigation into Christopher Watts, Colorado family killing

Killer dad ‘confessed’ after ‘chat’ with father

Very helpful, thanks. I think some of my confusion is that apparently they were just using the drone, and i was thinking they were out on site before he decided to tell truth. But there just wasn't enough time to do much field work. I was a week late in monitoring their murders.

 

[NuttMegg]

I'm curious why he went downstairs for a moment, and I don't believe it was to get some water. It sounds like he wanted to grab something quickly, perhaps something he could strike her with, but something he needed right away.

i think it was one of those gems of truth he drops here and there, partial gems. Imo he went down to get the garbage bags.

 

[kay74]

Obviously he went into a rage. I think she found out that night when she got home he was having an affair which she suspected and told him she was leaving.

 

[JudgeJudi]

i think it was one of those gems of truth he drops here and there, partial gems. Imo he went down to get the garbage bags.

But why would he do that at this critical time? If we went by his "confession", Bella was already dead and Cece was already being strangled. I think it was something else. IDK

 

[dixiegirl1035]

His fate was sealed by the flight delay and NUA's arrival the next day.

...and living in a community that takes it seriously when someone is wanting to do a well check and demands, actually demands to enter the house! With the owner's permission of course!

That is one on top of the other which is fabulous. It took both parties in my opinion, it took the police to actually demand to enter or we would not know what we knew so quickly. Thankfully they lived in an area where the police were so proactive in this situation. And believed NUA!

ETA, I have been misspelling her name for a very long time, apologies. I need to use her initials I guess. Corrected with initials

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I'm curious why he went downstairs for a moment, and I don't believe it was to get some water. It sounds like he wanted to grab something quickly, perhaps something he could strike her with, but something he needed right away.

I guess that is interesting that he interjected that, versus saying she came in and I rolled over to go to sleep, and then 10 minutes later I rolled over and saw on the monitor what I saw. I wonder why he felt he needed to say he went downstairs? And if he did he would have to walk by the daughters doors as he walked back up.

Did he think that the neighbors camera would catch a downstairs light going back on? But if so, he would have thought that the lights going on before he left in his truck left would have also showed on the camera. I wonder if it actually did?

 

[JudgeJudi]

I bet he gets asked that if it goes to trial.

 

[JudgeJudi]

I have been reading this since the beginning and all of that time I have been constantly thinking of Ian Stewart (Helen Bailey case in UK), IMHO I think CW and IS are very similar.

That was simply shocking ... absolutely disgusting. And poor little Boris. I'll never forget that. I'd wager a bet that he was thrown in alive too. That had to be one of the most premeditated cases I've ever heard of.

There are similarities between the two. HB and SW had many traits in common too. Both were very outgoing, had many friends, were generous, worked hard etc etc.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

But why would he do that at this critical time? If we went by his "confession", Bella was already dead and Cece was already being strangled. I think it was something else. IDK

Yep, How could he know that Bella was dead? How could he have have surmise that or proven that before he killed his wife and son? Even if his story was true cough cough

Children are sprawled out all over the place when they are sleeping, and I have seen many photographs of the girls sleeping under pillows!

What would be different as far as sprawling because blue is not correct in my opinion.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Thoughts about timeline....

Will autopsies be able to determine who died first? Usually the coroner gives a timeframe of a wide range of hours using different factors. For example the girls’ stomach contents could show nothing after the bday party. But doesn’t mean they died before dinner. Could be they ate so much at party they weren’t hungry later.

Does the submersion in oil affect the normal death process of a body?

If a timeline can’t be 100% determined, does that help his defense?

Gastric emptying is a very inexact science. If you followed the Pistorius trial you'd remember what happened there. Hard vegetables remain in the stomach much longer than a lot of other things and I can't believe the babies would eat much of those. It normally takes about 6 hours IIRC before all the food has been digested so the time of their demise would be critical. If they were in bed by 6:30, he'd have to murder them by about midnight.

 

[BabyButterfly]

It’s late and totally a joke .. sorry, really, my humor is a thing only family appreciates.

I love and appreciate your humor

 

[NuttMegg]

But why would he do that at this critical time? If we went by his "confession", Bella was already dead and Cece was already being strangled. I think it was something else. IDK

Well maybe his timeline isn't honest (understatement). Maybe he didn't go downstairs before they were murdered, but after.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Obviously he went into a rage. I think she found out that night when she got home he was having an affair which she suspected and told him she was leaving.

And perhaps she said she was leaving with the children, and yep, he said they were separating. Permanently. And he was making sure that the children were always separated from her.

 

[JudgeJudi]

Obviously he went into a rage. I think she found out that night when she got home he was having an affair which she suspected and told him she was leaving.

I don't think he went into a rage. She had mentioned to several friends that she suspected he was having an affair including NUA, her close friend who dropped her off at home that night

 

[NuttMegg]

I don't think he went into a rage. She had mentioned to several friends that she suspected he was having an affair including NUA, her close friend who dropped her off at home that night

For the time being I'm focused on the AP dumping him that weekend, and SW saying she was leaving with the kids. Kind of like anger building over a couple of days, kaboom.