UPDATE Saturday 10:35 a.m. ET
The remains found on the property of Andarko Petroluem, Chris Watts’s employer until this week, have been identified as Shanann Watts and her two daughters, Bella and Celeste.
According to Fox 31 Denver, the Frederick Police Department announced on Friday night that a coroner had completed autopsies on the three victims and positively identified the remains. The cause of death is still unknown, pending further laboratory results.
UPDATED: Friday, 7:08 p.m. ET
Investigators believe they have found the bodies of two little girls who went missing with their pregnant mother in Colorado earlier this week.
Multiple high-ranking law enforcement sources reportedly told the Denver Channel that investigators found the bodies of Celeste and Bella Watts, the three- and four-year-old daughters of Shannan Watts, who is also presumed dead.
According to the report, the bodies of the little girls were found inside oil and gas tanks on the property of Anadarko Petroleum, where Shanann Watts’s husband Chris Watts was employed until this week. On Thursday, investigators found a body on the same property they believe is Shanann Watts, though the remains are still pending identification.
Law enforcement sources reportedly told the Denver Channel that authorities believe Watts hid the bodies there in part to mask the smell of the remains.
Chris Watts was arrested on Wednesday after he is believed to have confessed to killing his pregnant wife and two daughters, who were reported missing from their home in Frederick, Colorado. Prosecutors are expected to file formal homicide charges against Chris Watts on Monday. He is currently being held without bail.
Little is known about the circumstances of the presumed triple homicide, and though authorities reportedly believe Shanann Watts and her two daughters will killed at their home in Frederick, where Shanann had returned in the early hours of Monday morning from a business trip.
Watts admitted in a video interview prior to his arrested that he and his wife had an “emotional conversation” after she returned home. Authorities have not commented on a possible motive in the family slaying.
CrimeOnline will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.
