The affidavit in the case of Chris Watts, the Colorado father accused of murdering his pregnant wife Shanann Watts and their two young daughters, is expected to be made public on Monday, Aug. 20.
The release of the affidavit will come as Watts, 33, is formally charged.
Autopsies were completed on Friday on Shannan Watts, 34, and the two young girls, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. The cause of death for the three females has not been released.
All three bodies were found on the property of Anadarko Petroleum, a company that employed both Shanann and Chris Watts. The latter was fired after his arrest.
The bodies of the two girls were found submerged in oil inside of containers, a move investigators believe Chris Watts made so that they wouldn’t be found for some time. They were in the containers for four days.
Chris Watts requested through his lawyer on Friday for DNA samples to be taken from the throats of the girls, the hands of the girls and mother, and the nails of the mother, a request the judge denied. The request led some to believe the mother and two daughters may have been strangled by Watts.
He was scheduled to appear in court next on Tuesday, Aug. 21.
Watts Demonstrated Arrogance
Chris Watts initially pleaded for his wife and two daughters to return, claiming he didn’t know what happened to them.“This house isn’t the same. Last night was traumatic. Last night—I can’t really stay in this house again like, with nobody here,” Watts said in an interview broadcast on a local television station 9News. “I wanted that knock on the door. I wanted to see those kids running, just barrel rush me and give me a hug and just knock me on the ground, but that didn’t happen.”
Watts’s assertation that he was living in a situation “like a nightmare” and other comments indicate an arrogance and lack of empathy, a former FBI profiler stated.
“That’s a lot of arrogance and confidence that you could pull this off, and that’s not typical,” she said.
She said he made the plea in an attempt to push the investigation away from him, and his comments never displayed empathy, according to O'Toole.
“There is a noticeable absence of emotional behavior or words of emotion like, ‘I’m so scared,’ ‘I’m so worried about them,’” O'Toole said. “He talks about the house being empty, but that’s not the same as expressions of empathy. There is an absence of that.”
Watts made the plea on Aug. 13; he was arrested on Aug. 15.