Chris Watts appeared to be the frantic father and husband when his wife and two daughters vanished.
In calculated TV interviews, the father appealed for help in finding his family as he joined the search for wife Shannan and daughters, Bella and Cece.
But in reality, the cold-blooded killer had smothered his two young daughters and then dumped their tiny bodies in oil tanks.
Shannan he had also smothered and then buried in a shallow grave.
But as police searched for the trio, officers’ suspicions were mounting about the husband and father.
When the three bodies were discovered they knew he had been the one to kill them and he was brought information questioning.
At first, Watts was adamant he had nothing to do with the gruesome deaths of his family but he then finally confessed to murdering his pregnant wife and their two daughters.
Despite appearing to be a blissfully happily married couple, cracks had started to appear in the Watts’ relationship.
Shannan had told one of her friends: “He has changed. I don’t know who he is. He hasn’t touched me all week, kissed me, talked to me except for when I’m trying to figure out what is wrong.”
Behind his wife’s back, Watts has started an affair with one of his co-workers, Nichol Kessinger, who believed his marriage was over.
It is believed Watts carried out the horrifying murders so he could start a new life with his mistress.
Despite insisting she never had any reason to this Watts would hurt his family, when Nichol saw the news that his family had gone missing she immediately contacted her lover.
She said: “I kept asking him ‘what did you do, Chris?’ What did you do?’ I asked ‘where your family?’”
Realising she needed to end the relationship, Nichol sent the triple murderer one final text message, saying: “If you did anything bad, you’re going to ruin your life and you’re going to ruin my life, I promise you that.”
The final message Watts sent to Nichol simply read: “I didn’t hurt my family, Nicky.”
Watts was handed five life sentences plus 48 years in prison for the brutal murders and will die behind bars with no possibility of parole.
