Photo: Weld County Sheriff’s Office
The mother ofChris Wattsbelieves her son is innocent of killing his two young daughters — despite hisguilty plealast week to murdering the girls along with his wife.
“He did kill her, but the kids, no,”Cindy Wattssaid in a Skype interview withFox 31 Denver. “It’s very difficult, very difficult. I can’t imagine my son doing that. He couldn’t have done that.”
Her explanation echoed her son’s initial explanation to police after his arrest following thethe August murdersof his wife of nearly six years, 34-year-old Shan’ann Watts, and their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
After his arrest, under police questioning, Watts allegedly said he would “tell the truth” after investigators told him they found out he was having an affair with a co-worker, according to an affidavit supporting his arrest that was unsealed later in August.
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But in court earlier this month, Watts pleaded to nine charges, according to prosecutors: five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a dead body.
In pleading guilty, Watts essentially admitted his earlier explanation was a lie.
But Cindy Watts believes that her son’s confession was coerced, and that his initial explanation was true.
“He went into a rage, and he killed her when he saw her strangling Celeste,” Cindy Watts insisted in the interview, adding that she’s unable to talk to her son to convince him to rescind his guilty plea.
“I want to stop it before it’s too late,” she told the station. “I want to talk to him. I want to be able to talk to him. I love my son no matter what and I want to fight for him, and I don’t want him to go down for something he didn’t do.”
In an earlier interview with local stationKMGH, Cindy Watts expressed concern forhow her triple-murderer son would fare in prison.
“There’s no telling what would be done to him in prison. I just want him to fight,” she added.
In the KMGH interview, Watts’ parents claimed hewas in an abusive relationshipwith Shan’ann. They claimed Watts changed when he married her and that Shan’ann isolated Watts from his family.
“It was a very hard relationship,” Cindy Watts said. “It was a very hard relationship with her as far as I’m concerned. I couldn’t do anything right.”
Shan’ann’s parents reportedly issued a rebuttal describing Watts’ parents’ claims as “vicious, grotesque and utterly false.”
Shan’ann Watts (center) and her daughters.Shanann Watts /Facebook
Watts will be formally sentenced to life in prison on Monday.
source: people.com
