The Chris Watts Case: A Family Destroyed

In this episode, we examine the 2018 murders committed by Chris Watts, who killed his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, before attempting to conceal the crime. We trace the investigation from the family's reported disappearance to Watts' televised pleas, failed interviews with investigators, confession, and eventual guilty plea. The episode also explores themes of coercive control, family annihilation, and the gap between public appearances and private violence, while centering the lives of the victims rather than the notoriety of the offender. 

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Have at it, kids (discovery documents)---> https://www.scribd.com/document/393879949/Christopher-Watts-Redacted-Final

Chris looking nervous AF on the bodycam----> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u11A4FQlDMo

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hey y'all, welcome back to Black Girls Guide to True Crime. I'm Lauren. I'm your host, and I'm so excited that you all came back to join us for another episode. We are getting mad love from our store online, so I just want to thank y'all so much for that. We are live with some new products there. People were just asking for more and more. So ask and ye shall receive. So y'all can go check that out. I am getting this feedback that the material of the hoodies is like so high quality, and people are just loving the embroidery. And I honestly, I had to see for myself. Imagine that I didn't own anything from the Black Girls True Crime store. But I did end up getting some items and it's definitely worth it. And I'm not just saying that because it's an extension of this show, but because as a consumer and as a person, as a seller and an artist, I'm letting y'all know it's definitely certified. So go check that out before we sell out. But let's pivot back to why y'all came here today. Today's story is gonna be a heavy one. It involves intimate partner violence and also the victimization of children. So I just want to give that disclaimer for those of you who are sensitive to that content. Unfortunately, I know a lot about this case. I know more information than I want to know, but nevertheless, the victims always deserve to not be erased and to have their stories told. There are also a lot of things that turn me off about this case. Those things may be more opinion, and I might just speak on it because it's my podcast and I do what I want. But we'll get to that. Right now, we're gonna stick to the facts of this case and just discuss what is sauce and what's not sauce. On August 13, 2018, a woman named Nicole Atkinson went to the home of her friend to check in on her. Her friend's name was Shannon Watts. She became concerned after Shanan had been unresponsive that morning to her calls and texts. What was more concerning was that Shanan was 15 weeks pregnant at the time and she had an OB appointment that morning that she missed. Nicole had actually dropped Shannon off a couple hours earlier from a work trip they had, and she knew that Shanan had some health issues, so her not responding was a big red flag. Shannan also had two young daughters aged three and four years that were supposed to be starting school that morning as well, and they did not show up for their first day. When Nicole arrived to Shannon's house, she noticed that Shanan's car was still there, her shoes were still by the door, and the latch was still activated on the front door, so she couldn't get inside with the door code. At this time, Shanan's husband, Chris Watts, calls Nicole because he can see her on their ring doorbell camera trying to get into the house. Nicole explains to him what's going on and her concerns and asks him to come home so that they can make sure that Shannon is okay. Nicole also calls the police because she can just tell that something is not right. When Chris arrives, the police officer is finally able to enter and look around the home and do some preliminary investigating on the whereabouts of this woman and her young children. Chris is reporting that his wife and kids were in the home when he left at 5.30 a.m. that morning, but Shannon had told him she was going to take the kids and stay with a friend after a disagreement that they had. He is adamant that he does not know where his family is, but also he just doesn't seem to have the same urgency as Nicole to make contact. Another officer reports to the scene and they're searching the home to see if there's any evidence of some kind of disturbance, and it doesn't appear to be. The kids' beds are made, the house is clean and organized, but there were a couple things that stood out to investigators. Number one, the bedding has been removed off the bed in the master bedroom, and one of the sheets appears to be missing. Also, even though Chris was saying that Shannon had told him she was going to go stay with a friend after an argument, her purse, keys, phone, and all of her basic personal items that she would never leave the home with were still there, in addition to both of the kids' car seats in her car, which her friend Nicole said that she would never take the kids anywhere without the car seats. Police continue to search and they eventually come across the information that Chris's neighbor has a doorbell camera that points to the Watts family home. And on that footage, it shows Chris leaving for work at 5:30 in the morning, but it also shows him backing his work truck into the driveway and loading some items. And when questioned about this, Chris advised that he was loading his tools into the work truck, which is not abnormal for him to do before work. But while they're watching this video, Chris's body language is crazy. You can tell he is uncomfortable and something is just off. Less than 24 hours later, Shannon and her daughters are officially declared missing persons, and Chris is doing news interviews pleading for his wife and kids to come home. Investigators are getting more information on his whereabouts that morning by his GPS log on his work truck. Chris left his home that morning at 5 30 a.m. to go to work, and we know this not only because Chris told us this information, but we saw him on the neighbor's ring camera. Investigators were able to track his movements from the time that he left his home to go to work. He worked for a company called Endarco Petroleum, which is an oil and natural gas production company. This is a really horrible story, y'all. On August 16th, as part of their ongoing investigation, they found the bed sheet missing from the master bedroom and Shannon, his wife, in a shallow grave. At the same time, Chris is being questioned by the FBI when investigators are making this discovery. He takes a polygraph and fails. So he realizes with all this evidence against him that he's backed into a corner. And because he is a weak man, he initially tells investigators that after him and Shannon had discussed separation, she became so emotional that she went to the kids' bedroom and strangled the girls. Chris said he was so overcome with rage that he just jumped on Shanan and strangled her as well. Now, why are you gonna go lie on your wife like that? I told y'all this story is just vile. Investigators and the FBI are still trying to draw out information that we need from Chris. We need to know where the girls are. And throughout that line of questioning, we come to find out that he stuffed his girls in an oil drum a couple feet away from where he buried Shannon. Chris Watts was arrested promptly after his BS confession. All the evidence that started coming out in the discovery proved that Shanan murdering her own children is highly unlikely. He tried to save face in light of this incredibly horrific crime. He did eventually admit to killing Shanan and both of his own children, like his own blood. Chris gave us a more believable account of what actually went down the morning that Shanan was killed. And I say this because we don't know what's really the truth. We only know what Chris told us. And based off of his history of deception, can we really believe a word that he says? But he does eventually tell us that after his argument with Shanan, she tells him that he'll never see his kids again. And from that point, he just snapped and strangled her. During this, one of the girls woke up and was eyewitness to what happened. And his daughter asked him several times, What's wrong with mommy? He ended up dragging Shanan down the stairs in the sheet. And at that time, his other daughter woke up. So both the girls were pretty shaken up with witnessing their mother in this state. And they're just asking their father what's happening, and he's just telling them that Shanan is ill. He comes to the realization that he will never get away with this crime as long as he has his daughters as living witnesses. And he makes the difficult decision to end their lives as well. He loads his family into the car. He says that the girls are lying across the backseat of his work truck in and out of sleep as he drives to his job site. He digs a grave about two feet deep and buries his wife there. He comes back to his truck, strangles his daughter, and then dumps her into the oil drum, and then comes back to the truck, strangles his other daughter, who puts up a fight at her small age and size and begs him for her life. These are all things that Chris told investigators. He has to sit here in a room full of people and tell them that his own daughter begged for her life while he snuffed her out. So let's check in with each other for a minute because this story was so hard for me to write, and it is so hard to tell. Like, why, why would anyone ever do this? Let's back up the timeline and let's discuss the things that preceded this. During the investigation, he always denied having extramarital affairs, but we come to learn this was not true. He had an illicit affair with a woman named Nicole Kessinger. I'm still not convinced that this was his primary motive. And maybe at the time he thought that it was or that this would be a good fallback. But there is no way that wanting to start a life with your mistress makes you annihilate your family. There has to be darker forces at work here. Maybe he's using the mistress situation, but he just didn't want a family anymore. I don't know who needs to hear this, but I'm gonna let y'all know right now. This message is for you. Leave these married men alone. You are asking for karma in the worst way. Obviously, there's a lot of victims of this crime, not just Shanan and her girls, but law enforcement and the investigators who had to recover the bodies and to witness this. Really, all of the family and friends of the Watts family who love these girls, who love Shanan, and even people who had a relationship with Chris, like he ruined so many lives. I'm sure Kessinger has a lot of people in her life that assured her this was not her fault. And while Chris Watts is totally responsible for his own actions, girl, you're culpable. Like you did a bad thing. So again, you cannot be out here in relationships with people who are married on period or whatever the internet is saying these days. What I found interesting was the dynamic of Chris's and Nicole Kessinger's relationship based on the discovery documents. There were many things she said in her deposition that didn't align with what was in the discovery documents. Unfortunately, they had to pick this girl apart to make sure she wasn't involved in the murder of Shannon. I think it's a natural reaction to downplay a relationship and distance yourself after something like this happens. And she came forward to police on her own. She said that she found out Shannon was missing and pregnant through news media sources. I do believe that. But all this stuff is public information, y'all. You done had an affair with a man, and now the police department has posted your internet search history girl and text threads of your affair. Y'all can't see me shrugging right now, but punishment fits the crime for her. Because I do have more people to call out. She admitted that from the time that they started their relationship, she knew he was married, but Chris told her that him and Shanan were going through a separation. But at what point do people learn that this is something that people tell you to get away with cheating on their significant others? Like, girl, you think you're the first woman that's had an affair with a married man who's told his mistress what he had to tell them to get what he wanted? So, anyways, this is what she's telling law enforcement. She's also saying that she felt like he was more into her than she was into him. And she was encouraging him to go back and reconcile with his wife. And he was adamant that it was over. But we learned again in Discovery because they put all her information in the court documents that Kessinger was Googling wedding dresses for hours on some days. She was also searching things like husband leaving wife for mistress and Amber Fry after Shannon disappeared, who was the mistress of another man who was also convicted of killing his pregnant wife. She searched a lot for Shannon and some of his other family members before and after Shannon went missing. So she was clearly invested in a relationship as well. They had gone away together when Shannon was away. Apparently, Chris Watts regularly sent Nicole Kessinger photos of flowers because this was an interest of hers, which is a very intimate thing to do. He even did this on the morning that he killed Shanan. So it's clear that they had a fully physical and emotional relationship. Chris had hundreds of photos of Nicole Kissinger, some explicit hidden in a secret app on his phone. He also received and transferred these photos from his camera role to the secret app before and after he killed his wife. Shanan left town with her girls about five weeks before she was murdered to see family, and Chris was involved with Kissinger even then. Shannon had reported to several friends that she felt like this is when her relationship with Chris shifted. And honestly, Chris had all the opportunity to do his dirt with his family away. Chris ended up flying out to meet Shanan and the girls, and even in the text messages, there is just a lot of discontent. There was a disagreement with one of the grandparents and a food allergy with one of the girls that seemed to have escalated into Chris's and Shanan's relationship. Also, Chris seemed to be intentionally disrupting his relationship, probably to validate his feelings with his mistress. The seeds that you water will grow. So no matter how much you think you can commit to two relationships, it's just impossible. And this became obvious when Chris would go off grid for hours. So he just wasn't present because he was invested in his affair. The weekend before the murder, shortly after they got back in town from seeing family, Shannan left town again for work. And during that time, he was seeing his mistress. And it's a shame because Shannon had left the girls with him. He got a babysitter and told Shanan that he was going to a Rockies game. And she became suspicious because of how much he spent at the restaurant. She felt like it was just too much for one person, and her instinct was right because Dude was on a date. During this time that he was out with his mistress, he didn't reach out to the babysitter to check on the girls. He wasn't answering his phone for Shanan. Meanwhile, Shanan checked in on her girls and she was miles away on a business trip. So that just shows you his mindset. When police were looking at his device history, they were paying careful attention for the things that he said about his children to offer any more explanation on why he would do this to his own flesh and blood. So we talked about the morning of the murders and what was going on with Chris at the police station as they're making these discoveries, but we're gonna get a little more into the background of it. What was he doing and looking up on his phone and his devices and who is he connecting with from the time that he killed his wife to the time he was arrested? The morning of the murders, it was business as usual for Chris. When he was at his work site before 7 a.m. and his colleagues started texting him because they were clocking in and arriving, he was texting them very casually about the site that he was on. He was letting everybody know he had things under control, most likely because he didn't want anybody to pull up on him and realize what he was doing. Additionally, him and Shannon had discussed downsizing with their realtor because they had a lot of financial problems and they couldn't afford their mortgage. They had some civil cases from debt and nonpayment. Chris was texting their realtor on the morning that Shannon went missing as well about selling the house. He didn't advise the realtor that his wife was missing. He was going about his business, which she thought was odd because at this point she had mostly dealt with Shannon. So Chris being so active all of a sudden with the process was a little suspicious and off-putting. Chris also called the girls' school before the bodies were discovered to let them know that the girls weren't coming back. So he was acting like nothing happened. So where is Chris today? He pled guilty. He got a life sentence. He confessed to everything, but he still had a sentencing hearing. And at the sentencing hearing, Shannon's family asked the judge not to give him the death penalty. So her family was nice enough to extend this one last act of grace towards the killer who killed their daughter and their grandchildren. Chris also has said that he keeps pictures of Shannan and the girls in his jail cell and he regrets what he did. He can still hear his daughter's voice on the night that he murdered her saying, Daddy, no, every time he closes his eyes. May that eternally haunt you for the rest of your days, bro. To be honest, I get a sick feeling in my stomach knowing that he even has their pictures in his cell because the nerve. So I told y'all early in this episode that I have people to call out related to this case. Chris gets a lot of hate mail, but he also surprisingly gets a lot of love mail from supporters. And these letters are in the court documents. So if you are one of the weirdos that wrote this man in support of his circumstance, apologizing to him for what happened to him, we got your name and your address. It's all there. Shame on you. So I'm definitely judging these people because that man is a monster. There is really true evil in this world, and that man is evil, and he does not deserve a damn thing from anybody. But may God rest the souls of his wife and kids, Shannon, Bella, Celeste, and Nico, who she was pregnant with at the time. Anyhow, I am sorry for such a heavy story, guys. It was really hard writing it and really hard recording it. But as I've said before, all victims deserve to have their story told. And hopefully we learn something from situations like this. We learn from our stories. Anyways, that's all folks. Until next time.