Chris Watts felt he killed daughters 'twice' because they survived his first attempt to smother them to death
Chris Watts, who was convicted of the murder of his pregnant wife Shanann, 34, and two young daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, said he felt like he killed the latter two "twice" because they survived his first attempt to smother them to death.
The revelation came from author Cheryl Cadle, who struck a correspondence with Watts in prison and used the letters to write an explosive new book on the tragic murders called 'Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders.'
Speaking on the 'Dr. Oz Show,' Cadle said Watts had admitted to her that he wanted to first kill Bella and Celeste, and then turn his attention to his wife.
"Well, the morning of, he went into his baby girl's rooms and took a pillow from their bed and smothered them. And then he went into his room with Shanann and laid down next to her," she said. "They argued a little and he murdered her."
"So, when he was wrapping her in the sheets, both girls got up and saw him and started questioning what's wrong with mommy?" she added. "'What happened to mommy?' Bella, the oldest one, was crying. She had obviously been traumatized. She had bruises above her eyes, and you could tell she had been traumatized. Also, Cece, the younger one, was more confused. She was awake."
Watts eventually dragged Shannan's body into his truck, with her feet and face wrapped in garbage bags, and drove her and Bella and Celeste to a remote oil field owned by his then-employer, Anadarko.
There, he smothered the two young girls with a blanket and dumped their bodies inside separate oil tankers before going on to bury his wife in a shallow grave.
Watts pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree murder last year and was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, three to be served consecutively and two to be served concurrently.
He also received an additional 48 years for the unlawful termination of his wife's pregnancy and 36 years for three charges of tampering with a deceased body.