The one-bedroom, one-bathroom west Phoenix apartment unit was a small dwelling, but it filled Shanna Cassondra Watts with pride, happiness and — at least seemingly — love.
Watts, 40, had reached sobriety and was on a path forward 15 years in the making. The mother of two had a steady job, two mix-breed dogs and those little but fulfilling things, like a cherished Crock-Pot her brother recently gifted her.
And there was Watts' live-in boyfriend, Ronald Wright Serafino, who had joined her in recovery and been with her for about a decade and a half. That was until the afternoon of June 26 when in their apartment on 99th Avenue and Camelback Road, according to Phoenix police, Wright Serafino took a firearm and killed Watts before turning the weapon on himself and dying.
"I never saw any, any signs of domestic violence with them," said her brother, Cody Watts, 42. Pivoting his thoughts to his sister's 17- and 20-year-old daughters from a previous relationship, he added, "There's two girls that aren't ever gonna have their mom there at their wedding. There's two girls that aren't going to get to spend the next 30 years of their lives enjoying memories with their mother."
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The daughters were adopted early in life by their maternal grandmother because of Shanna Watts's then-substance abuse, but she was never absent from their lives, Cody Watts said. Their mother was "tough and resilient" and "always pushed to be a better person," Cody Watts said his sister's daughters told him.
Now, the man police have pointed to as responsible for their mother's death has left them feeling betrayed. They saw him as a father figure, Cody Watts said.
Phoenix police spokesperson Sgt. Mercedes Fortune said July 2 that there were no updates to the investigation on the apparent homicide-suicide case.
Remembered for gestures of kindness
The sudden and shocking loss of Shanna Watts was followed by a vigil at her apartment complex a few days later in a gathering that yielded poignant memories. Cody Watts learned about his sister's friendliness to her neighbors and kind gestures like bringing food to the apartment office staff.
Shanna Watts was a repeat animal foster parent who ensured hungry strays roaming the complex were fed. This was apparent to Cody Watts when he made it to the crime scene while police investigated. He noticed a pair of cats immediately approach as his sister's apartment door opened, as if expecting her to step out.
She routinely mowed her grandmother's lawn and regularly cooked for her mother and stepfather, Cody Watts said.
"She would do anything and everything to make everybody around her happy ... even when it was at her worst times, she would take care of anybody," he said.
Cody Watts said he is a retired parole officer and that his kid sister overcoming her substance abuse was inspiration for him. He often invoked her when tending to the formerly incarcerated working toward reentry and rehabilitation.
"I would tell every single person, like, 'I've watched my sister sober up. I know you can do it,'" Cody Watts said.
As a tribute to Shanna Watts, her family is donating her possessions and proceeds from the sale of her belongings to no-kill shelters and sober-living facilities for women, her brother said.
Among Shanna Watts' items to be given away is her Crock-Pot, which she was "so happy about," Cody Watts said. The slow cooker, he said, "might be the biggest thing in the world to somebody."
Just one more person Shanna Watts will help.
