In Part Two of the full Chris Watts Confession Transcription, Chris describes the horrific strangulation of Shanann, his daughter Bella walking in the room, putting the girls in the truck alive, their murders, and Bella’s last words.

(Continued from Part One and Part Two of Chris Watts Interview Confession Transcript)

Full Disclosure: Part 3 of the Chris Watts Confession Transcript from the FBI jail interview gets graphic and deeply disturbing. He begins to, for the first time, describe the murders of his wife Shanann Watts and daughters Bella and CeCe.

Note to other media outlets about use: I have spent days transcribing the 5 hours Chris Watts interview, since the FBI did not make a full interview transcription available. You are welcome to use it by linking back to this website.

Grahm (FBI): Ok. So exactly what did you say and what happened?

Chris: So when I woke her up, and was like hey we just gotta talk, I just told her I don’t feel compatible. I don’t feel like this is gonna work. Can we cancel the trip to Aspen? Cuz she booked a trip that week to go to some mystery four star luxury hotel or something.

Grahm: Just the two of you or the whole family?

Chris: Just me and her. She had Amanda Thayer coming to watch the kids that week that weekend or something. I was just like “Can we cancel that, can we like do something like..” From what I remember I even said “Can we move to Brighton?” To get away from this house. I’m not sure if that was in the beginning or end part of the conversation or what not. That conversation went so many different ways, like it had gone from staying together to not staying together  to just like, all of the above.

Grahm: Ok. So this is half and hour, an hour or what?

Chris: Definitely not more than a half hour I don’t think…I don’t think.

Tammy: Are you crying? Is she crying?

Chris: It’s back and forth. She’s got mascara- she didn’t wash her face when she got home so she had makeup on, so mascaras running all over her and stuff like that. Nothing about that conversation—I just wish I could take it all back. The whole Nikki thing back, everything.

Grahm: So when did it turn?

Chris: As far as the conversation?

Grahm: Mmhmm.

Chris: Just at the end when I was telling her like, I told her I didn’t love her anymore, that’s when it happened.

Grahm: What happened?

Chris: She told me to get off her and I put my hands around her.

Tammy (CBI): Did you say she said something like that “you’re hurting the baby” or something?

Chris: Yeah that was before that, cuz like, when I was straddling her it was kinda like around her waist type of deal.

Tammy: Why did you get on her like that?

Chris: I just…when we got on the bed…that’s..that’s just where I got on.

Grahm: Is that so she would listen to you?

Chris: I felt like she could probably listen to me just laying beside her but I got on top of her. And everytime I think about Im just like, “Did I know I was gonna do that before I got on top of her?” I don’t know.

Grahm: Really- that’s an interesting thought, Chris. You don’t know if you knew.

Chris: It’s just like you know everything that happened that morning I just I don’t know like, I try to go back in my head- I didn’t want to do this but I did it. Everything just kinda like—

Tammy: Felt like you had to?

Chris: It just felt like it was—I don’t even want to say I felt like I had to, I just feel like there was already something in my mind that was implanted that was gonna do it and I woke up that morning and it was gonna happen and I had no control of it.

Grahm: You never thought about it before?

Chris: It was just like I don’t want like-like in the sentencing hearing the prosecutor said it take two to four minutes for something like that to happen, like why couldn’t I just let go?

Dave (Frederick CO Detective): Was it feeling like its in motion and you just couldn’t stop it?

Chris: Yeah it was just like – I don’t even wanna know what she saw when she looked back at me, honestly.

Tammy: Did you look at her? What was she doing?

Chris: She wasn’t fighting.

Tammy: Why do you think she wasn’t fighting?

Chris: I don’t know, maybe she was praying maybe she was just..I read the Bible it said you know like ..uh..I read a Scripture that said don’t ..a ..a..forgive these people for they do not know what they do. Maybe she was saying that I don’t know what she was saying in her head. Like when you guys told me “take off your shirt” check for defensive wounds, like there wasn’t gonna be any. She didn’t fight I don’t know like, why.

Pictured Above: Police photos of Chris Watts. Jail intake and photo where they checked for defensive wounds, as discussed in the Chris Watts confession transcript.

Tammy: Could she grab your arms or were her arms pinned down or?

Chris: No, not that I remember, I don’t think so, I mean I don’t think, like, I moved to where my knees are around her arms or anything, but, I just kinda like when I got on top of her we just started talking and that was it. Its kinda like in my head or the back of my head that was gonna happen just like at the end of the conversation it was just like, that’s what happened. I just wish I could have let go.

Tammy: Did it seem like it was that long? Two to four minutes? How long did it seem for you?

Chris: Almost kinda felt like it was longer almost cuz it felt like time was standing still. It’s kinda like I just saw my life disappearing before my eyes but I just couldn’t let go. It was like somebody else, like, like if you picture somebody else around you holding your hands- holding you to keep you from not letting go.

Dave: At some point there was a statement about rage. Do you feel like you were in a rage at that point?

Chris: That’s the only way I can describe it, honestly. Like a snap. I guess my attorney had said strangulation is more of a like a, I don’t know, passionate type thing -I don’t know how that can be passionate.

Tammy: It’s just intimate cuz you’re right in there, using your own hands. It’s a lot different then someone standing across a room and you shooting them or something like that, so…

Chris: I guess it just felt like somebody was like, behind me, just like, (makes popping sound). Just…I just couldn’t let go.

Grahm: It’s interesting to me because there was a lot of things in your life that were like that. Maybe you just felt out of control, or maybe felt like I don’t know why I couldn’t take a step back or, you know? Like even when you said your buddy was like let’s go to the football game, you wanted to say yes you just couldn’t.

Chris: I wanted to , like I, I hadn’t been to a football game since North Carolina so I was just like “yeah sure”, like, I wanted to say that, I wanted to just text yeah, yeah babysitter fell through nope, can’t go.

Grahm: Soo, then what?

Chris: After, you know, Shanann was like, once that was…once she was gone…it was just like, I didn’t know what was going on, it feels like a traumatic event type. Everything I was shaking I didn’t know what had happened. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what I had done. I still wasn’t in that right state of mind I don’t think like I wasn’t in control of what I could think or what I could do in that point of time. Most people say “Why didn’t you just call 911?”. Unless you’re in that situation you don’t know what you would have done. It’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback.

Grahm: I agree with that

Chris: Like you said if someone shoots someone you don’t know what was going through their mind at that point in time. You don’t know what you would have done.

Grahm: So what happened next?

Chris: Bella came in the room.

Grahm: Is that what happened? Bella came in? What did she say?

Chris: ?

Grahm: Did she hear something, is that why she came in?

Chris: Obviously, I think

Grahm: Ok. What did you tell her?

Chris: Mommy don’t feel good.

Grahm: And then, did that happen with Bella right in that room?

Chris: Not in our room.

Grahm: Okay, what happened?

Chris: She walked in, she thought, you know, Shanann was sleeping.

Grahm: Did you take her back to her room?

Chris: I put Shanann in that sheet [[???]

Grahm: Okay, and then what?

Chris: Carried her downstairs, backed my truck up.

Grahm: At that point were the girls still there?

Chris: (Assuming he nods)

Grahm: Okay, so Shanann’s in the truck, then you went back to the house?

Chris: Got everybody back in the truck.

Grahm: Was Bella first, or was CeCe first?

Chris: In the truck?

Grahm: I’m sorry- so Shanann was first, and then Bella was next? Was Bella alive when you guys got in the truck? (Assuming Chris nodded by response) Oh, okay, what happened?

Chris: They woke back up

Grahm: Okay.

Chris: I don’t really want to talk about this part, honestly.

Grahm: Okay.

Chris: Those are my kids, my babies, I have to talk to them every night (cannot understand through crying)

Grahm: Okay.

Chris: Every time I see pictures of them, I don’t know how this could have happened. Being a dad was the best part of my life. I took it all away.

Tammy: I think that’s the hardest part for us Chris, is we see those videos, we see that love you had for your girls like it’s obvious to us, and even to us, it’s hard for us to understand how a dad who’s giving piggyback rides and making snacks and watching princess movies and those kind of things um, how you get to that point, you know?

Pictured Above: Shanann Watts’ Facebook video shows Chris Watts giving playing with Bella and Celeste and giving piggyback rides, as discussed in the Chris Watts confession transcript.

Chris: I know, just like I said something else was controlling me that day and I had no control over to like, fight back.

Tammy: Yeah.

Chris: Like when that prosecutor said Bella bit her tongue, like, repeatedly, I just want to just bang my head up against a wall.

Tammy: So you put Shanann in the truck and then you put the two girls in the truck? Were they just sitting in their carseats or – I guess they probably didn’t have car seats in your truck did they?

Chris: No, they were sitting in the back in like that bench seat.

Tammy: So, Shanann was back there, too?

Chris: She was on the floor.

Tammy: What did they say about Shanann being on the floor?

Chris: Is Mommy okay?

Tammy: What did you tell them?

Chris:  I said she’ll be fine.

Tammy: Did you have their stuff with them? Like their toys and their blankets and stuff?

Chris: They had something with them that they carried. One of them had, like CeCe and Bella had a blanket or something with them. Like a pink blanket or…

Tammy: What about the dog? I think one of them had a [stuffed] dog, right? That talked?

Chris: Yeah, one of them had a little barking dog.

Tammy: Was that with you too, do you know?

Chris: I think it was. It’s hard to remember if they had like the big blanket, small blanket…

Tammy: So, I think I saw on the video that you put a gas can or something in the back of your truck, is that right?

Chris: Mhmm.

Pictured Above: Neighbor’s security camera shows Chris loading a gas can into his truck on the morning of his family’s murders, as discussed in the Chris Watts confession transcript.

Tammy: Did you have different plans for when you put that in there?

Chris:  I don’t know what was going through my head I feel maybe I could just get rid of myself at the same time if I was doing all of this, honestly.

Tammy: Yeah.

Grahm: Did you think about that?

Tammy: What did you think about that?

Chris: I didn’t feel like I deserved to live after that happened.

Grahm: Was there any thought to the whole family going away that day, to include you?

Chris: After everything happened that was a definite thought.

Grahm: See, it’s interesting to me we had all kind of wondered if there was a point when you were all together and if you were all going to pass together, because that to me makes sense, even though it sounds crazy, that’s what a family man does, right?

Chris: A family man doesn’t do what he did.

Grahm: No, I know. I guess what I mean is, it seems like you guys were going to be together forever in that way, is that maybe what was going through your head?

Chris: Honestly, I just felt like after I didn’t deserve to live. Whatever judgement I was gonna come upon myself, you know, I just didn’t deserve to be on this earth anymore after what happened.

Tammy: So what made you not do that, do you think?

Chris: I don’t know it was more of just..cuz with the site, maybe it was just more of like a I would have hurt more people than just me and everybody else. I know there was other people out there, not like at the site but other people maybe out in the area. Like, I didn’t want something on the site to catch fire and blow up, and then other people around would get hurt in the same.

Tammy: So you were thinking initially about starting a fire out there or an explosion or something? Or?

Chris: No, not for that, maybe I could take care of myself out there.

Grahm: How?

Chris: (*Hard to understand sounds like “With gasoline messing with me”) I don’t have a gun, I don’t have anything like that. It’s not like I could just commit suicide that way.

Grahm: So, just to blow yourself up?

Chris: It was just— I wasn’t thinking— I don’t have weapons. I’ve never hunted before in my life. I don’t what- nothing was right that morning.

Tammy: I remember you kept telling me that. You kept saying “I didn’t know what I was doing, Tammy, I didn’t know!”

Chris: When you asked about the sheet like “What were you doing” it’s like, I don’t know what I was doing.

Tammy: I think you were just in automatic mode or – seemed like- so did you drive straight out there? So what were you thinking on the way out there?

Chris: I was- kinda like what I’m doing right now, I’m just nervous, shaking, not knowing like what’s going to happen.

Tammy: Yeah.

Chris: Like I know my life is completely changed. I don’t know what’s happening. Like, honestly I try to picture that whole ride. It’s a 45 minute to an hour ride out there. And it’s just like couldn’t I have like saved my girls’ life? Couldn’t I have done something? Why did I do that? I don’t know! This is my flesh and blood. This is what I wanted all my life was to be a dad, just to have, you know, kids, and they love me and they all that and nothing makes sense. Like, the oil tank- nothing makes sense. I’m just like, what are you doing?

Pictured Above: Drone footage shows an aerial view of desolate Cervi 319 oil site, as discussed in the Chris Watts confession transcript.

Tammy: So what happened when you got out there?

Chris: I took Shanannn out. Just to place off to the site. Then –

Tammy: What were the girls doing when you were doing that?

Chris: Just sitting in the back of the truck.

Tammy: And then what happened after that?

Chris: CeCe was first. She did have a blanket. She had a blue blanket. A Yankee blanket.

Pictured Above: This picture from Shanann Watts Facebook is hard to look at. Beautiful CeCe Watts is cuddling her stuffed animal and blue blanket, which was discussed in the Chris Watts confession transcript. Our hearts are with Shanann’s incredibly strong family.

Tammy: So was she alive when she went into the oil tank?

Chris: No

Tammy: No?

Chris: I put the blanket over her head.

Grahm: And that’s how she passed? Couldn’t breathe?

Chris: I put the blanket over her head. I didn’t want to know. I strangled her right there in the back seat.

Grahm: Okay.

Tammy: What was Bella doing?

Chris: She was sitting right behind her.

Grahm: Did she understand? Did she know what was going on?

Chris: She didn’t say anything.

Grahm: And then same for Bella? Just without the blanket?

Chris: With the blanket.

Grahm: Oh, okay.

Chris: I didn’t look. I think every time I close my eyes I start to hear her saying “Daddy, no!” and that was it.

Grahm: That’s what Bella said?

Chris: I hear that every day.

Grahm: Do you really?

Grahm: Sorry, man.

Chris: Sorry doesn’t take back anything I did.

Grahm: I know. Is it possible that in your mind you didn’t want them to suffer through their life? Was this like a mercy thing?

Chris: I mean you can say that like after the fact, but it was just like I don’t-

Tammy: You didn’t feel like that during that?

Chris: I just didn’t – I feel like there was just like an anger with Shanann, with everything, that I was just taking it out on everybody that was in front of me that morning.

Grahm: Yeah.

Chris: I mean, kids growing up without their parents, depending on what grandparents, whoever they grow up with seems to be fine but it was just like it was an anger thing it was just like….

CONTINUE TO PART 4 OF CHRIS WATTS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT of CONFESSION

Shanann’s Family (Sandy, Frank, and Frankie Rzucek) have asked that those interested in remembering and honoring the lives of Shanann Watts, Bella Watts, Celeste ‘CeCe’ Watts and Baby Nico Watts can make a donation in their honor to one of three charities they adore: The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital or The Lupus Foundation.