Colorado father charged with 5 counts of murder in deaths of wife, daughters

What an unspeakably tragic end to a beautiful family. I agree with the sentiment that the father in this case should be removed from the planet.

That said, in my limited but growing understanding of the theoretical psychology of similar killers--always parents or parental figures, they often arrive at the feeling that the world is such a terrible place--either a long held belief or one resulting from a traumatic life event which effects the whole family--that the wife or husband and children would be better off dead than left to suffer decades more existing in it. They then kill the spouse or the spouse and children out of what in their point of view is an act of mercy. What is somewhat odd about this case is normally the killer commits suicide after harming his or her family.

The fact that he did not kill himself suggests that in his premeditation for the murders he envisioned some aftermath wherein he could continue on and reach or achieve some goal beyond the end of his family. What that could have been is anyone's guess. Perhaps he thought continuing to exist after the killings was equal to some kind of living torture punishment--a never ending cycle of self-hatred until his natural death.

What dark caverns of the mind the living must enter in seeking understanding of what no man or woman wants to know about.
 
What an unspeakably tragic end to a beautiful family. I agree with the sentiment that the father in this case should be removed from the planet.

That said, in my limited but growing understanding of the theoretical psychology of similar killers--always parents or parental figures, they often arrive at the feeling that the world is such a terrible place--either a long held belief or one resulting from a traumatic life event which effects the whole family--that the wife or husband and children would be better off dead than left to suffer decades more existing in it. They then kill the spouse or the spouse and children out of what in their point of view is an act of mercy. What is somewhat odd about this case is normally the killer commits suicide after harming his or her family.

The fact that he did not kill himself suggests that in his premeditation for the murders he envisioned some aftermath wherein he could continue on an reach or achieve some goal beyond the end of his family. What that could have been is anyone's guess. Perhaps he thought continuing to exist after the killings was equal to some kind of living torture punishment--a never ending cycle of self-hatred until his natural death.

What dark caverns of the mind the living must enter in seeking understanding of what no man or woman wants to know about.

Interesting, my findings tend to lean toward [the husband] killing the wife and kids because "it's their fault" life sucks.
 
Monsters come in every shape and form

That was only one.....

There are so many others....sadly
 
What an unspeakably tragic end to a beautiful family. I agree with the sentiment that the father in this case should be removed from the planet.

That said, in my limited but growing understanding of the theoretical psychology of similar killers--always parents or parental figures, they often arrive at the feeling that the world is such a terrible place--either a long held belief or one resulting from a traumatic life event which effects the whole family--that the wife or husband and children would be better off dead than left to suffer decades more existing in it. They then kill the spouse or the spouse and children out of what in their point of view is an act of mercy. What is somewhat odd about this case is normally the killer commits suicide after harming his or her family.

The fact that he did not kill himself suggests that in his premeditation for the murders he envisioned some aftermath wherein he could continue on an reach or achieve some goal beyond the end of his family. What that could have been is anyone's guess. Perhaps he thought continuing to exist after the killings was equal to some kind of living torture punishment--a never ending cycle of self-hatred until his natural death.

What dark caverns of the mind the living must enter in seeking understanding of what no man or woman wants to know about.

Interesting, my findings tend to lean toward [the husband] killing the wife and kids because "it's their fault" life sucks.

Yes, that is another--somewhat opposing theory, and a more intersubjective one than the solipsistic explanation in my first post where the killer internalizes and recreates the world as one of ultimate subjectivity and meets Nietzsche's causa sui or self-caused, cause of itself.
 
Christopher Lee Watts is also charged with three counts of tampering with a deceased body.

The Colorado man who had pleaded publicly for the safe return of his missing wife and two young daughters was charged Monday with five counts of murder.

Christopher Watts, 33, of Frederick, Colorado, a suburb north of Denver, was being held without bond in the Weld County Jail pending a bond hearing on Tuesday. He is also charged with a single count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

The murder charges relate to the deaths of Shanann Watts, 34, Bella Watts, 4, and Celeste Watts, 3, who the Colorado Bureau of Investigation said were killed last Monday. Watts was charged with two counts of murder for each of the girls, the second counts specifically citing the death of a child who "had not yet attained twelve years of age and the defendant was in a position of trust."​


What is wrong with people....


Did he want to be a prison bitch the rest of his life?
 
What an unspeakably tragic end to a beautiful family. I agree with the sentiment that the father in this case should be removed from the planet.

That said, in my limited but growing understanding of the theoretical psychology of similar killers--always parents or parental figures, they often arrive at the feeling that the world is such a terrible place--either a long held belief or one resulting from a traumatic life event which effects the whole family--that the wife or husband and children would be better off dead than left to suffer decades more existing in it. They then kill the spouse or the spouse and children out of what in their point of view is an act of mercy. What is somewhat odd about this case is normally the killer commits suicide after harming his or her family.

The fact that he did not kill himself suggests that in his premeditation for the murders he envisioned some aftermath wherein he could continue on an reach or achieve some goal beyond the end of his family. What that could have been is anyone's guess. Perhaps he thought continuing to exist after the killings was equal to some kind of living torture punishment--a never ending cycle of self-hatred until his natural death.

What dark caverns of the mind the living must enter in seeking understanding of what no man or woman wants to know about.

Interesting, my findings tend to lean toward [the husband] killing the wife and kids because "it's their fault" life sucks.

Yes, that is another--somewhat opposing theory, and a more intersubjective one than the solipsistic explanation in my first post where the killer internalizes and recreates the world as one of ultimate subjectivity and meets Nietzsche's causa sui or self-caused, cause of itself.

I do agree with the narcissism, but I guess I'm in a way more comfortable with the idea of anger being the underlayment of this particular case. "Self pity" does indeed lend itself to suicide in the end, but that's not what happened here. This needs, in my mind, a more base undertone that I think resentment and anger is more in line with this case here. Rage at the wife and kids for whatever reason, then once the [invented] "cause" of his anger/resentment was eliminated, thinking that his life would continue and be better going forward - aka the reason he did not to suicide.

In fairness to the assessment though, I might be biased by my personal relationships; my husband's father blamed my husband for "ruining his life" - due to the pregnancy mom didn't want to move away from the family, and a new job that dad had wanted to take there. Not only did that "resentment" fall very heavy upon my husband, but also flowed out to fall on all four of my husbands children, plus myself and my two kids (not my husbands biologically.) His parents never acknowledged any of my husband's kids as their grandchildren - those persons were "guilty by association," or perhaps "discounted by disassociation" might be more accurate in that case. My husband and his brother actually invented a "tier system" to explain why each of them were treated so differently. Apparently his brother tried (a bit in vain) to equalize things, at least between the two of them, like he would lie and say he'd broken something because they knew that dad would have more sympathy on him, or as they got older, he'd say that he drove the car somewhere because he didn't have to pay mileage on using it. Thankfully their father was mostly harmless, lots of being an asshole, but nothing in the line of physical abuse.

Similarly my husband had the misfortune of impregnating a viciously resentful woman; stalked him for 15 years, scratched vulgarities on a girlfriend and his cars, and withheld visitation of his son for years - ultimately it came out in court that she was abusing the kido (got custody of him thanks to her mother and brother) She actually asked the judge to forbid son from seeing her own mother because she was pissed that her mom had expressed concern for the kido's safety - I can't really explain the look she was given as the judge tried to keep a straight face in responding to her about how vindictive, and abusive to her son and mother that was. Her own lawyer did a verbal facepalm, oh and I got told I'd have to leave if I didn't close my mouth (I wasn't being sarcastic with the agape jaw; I was astounded she was /that/ emotionally inept...)
 
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What an unspeakably tragic end to a beautiful family. I agree with the sentiment that the father in this case should be removed from the planet.

That said, in my limited but growing understanding of the theoretical psychology of similar killers--always parents or parental figures, they often arrive at the feeling that the world is such a terrible place--either a long held belief or one resulting from a traumatic life event which effects the whole family--that the wife or husband and children would be better off dead than left to suffer decades more existing in it. They then kill the spouse or the spouse and children out of what in their point of view is an act of mercy. What is somewhat odd about this case is normally the killer commits suicide after harming his or her family.

The fact that he did not kill himself suggests that in his premeditation for the murders he envisioned some aftermath wherein he could continue on an reach or achieve some goal beyond the end of his family. What that could have been is anyone's guess. Perhaps he thought continuing to exist after the killings was equal to some kind of living torture punishment--a never ending cycle of self-hatred until his natural death.

What dark caverns of the mind the living must enter in seeking understanding of what no man or woman wants to know about.

Interesting, my findings tend to lean toward [the husband] killing the wife and kids because "it's their fault" life sucks.

Yes, that is another--somewhat opposing theory, and a more intersubjective one than the solipsistic explanation in my first post where the killer internalizes and recreates the world as one of ultimate subjectivity and meets Nietzsche's causa sui or self-caused, cause of itself.

I do agree with the narcissism, but I guess I'm in a way more comfortable with the idea of anger being the underlayment of this particular case. "Self pity" does indeed lend itself to suicide in the end, but that's not what happened here. This needs, in my mind, a more base undertone that I think resentment and anger is more in line with this case here. Rage at the wife and kids for whatever reason, then once the [invented] "cause" of his anger/resentment was eliminated, thinking that his life would continue and be better going forward - aka the reason he did not to suicide.

In fairness to the assessment though, I might be biased by my personal relationships; my husband's father blamed my husband for "ruining his life" - due to the pregnancy mom didn't want to move away from the family, and a new job that dad had wanted to take there. Not only did that "resentment" fall very heavy upon my husband, but also flowed out to fall on all four of my husbands children, plus myself and my two kids (not my husbands biologically.) His parents never acknowledged any of my husband's kids as their grandchildren - those persons were "guilty by association," or perhaps "discounted by disassociation" might be more accurate in that case. My husband and his brother actually invented a "tier system" to explain why each of them were treated so differently. Apparently his brother tried (a bit in vain) to equalize things, at least between the two of them, like he would lie and say he'd broken something because they knew that dad would have more sympathy on him, or as they got older, he'd say that he drove the car somewhere because he didn't have to pay mileage on using it. Thankfully their father was mostly harmless, lots of being an asshole, but nothing in the line of physical abuse.

Similarly my husband had the misfortune of impregnating a viciously resentful woman; stalked him for 15 years, scratched vulgarities on a girlfriend and his cars, and withheld visitation of his son for years - ultimately it came out in court that she was abusing the kido (got custody of him thanks to her mother and brother) She actually asked the judge to forbid son from seeing her own mother because she was pissed that her mom had expressed concern for the kido's safety - I can't really explain the look she was given as the judge tried to keep a straight face in responding to her about how vindictive, and abusive to her son and mother that was. Her own lawyer did a verbal facepalm, oh and I got told I'd have to leave if I didn't close my mouth (I wasn't being sarcastic with the agape jaw; I was astounded she was /that/ emotionally inept...)

Thanks for your reply.

For some reason I can't get Nietzsche out of my head tonight. Oh well. So Nietzsche believed many things about the human mind. One of those things was a system wherein our thoughts, values and actions grow from us like fruits growing on a tree. He reasoned that by picking those fruits, one could understand the person almost as if the subject were a species of tree. Whether that's an effective means of coming to know and interpret individual behavior is another story.

People are complex but the manifestations of their actions can be very simple, or so some of us hope in the interest of preserving some sanity. I read some philosopher somewhere who said essentially--in regards to the people around us--that we do not need to understand them in order to live with them. We just need to learn how to live with them. That is a sentiment I do not agree with.

Another great philosopher believed in the theory of subjectivity alone or solipsism as the source for everything that makes who we are. In other words, he believed nothing could define self more completely than what existed in the deepest realms of our thought. But then on the other hand, he also believed in the idea of intersubjectivity, or the theory that we are defined by our interactions with other people. Talk about a paradox.

In either case, I believe it is vital to understand the people around us--most importantly--those closest to us. Scratching the surface of a loved or trusted one's personality just isn't enough to not only forge healthy, strong relationships with them, but to also ensure mutually safer relationships. In my own experience, nothing reveals the bare depths of another's mind and heart as effectively or quickly as speaking the truth to them. They won't like it--hell they'll even likely hate you for it at first--but in the long run being honest with them will get to the core of who they really are in their reactions to hearing the truth.

It's just too bad the wife in this case was unable to know the true nature of her husband before it was too late.
 
What an unspeakably tragic end to a beautiful family. I agree with the sentiment that the father in this case should be removed from the planet.

That said, in my limited but growing understanding of the theoretical psychology of similar killers--always parents or parental figures, they often arrive at the feeling that the world is such a terrible place--either a long held belief or one resulting from a traumatic life event which effects the whole family--that the wife or husband and children would be better off dead than left to suffer decades more existing in it. They then kill the spouse or the spouse and children out of what in their point of view is an act of mercy. What is somewhat odd about this case is normally the killer commits suicide after harming his or her family.

The fact that he did not kill himself suggests that in his premeditation for the murders he envisioned some aftermath wherein he could continue on an reach or achieve some goal beyond the end of his family. What that could have been is anyone's guess. Perhaps he thought continuing to exist after the killings was equal to some kind of living torture punishment--a never ending cycle of self-hatred until his natural death.

What dark caverns of the mind the living must enter in seeking understanding of what no man or woman wants to know about.

Interesting, my findings tend to lean toward [the husband] killing the wife and kids because "it's their fault" life sucks.

Yes, that is another--somewhat opposing theory, and a more intersubjective one than the solipsistic explanation in my first post where the killer internalizes and recreates the world as one of ultimate subjectivity and meets Nietzsche's causa sui or self-caused, cause of itself.

I do agree with the narcissism, but I guess I'm in a way more comfortable with the idea of anger being the underlayment of this particular case. "Self pity" does indeed lend itself to suicide in the end, but that's not what happened here. This needs, in my mind, a more base undertone that I think resentment and anger is more in line with this case here. Rage at the wife and kids for whatever reason, then once the [invented] "cause" of his anger/resentment was eliminated, thinking that his life would continue and be better going forward - aka the reason he did not to suicide.

In fairness to the assessment though, I might be biased by my personal relationships; my husband's father blamed my husband for "ruining his life" - due to the pregnancy mom didn't want to move away from the family, and a new job that dad had wanted to take there. Not only did that "resentment" fall very heavy upon my husband, but also flowed out to fall on all four of my husbands children, plus myself and my two kids (not my husbands biologically.) His parents never acknowledged any of my husband's kids as their grandchildren - those persons were "guilty by association," or perhaps "discounted by disassociation" might be more accurate in that case. My husband and his brother actually invented a "tier system" to explain why each of them were treated so differently. Apparently his brother tried (a bit in vain) to equalize things, at least between the two of them, like he would lie and say he'd broken something because they knew that dad would have more sympathy on him, or as they got older, he'd say that he drove the car somewhere because he didn't have to pay mileage on using it. Thankfully their father was mostly harmless, lots of being an asshole, but nothing in the line of physical abuse.

Similarly my husband had the misfortune of impregnating a viciously resentful woman; stalked him for 15 years, scratched vulgarities on a girlfriend and his cars, and withheld visitation of his son for years - ultimately it came out in court that she was abusing the kido (got custody of him thanks to her mother and brother) She actually asked the judge to forbid son from seeing her own mother because she was pissed that her mom had expressed concern for the kido's safety - I can't really explain the look she was given as the judge tried to keep a straight face in responding to her about how vindictive, and abusive to her son and mother that was. Her own lawyer did a verbal facepalm, oh and I got told I'd have to leave if I didn't close my mouth (I wasn't being sarcastic with the agape jaw; I was astounded she was /that/ emotionally inept...)

Thanks for your reply.

For some reason I can't get Nietzsche out of my head tonight. Oh well. So Nietzsche believed many things about the human mind. One of those things was a system wherein our thoughts, values and actions grow from us like fruits growing on a tree. He reasoned that by picking those fruits, one could understand the person almost as if the subject were a species of tree. Whether that's an effective means of coming to know and interpret individual behavior is another story.

People are complex but the manifestations of their actions can be very simple, or so some of us hope in the interest of preserving some sanity. I read some philosopher somewhere who said essentially--in regards to the people around us--that we do not need to understand them in order to live with them. We just need to learn how to live with them. That is a sentiment I do not agree with.

Another great philosopher believed in the theory of subjectivity alone or solipsism as the source for everything that makes who we are. In other words, he believed nothing could define self more completely than what existed in the deepest realms of our thought. But then on the other hand, he also believed in the idea of intersubjectivity, or the theory that we are defined by our interactions with other people. Talk about a paradox.

In either case, I believe it is vital to understand the people around us--most importantly--those closest to us. Scratching the surface of a loved or trusted one's personality just isn't enough to not only forge healthy, strong relationships with them, but to also ensure mutually safer relationships. In my own experience, nothing reveals the bare depths of another's mind and heart as effectively or quickly as speaking the truth to them. They won't like it--hell they'll even likely hate you for it at first--but in the long run being honest with them will get to the core of who they really are in their reactions to hearing the truth.

It's just too bad the wife in this case was unable to know the true nature of her husband before it was too late.

Some philosophy would argue that one can never know another's true nature in a way that might have saved her and the kids. As of yet, we are unable to fathom the inner workings of the mind to even 'predict' an episode, the best we can do with all our years is spout statistical possibilities.
 
watts.jpg


It takes a special kind of evil to strangle your baby daughters to death. I hope Colorado goes for the death penalty.
yes--it's up close/''face to face''/''not fast''

The mark of a true monster. Slow and steady with his babies eyes looking directly at him as he choked the bloody life out them. I recommend death by hanging. No hood. With those in attendance holding pictures of his little girls so they can look at him as he has takes his last fucking breath.
Colorado has the death penalty, but hasn't executed anyone since 1997.

This is the type of crime that you bring back public hanging for.
 

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