Slain mom painted picture of a happy married life

FREDERICK, COLO. » Shanann Watts’ Facebook page painted a portrait of a happy married life — of a woman dedicated to her husband and their two young children. She called her husband “my ROCK!” and said he was “the best dad us girls could ask for.”

That idyllic image was shattered Wednesday when her husband, 33-year-old Christopher Watts, was arrested on suspicion of killing his family in Colorado.

Police said the mother, who was pregnant, was found dead on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, one of the state’s largest oil and gas drillers, where Christopher Watts worked. Investigators found what they believe are the bodies of 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste nearby on Thursday afternoon.

They have not released any information about a motive or how the three were killed.

“As horrible as this outcome is, our role now is to do everything we can to determine exactly what occurred,” John Camper, director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, said at a news conference in Frederick, a small town on the grassy plains north of Denver, where fast-growing subdivisions intermingle with drilling rigs and oil wells.

The deaths also left family and friends searching for answers.

Shanann Watts, 34, was one of the first customers to visit Ashley Bell’s tanning salon in nearby Dacona two years ago.

The two women quickly became friends, and before long they were texting or calling each other almost daily. Their daughters also played together during salon visits.

Bell said she never detected that anything was amiss with the Watts family.

“I just don’t understand it,” said Bell, who described Christopher Watts as a loving father.

Shanann Watts was from North Carolina, and her parents’ next-door neighbor, Joe Beach, said he saw her recently when she visited the neighborhood of modest homes in Aberdeen.