Harrowing texts between Shanann Watts and a friend reveal the pregnant mom’s extreme emotional distress in the days before her husband killed her and their two daughters.

“I haven’t slept most the week,” Watts, 34, wrote to her friend shortly after cancelling a gender reveal party for what would have been the couple’s third child.

“My eyes burn from crying so much,” continued Watts, who was strangled to death by her husband Chris Watts on Aug. 13, 2018.

In the texts, obtained by the Daily Mail, Watts opened up about her collapsing marriage.
Man in orange jumpsuit at court.The anguished wife suspected that Chris was having an affair.Denver Post via Getty Images

“We were so intimate and what I thought ‘in love’ when I left! He said he had a lot of time to think.”

“This baby in my belly deserves his full love. Either way.”

Other texts reveal her husband was uneasy about the third child.

“Chris told me last night he’s scared to death about this third baby and he’s happy with just Bella and celeste and doesn’t want another baby,” Shanann told the friend.

The anguished wife suspected that Chris was having an affair.

“Only thing I can think of even though I don’t think he has it in him is another girl,” reads the last message published by the Mail.

Shanann had been texting her friend around the time she was shopping for the planned gender reveal party on Aug. 7.

The would-be mom of three splurged on a cake, cookie arrangements, party supplies and flowers that topped out around $860, according to the Mail.
A family of four smiles for a photo on their front steps.Chris and Shannan Watts with their children, Celeste and Cathryn.O’Connor
About 50 people were expected to attend the celebration in Frederick, Colorado.

The gender reveal date was set on Aug. 19 but was canceled on Aug. 8 after Chris admitted he did not want the third child, and Shannan asked for a divorce.

Five days later, Chris killed Shanann and her two children.

Since he was incarcerated in Wisconsin, Chris has claimed he is a “new man” forgiven by God and corresponds with multiple women inside prison.

“I know that God does not see me as a sinner who killed his family; he sees me as His child. I have confessed my sins. I am forgiven. The hardest thing I have had to do was to forgive myself,” he wrote.

SOURCE: https://nypost.com/2026/05/14/us-news/texts-financial-records-watts-family-gender-reveal-before-murders/