Those who knew the family destroyed this week through the violent murder of a pregnant mom and two young daughters say they are struggling to come to terms with the fact that a doting father and husband is accused of killing them.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, close friends of the Watts family, Nick and Amanda Thayer, apologized for initially defending Chris Watts upon the disappearance of his wife, Shanann, and two toddler girls.

“I’m so sorry,” Nick Thayer said. “We didn’t know. We thought we were doing the right thing. That’s all I can do is say that we’re sorry that we defended him on social media. We really had no idea that he was capable of doing something [like that]. I hate it.”

The Thayers were not alone in feeling duped by the accused killer. As KNXV reported, Jeremy Lindstrom was close to the family and hosted a birthday party they attended just days before the multiple homicide.

He said the confusion and pain is much more acute given his relationship with the suspect and victims.

“You know, the hardest part about it all is, when you’re closer to the family, is the why,” he said. “The why gets bigger.”

It is that question Lindstrom says he is now stuck pondering as he processes the tragedy.

“We’re dumbfounded,” he said after Chris Watts reportedly confessed to the killings. “We don’t get it. Lost.”

He said the there were no indicators of any possible problem in the family.

“He would reach out and help anybody that needed help with anything,” the family friend added. “He was a good mechanic if you needed help with your car, he’d help you. If you needed help with furniture, he’d be over there in a heartbeat to help you out. You don’t know what, when, why, where or how everything goes weird.”