Chris Watts confessed to killing wife at home, driving 45 minutes to bury her body

Four-year-old Bella Watts begged for her life just moments after she witnessed her dad bury her mom and smother her little sister, the lawyers on the case said.

“Please, Daddy, don’t do to me what you just did to CeCe,” Bella said, according to lawyer Steven Lambert in an interview with Dr. Phil.

Watts pleaded guilty in November 2018 to the murders of his 34-year-old wife Shan’ann and their two daughters: Bella and 3-year-old Celeste, who went by the nickname CeCe. He is currently facing several life sentences.

The 34-year-old Colorado man confessed the new details to law enforcement during a Feb. 18 prison interview in Wisconsin, according to Thomas Grant, Watt’s lawyer, and Lambert, the lawyer for Shanann Watts’ parents Frank and Sandy Rzucek.

Five hours of audio recording is expected to be released Thursday as part of the state’s Open Records Act.

Lambert said Watts killed Shan’ann in their bedroom after she threatened to take the kids away because he wanted a divorce and confessed to having an affair.

The lawyers said Shan’ann was the only person killed inside the home.

Bella reportedly walked into the room as Watts was wrapping her mother’s body in a blanket.

“(Bella asked) ‘What are you doing with Mommy?'” Lambert said. Watts told his daughter “mommy is sick” and they needed to take her to the hospital. The lawyers said they do not believe Bella witnessed her mother being killed.

Watts then loaded his wife’s body into his truck and told his daughters to get in, according to Lambert.

They drove about for about 45 minutes before Watts pulled over and began to bury his wife.

Watts killed CeCe after, using her favorite blanket to smother her, Lambert said in the interview.

“Then, he takes her body, takes it out of the vehicle. At this point, Bella had unbuckled herself from the vehicle. He went back to the vehicle,” Lambert said in the interview. “Bella said, ‘Please, Daddy, don’t do to me what you just did to CeCe.’”

Grant said Watts was prompted to come forward after finding faith in prison. Lambert said that Sandy Rzucek was briefed on the killer’s lengthy discussion with investigators, but did not hear the audio recordings in advance.

The Rzuceks told CBS they hope this will absolve their daughter of any blame, as some people believed Watts’ original story that she killed the kids.

Shan’ann, who was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy to be named Nico, was found in a shallow on Aug. 16. The bodies of Bella and CeCe were found in oil tanks located on property owned by Watts’ former employer.