Metallica Lyrics Googled Shortly After Murder
According to police in Colorado, a man looked up the lyrics to Metallica's "Battery" not long after murdering his pregnant wife and their two daughters. Earlier this month, Chris Watts pleaded guilty to nine charges, and he was sentenced this past Monday (Nov. 19).
CBS4 Denver has received thousands of pages of documents related to the case from the Weld County District Attorney. On page 2,122, it says that on Aug. 13 at 10:10AM, "during a respite following the murder of his family, and disposing of their bodies at a desolate well site, Watts searched Google for the lyrics to 'Battery' by Metallica."
The report then printed the entirety of the words to the Master of Puppets track, which begins, "Lashing out the action / Returning the reaction / Weak are ripped and torn away / Hypnotizing power / Crushing all that cower / Battery is here to stay / Smashing through the boundaries / Lunacy has found me / Cannot stop the battery / Pounding out aggression / Turns into obsession."
Watts, 33, strangled Shanann Watts, 34, and smothered their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste before sunrise in their home in Frederick, Colo. He then disposed of the bodies at the oil and gas company where he worked. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, plus two more life sentences to be served concurrently, 48 years for the unlawful termination of a pregnancy and 36 years for three counts of tampering with a deceased body. It is believed that his motive was to start a new life with a colleague whom he had been dating.
At the sentencing, the judge said it was "the most inhumane and vicious crime he had ever seen." Shanann's father called him a "heartless monster. I trusted you to take care of them, not kill them."