Chris Watts' daughter walked in just after her mother was killed, attorney says

FREDERICK, Colo. (KDVR/CNN) -- Chris Watts had just strangled his wife Shanann and was wrapping her in a sheet to dispose of her body when their daughter Bella walked into the room.

“What are you doing with mommy?” the 4-year-old asked her father.

The details of that interaction — Bella's last known words before her death — and more information about the disturbing familial murders were revealed by Steven Lambert, the attorney for Shanaan Watts' family, on the “Dr. Phil” show Tuesday.

Lambert's comments provide a chilling picture of how Chris Watts killed his pregnant wife Shanann, 34, and their two children, Bella and Celeste, 3, and then disposed of their bodies at a secluded oil field where he worked.

Prosecutors said he strangled his wife with his bare hands, suffocated the children, and then loaded their bodies in his vehicle and drove away to hide their remains.

Watts pleaded guilty to the killings and was sentenced in November to five life sentences after prosecutors and Shanann's family agreed to drop the possibility of the death penalty.

The TV interview comes a week after Colorado Bureau of Investigations spokeswoman Susan Medina said Watts provided investigators with “additional information” about the murders of his family on Feb. 18.

The CBI said a written report and audio file from that interview will be released Thursday.

In the “Dr. Phil” interview, Lambert said the couple got into a fight and Chris Watts confessed he was having an affair.

He also said he wanted a divorce and declared their relationship was over.

“And she had said something to the effect of, 'Well, you're not gonna see the kids again.' As a consequence of that conversation, he strangled her to death,” Lambert said.

As Watts began to wrap her body up in a sheet, Bella walked in and asked about her mother, Lambert said.

“She's 4, what we've been told she's quite smart — was quite smart — and knew something likely was up. And what he said was that, 'Mommy is sick, we need to take her to the hospital to make her better,'” Lambert said.