In the early morning hours of August 13, 2018, pregnant Shan’ann Watts returned to her home after a business trip out of town. The only person who knows the details of what happened next is her husband, Chris Watts.

After not hearing from Shan’ann the morning of August 13th, her friend attempted to visit the Watts family home and found it empty and locked, with no signs of Shan’ann or her two young daughters, Celeste and Bella. Chris had been at work at an oil site and had left the house at around 5am, and claimed he didn’t know where the rest of his family was. The police were called and after Chris gave permission, they entered the house to begin their search. Shan’ann’s phone and medication was found in the house, along with all of the girls’ clothing and toys. No signs of struggle were present.

Immediately the media picked up the story of the missing family and Chris began giving stone-faced interviews, reminiscent of Scott Peterson’s media interviews. After failing a polygraph test on August 15th, just two days after the family went missing, Chris was arrested and confessed to the killings. Originally, Chris claimed that Shan’ann had killed the children and he murdered her after finding them, but he ultimately conceded that he murdered all three of them.

Chris smothered Shan’ann, then took her body with his two daughters (who were still alive at the time) to his work site for the day. He then smothered his daughters, buried Shan’ann in a shallow grave and put Celeste and Bella into the massive oil drums. Luckily, all three bodies were able to be recovered and put to rest.