Nichol Kessinger, the woman with whom Chris Watts had an affair after they met at work, told investigators he said he had first learned of wife Shan’ann’s pregnancy the morning of Aug. 13.
Chris Watts, the Colorado man convicted of murdering his growing family, claimed the baby his pregnant wife was carrying at the time he killed her was not his, his mistress said.
Nichol Kessinger, the woman with whom Watts had an affair after they met at work, told investigators he said he had first learned of wife Shan’ann’s pregnancy the morning of Aug. 13, according to documents obtained by People.
Watts claimed he argued with Shan’ann, 34, who then said she was pregnant and “the kid was not his,” Kessinger told police. Prosecutors say that is the day Watts strangled Shan’ann and smothered their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste, in his quest for a “fresh start” with Kessinger.
Shan’ann was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her murder, a pregnancy which Watts had long known about.
“I try to give you space, but while you are working and living the bachelor life I’m carrying our 3rd (child) and fighting with our two kids daily and trying to work and make money,” Shan’ann texted her husband on July 24, in what authorities said was one of the many apparent attempts she had made to save their nearly six-year marriage.
Shan’ann first told Watts she was pregnant with their third child, a boy she hoped to name Nico Lee, on May 29. The mother-of-two wore a shirt with the words “Oops … we did it again” to greet Watts as he came home, video of the reveal apparently showed.
The video showed Watts stop walking when he realized what was happening before grinning and continuing toward Shan’ann, according to People.
“I guess when you want to, it happens,” he said to the camera, while holding a positive pregnancy test. “Wow.”
Kessinger learned how far along Shan’ann was through media reports as investigators searched for the mother and her two children, who were then considered missing.
“I thought, ‘If he was able to lie to me and hide something that big, what else was he lying about?’” Kessinger told the Denver Post in an exclusive interview earlier this month.
Watts was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the killings, plus two more life sentences to be served concurrently, 12 years each for three counts of tampering with a deceased body, as well as 48 years for unlawful termination of a pregnancy for the death of his unborn child.
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