The grieving father of Shanann Watts — the Colorado woman whose husband murdered her and their two daughters — says his family is still being bombarded with death threats and online harassment nearly a year after the murders — and he’s begging for it to “stop.”
“Just stop. Please, just stop,” Frank Rzucek implored keyboard warriors in a recent public statement.
“I don’t want to go into the specifics, but I will say that our family, including Shanann and her children – and our grandchildren – have been ridiculed, demeaned, slandered, (and) mocked in the most vicious ways you can imagine,” Rzucek said, according to The Denver Channel.
Shanann, 34, was pregnant when her husband Chris Watts strangled her in her bed last August. Rzucek also lost his granddaughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, who were smothered by their monster dad.
Watts, 33, pleaded guilty to the heinous slayings in exchange for prosecutors sparing him the death penalty. He was sentenced in November to multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.
But Shanann’s family say they haven’t been allowed to grieve as they’re still being plagued by vicious comments on Facebook pages, Twitter and YouTube accounts, that spread wild theories, false rumors and lies about the case.
“Every time we turn around, there is someone trying to capitalize on our tragedy by spreading false rumors and outright lies about Shanann and our grandchildren,” Rzucek said.
The family has also been subjected to false accusations from anonymous trolls and a “constant stream of ugly, evil insults and attacks,” including death threats, Rzucek said.
“This is so wrong. It is cruel. It is heartless,” he said.
The distraught dad said the family has reached out to the social media sites to stop the harassment, to no avail.
He also called on Congress to pass a law that would protect “victims of unspeakable crimes from this kind of abuse.”
“It doesn’t need to be like this, I shouldn’t have to be out here doing this,” Rzucek said. “Making money off of my daughter’s death is ridiculous.”