Colorado Suspect Claims Wife Killed Daughters

Colorado man Christopher Watts has admitted killing his pregnant wife—but he says he's not the only murderer in the family, according to court records released Monday. A court affidavit states Watts told investigators that he "flew into a rage" and strangled his wife Shanann Watts after she strangled their two daughters, 3-year-old Celeste and 4-year-old Bella, the Denver Post reports. The records state that Watts—who admitted to detectives that he was having an affair with a co-worker—told police that he told his wife after she arrived home from a business trip Aug. 13 that he wanted a separation. He said the conversation left them both "upset and crying."

"Chris stated it was a civil conversation and they were not arguing but emotional," the records state. Watts told detectives that he went upstairs after the conversation with his wife, then looked at a baby monitor in his bedroom to see Bella "sprawled out on her bed" and Shanann strangling Celeste, CBS reports. He said after killing Shanann in a rage, he loaded the three bodies in his truck and hid them at an oil field he had worked at, burying Shanann and putting his daughters' bodies in oil tanks. Prosecutors, however, believe he killed them all, the Washington Post reports. Watts was charged with nine felonies Monday, including three counts of first-degree murder, and is due back in court Tuesday. (More Christopher Watts stories.)