'I Can’t Do This Alone With 3 Kids:' With Marriage In Tatters, Pregnant Shanann Watts Considered Not Having Baby

Newly published text messages sent by the wife of convicted killer Chris Watts provide more heart-wrenching details about the strained state of the couple’s relationship in the days before he brutally murdered her and their two young daughters.

Shannan, 34, had discussed her crumbling marriage with Chris and the difficulties they were facing with a third child on the way in texts to a friend sent in early August.

New texts from the same time period were recently released by the Weld County District Attorney’s Office.

The messages deal with similar anxieties, including Chris not wanting the child and the growing distance between the two of them; Shanann had confided in a friend that she suspected her husband of cheating on her just a week before the murders.

The first texts, from 3:34 p.m. on an unspecified day, detail the ongoing strife between Shanann and Cindy and Ronnie Watts, Chris’ parents.

The first messages allude to tumult with her in-laws; Shanann accused Cindy of "risk[ing] Celeste's life and teaching Bella, 4, to “keep secrets from [Shanann],” and asserted that Ronnie demanded time with both children even though he "hasn't attmpted to make contact or anything."

“Chris makes one phone call to his dad today in over 4 weeks and he wants them to see the kids tomorrow! I told him over my dead body,” Shanann wrote about her father-in-law, adding, “They [don’t] get to disrespect me and him and his kids and get rewarded.”

Abruptly changing the subject after venting about her in-laws, Shanann’s tone took a noticeably darker turn.

“I don’t want to have this baby…I can’t do this alone with 3 kids. I’m not happy,” she wrote to her friend, who tried to reassure her by saying any rough patches the couple is facing are “temporary,” and that their child was “made with love.”

Shanann then switched to what she said were Chris’ feelings on the matter.

“Chris doesn’t want this baby…said he’s scared to death and he’s happy with just Bella and Celeste!” Shanann wrote. “He thought he wanted another baby. How I got this out of him I said do you want me to abort?”

Ultimately, Chris Watts would “solve” this family dilemma in the most horrific way possible: Murdering his pregnant wife and children.

He was sentenced to life in prison in November without parole for each of the three murders, with each sentence running consecutively; he was also given 48 years for the death of the unborn child.

Documents released following Watts’ sentence has shown Shanann’s concerns about her relationship with her husband were steeped in truth; the case has uncovered is Watts’ various extramarital affairs— particularly his relationship with his one-time coworker Nichol Kessinger.

Watts reportedly told his mistress a string of lies about his home life, including that he and Shanann were already broken up, that she was cheating on him and that the baby she was pregnant with wasn’t his.

“He’s a liar,” Kessinger told the Denver Post in November. “He lied about everything.”

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