The father of Shan'ann Watts made an emotional appeal to those who are posting ugly comments on social media about his family: "Just stop. Please, just stop."
Frank Rzucek traveled from his home in North Carolina to stand in front of his daughter's former Colorado house to confront cyberbullies behind anonymous posts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
"I don't want to go into specifics, but I will say that our family, including Shan'ann and her children — and our grandchildren — have been ridiculed, demeaned, slandered, mocked in the most vicious ways you can imagine,” he said. “This is so wrong. It is cruel. It is heartless.”
Shan'ann's husband, Chris Watts, pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant, 34-year-old wife and their daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3.
"We have been subjected to wild, false allegations, fake Facebook accounts, hate speech and a constant stream of ugly, evil insults and attacks," the grieving father said.
"Every time we turn around, there is someone trying to capitalize on our tragedy by spreading false rumors and outright lies about Shan'ann and our grandchildren," he said. The avalanche of hostility has prevented his family from grieving the loss of their daughter and grandchildren, he said.
Chris Watts was sentenced in 2018 to three consecutive life sentences for the deaths of his wife and daughters. He also was sentenced to three 12-year sentences for tampering with a corpse.
Rzueck said his daughter would want to be remembered as a good person. "She would have defended herself and now I'm here defending her," he said. "I shouldn't have to be out here doing this."
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