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Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We just want to say thank you to everyone who subscribed to our YouTube channel and watched our YouTube video from last week. It was so fun and
And we are planning on doing more episodes like that on YouTube. So if you liked it, please let us know. Comment on our social media. Comment on the YouTube video. We'd really appreciate it. And thanks again so much for sharing. Every time you guys get a chance, it's really helpful to us. And we were going to do another YouTube video today, but Peyton is feeling a little sick. So she's been kind of resting and sleeping all day.
Yeah, but I still was doing research all week for this case. So I kind of wrapped it up and I'm really excited for the case today.
I know that a lot of you will probably know this case, but I had to do it because Netflix actually came out with a documentary on this case this week. And so it's been a hot topic and I received a bunch of DMs asking if we would cover it and we are going to do that today. So I'm going to list my sources real quick. There are, okay, before I jump into this, I've researched this case extensively.
a butt-ton before this week. I could have told you every single detail about this case.
Three months ago, had you asked me. So there are so many good YouTube videos on this case of just amazing people who have amazing talents who use them to dissect this case for you. And I've watched those multiple times and then I watched them again this week. So if you haven't, I would suggest going on YouTube. The actual YouTube sources I used are going to be listed in our episode notes, but you can literally just search it on YouTube and you can easily find them.
There are also a lot of documentaries. This Netflix documentary was not the first documentary about this case. So there are many documentaries, 48 hours, stuff like that. So just Google videos and you will find so much coverage on this case. They do get a little repetitive, but
But I mean, I watch them all. So if you liked your crime, I'm sure you would like to watch them all too. So YouTube, obviously the Netflix documentary called American Murder, www.biography.com, www.dailymail.co, www.rollingstone.com, cafemom.com, and womenshealthmag.com.
So we are doing the case of the Watts family today, Chris Watts and Shanann Watts. As many of you probably know, Netflix just released the unique documentary on this case that was actually only made up of real footage from this case. There was no interviewing. There was no talking to people. It was just a compilation of all the footage that this case has to offer. I have invested many hours researching this case. I'm going to share with you a few of the things that I found.
I, like the rest of the world, was fascinated with the fact that almost this whole entire case can be watched through body cam, video surveillance, and security footage. I know most of you might know this case, so to give you a little bit of different insight, I will be following some sources who go step-by-step through this case and break down behavior and body language as well as telling you the story today. As you probably know by now, I am interested in the psychology behind true crime, so this case is everything for me as there is so much of it to digest.
How well known would you say that this case is compared to some of the other ones we've done? So this case is a, I think it's a big case because of all the amount of external sources that have covered it. I mean, we definitely do some cases that aren't as well known. So this one is going to be one of our more well-known cases. I wouldn't compare it to as big as say JonBenet Ramsey though. Okay.
So in 2010, in North Carolina, a Facebook friend request comes through on Shanann Watts' page. She had been through a rough divorce recently and had been diagnosed with lupus, which she was battling. Shanann accepts the request from Chris Watts. She says in a Facebook video she made later about this that she thought, you know, what the heck? It's not like I'm ever going to meet him. So she just accepted it.
Two years later, on November 3rd, 2012, Shanann and Chris Watts get married in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Netflix documentary actually showed some of their wedding footage, which I actually hadn't seen before, so it was interesting to see even more of Chris and Shanann's relationship. On December 17th, 2012, Chris and Shanann's first daughter, Bella Marie Watts, was born in Colorado, where they now lived.
July 17, 2015, their second daughter, Celeste Catherine Watts, whom they refer to as Cece, was born. These baby girls were a big blessing because of Shanann's fight with lupus. In June of 2015, the Watts family files for bankruptcy.
In between the time of 2015 and 2018, Chris gains and then loses a lot of weight. Fitness becomes huge for him, so he just gets looking good towards 2018. He gets a steady job as an operator at Anadarko Petroleum, and life seems to be turning around for this family financially. Shanann joins a nutrition supplement company named Lavelle and becomes very active on social media as part of the job.
She was traveling with and without her family a lot for this new gig. And from the outside, the Watts family appeared to be a happy suburban family.
Shanann posts pictures and videos of Chris playing with the girls, dressing up as Santa, and doing everyday things as one happy family. Now, when I say she posts a lot, I'm saying multiple times a day. She's giving an update. This is what we ate for lunch. We went to the park after. We did this. And then Chris got home and we did this. So her whole life is documented because...
And the company that she's working for is like an MLM type. Multi-level marketing. Yep. And so she needs people to get signed up underneath her. So to do that, she's very active on social media, talking to people, making, you know, like just being very open with her life. Kind of a random question, but do you know how many followers she had? I don't, I don't think it was, it was too much out of her outside audience.
circle her inner friend circle yeah like i think it was just the people that she knew friends of family stuff like that so on june 11th 2018 so we're now in 2018 shenan surprises chris on video with news that they are pregnant again and this time it will be a little boy that they eventually named nico
Soon after, Shanann takes Bella and Cece on an extended stay to visit both her and Chris's family in North Carolina for six weeks. Oh, that's a long time. So they've been working. Like, they just got home from a San Diego trip, her and Chris together, that was with the Lavelle company. You know, they took them on like a little company. Mm-hmm.
company trip and then they get home and they decide they're gonna go see family for six weeks and Chris can't go so he's gonna fly out on the sixth week okay so he's gonna stay the last week with them but she's gonna go alone stay at her parents house for five weeks and let the grandparents see the kids because they live in Colorado and both Chris and her parents live in North Carolina okay let me just make sure I got all this straight so then they're now gonna have their third kid yep
A boy. A boy, which is going to be named Nico. Yes. And everyone except the husband are now going to North Carolina to visit the family. Yes. And he can't go because of work. Obviously, he can't just take off work like she can. Well, and she doesn't take off work per se because she's still working while she's there. It's just more online and social media and stuff. So it's during this trip that friends and family start to hear from Shanann about some trouble between her and her husband.
Text messages show that after Shanann and the kids left for North Carolina, Shanann felt as if Chris was pulling away from her. They fight over text because Chris hasn't reached out or called them since they left. He hasn't asked to talk to the kids, and the only time that they have talked are because Shanann initiated it. And do you know how long that gap was? How many days?
That Chris didn't talk to. So she just said they talked, but it was because Shanann called him. Okay. She said, since we've been here, you haven't reached out to talk to your girls. If you talk to him, it's because I say, Hey girls, come over here and let's call dad and you can talk to dad. Okay. So there was all these fights over text messaging and. Mm-hmm.
It didn't help that Chris's mom, who was not a fan of Shanann since the very beginning of their relationship. And I mean, not a fan as in his parents didn't even go to their wedding because they hated her that bad. That's crazy. So, but Shanann had taken the girls to North Carolina and taken them over to see his parents because, you know, they're their grandchildren. And.
And his mom had bought ice cream that Cece was allergic to. And they got into this huge fight about it, blew up like she stormed out of the house. And then Shanann, you know, texts and calls Chris and lets him have it because his mom just did this and how disrespectful.
And Chris replies and is like, you know, that's not cool what my mom did. I'm going to talk to her about it. And Shanann replies by saying, yeah, we're never going to see them again. Oh, geez. Chris's parents didn't like Shanann because she had taken Chris away from them. That's their that's what they say. Her friends.
Shanann's friends say that, you know, Shanann could be bossy, but in a good way. She liked things a certain way. She was definitely the dominant in the relationship. She had moved Chris to Colorado right after they got married.
And his parents didn't like her already. And then they, she just is like, let's move to Colorado. And he's like, okay. Cause he's super submissive with her. So he just goes and they're like, oh, she's so bossy. She's so demanding. She's so this, they all, they just complained about her. So her family's in North Carolina too. Yes. Both the families are in North Carolina. And then when they got married, they picked up and took
to Colorado. So at this time, is she staying with Chris's family or with her family? Her family. Okay. Got it. She, so when they got in that fight, it was one of the girl's birthdays, like in the next couple of days. And the, the grandparents, his parents didn't even come to the birthday party. Oh, cause that's how bad the fight was. Despite the fight with Chris's parents, Shanann and Chris were still arguing about other things. Um,
He wasn't answering her calls and wouldn't give her an explanation why. It was really interesting to see their text exchanges during the time she spent in North Carolina and while he was back home working. It was hard because when I say they fought, I mean that...
Shanann would text Chris and tell him she's mad and frustrated with him for this and this and this and Chris would text back you know you're right I know I gotta do better I'm gonna do better I swear yeah I'm gonna do better usually just one or two sentence replies oh wow so it wasn't really like a fight then no they weren't like arguing back and forth Shanann was frustrated and upset and whenever she would get upset he would just kind of text her back and be like you're right
I think just kind of to get the conversation over with. I understand why Shanann felt like he was pulling away because it really seemed like he didn't even care enough to have the fight with her, which that's like my biggest worry is, you know, at least care enough with me to get,
you know, like to talk about it with me. And he just is like, could give two, two grabs. Like it's also hard. Cause I mean, obviously we're going to go deeper into the story or you are, but this is all over text, right? So we all can't even really tell what's going on in a way. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Cause all the, I mean, they obviously don't have the phone calls. So all we're reading is text messages, text messages, everything that she brought up, uh,
you know, through these texts, he was so submissive to and would just say, you know, you're right to get the conversation over with, even though her points were valid. Like she was like, you don't talk to me. You're pulling away from me. You never call me. I just sat by my phone and waited for you to call me back all night and you never called. And he's like, yeah, you're right. I should have called. Weird. It's kind of strange. Yeah. It was like it was running in circles, basically.
On July 31st, Chris flies to North Carolina for the last week of the trip. So now we've caught up to where he gets to come to North Carolina too. Even this doesn't help the couple's situation according to text messages sent to Shanann's friends. After five weeks apart, Chris kisses her once at the airport when the girls and her came to pick him up and then never again. She was frustrated because she tried to come on to him that night, you know, like they hadn't seen each other in five weeks and he denied her.
Oh, she confronts him. That's weird. Yeah. So she confronts him after suspicion that the reason he denied her was because for the last five weeks he was getting it from another girl. And he just flat out said that. No, no. She says that to him. OK, are you denying me because you're cheating on me, cheating on me? And he's like, no, no, I love you. I'll do better. I'm sorry. I didn't even know I was denying you. I love you. I'll do better. I love you. I'll do better.
And she's like, she tells her friends something is seriously wrong because the last time he acted like this was after their wedding because he was upset that his family didn't come. She feels like he's acting like this because of the fight that she got in with his mom. She's begging him to love her and he's like, yeah, okay. But then doesn't ever do anything. Oh man, this is kind of weird. I can't really tell where it's going. Sometimes I kind of have a hunch on, oh, maybe it's going here. Maybe it's going here, but...
I don't really know right now. Well, it's confusing because he's submissive. So right now you would be thinking normally we think, oh, it's the guy. But then you're looking at the evidence and you're like, well, he's submissive. Like, you know, that's what's weird.
When they get home from North Carolina, the Watts family, things are still rocky all of the sudden between them. Shanann tries to sleep with him again and he just goes to sleep. She balls herself to sleep after texting a friend about it. So she's texting her friend. She's like, he still hasn't, he won't touch me. He hasn't slept with me. She even says, you know, like I'm, I want to sleep with him and I want him. And he just is acting like it. He's in the shower right now and her friend texts back and it's like, just,
Just go for it. Like when he gets out of the shower, just go for it. Just tell him that you want to. Oh no. And then sometime goes by and she texts her friend again is like, he's asleep. Just went to sleep. I've bought, I've been bawling for the last hour. Oh, poor girl. On August 9th, 2018, Shanann actually heads to Arizona with her best friend, Nicole Atkinson. So this is only a couple days after they got home from North Carolina and
So they came home for a couple of days and then she picked right back up and left for, it's a business for the Lavelle thing. She's going with her best friend who's in the little gig with her and they're going to go to Arizona. Okay. Okay. Let me guess. Your medicine cabinet is crammed with stuff that does not work. You still aren't sleeping. You still hurt and you're stressed out. That's
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Shanann claims that her and Chris actually had talked about things the night before she left and it went really well. She actually left him like a handwritten letter about how much she loves him and she's sorry that they've been going through some tough things, but how thankful she is for him. She can't wait to see him when she gets back. She's going to miss him. La-di-da-da.
So while in Arizona, Shanann becomes distraught after discovering that Chris's credit card was charged at a Lazy Dog Cafe restaurant, which we've been to Lazy Dog Cafe. Hey, I was going to say that's in Irvine. Yeah. Or there's one in Irvine. Yeah, I was cracking up because I'm like, hey, I've been there. Because most of the time I feel like when I don't live in the state of the place, unless it's like a Chili's or something, I don't really know the place. But I was like, hmm.
Oh, that's so funny. What a small world. So he had supposedly gotten a babysitter for the girls and was going to a baseball game that night. But then he but then this charge comes up and she's like, what the heck? Why is he at the Lazy Dog Cafe?
So confused, Shanann and Nicole, who are in Arizona together, check the menu for the Lazy Dog Cafe because the total for what his card was charged was around $60. And that seemed pricey for one mil. When they ask Chris what he got, they find out that his... And he literally texts back, I got this type of beer. I ordered this with a side of this or whatever.
And when they go on the menu and look at it, they find out that his total alone would have only been around $30. Oh, okay. And he says he went alone. Those are getting interesting now. So hurt and confused, Shanann begins blaming herself, telling Nicole that, you know, she really was demanding on him and she was hard on Chris and he never complained. He was super submissive to her. And maybe she's just finally driven him away. Like she's like, I've been so...
I like things a certain way. Maybe I've just pushed him so far. You can't do that. So with this new information that we have about this credit card charge, let's back up just to June 18th. So just a couple months before.
June 18th, just two months earlier, and only one day after Shanann had posted a long Father's Day video on Facebook about how great of a father and husband Chris was, Chris meets Nicole Kessinger at work. So Shanann's best friend is named Nicole Atkinson. Okay. And Chris meets a Nicole Kessinger at work. In July, they start up a physical relationship where they see each other four or five times a week.
Chris tells Nicole that him and his wife are in the process of a divorce. Oh, no. When Shanann and the girls leave for North Carolina, Chris becomes the ultimate bachelor.
Him and Nicole spend the whole five weeks together that the girls and Shanann were in North Carolina. And during this time, he tells Nicole that his divorce is final and they can move in together and start this relationship together. And it's going to be great. That's so messed up. So you're right. The whole texting, he really was just trying to blow her off. Yeah. He just didn't want to have the fight, but he wasn't responding because he was with another girl. Oh my gosh.
Before he leaves for North Carolina on July 30th, because he has to go meet his family, he gives her a love letter. He gives Nicole a love letter. On August 4th, 2018, Nicole Kessinger shops for wedding dresses online while Chris is in North Carolina with Shanann and his family.
On August 11th, while Shanann is on her business trip in Arizona with her friend Nicole, Chris hires a babysitter, tells Shanann he's going to a baseball game with his coworkers, but instead goes to the Lazy Dog Cafe with Nicole and then heads back to her house after before finally getting home around 10.30 p.m. Okay. After her flight home from Arizona...
Shanann's best friend, Nicole, drops her off at her home in Colorado around 2 a.m. So it was a nighttime flight. They get to the airport and Nicole had drove. So she drops Shanann back off at her home at 2 a.m. Shanann is all distraught because of the lazy dog cafe charge. Oh, I'm sure. On August, this was on August 13th, 2018. Okay. Just two days after Chris spent the evening with his mistress. Okay.
You can see on their doorbell camera Shanann walking up with her suitcase and going inside. After putting her stuff away, Shanann climbs in bed with her husband Chris and desperate for their marriage and relationship tries to come on to him. He responds they make love before going back to sleep. All of this next part is according to Chris. When Chris wakes up for work that morning around 5 a.m.,
He decides to wake Shanann up too. He tells her that he's having an affair and their marriage is over. Just, oh. Keep in mind, he just slept with her three hours earlier. So he just woke up in the morning and just told her all this. Yeah, to get ready for work and then decide to wake her up too and tell her. Oh man. Confused, Shanann is like, huh? Like, what?
I'm pregnant. Like I'm 15 weeks pregnant. And you're telling me you want it. We just slept together. Like she's confused. And you're having an affair. Yeah. And he's like, yeah, I don't love you anymore. And this is over. I'm going to be with Nicole, the girl I'm having an affair with. Oh my gosh. Shanann tells him that he won't ever see the kids again. And so he decides to strangle her and he strangles her to death in her bed. So this is all from Chris points. This is all from Chris's point of view. Okay. Yeah.
Bella, their daughter, who's four years old now, comes in and sees Chris strangling her mom and asks what's wrong with mom. And now the mom is dead. And he tells her, well, she's just not feeling well. He wraps Shanann up in a blanket, goes outside, pulls his truck halfway into the garage, places Shanann's dead body on the backseat floor of his truck, goes back in the house, grabs Bella's
Four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Cece, their little blankets they sleep with, and puts them in the back seat of the truck, too. Oh, this makes me sick. I don't even... I think I know what's going to happen next, but...
He packs his stuff for work and leaves. When he arrives to his work site that's 50 minutes away, he smothers Bella and Cece as well, killing his whole entire family. Oh my gosh. How do you do that? But they rode for 50 minutes in the back of the truck with their mom dead on the floor underneath their feet. They probably didn't. I mean, I... He said they didn't know. He said they slept the 50-minute drive. Obviously, that's from his point of view, but I'm hoping they didn't know.
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uh, was worried. Shanann hadn't been feeling well when she dropped her off and she actually had a doctor's appointment at 9am and she can't get ahold of her. So Shanann's not answering her phone calls. So she texts her, just wanted to see if you're okay. Still worried. Um, she messages again, let me know how your appointment goes. After no response, she texts again. I'm very worried about you and I'm coming to your house.
When she shows up to Shanann's house and notices that her car is still in the garage, her shoes are by the door, and no one is answering, she calls the police. That's a good friend. Yeah. Nicole is an amazing friend. Yeah. And she gets a lot of credit in this case. Mm-hmm.
This next part is based off a video from Derek Van Schick, who is a behavior analyst who watched all of the footage from this case and points out how police became suspect of Chris based solely off his body language and behavior.
All of this next part can be watched on the officer's body cam footage and it's good quality. Like everything's clear. The sound is clear. So you can look all of this footage because from now on, the whole rest of this case is on video because it's 2018. That's kind of cool that...
That it's all on video that you can see everything. Oh, yeah. So from now on for the rest of this, this is all what I'm going to tell you is video. So you can go watch this after. And I just realized it didn't hit me when it happened. But he also killed the baby that was that she was pregnant with. Yep. Yep. That's horrible. Responding to.
Nicole's 911 call officer Scott Conrad shows up just one officer Nicole Atkinson and her son Ben meet him in the driveway of Shanann and Chris's home and
And she tells Officer Scott that she dropped her off there at 2 o'clock in the morning. And she had a doctor's appointment at 9. And she wasn't feeling well. So, you know, I called her. I want to check in. And she wasn't answering. So I called the doctor's office to see how the appointment went. And they said that she never even showed up for the appointment. So I got really scared. I called 911. I came over here. I can't. There's no one answering. I can see her car in the garage. But I can't get in. All the doors are locked. Mm-hmm.
wow she did such a good job at just getting on top of this nicole claims shenan was distraught over the weekend on their business trip and so she was worried officer scott begins knocking on the door of the home and calling out for shenan keep in mind you can watch all of this like it's insane he notices through the window that the house was immaculate like it was so clean i'm watching it and i'm like someone with two kids and that's how clean the house is it's crazy
The front door, so the top lock, like you don't want a hotel. You can put that little thing over the door that's like also a top lock just in case. Yeah. So on their front door, they had one of those and it's over, which means no one came out and turned around and locked the door. They did that from the inside. Okay. But that's locked. So they can't get in because Nicole knew the front door passcode, but she couldn't get in because of that little thing.
The garage door opener on the wall actually didn't work, but no one except Chris knew that at the time. So they were like, maybe we can get in through the garage, but it wasn't working. And only Chris knew that.
Officer Scott looks in the front door, goes around the back to the back door, bangs on all of the windows, literally climbs in the basement window wells is like knocking on those because he's starting to worry that she's hurt. She has lupus. She's pregnant. He's like, what if she's somewhere and she can't get up and get to the door? So he starts yelling in case maybe one of the kids can hear and let him in because, you know, they're three and four. They could
you know, they can maybe come to the door if there's someone knocking or yelling. And I don't know the whole legal ramifications behind this, but can they not just break a window and go inside or he can't bust in without Chris's permission because of fourth amendment rights. Okay. He has no probable cause. It's just a wellness check.
And he can't get in because the owner of the house is alive and well, and we know where he is. They had already called Chris. And he was like, I'm at work. I'm 50 minutes away. I'll head home, but I'm still 50 minutes away. And they were like, well, where is she? Nicole called him and was like, where is she? And he was like, oh, I don't know. I don't know where she is. So at this point, their neighbor, whose name is Nate...
Trinza Stitch, I think is how you say it. And I'm just going to say Nate is a baddie. Okay. I love his role in this case. He peeks his head out of the back, out of his back door when obviously there's a cop banging and yelling on his neighbor's door. And the cop asks him if he's seen the neighbors today. And he says, well, no. And why? You know, like, why are you asking me that? And the cop says, you know, well, no one's answering and no one's seen Trinza.
Shanann, she wasn't feeling very good. So we're a little concerned. So Ben, who's Nicole's son, who was there with her during all of this kind of walks over to the gate and starts filling in neighbor Nate on what's going on over the fence. Like, you know, they weren't doing very well. Their marriage wasn't, and now she's missing and no one knows where she is. And we're just a little worried. They, at this point, and when I say they, I mean, Nicole and the officer, they call Shanann's mom in North Carolina and,
who says that Chris had told her that morning that Shanann was going to a friend's house. So she had talked to Chris that morning and he said, well, she told me she was going to a friend's house. So she, so Chris told her mom, oh, she's going to a friend's house. But then Chris told Nicole, oh, I don't know where she is. Which probably isn't the best alibi because Nicole being her best friend would have known that's the only place she would go or know about. Nicole says that Chris said, well, maybe Shanann just took the girls to school, but her car is in the garage. They don't think that's the case.
The officer calls Chris himself now at this point because he's still not home. And the officer has been there for quite a while. Yeah. And everyone is outside his house waiting for him to get home and let them in the house calling him like his wife is missing. Because he's obviously, I mean, I don't know if I'm spoiling it, but I'm assume he's trying to get rid of the bodies. Well, yeah. I mean, you know the truth, but everyone else is like, why aren't you coming home? Like your wife is missing. Yeah.
It's about one o'clock now and no one's heard from her all day. I guess I would assume with the car being home, they would know. Okay. Which they obviously do, but something's wrong. What's going on? That sucks that they can't just break into the house. I know. So,
Ben throws Chris under the bus at this point. He goes to the officer and says, you know, he's been lying. Actually, he hasn't kept his story straight with family members. Like I'm a little suspicious of him. And the officer was like, okay, well, I know nothing about this family and I don't know what to tell you. He said that he's five minutes away to the cop. But then Nicole said, he told us that like a while ago that he was just five minutes away and he's still not home. And now he just told you that.
Also, Nicole knows about the possible cheating and marital problems they've been having because she was just with her. They just looked up the lazy dog menu together. That's right. So the neighbor comes over at this point, Nate.
So he went back in his house. Now he comes back over at this point. They're all standing in front of the house and he tells Ben, he doesn't go to the officer. He goes to the son and says, you know, I have a camera that could have caught something like my camera sees their driveway and their front. Like I can see anyone who comes in and out of that house. No way. Yeah.
So Ben goes over to the cop, tells him the update, you know, and the behavior analysis guy says when Ben's telling him the update, he's rubbing his hands together like he's like, oh, you know, he says he has a camera at his house and he could have seen something. And the behavior analysis guy says that this means that the person is hoping for positive information to come from it. So he's getting excited. And so his hand gesture is stating that.
The cop doesn't think anyone is home because no one is replying to his yells or knocks. When Chris pulls up and you can see all this on the body cam footage, he parks along the curb and then gets out of his truck, but not in any particular rush, which is worrisome because everyone else has been waiting for him because Shanann could be hurt or dying inside the house.
And just to further prove this point, he walks around his truck and then instead of rushing to the officer or to the door of the house to let everyone in, he goes to his passenger door, opens it, and gets something out of it. Oh my gosh. This seems like it happens in all the cases that are like this, right? There's never no hurry. It's just so nonchalant. You think...
Okay, I want to say you'd think they'd be better at acting innocent, but I think it's just their subconscious. How do you hide that? How do you lie that much? They're obviously psychopaths, right? They're killing people. Yeah. So I think what he gets out of the front seat is the garage opener, like the garage door opener, the remote one.
And he doesn't push it until he's the first one who can go in. So he grabs the garage door opener, runs up to the office, garage opener, keys, cell phone in hand, shakes the officer's hand and then pushes open the garage door remote and then runs over the garage door so he's the first person to go in the house. - That's so weird. - He immediately goes into the garage and opens Shanann's car door, leans inside and either does something in there, put something in, take something out, we don't know, but it's just like he's stalling.
Like he's just wasting time. The behavior analysis says normally someone whose wife is missing, someone they love, his wife and kids are missing, would run into the house. Might peek in there to see if they're in the car, but wouldn't open the door and mess around with stuff. Because where are my kids and where are my family? Oh, 100%. If you were missing, I would be sprinting through the house. Yeah, yeah. So whatever it was, it's suspicious to everyone involved because instead of running in, calling his missing wife name, you know, he's just...
goofing off i don't know what he's doing and everyone else is just waiting behind him so anxious chris goes into the house and shuts the door behind him he's alone in the house for one minute and 15 seconds before he finally goes over to the front door and opens it up that is so messed up this might seem weird but based on body language it was apparent that chris did not expect or want anyone to follow him in through the garage door
Um, and because it's his house and his missing wife, no one did. So that's how he got the minute and 15 seconds alone in the house. The officer has stated, I can't go in the house unless he invites me in because I have no probable cause. I just have a missing wife that you called a wellness check on. So all I can do is stand outside and say, can you produce her?
This, um, at this point, Nicole walks over to the officer and asks, can we just go in the house too? And he goes, well, it's up to Chris. It's his house. And Nicole is on the phone with Shanann's mother and Shanann's mother goes, you can go in my daughter's house. Just go in my daughter's house. It's fine. And so at this point, Chris is walking up. And so Nicole just goes in the house and the cop is waiting at the door and he's like, Hey Chris, can I come in? And Chris is like, yeah, sure. Yeah.
Come on in. Yeah. So he goes into the house. They begin searching. Obviously, Chris goes upstairs immediately and finds Shanann's phone, which he brings out to the officer who's kind of also just walking around upstairs. Chris then recounts that the girl's blankies are gone, which they sleep with and don't leave anywhere without.
The analyst says that Chris is throwing in diversion evidence and dialogue, which points the finger away from him and more into them randomly leaving him. So he's saying, oh, but the blankets are gone. They never leave without them and they're gone, which means they probably did leave.
When Nicole sees that Shanann's phone is left at the house without her, she's physically distressed and worried. She actually touches the phone briefly. Like she goes, is that Shanann? That's her phone? Chris is like, yeah. And she like, is like, like she would never leave the house without this. This means something bad has happened. So she's acting like he's supposed to act. And she actually, in the video, the phone is sitting up on like,
um, a counter. Well, it's actually a stair banister, but it's kind of thick so they can sit a phone up on it. And she reaches down after he confirms that it's her phone and she lightly touches it. And right when she touches it, she pulls her hand away fast. Like she got burned.
And kind of brings her hand up to her head. Because it shocked her. Well. Well, the phone. I mean, in general, it was shocking. The reality of what's going on was that shocking that it sent like she'd burned her hand on this phone. Because what that phone being home represented was that Shanann was in trouble. Something was wrong. Yeah. So the analyst is like, look at this behavior. She's clearly distressed. She's clearly physically upset from this.
The phone was turned off, which was suspicious to police because people don't just turn their phone off at their own home. The officer is asking Chris questions. They are standing in the landing area or the loft of the upstairs in between all of the bedrooms. He's asking these questions to see what Chris's story alibi is in all this. What time do you go to work? Where did you go to work? Where's your side at? What's this? What's that?
Chris explains that Shanann was away in Arizona for business and that she came home around two o'clock and then he woke up and left for work around five. So at this point, Nicole comes out and asks Chris, hey, maybe you could check your security footage to see, you know, if it caught her leaving at any time or anything. Like maybe you just missed it. And Chris replies, well, I mean, unless she left out the front door, it wouldn't have caught anything. Yeah.
This is bad because Nicole, who's truly worried about her friend, is obviously grasping at straws, which anyone who is in distress or trying to find something they care about would do. Chris's response is negative and hesitant. Like it's not really worth checking because it would have only caught her if she went out the front door. What happened to the other camera? The...
Ben? Nate. Nate. Yeah, what happened to Nate's camera? So they haven't talked to him yet because Chris just came home. So they're still just kind of checking around inside. Obviously not checking the camera is something that someone who doesn't care to find whatever they are looking for or already knows where the item is that they're looking for would say.
Cops ask where the kids go to school. Chris answers. The cop was hoping that Chris would try to call the school after that, but he doesn't. Both Nicole and Chris start pacing, but Nicole's is for her missing friend and Chris is for himself. He's uncomfortable and under pressure with a cop standing in his house that he just killed his whole family. Yeah.
Ben yells up from the main floor at this point that the neighbor said no one drove in or out of the driveway after Chris left that day. He just went through all of the footage and no one came in or out of the house after Chris left. Nicole immediately looks over to the officer at this point in the video with a look that of like Chris did it. Yeah. Like that means he's involved. Like they didn't leave. The only time they could have left was with him in the truck. That's so creepy. Yeah.
That just like makes my heart race. Yeah. She's thinking that this means Chris most likely had done it after they put all the pieces together. Could you imagine being there and that happening? You're just like, oh, it's like a horror movie. Yeah, I know. Nicole rubs her chest at this point, which means she's comforting herself. The body analysis says Chris didn't hear Ben the first time he yelled this up.
So when he senses that something is obviously going on, by the way, everyone is just looking at him after what Ben just said. He goes, what? And Ben goes, well, the neighbor just said no one came in or out except for you. You know, which is pretty big news because if she ran away, where did she go from? Because all the other doors are locked. She had to leave out of the garage and the camera would have caught it. And he goes, okay, fine.
All I said was, okay, he's probably shocked too. So he knows this is bad news for him. So he brushes it aside to downplay it to everyone else. Like it's not that big a deal. Okay, well, something else happened to try to make it seem like not that big a deal to everyone else. Cops decide to test Chris. The cop decides to test Chris at this point by walking behind him and clicking in his radio and talking. So he walks all the way behind Chris. So Chris can't see him and like starts to mess with his radio.
Before he can even get like the third word out to his radio, Chris spins around the fastest he's moved yet in this whole thing and stares at the officer with legit fear in his eyes. It sounded like the officer was radioing in to arrest him.
Like that's what sounded like, okay, I'm going to need backup. Like I think something's going on or, cause this was right after they just said that. Yep. And Chris, like it looked like he pooped his pants in the video. He turns around and then when he realizes that he's just radioing in for an update, he just turns back around. That's crazy. That was really smart by the officer. So Chris obviously failed the officer's test. Um, this whole time though, Chris has barely looked up from his phone.
Nicole and Ben have been frantically searching the house for any clues as to where Shanann and the kids went, but after his initial walkthrough, Chris just stands there on his phone. This is because he's uncomfortable and doesn't quite know how to act considering he's put on a huge show and he's lying. Think of a middle schooler uncomfortable at a party. That's how Chris is acting right now.
Cops start asking Chris questions again, and he can't make eye contact or put his phone down. Nicole excitedly yells up from the main floor, which she is back searching. Think maybe they went to the pool?
This is a completely logical question considering all the evidence. I mean, they could have walked. She might have just left her phone because they were just going to the pool. I feel so bad. Nicole is trying so hard and she's doing everything she can to try to find her. Yeah. That's so sad. And Chris barely looks up from his phone and in a very like, are you stupid tone goes the pool.
She goes, well, yeah, I mean, they could walk there basically. I mean, it explains why maybe they, you know, maybe just maybe they could have not been hurt and it just could be a big misunderstanding and they could just be at the pool. Like she's looking for,
The brightest side she can. Why would Chris say that? Why would he be like, oh, that's a great idea. They could have gone to the pool. Well, because he knows. He knows they're not at the pool. And so to him, it's like he just wants this whole thing to be over. He doesn't even want them searching for her. He just wants it over so he can just go be with his mistress. Yeah. So, I mean, Chris is like, looks at the officer after she says that. And the officer's like, well, could they be at the pool? And he goes, well, I mean, I could walk down there and check, but...
And then just looks back at his phone and doesn't move. Oh my gosh. Chris keeps dodging and making excuses for anything that the cop asks. Chris walks into the bedroom at this point. He finally puts his phone down, walks into the bedroom and walks back out almost immediately with his biggest act of the day. He's carrying Shanann's wedding band on his finger with this blank expression on his face.
The way he's holding the ring is huge for body language because he has his finger in a gun shape, you know, where a pointer finger is out, a thumb up and the other three are curled. And he's put the ring on the very tip of his pointer finger, like holding it out as far away from his body as he can. Like he's holding the ring on a stick or something. Yep. Chris wants nothing to do with this ring. He's holding it out just like a, like it's a piece of junk.
Cops keep questioning, asking him questions about Shanann. Chris keeps making excuses to why that couldn't be of any help for them to know that. Chris just has no emotion this whole time. He's so awkward. A very uncomfortable part of this video is Chris asks at one point, you know, okay, should I just go drive around and look for her or something? But towards the end of the sentence, he smiles.
Like uncomfortably, but definitely smiling. I'm sure I assume at this point that there's a bunch of their officers there, right? Or is it still just the one officer? It's still just the one officer. Okay. Now I actually kind of relate to this, him smiling because number one, whenever I try to like prank you or get you, I always smile because I can't do the lie without smiling or laughing. I don't know why I just like can't get it out.
Um, but I also smile and laugh when I'm uncomfortable. Like sometimes in inappropriate settings like Chris is in, if someone is fighting or something around me, I laugh or smile. Like it's just my immediate reaction. Cause I'm so uncomfortable that I don't know how to act. And the first thing that like comes out is a laugh. And I hate that I do that, but it's just something I do.
And I think that's how Chris is feeling because he doesn't, he's lying and he doesn't know how to act and he's uncomfortable and he's under pressure. So when he finally gets a bigger sentence out, like maybe I should go look for her or something. He, he doesn't know how to act. And so a smile just comes. That's, that's pretty creepy. And then he immediately shuts it down because he's like, I shouldn't be doing that. But I think his emotions are just so raw and uncomfortable. It's so obvious. He just killed his whole family. Yeah.
So that is part one. We are going to cut it off there. That is part one of the Watts family story. We will do another episode this week. Congratulations. You're going to get two episodes. It'll be part two. We'll finish up, figure out how police get Chris to confess to the murders. If he even does confess, what happens to the mistress? What does he get charged with? And where are they at now? That's pretty crazy. Mm-hmm.
Also, let's hope Peyton feels better in a couple of days so we can make sure to get that second episode out because without her, this is not possible. Unless you just want Garrett to read my notes. I don't think you want that. So follow us on social media. I'll be posting images and videos that go along with this case.
And also keep in mind, if you have heard this story before and you know how it ends, I will be doing more behavior analysis just so you can kind of get a different take on it. So we'll see you later this week. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.
