Man who lamented family’s disappearance arrested in deaths

Associated Press

FREDERICK, COLO.

After his pregnant wife and two daughters disappeared, Christopher Watts stood on his porch in Colorado and lamented to reporters how much he missed them.

He longed for the simple things, he said, such as telling his girls to eat their dinner and gazing at them as they curled up to watch cartoons.

“Last night, I had every light in the house on. I was hoping that I would just get ran over by the kids running in the door, just barrel-rushing me, but it didn’t happen,” he told Denver TV station KMGH.

On Thursday, Watts was in jail after being arrested on suspicion of killing his family, probably before he spoke those words. Authorities did not offer a motive.

The body of 34-year-old Shanann Watts was found on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, one of the state’s largest oil and gas drillers, where Christopher Watts used to work, police said.

Investigators believed they knew where to find 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste and were working to recover their bodies.

“As horrible as this outcome is, our role now is to do everything we can to determine exactly what occurred,” John Camper, director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, said at a news conference.

Watts, 33, has not been formally charged. A judge ordered him held without bail and told prosecutors to file charges by Monday afternoon. He set a Tuesday hearing to review the case.

Watts’s attorney, James Merson of the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office, left without commenting to reporters. He did not immediately respond to a voicemail left at his office Thursday by The Associated Press.

A family friend reported Shanann Watts lice said.

A spokeswoman for the oil company said Christopher Watts was fired Wednesday, but she declined to provide any details, citing the active investigation.