In a stunning development, Colorado dad Chris Watts pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murdering his pregnant wife Shannan Watts and their daughters Bella and Celeste — less than three months after Chris tried to pin his daughters’ murders on his wife.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, an arrest affidavit showed that the accused killer claimed to police that he strangled Shannan Watts in a “rage” after purportedly seeing her strangle their daughter via a baby cam in their Frederick home. It appeared that investigators never believed this claim, and it now looks as though Watts’s defense team knew he didn’t have a case.

A source with knowledge of the investigation told People magazine that Watts resisted admitting to the crimes, but that his attorneys convinced him to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty.

“The evidence against him was overwhelming,” the source reportedly said.

“There was physical evidence and his own words that would convict him. His story didn’t work. He got angry. He didn’t want to plead guilty. But he really had no choice, considering the evidence. It took a little bit of time for him to come around, but he did.”

Watts wore a bullet-proof vest in the Weld County courtroom on Tuesday, and stated his guilty pleas through tears, the Denver Channel reports.

According to People, Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke told reporters outside of the courtroom Tuesday that Watts’s defense team had approached the prosecutor weeks ago with the offer of a plea deal.

“What I can tell you most affirmatively today, by what happened in the court room, is the spotlight that he tried to shine on Shan’ann falsely, incorrectly and, frankly, a flat-out lie has been corrected,” Rourke said.

“The spotlight shines directly where it belongs: on him.”

Watts will be sentenced on November 19, and is expected to serve consecutive life sentences for the murders.