this is completely unlike her. >> reporter: she called shannan's husband, chris. chris told her the last time he saw his wife and kids was that morning at 5:15 when he left for work. >> after i called her and texted her once, it was like, maybe she was just busy. when her friend showed up, that's when it registered, this isn't right. >> reporter: chris says he rushed home and nicole called police. >> i'm just concerned. shannan, if you're hearing this or you're out there, please, please let somebody know you're okay. >> reporter: by tuesday afternoon, chris watts is talking to local tv stations. >> if somebody has her, just please bring her back. >> reporter: interviews that first evoke sympathy but on closer examination, suspicion. watts revealing that he and his wife had exchanged words the morning she vanished. >> it wasn't like an argument. we had an emotional conversation but i'll leave it at that. but it's -- i just want them back. >> if you watch his interview, first of all, it's very flat. it's unemotional. he spends a lot of the time rocking back and fort

six hours later, he sent another text to shannan, where are you? >> hi, are you chris? >> body camera video shows watts letting police into their ?olorado home. >> no, i just dropped her off. >> are you all right with us bringing the dog through the house as well? >> if you're out there, just come back. >> by tuesday afternoon, chris watts was speaking to local tv stations. >> if somebody has her, just please bring her back. >> his interviews at first evoked sympathy, but on closer examination, suspicion. watts revealed that he and his wife had exchanged words the morning she vanished. >> it wasn't like an argument. we had an emotional conversation. i'll leave it at that, but it's -- i just want them back. >> if you watch his interview, first of all, it's very flat. it's unemotional. he spends a lot of the time rocking back and forth and he also holds himself like i'm doing right now. that's a defensive posture. that's saying i'm not going to let you in. i'm going to control what i'm going to say. >> that tuesday night, watts went to visit friends amanda and nick. they

shannan ron shannan responds tomorrow is eight years we started dating. the next day, she says, he says we are not compatible anymore. he refuses to hug me. her friend suggests going through his phone and suggests counseling. shannan says, he not sitting on no damn couch. she said this baby in my belly deserves his full love. the only thing i can think of, even though i don't think he has it in him, is another girl. >> that was rob lowe of our affiliate reporting. >>> and a chilling report indeed, i want to bring in psychotherapist robi ludwig, the co-author of the book, "till death to us part: love, marriage, and the mind of the killer spouse." you've been following this case as everybody has been from the beginning. what has stood out to you? even learning now those texts. does it fill in some of the blanks and suspicions you may have had before? >> it really clarified what i always thought, that shannan really never had chris in the way that she thought she did in part because chris was never capable of that kind of love. and i think at one point when

he killed his wife shannan and two young daughters. they vanished from their homes in frederick, colorado. today he sat shaking and crying at times during his sentencing hearing. shannan brother wrote a letter in court. >> i can't even think of the right words to describe the words and hate i feel. there isn't a day that goes by that i don't cry for my family. they were my whole world. all i do is ask myself why. why would do you this? >> reporter: frederick police say watts told him he was having an affair and wanted separation from his wife. watts admitted initially lying claiming he only strangled his wife after she killed the children. watts led police to an oil field where investigators found shannan buried in a grave and daughters stuffed in oil barrels. christopher watts parents gave statements in court today. they said did not want leniency. >> shepard: live from denver. now that elevator that plummeted more than 80 floors in a chicago skyscraper. the people inside trapped for hours. >> reporter: it happened on michigan avenue

he pled guilty to murdering his wife shannan and their two daughters. prosecutors believe it took the 33-year-old only 40 minutes to kill his wife and then his two daughters. >> the defendant strangled her to death with his own hands. >> i didn't want death for you because that's not my right. >> the guilty plea comes after the prosecution agreed to take the death penalty after the table. >>> new details on the opposition to congresswoman nancy pelosi's bid to become house speaker once again, 16 democrats now saying in a letter they will vote against her. they write that during their recent election campaigns, "we promised to change the status quo and we intend to deliver." the resistance could present a problem for pelosi. that's because she can only afford to lose 15 members. based on the current size of the democratic majority, but pelosi and her supporters say they are still confident she will win when a crucial floor vote happens january 3rd. >>> it was another brutal day on wall street the dow dropping nearly 400 points and nasdaq tumbled more tha

. >> reporter: week after chris watts pleaded guilty to murdering his daughters and pregnant wife shannan, his girlfriend, is pulling back the curtain on a double life. >> daddy is my hero -- >> reporter: nichol kessinger telling "the denver post" watts is "a liar, he lied about everything." they met at work just weeks before his family went missing, she says he told her he was finalizing a divorce. and described him as "soft spoken" and a "good listener." but his story unraveled when his family went missing and he begged on tv for their return. >> i just want them back. >> reporter: kessinger telling the post, "i thought, 'if he was able to lie to me and hide something that big, what else was he lying about?" when she pressed him for answers his lack of emotion only made her more suspicious and she feared for his wife and children. police recovering their remains at a colorado oil site. his daughters hidden in inside storage tanks. >> reporter: she says she wanted to help and went to investigators while police were still searching. watts is expected to get life in prison. david? >> thank

. >> reporter: after watts led detectives to their bodies, shannan was discovered in a shallow grave. bella and celeste were stuffed in nearby oil tanks. >> hi, are you chris? >> reporter: investigators also releasing footage of officers with search dogs first arriving at the family home. police say this video shows him backing his truck into the family garage, where he loaded their bodies. >> the thing was, he was never hostile. >> reporter: detectives also spoke to watts' mistress, nicole kissinger. police uncovered racy photos of her in a secret app on watts' phone. >> to this day, even after everything that i found out, i still look back at that and i don't see any red lights with the way that he spoke of his family. >> reporter: when kissinger learned of the murders, she cooperated with authorities and was never charged with a crime. police say she googled, "did people hate amber frey," the mistress of scott peterson, who also killed his pregnant wife. this morning a cold and calculating killer spending his life behind bars in a web of lies now exposed. miguel almaguer, nbc news,

. >> and we have put together some of the highlights, jonathan and shannan and take a look at some of the things that he said in the campaign. >> i have nothing to do with are russia. i don't have any jobs in the russia, but we are all over the world, and i have not been in russia. >> i have not dealt with russia. >> i have no business dealings there with the russians. >> what do i know about the russians? what do i know about the russians and they say that he borrows money from the russias.s i promise you they don't have any deals with russia, and i had miss universe there a couple of years ago, but other than that, no. >> i have nothing to do with russia, folks, okay. >> shannon, your reaction to that? >> well, he might be technically correct because the deal did fall through and he does not make public comments until 2019, and that is because nobody was asks about it until 2016 when it was reported that the russians had hacked the dnc servers and so the point that he started to talk about it, he did not have a development there, but he does convenient conveniently omit, and a talki