Chris told her he would be going to the Cervi 319 site in the morning and not the office. That wasn’t particularly strange to Nikki because although typically, the guys would usually go to the office first, there were times when they would go out to the field beforehand.
Nikki talked to Chris Monday morning, the day he murdered and disposed of the bodies of his family. At some point on Monday, he texted her saying it had been a busy day. Later, when Nikki got home from work, she had another text from Chris saying his wife and kids weren’t home and asking her to call him when she was able to. When she finally reached him on the phone, the conversation was brief because the police were at his house, which meant most of their communication over the rest of the day was over text message.
Over text, Nikki said she asked Chris where he thought Shanann was. He played it nonchalantly, saying he and Shanann got into a disagreement, and she most likely went to a friend’s house and would be back the next morning. He said Shanann’s friend Nicki Atkinson was insisting they involve the cops, but he didn’t seem too concerned about it.
According to Nikki, when she talked to Chris on the phone later that evening, he told her he was going to go to work in the morning and the conversation went like this:
“I think you should probably stay home and help the police,” Nikki told him.
“I’m worried that Shanann will see my truck and won’t come home because she thinks I’m there and doesn’t want to see me,” Chris told her.
“So, move your truck so she won’t see it,” Nikki advised him. “Make sure you have a friend with you when she comes home, in case there is a conflict you’ll have a witness with you and if someone isn’t there, record whatever happens with your phone.”
By Monday evening, Nikki said she realized that Shanann still wasn’t back, and no one had any clue where she was or how to find her. When Nikki said she confronted him again about what happened the morning Shanann supposedly left, Chris told her that they had gotten into an argument and Shanann was being mean. He said Shanann told him she was pregnant, and the child wasn’t his. Chris denied knowing that she was pregnant, even though Shanann had posted the information on social media.
Nikki said she still believed this was just a dispute between a couple, and that Chris’s story was believable. But by Tuesday morning, Shanann still wasn’t home. Nikki asked Chris multiple times where his family was, and he kept telling her he didn’t know. During her lunch break, she went through all the news stories about Shanann, Bella, and CeCe and read that Shanann was fifteen weeks pregnant. Nikki said this was the time she started to get suspicious and knew Chris had been lying to her. If Shanann was that pregnant, she would be showing, and there was no way Chris would not know about it.
Nikki allegedly texted Chris and confronted him about his lies:
“I read your wife is 15 weeks pregnant. You lied to me. You knew she was pregnant. I know the baby is yours and not from an affair your wife had.”
“Does this ruin everything with us?” Chris asked her.
“You should be focused on your family. Stop lying and go find your family. I don’t want to talk to you until your family has been found.”
Nikki thought it was bizarre that he seemed more concerned about the demise of their relationship than his missing family. That was the last contact she said she ever had with him.
On August 19, after her initial interview, Nikki conducted multiple internet searches related to Amber Frey, the former girlfriend of Scott Peterson, convicted killer of his wife, Laci Peterson, who was nine months pregnant at the time. She had vanished on Christmas Eve, and her body washed up on the shore months later. Shortly before Scott murdered Laci, he was living a double life and having an affair with Amber Frey, whom he told he was widowed. Amber had always been a sympathetic character in the media and in the public eye because it was obvious that she was completely unaware that she was involved with a married man. Equally important, without her testimony, Scott Peterson might have gotten away with murder.
Nikki might have been looking to elicit sympathy for herself. Given that the Watts family murders had similarities to Laci’s murder, Nikki may have thought she could find a way to show the public she was a victim the way Amber had been. As you will see, those closely following the case did not view Nikki as a victim once the police discovery documents were made public.
Chapter 8
“This is the heartless one…”
The days and weeks following the explosive news regarding the Watts family murders were filled with the most soul-crushing and devastating heartbreak for Shanann’s loved ones, especially her parents and younger brother, Frankie. The cycling emotions of grief, consisting of a never-ending rollercoaster of anger, confusion, and overwhelming sadness hit everyone hard. The ripple effects of the murders were wide and extended everywhere, from the small suburbs of Denver, Colorado, to locations across the world, where many people had been following the case through the media.
It was especially difficult because Shanann’s loved ones knew that she would never do anything to hurt her children. To have to endure any speculation that she was responsible for their deaths was another stab through the heart. Never in their wildest nightmares did anyone who knew Shanann and Chris fathom that something this sickeningly awful could happen. It was too surreal, too shocking, too hard to process.
Because Shanann’s life so was so public on social media, many people following the story began to judge and criticize her, picking apart every little move she made. Some would blame Shanann for everything and call her controlling. Some would speculate she had some form of Munchausen’s and faked her illnesses and the girls’ medical conditions. Some people expressed sympathy for Chris, and some women even wrote him love letters in prison.
The Rzucek family received death threats and attention they never wanted nor asked for. All they wanted to do was mourn their loss in private and in peace. Although there was a massive outpouring of love for the Rzucek family, unspeakable cruelty was constantly torturing them with the added layer of negativity and threats.
The prosecution on the case was led by Michael Rourke, an experienced and savvy attorney. A deeply compassionate man, Rourke was handsome and tall, with kind brown eyes and short, slicked-back silver hair. Rourke felt an overwhelming loyalty to the Rzucek family from the moment he met them. This case hit him hard, as it did many of the other people involved in it. He and the prosecution vowed to do everything in their power to clear Shanann’s name and expose all the lies Chris had told. This case was one of the most shocking and horrific cases Rourke had dealt with in more than twenty years as a prosecutor. As a father of a daughter around Bella’s and CeCe’s ages, he was especially horrified and sickened by the crime. It was too close to home.
While the media continued to speculate, the evidence the prosecution had against Chris was kept secret, with the expectation that this case would go to trial, and a jury would decide if Chris committed the crimes they were seeking to charge him with. These counts included five counts of first-degree murder, three counts of tampering with a deceased human body, and the unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
In late October, an interesting development in the case suddenly surfaced. Chris’s defense team proposed a resolution, offering a plea deal that said he would plead guilty to all charges, in exchange for not seeking the death penalty. If the case were to go to trial, it would involve years and years of drawn-out proceedings with all the sordid details exposed to the public. Chris could avoid all this and a lengthy trial by pleading guilty. He was also made aware that in the worst-case scenario, if he was sentenced to death, there would be years of appeals. He knew the evidence against him was overwhelming, and he cared deeply of what others thought of him, so pleading guilty seemed the easiest way to escape everything as much as possible.
Michael Rourke flew to North Carolina to meet with the Rzucek family in person and discuss
ed all possible scenarios with them. The family wanted Shanann’s name cleared, and Chris’s pleading guilty to all charges would be one way to do it. Second, the family, specifically Sandi, held strong beliefs that they should not get to decide the fate of someone else’s life, not even Chris’s life.
The Denver Post did an exclusive interview with Nikki.4 It is unclear who initiated the interview. In the accompanying photographs, her face was illuminated against a black background with her long brown hair styled past her shoulders. The expression on her face was serious.
Nikki told the Post that when she met Chris, he told her he was at the end of divorce proceedings, and she had no clue he was still very married. She said it was a brief affair, and that she had been totally duped by him.
Ahead of the sentencing, Chris’s family members were struggling to comprehend what happened in their own way. Understandably, raising a son with zero warning signs of violent behavior, (in fact, one who displayed the opposite characteristics), created a surge of denial and confusion. How does a parent who believed their offspring was a role model son, husband, and father deal with the fact that he is capable of such a thing? For Cindy, Ronnie, and his older sister Jamie, the idea of Chris killing his children wasn’t a real possibility because it just couldn’t be true. Not the Chris they knew.
Chris’s mother couldn’t accept the fact that he was going to plead guilty, and she didn’t want him to. She went to the media and gave an interview, saying she wanted him to fight.5 This interview was controversial because Cindy did not speak well of Shanann. Cindy shared that she did not attend Chris’s and Shanann’s wedding because she couldn’t get along with Shanann and didn’t like the way she treated Chris. Cindy thought the marriage was toxic. Admittedly, she said she knew very little about their marriage, but Chris always seemed anxious to her. When Shanann needed something, “he wouldn’t walk, he would run” Cindy said.
Cindy said Chris wasn’t excited about the third baby, and he was “finally seeing the light” when it came to Shanann. When Cindy first heard they were missing, she believed Shanann took the children and ran off to punish Chris, because that’s the kind of person Cindy believed Shanann was.
Cindy was very angry that she wasn’t allowed to speak to Chris before his sentencing. She wanted to know why he would plead guilty to the crimes if he was innocent, and at the time, Cindy firmly believed that he did not kill his daughters. She said it scared her to death to think Chris could have done all of it, and she couldn’t mentally go there. She couldn’t see why he was pleading guilty, because if she were in his shoes, she would fight to the end. Cindy believed if the attorneys had let Ronnie and her talk to Chris, that would have made a difference, and maybe he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty. The guilty plea was Chris’s choice, but it seemed that Cindy was still hoping her influence could change the direction she envisioned the trial going.
Ronnie stated somewhat cryptically in the media interview in what appeared to be a jab at Shanann, “You have to get to know her to be around her. We’ll put it that way.”
Shanann’s family responded to Ronnie’s and Cindy’s statements with their own retort: “Their false statements, however hurtful or inaccurate, will never alter the truth about Shanann. And will never alter the truth about the crimes committed by their son. Her memory and reputation deserve to be protected. And her family is fully prepared to do so.”
The day before the sentencing, the prosecution briefed Ronnie and Cindy on the evidence against their son and why he decided to plead guilty. Frank, Sandi, and Frankie Rzucek would be making victim impact statements at the sentencing. Ronnie and Cindy wanted to make victim impact statements as well. Being that they were the grandparents of the victims, they were granted permission to speak at the sentencing.
On November 6, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts was formally sentenced to life in prison. Many of Shanann’s loved ones were present at the sentencing, and all were visibly distraught. Tammy Lee, Grahm Coder, and Detective David Baumhover were also present. Wearing an orange jumpsuit, Chris sat with his attorneys. He appeared disheveled. His buzzcut and facial hair had grown out a bit and looked greasy and unwashed. His eyes appeared nervous behind his dark-rimmed glasses, and his body trembled slightly as if he had a little twitch of electricity pulsing through him.
Judge Marcelo Kopcow welcomed the observers in the courtroom and laid out the rules of proper conduct for the sentencing before letting DA Michael Rourke begin. Shanann’s family would make their victim impact statements first.
Frank Rzucek Sr. went first, his voice breaking with emotion and tears as he fondly remembered his daughter and grandchildren. Frank, voice shaking, unable to look at the man he once considered a son said:
They were taken by a heartless one. This is the heartless one, the evil monster. How dare you take the lives of my daughter Shanann, Bella, Celeste and Nico? I trusted you to take care of them, not kill them. And they also trusted you. The heartless monster…then you take them out like trash. You disgust me. They were loving and caring people. You may have taken their bodies from me, but you will never take the love they had for me. They loved us more than you will ever know because you don’t know what love is. Because if you did, you would not have killed them. You, monster, thought you would get away with this.
Frankie Jr., Shanann’s younger brother, was next but opted to have DA Rourke read his statement for him. He detailed the torture he had been through for almost three months from losing his beloved and only sibling. Frankie adored and looked up to Shanann, and they had a beautiful brother and sister relationship. Being an uncle was one of the most special parts of his life, and the hole that was left by the loss of his beautiful, sweet nieces and unborn nephew felt too much for his broken heart to bear. Frankie stood next to DA Rourke, wearing a suit, hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes downward, chewing on gum with a hollow look on his stunned face. His words articulated how he would forever struggle to understand how Chris went from being someone worshipped by the whole family to someone who could take away their entire world:
You took away my privilege as an uncle to the most precious little girls I have ever known. I will never hear the words Uncle Frankie again, but you will never be called Dad again. I just can’t comprehend how they weren’t enough for you. Shanann, Bella, and CeCe loved you more than anyone. I pray you never have a moments peace or a good night’s rest in the cage you’ll spend every day of your life in. I just wish that you would tell the truth, but that’s asking more than you are capable of. I stayed up all night writing this statement. I don’t sleep because of you. My life will never be the same because of you.
Sandi spoke next as the matriarch of the Rzucek family, composed and strong in a navy striped suit with a purple pin on the breast to represent lupus. She thanked everyone who had prayed for them, for everyone involved in the investigation, Nate Trinastich, and Nicki Atkinson. She called them her heroes. And then she spoke to Chris:
We loved you like a son. We trusted you. Your faithful wife trusted you. Your children adored you, and they also trusted you. I know the angels were there in the moment their lives were taken to bring them to paradise. I want the world to know how loved my daughter and grandchildren were. I didn’t want death for you because that’s not my right. Your life is between you and God now, and I pray that he has mercy for you.
After the Rzucek family spoke, Cindy and Ronnie Watts had a turn to make their victim impact statements as the grandparents of the youngest victims. They addressed the courtroom, first through a victim’s advocate. After their shocking media interview that was aggressive in nature, they had the opportunity to speak with the prosecution before the sentencing to hear the evidence against their son. They also used this as an opportunity to correct and clarify any erroneous statements they had made to the media. The victim’s advocate said:
We are not here to ask for leniency. We are not in any way condoning or tolerating the crime that has
occurred and the pain that has been caused. We join in our daughter-in-law’s family in saying this never should have happened. This is not condonable. This is something that we will never get over. We appreciate the consideration that everyone has paid, most especially the families that have lost everyone. We appreciate that they begged for Christopher’s life. We agree and echo what they have said that it is not his place to take anyone’s life nor would it be our place as a community to take his life. So, we thank you for the opportunity and for every consideration and effort that has been put out. The prosecution in this case has in fact respected the victims bill of rights. They took the time to explain that the information that my clients had at the time that they were interviewed was not correct. They were misinformed, they were searching for answers, they were not intending to cause any pain to anyone, and they appreciated that the prosecution answered their questions and gave them the time, the respect, and the consideration so that they could tell this court and everyone in this community that the interview content was not their message. That they accept that their son has done this. That they accept that he chose to plead guilty, he sought and requested their agreement for a life sentence and appreciate that he’s given an opportunity to serve a life sentence. It is his responsibility; it is his sentence and it is not enough to make up for what he has done. We understand and we join the family in that we have questions. We don’t know how such a thing could possibly happen, or that a man who was responsible for raising his children and protecting his wife would take the steps that he did and disregard their bodies and the love that he had for them and they had for him and everyone else and take the gestures and put this community through the investigation and discovery and the responsibility of bringing justice. We do not understand that. We do not think that was appropriate. We do not think that an explanation will ever justify it. My clients indicate that they understand that a full opportunity for a confession and all the responsibility and accountability has not occurred and they support the family in the request that that happen. Not today. In an appropriate time. In an appropriate manner. So that everyone can have peace. To understand to the best of their ability, the details that they need and to have their questions answered. And by giving this opportunity of a life sentence, we hope he embraces that moment.
My Daddy Is a Hero Page 9
