Chris Watts case: Brother of murdered Shannan Watts reveals how she "beat all odds" to conceive her babies
Shanann Watts, the pregnant Colorado woman who was allegedly murdered along with her two young daughters by her husband, "beat all odds" to conceive her babies, according to her brother. This was revealed by Shanann's bother Frankie Rzucek in a Facebook post even as it came to light that Chris Watts, in custody for the murders, struggled with finances in the past. Shanann had been diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease that attacks healthy tissues and causes fertility problems and high-risk pregnancies, her brother wrote, adding that his sister had to conquer a multitude of problems with all three of her pregnancies.
He wrote on August 17: "No matter if her lupus was acting up or if she was pregnant, nothing stopped her from doing what needed to be done. She was very successful and driven. When our family found out she beat all the odds and become pregnant I can’t even explain our excitement."
The proud brother said that Shanann had been "born to be a mother" and was "blown away" by how she took motherhood head on with the birth of her first child, Bella. He wrote: "I was exhausted by just watching my sister. She made being a parent look easy."
Shanann along with her two daughters -- 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste -- were found murdered last week. This was a day after Chris Watts was arrested. A day before he was arrested, he spoke candidly to reporters outside the family home and had asked for the safe return of Shanann and the children, who according to him had gone missing, the New York Post reported.
Rzucek wrote in the Facebook post: "He [Christopher Watts] stole my whole world and treated them like they were trash. I’ve never been so mad, sad, enraged, hurt heartbroken, lost, and shocked in all my life. So forgive me for how I went about it. My sister and nieces meant the absolute world to me. They made me strive to be an even better man. I wanted them to be proud of their Uncle."
Authorities are yet to provide a motive for the alleged murders.
Before their tragic deaths, the Watts family is reported to have had some financial strain. The couple had moved to Colorado from North Carolina after they got married but they already had a lot of debt. They had filed for bankruptcy on July 2015 and, according to The Denver Post, had claimed liabilities of more than $400,000.
In 2014, Shanann and Chris had a combined income of $90,000 but had thousands of dollars piled up in credit card debt, student loans, and medical bills. Chris had just started a job with Anadarko Petroleum where he earned $61,500 and Shanann had been working at a children's hospital earning $18 an hour. They are also reported to have had almost $3,000 mortgage and $600 in monthly car payments. These formed the major part of their monthly expenses which was $4,900 a month.
Even though they had filed for bankruptcy, fortunes seemed to turn in the family's favor when Shanann got a job with Le-Vel and started selling their products. She had posted on Facebook about all the trips that she had been on after her employers paid the costs. She had written in one post: "We have qualified for so many amazing trips in 2 years that we never otherwise would have been able to visit!" The mother had also said that she had traveled to a few places through the company including Toronto, Punta Cana, and New Orleans.