Chris Watts’s Friends Regret Defending Him

A friend of Chris Watts described him as a family man that would do anything for his daughters.

Kris Landon knew the Watts family for about four years.

“His entire persona was as a family man, talking about his wife and his girls,” Landon told People. “I believed until the other day that his entire life was those girls, and that he would die for them.”

Watts was charged with “three counts of first-degree murder with deliberation, two counts of first-degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by someone who is in a ‘position of trust’ over them, one first-degree count of unlawful termination of pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased body,” People reported.

Watts was arrested on Aug. 15, two days after his wife and daughters were reported missing. A day later, the bodies of his wife and two daughters were found on the property of an oil and gas company that formerly employed Watts.

“He’s just a very warm, personable person,” Landon told People. “He never seemed like someone with anything to hide, because he is so good at looking you in the eye and talking to you. He’s very gifted with words, like he knew what to say to make you like him and warm up to him.”

Watts spoke to the media before he was arrested and told them he just wanted his wife and daughters to come back home. He claimed to not know where they were and not know how they left the house, in an interview conducted by 9 News.

Watts eventually confessed to killing his wife, saying he killed her at their home, in the town of Frederick, Colorado, north of Denver. He said he did it after he saw her strangling his daughter while the other daughter lay blue in the face nearby. He says he saw the killing via a baby monitor video, Time reported.

Watts said his wife killed the children after he told her he wanted a separation. He said he broke into a rage when he saw the images of his wife strangling their daughter.

After Watts took their bodies to an oil field, the girls lay submerged in crude oil for four days while the mother’s body lay in a shallow grave, according to documents obtained by Time.

Days before his arrest, friends of Watts let him sleep over and defended him against rising suspicions of his involvement, a decision they now regret.

“That’s something I’ll never forget, that we, we allowed this guy in our house,” Watts’ friend Nick Thayer told KUSA. “I mean, had we had any inclination that we thought he was involved at all, no way would I have let him in my house with my wife and kid.”

Watts’s wife Shanann was 15-weeks pregnant at the time of her alleged murder. According to an arrest affidavit obtained by People, Watts was allegedly having an affair with a co-worker.

Watts was in court on Aug. 21. His father-in-law was in tears and his brother-in-law glared at him. Watts did not enter a plea, Time reported.

Watts is scheduled for another court date on Nov. 16. District Attorney Michael Rourke said it was too early to talk about the death penalty.

From NTD.tv