What family murderer Chris Watts had to say at his sentencing

He knew it, it was probably a meaningless thing to say. But Chris Watts said it anyway: He was sorry for murdering his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two young daughters.

Moments after his brief statement was shared by one of his lawyers, the judge in Chris' murder case sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole – the maximum sentence under a deal with prosecutors, in which he admitted his guilt in exchange for avoiding execution.

“Mr. Watts asked us to say this morning that he is devastated by all of this,” his public defender said in court Monday morning in Weld County, Colorado, two weeks after he pleaded guilty to his charges.

“While he understands that words are hollow at this point, he is sincerely sorry for all of this,” his lawyer said.

Asked by the judge if he wanted to make a statement himself, Chris, 33, declined.

Chris' comments came near the end of his sentencing, where the judge described the murders in stark terms. His family and Shanann's family also made emotional statements.

Prosecutor Michael Rourke described to the court how Chris strangled Shanann, 34, his wife of almost six years, with his bare hands shortly after returning home from a weekend at work.

Bella and Celeste, the couple's two young daughters, were suffocated by their father, Rourke said – with Bella fighting for her life as Chris murdered her.

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“I have been a bailiff for 17 years now and I can objectively say that this is perhaps the most inhumane and cruel crime I have handled among the thousands of cases I have seen,” said Judge Marcelo A. Kopcow.

“Nothing less than a maximum sentence would be appropriate, and any sentence less than that maximum sentence would demean the seriousness of this offense,” Kopcow said.

During Chris' sentencing, for the first time, prosecutors confirmed several key pieces of information about the murders. Rourke, the Weld County prosecutor, told the court how Shanann, Bella and Celeste were killed. Chris then loaded their bodies into his truck and hid them at a remote oil site: his wife buried in the ground and their daughters submerged in two nearby oil tanks.

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Chris' motive “was simple,” Rourke said. “He wanted a fresh start, to start a new relationship with a new love.” (Police said Chris was cheating on Shanann with a co-worker when he murdered her.)

Rourke also described the “stark contrast” in the lead-up to the homicides between Shanann's efforts to save her marriage and Chris' disinterest.

“However, none of this answers the question of why,” he said. “If [Chris] was unhappy and wanted a fresh start, divorce. You don't destroy your family and throw them away like trash.