The Latest: Lawyer says girls' bodies were submerged in oil

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Updated 7:44 pm CDT, Friday, August 17, 2018

FREDERICK, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on the arrest of a Colorado man in the disappearance of his family (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

A lawyer for a Colorado man suspected in the deaths of his pregnant wife and two young daughters says the daughters' bodies were submerged in crude oil for four days before they were found.

Defense attorney James Merson made the statement in a court motion Friday. The motion asks a judge to order that DNA samples be taken from the children's throats.

In another motion, Merson asks that DNA samples be taken from the hands and nails of the body of the girls' mother.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/The-Latest-Colorado-fetal-homicide-law-at-issue-13163871.php

---

In this photo taken in May, murder victim Shanann Watts poses with a magazine spread featuring her family.
Now her all American husband Christopher has confessed to her killing, same as their wo young daughters

Colorado dad, Christopher Watts, who ‘murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters, aged 3 and 4, stuffed the toddlers’ bodies in oil and gas tanks so they wouldn’t smell’
Posted on August 17, 2018

More:
https://konniemoments.com/2018/08/17/colorado-dad-christopher-watts-who-murdered-his-pregnant-wife-and-two-daughters-aged-3-and-4-stuffed-the-toddlers-bodies-in-oil-and-gas-tanks-so-they-wouldnt-smell/

[benld74]

1. Prayers for the wife and daughters

[Liberalagogo]

13. A bit late for that, don't ya think?

n/t

[MontanaMama]

2. Jeez. Tragic story.

How do you murder your pregnant wife and two beautiful daughters? Awful.

[murielm99]

3. There were rumors of infidelity

and bankruptcy. Many families get through such things. Sometimes they become closer after weathering such crises. They don't murder.

[dalton99a]

4. They already filed for bankruptcy and wiped out their debts in 2015

[KWR65]

5. Another good looking psychopath kills his family.

I saw his interview the day after the family disappeared on NBC news. He smiled during the interview.

[obamanut2012]

22. Yup, reminds me of that creep Josh Powell

[truthisfreedom]

6. Movies made from tragedies like this should be required

To distribute/disburse a large percentage of profits to victims of domestic abuse.

[ProudLib72]

7. My parents were talking to the Watts' neighbors

They told my parents that he was really out there and they had hoped she had just run away from him with the kids. It's just unbelievably twisted.

[BigmanPigman]

9. That doesn't sound like he was

the image of the "All American Dad" to me or the neighbors.

[alphafemale]

10. I am guessing he showed her the bodies of the girls before he killed her.

He would have wanted to kill her spirit before he killed her body,

[SharonClark]

16. That 'guess' is way over the top.

[alphafemale]

17. Over the top of strangling toddlers?

And stuffing their bodies in a filthy oil tank?
>
>
>
>
Seriously?

[Demovictory9]

8. sad story

[Snellius]

11. Much of this article is spent "prompting questions" about killing unborn as homicide.

It quickly exploits the tragedy to ask about the need for a law in Colorado to declare the killing of a fetus a homicide. It doesn't mention who's prompting the questions. Other than the authors themselves. The real question is what we can learn about mental illness and sick human nature from this inexplicable crime.

Accusations that a man killed his pregnant wife and two young daughters is prompting questions about Colorado's lack of a law allowing homicide charges in the violent deaths of fetuses.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Colorado is among 12 states without such a law.

Prosecutors are expected to charge Chris Watts on Monday. Watts was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of three counts of murder.

Violent crimes have prompted debate before in Colorado, including in 2015 after a woman cut open a pregnant woman's belly and removed her unborn baby.

Proposals to change the law have been stymied by debate about when a fetus can legally be considered a human being.

Colorado does allow a homicide charge if a fetus was alive outside the mother's body and then killed

[MontanaMama]

18. I caught on to that too.

This whole thing is tragic beyond words and you just know the anti-choice crowd is going to take this and run with it as if the fetus was the only victim in this.

[Snellius]

19. This story is being played up front on FOX News too. Probably for the same reason.

It plays down the actual victims and the real tragic problems and goes off on a personal pro-life digression disguised as news.
The website is very weird. Death-fetish accounts of grisly killings and suicides.

[alphafemale]

20. How much more anti-choice can you get than murdering a woman to kill the fetus?

He should have four counts of murder.

[Snellius]

23. " He should have four counts of murder." That's what the article is trying to suggest.

And if the fetus is also a murder victim, then the implication is that abortion is murder as well. It's a subtly clever line of attack that's been used by pro-lifers for a long time. Why they feel there cause is so self-righteous that they would exploit a tragedy like this to justify their cause, I don't know.

[alphafemale]

24. It was not her choice.

In many states murdering a pregnant woman brings two charges of murder and it has nothing to do with legal rights to terminate a pregnancy.

I am pro-choice and he violated that in the worst way.

He was a vile monster that strangled his little girls while watching the life dim out of their eyes.

[Snellius]

25. On the same page but think the pages got mixed up.

A sticky problem. In the article it says that even in Colorado it's considered double homicide if the fetus is outside the womb. The main legal point is whether an unborn fetus is considered a legal person, inside or out, and thus whose death is considered a crime. Even when by the choice of the mother herself. In that sense ipso facto it relates to abortion. Pro-life advocates conclude that if the fetus is a legal person, though still in the womb, then to terminate that life is murder.

[alphafemale]

26. So he had the legal right to force an abortion against her will.

Is that what you are saying?

[Snellius]

27. God, No. Not at all. Not sure how you're getting that.

We're working along different lines of reasoning.

[alphafemale]

28. If she were still here.

And he had just stuck a knife in her abdomen and killed the baby, but she lived.

Would she be able to call it murder?

[Snellius]

30. Jeez, that's too horrible than I could ever imagine.

But I see where you're coming from. I honestly never thought of it like that. It's hard to believe this guy is a human being to do anything as horrible as that. But can see how even under less hypothetical or horrific circumstances, like in domestic violence and spousal abuse, where it could be more than possible than would like to believe. To kill an unborn child as a consequence of abusing the mother, there's no way the attacker could get away with just abuse.

[alphafemale]

35. There are horrible things some men do to cause the death of a fetus.

And in many states, that is something that can be charged as murder.

It is completely separate from the legality of abortion.

Are you saying Scott Peterson should not have been charged with the unborn child they had already named Conner?

[Judi Lynn]

29. I was disgusted by that, too. Totally underhanded to load what's supposed to be a news story. n/t

[raccoon]

12. I bet you anything he had a girlfriend. Nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. WTF is konniemoments.com

[Snellius]

15. Seems to be a kind of death-fetish site of weird killings and suicides. Slanted right.

with occasional pro-life asides added in, like in this telling. Looks legit but likely not a reliable source. This story is in heavy play too over at FOX News. The right seems interested for the killing of a fetus issue.

[obamanut2012]

21. Lots of pics of Susan and Josh Powell and their kids smiling, too

While he was abusing them, then murdering her, then torturing and killing his little boys.

[MicaelS]

31. Miserable bastards like this are why I still favor the DP.

I don't give a flying fuck WHY he did it.

I would be willing to sit on the jury and convict his ass.

And before anyone asks, Yes, I would be willing to carry out the execution myself.

[RobinA]

33. Why He Did It

is the most important question. You don’t have to care, but in general we as a society need to care so we understand what would make a human behave this way. Plus, I think it’s important for women who stay in bad situations. If one mother can look at this guy and see her own SO and get the push she needs to get out, it’s worth knowing what the hell went on here.

[MFM008]

32. It is impossible

To even imagine WTF is wrong with people like this.
What demon crawls into their heads to commit such
A horrific act.
Boggles the brain.

[TexasBushwhacker]

34. Actually, pregnancy is one of the riskiest times for domestic abuse victims

Over 300 women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends every year in the US.