Police Find 2 Girls' Bodies Hours After Pregnant Woman's, Possibly Her Daughters

Bodies believed to be of two young girls reported missing along with their pregnant mother in Colorado were found late Thursday close to where the latter’s remains were discovered earlier the same day, authorities said.

The bodies were found inside oil and gas tanks. According to Colorado-based KMGH-Channel 7, the motive behind hiding the bodies in the tanks would be to disguise the smell.

Frederick city officials tweeted they had reason to believe the bodies found were that of the girls, 3-year-old Celeste and 4-year-old Bella Watts.

The two girls and their mother, 34-year-old Shanann Watts, were reported missing Monday from Frederick. Shanann was 15 months pregnant at the time.

Her husband, 33-year-old Chris Watts, was arrested Wednesday night for the crime. He was thought to have committed the murder at the family’s home, prosecutors said Thursday. He is being held at Weld County Jail, north of Denver, after being ordered to be held without bond by Judge Marcelo Copcow. A motive for the murder has not been identified yet.

Watts confessed to murdering his family, reports said. He is expected to be charged with three counts of murder and for tampering with evidence. The prosecutors have till Monday to charge him officially.

The prosecution believes the murders were committed at the family’s residence even though Shanann’s body was found at Watts’ workplace, on a property owned by Anadarko Petroleum.

"At this point we have been able to recover a body that we're quite certain is Shanann Watts' body," Colorado Bureau of Investigation Director John Camper said.

The two other bodies "were found in close proximity to the other body whom officers strongly believe is Shanann's," officials said, but declined to reveal the location from where the bodies were found.

"I just want 30 seconds alone with that heartless psychopath. May Satan have mercy on his soul. Doesn't take a genius to know who was suspect," Frankie Rzucek, identified as Shanann’s brother on her Facebook page, wrote in a post.

The three were reported missing after they failed to show up for a doctor’s appointment Monday. Shanann could not be reached on her phone as well.

The incident was reported to the police by one of Shanann’s friends. They conducted a welfare check wherein they recovered her cell phone, purse and keys, but the trio could not be found anywhere.

The FBI and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation were called in to aid in the search for the woman and her daughters.

Chris had told reporters early Wednesday he was traumatized by the happening, and was hoping his family would return home safe. He said his wife and children were “his life” and their “smiles light up my life.”

He added he had an emotional conversation with Shanann before she disappeared, but did not go into the details.

“We had an emotional conversation; I'll leave it at that. I just want them back. I just want them to come back," he said. "I walked in the house and — nothing. She wasn't here. The kids weren't here. She said she was going to a friend's house with the kids and that's the last thing I heard, and that was it. It was very vague."