Family of mum and girls allegedly killed by her husband break down in court

The family of a young mother and two daughters allegedly killed by her husband have broken down in court.

The father of murdered woman Shannan Watts, Frank Rzucek Sr, leaned forward in a Colorado courtroom, weeping with his face in his hands as his son-in-law, just metres away, was told on Tuesday he could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Mr Rzucek’s daughter and two granddaughters.

Collecting himself, Mr Rzucek glared as Christopher Watts was escorted back to jail.

The brief hearing came a day after court documents revealed that Mr Watts told police that it was Mr Rzucek’s daughter, Shanann Watts, who strangled the kids after he told her he wanted to separate.

Mr Watts told police that he flew into a rage and strangled his wife, took the three bodies to a remote oil site north of Denver, buried Ms Watts in a shallow grave and dumped the girls’ bodies inside oil tanks.

Accused faces court hearing in hand cuffs

Mr Rzucek’s silent angst dominated a routine court hearing in which Mr Watts, wearing an orange jail suit and cuffed at the wrists and ankle, stoically answered, “Yes sir,” as District Judge Marcelo Kopcow told him of the possible punishments if he’s found guilty of killing Ms Watts, 34, Celeste, 3, and Bella, 4.

Mr Watts did not enter pleas to three first-degree murder charges, two counts of killing a child under 12, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

GPS coordinates provided by police suggest the bodies were found at an oil worksite on or near a sprawling ranch close to Roggen, a high plains town about 65 kilometres east of the family’s home in Frederick.

The oil site was not clearly visible Tuesday from the borders of the ranch, set in grazing land with sagebrush, yellow wildflowers and the occasional cottonwood tree. Gates to the property were closed, and the ranch owner did not immediately respond to a telephone message.

Police found Shannan Watts’ mobile phone and purse at her home

Mr Watts worked as an operator for Anadarko Petroleum, a major Colorado oil and gas producer. He was fired on August 15, the day of his arrest.

Police first visited the Watts home on August 13, after a friend asked officers to check on Ms Watts. Police searched the house and found the woman’s mobile phone stuffed inside a couch. Her purse was in the kitchen, and a suitcase was at the bottom of the stairs.

A detective spoke to Mr Watts and learned about his plan to leave his wife. He told officers the conversation with Ms Watts was civil at first but that later “they were both upset and crying” and she planned to go to a friend’s house, court papers said.

When she and the girls did not return home August 14, investigators ramped up their efforts, with help from the FBI and Colorado Bureau of Investigation. Christopher Watts was interviewed by several local television stations, saying he missed his family.

Mr Watts was having affair with a co-worker, investigators say

In court papers, investigators said they learned that Mr Watts was “actively involved in an affair with a co-worker,” something he denied at first.

Separate documents filed by Mr Watts’ defence attorney last week said the girls’ bodies were submerged in crude oil for four days before police found them late Thursday.

Prosecutors in Colorado have 60 days after someone is arraigned to say if they will seek the death penalty. No date has been set for Mr Watts’ arraignment. District Attorney Michael Rourke said Monday that it was too early to discuss if he will pursue capital punishment.

Shanann Watts, who was originally from North Carolina, had told family and friends she was expecting a boy. The judge said the charge of unlawful termination of pregnancy carries a prison term between 16 and 48 years.

Charges unlikely for death of Ms Watts’ unborn child

Colorado is one of 12 states without a law broadly allowing for homicide charges in the violent death of foetuses. But state lawmakers in 2013 made the unlawful termination of pregnancy a felony.

Several efforts to change state law to allow murder charges in the death of a foetus have stalled amid disagreement about how to pass such a law without infringing on abortion rights.

As Boulder County district attorney, Stan Garnett remembers receiving dozens of calls and letters as his office prosecuted a woman accused of cutting open a pregnant woman’s belly and removing her unborn child in 2015.

Mr Garnett said a murder charge is impossible in Colorado unless prosecutors can show a foetus lived outside the mother before death.

A case involving the death of a foetus is inevitably controversial, but for prosecutors, “all that matters is what the law is and what the evidence is,” Mr Garnett said.

-With AP