198: Chris Watts Deep Dive: Blaming the Mistress, Uncovering Dark Secrets & His Double Life
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God makes no mistakes on who he puts in your life. Marriage is about love, trust, and friendship and unity. We marry for sickness and health to death do us part. Our daughter Shannon loved you with all of her heart. Your children loved you to the moon and back. Shannon's family was her world. Shannon put a crown on your head, but unfortunately, the day that you took their life, God removed that crown. We loved you like a son. We trusted you. Your faithful wife trusted you.

your children adored you and they also trusted you. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey everybody. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise.

Alright guys, this is the episode you have been waiting for. The one that so many of you have been requesting for such a long time, which honestly really surprised me. I never expected in a million years to not only do this episode, but that people would still want to even know about this case, but here we are. And it is the deep dive into Chris Wadds.

Now, if you have been listening to my podcast or following my YouTube channel for a while now, then you know I have definitely done deep dives into his mistress, Nicole Kessinger. However, I have never done a Chris Watts deep dive. I've done some little update videos here and there since he's been incarcerated, things where he

has called out Nicole as being a Jezebel and relationships that he allegedly has had while he's been in prison, but I've never done a deep dive of the case start to finish. So in my last episode, when it was just one of those more, you know, topical updates, I asked you guys, would you even be interested in the deep dive? And so many of you, to my surprise, said yes. So here we are.

And you know I love to do my thorough deep dives where I go in like the depths of hell on the internet, extract every single detail I can possibly find, and deliver it to you guys. So today's deep dive, we're not just talking about Chris Watts, about the murders, about what happened. We're going to go over everything. We're going to go over the backstory, Shanann's previous marriage, the fallout, the affair, Nicole's elation.

alleged, wink wink, involvement, everything in regards to this case. So buckle up. You are going to be with me for a while. And right when you think that it's going to be wrapped up and, you know, we're going to put a bow on it and be done, I'm going to throw some more information at you because I have been researching this case for literal years, going through the discovery, going through the interrogations, the polygraph, all of it. So I'm

We have got a lot to go over, guys. So let's just jump right into all of it. Around 2 a.m. on August 13th, 2018, Shanann Watts got home from a business trip. She was working in direct sales for a company called Thrive, and her friend Nicole Atkinson also worked for that company and had been on that trip with her.

So after a long day of traveling, Nicole drove both of them home from the airport. She dropped Shanann off at her home in Frederick, Colorado. She made sure that she got inside safely, and then she drove home. Little did Nicole know that she would essentially be the last person to ever see Shanann alive.

Because just two days later, on August 15th at 11 p.m., Shanann's body was found in a shallow grave near an oil drilling site. It was about 40 miles away from her home. The bodies of her daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Cece, were also found a day later. They were found inside crude oil tanks about 200 yards away from Shanann's body.

Shanann was in a purple t-shirt and underwear. She had a plastic bag on her head and another wrapped around her feet. She had abrasions on her neck and also to the left side of her face. An autopsy revealed that she had been strangled to death. Cece was found in a pink and black shirt and wearing a diaper. She didn't have any visible injuries, and it was determined that she had been smothered to death. Now, Bella had also been smothered.

She was wearing bright pink pajamas, but unlike Cece, Bella had many injuries. There was blunt force trauma to her jaw, lacerations in her mouth, and she also had bite marks on the surface of her tongue.

So all of these injuries made the medical examiner come to the conclusion that Bella was fighting for her life in her final moments. But it's not like investigators just happened to find these bodies by chance. There wasn't a long, drawn-out search that led them to this oil drilling site. The killer actually told them exactly where to look. He had already been identified.

And the killer was none other than Shanann's husband and Bella and Cece's father, Chris Watts. And look, I know that most of you are familiar with this case because in 2018, you just, you couldn't avoid it. It was all over the news.

And since then, it seems like Chris Watts has really been inserting himself into the media cycle every few months. People are constantly coming up with new theories, new questions, just really trying to understand why Chris did what he did. Especially because from the outside, Chris and Shanann always had seemed like they were in this great, happy marriage. They met back in 2010 because they had a mutual friend in common. That friend went to Shanann and told her about Chris and how, you know, he was such a great guy. She had to meet him. She had to check it out.

And before they ever even met in person, Chris sent Shanann a friend request on Facebook. But Shanann actually declined Chris's first Facebook request. You see, she was still dealing with the aftermath of a very bitter divorce.

Shanann had gotten married right after high school to a man named Leonard King. They had gone to school together. Shanann was dead set on getting married right away and doing, you know, the wife and family thing as fast as she possibly could. However, her friends were worried. They thought that Shanann was just way too young. But she was insistent. This is what she wanted.

After Leonard and Shanann got married, Shanann did go to college for a little while, but she eventually dropped out so that she could work. You see, Leonard was going to law school, and they had to pay for it somehow, so Shanann did what she could do to help. But it didn't take long for things to go south after that, and they ended up getting divorced in 2007.

So Shanann basically had to start all over again. Financially, she definitely wasn't in a good place. However, being the extremely hardworking person that she was, she did hold down a couple of different jobs until she could afford to buy her very first home at just 25 years old. So she did have her feet underneath her, definitely. It's not like she was completely and totally devastated by this divorce. But still, by the time that Chris was sending her that friend request over on Facebook, she was a little bit hesitant to reply right away.

She had done so well for herself by this point, by herself, after hitting, you know, her version of rock bottom. So she didn't want to put herself out there again just to be hurt again. However, eventually, on top of that friend request that Chris had sent her, he followed up with a message in July of 2010.

And this time, Shanann actually replied. They clicked right away. Both of them had been born in the mid-80s, and they both had spent their childhoods in North Carolina, so they had a lot to bond over.

However, they weren't exactly the same, I mean, by any means, because in high school, Shanann had been more of a theater kid and the very responsible one. She was kind of like the mom of the friend group, if you will. Meanwhile, Chris had been very shy, very into sports, but more reserved. And once the two of them started dating, Shanann was definitely the more dominant of the two of them. She worked hard, she was very serious, she was a go-getter. She really could accomplish almost anything that she put her mind to.

Chris, however, he was more reserved. But Shanann looked at him as a very trustworthy guy, somebody that she could always count on. So after dating for a couple of years, in 2012, Chris and Shanann decided that they wanted to move to Colorado. Now, by this point, they were actually engaged, and they were planning to have their wedding in North Carolina, where most of their family lived, but they were planning to make this move to Colorado.

So Chris ended up moving to Colorado by himself before the wedding to, you know, settle into his new job, into the new life ahead of their wedding. And then on November 3rd, 2012, Chris and Shanann got married in Charlotte, North Carolina. After the wedding, Shanann joined Chris in Colorado. And then a year later, on December 17th, 2013, they had their first child together.

A little girl named Bella Watts. Now I want to backtrack just a little bit here because Shanann had been absolutely overjoyed ecstatic when she found out that she was pregnant. She had been struggling with health problems pretty much her entire life. In her mid-20s, Shanann had started losing a lot of her hair and she felt terrible almost all of the time. Eventually, she was diagnosed with lupus and with fibromyalgia.

So she was told that it was very unlikely that she would ever become pregnant. So this was an absolute miracle. She was over the moon. It was just a complete shock when she found out that she was expecting. However, she was told that this pregnancy was high risk. She had to take it easy. So because of that, she stopped working.

and Chris ended up working as a mechanic at a local car dealership. Now, in a complete shocker to her, Chris, and family, friends, even doctors, Shanann found out that she was pregnant again in late 2014. Now, again, this pregnancy, it was definitely high risk, and it was very difficult on her.

But on July 17, 2015, Shanann gave birth to another little girl, Cece Watts. Now, while Chris and Shanann were definitely excited about this new addition to their family, it was also a very stressful time for the two of them. Because just a month earlier, prior to Cece's birth, in June of 2015, the family had filed for bankruptcy. Together, Shanann and Chris had a combined income of about $90,000 per year,

But they were living way beyond their means. They had bought this big, beautiful home that was valued at around $400,000 at the time. They also had mounting credit card debt and student loan debt. And unfortunately, both of their daughters also had medical issues.

So you add doctor bills and hospital bills on top of everything else, and they were in a very stressful financial situation. In the bankruptcy filing, they said that their $3,000 mortgage payment and their $600 car payment took up most of their cash. They had a hard time paying for those things, let alone groceries, supplies, and everything else. Their HOA had even sued them for not paying their HOA fees. Now, by this point, Chris had a new job.

He was working as an oil field technician for Anadarko Petroleum. He had loved being a mechanic. However, he also had a really bad case of carpal tunnel syndrome, which is, you know, when your hand stiffens up, where it's hard to do things, it's hard to have like motor skills with your hand. So it made it almost impossible for him to do the job of a mechanic, which is

which is why he became an oil field technician. And in the meantime, Shanann was working at the Children's Hospital in Colorado at a call center job. However, she wasn't making much money in that position, so it felt like the two of them, they just could not catch a break. Eventually, though, Shanann switched to doing direct sales for a multi-level marketing company called Lavelle, or Thrive. They sold healthcare supplements. Shanann started out part-time, but eventually she made it her full-time job.

And she decided that the best way to really grow her business and grow her network and her sales database was to leverage social media. So she used her Facebook page to market the products and to just post a lot about her personal life.

She talked a lot about her marriage, her kids, and she went live on Facebook pretty consistently. Now obviously, when she was marketing these things, she wasn't talking about her financial problems, of course not. Instead, in her posts, she was marketing her life as, you know, the dream life, selling the all-American dream, this love story, amazing supplements, amazing career, and just hoping that people who were viewing this and seeing it from the outside would really aspire to have that life too.

and in turn, turn those aspirations into potential sales, make them become customers. And Shanann and Chris seemed to have their life together. They really came across like the perfect couple.

And it wasn't just social media. I mean, a lot of their friends and family members also thought that they just seemed super happy, super, you know, perfect. Shanann's parents, Frank and Sandy, thought that Chris was great for Shanann. He was patient with her. He understood her medical conditions. He took care of her. In fact, on May 5th, 2018, Shanann posted a video to Facebook just about how good everything was. Hey, everybody. Say hi. Say hi. You don't want to say hi?

So I just wanted to come on here live. Say hi. - Hi. - Hi. So Saturday's here, I don't even know what time it is. It's 8:30 here in Colorado. And I love waking up now on Saturdays and being able to enjoy my family. We never have to, careful Cece. We never have to really, we never have determined where we're going. No plans really. Summer's coming.

Summer's coming and we're super excited Bella Bella come here for a second, baby We're really excited for summer because so much goes on in the summer here in Colorado. There's concerts every weekend Friday Saturday nights. There's always some kind of concert going on and

get together with friends, cook out and just enjoying life. And I'm really excited this summer because some of the amazing things that go on on the weekends are, were when I was working for a company where I had to be in every weekend because that's the demand. The demands were always the weekends. They needed more help. So,

I feel really blessed this summer. I'm going to San Diego with Chris. We're going, um, June 22nd through the 26th. No, the 26th we come home at one 30 in the morning. And then the 26th that afternoon at five 30 at night, Bella, CC, Bella, CC and I, and my dad are flying back to North Carolina for six weeks, six weeks. We're going to be in North Carolina about CC, right? And, um,

We're going to go spend time with our families and friends and everything else. And then we're going to come back August 7th. And then I fly to Scottsdale, Arizona on the 11th for a mini little retreat with my team. And we're going to have a little, a lot of fun. Then just a few weeks after that, Shanann shared a big announcement. Guess what, girls?

Mommy has a baby in her belly. Are you guys excited? Yes? Oh my goodness. Come give me a hug. I love you girl. I got the baby a hug. You want to give the baby a hug? I love you Bella. A couple of days later, Shanann posted a video of Bella. He helps me grow up strong. He helps me snuggle too. He reads me books.

shoes.

And this just goes to show how constant Shanann was active on social media. She shared every aspect of her life in real time as these moments were unfolding. And a few days after she posted that video of little Bella, she also posted a very loving tribute to Chris for Father's Day. It read, "'Chris, we are so incredibly blessed to have you. "'You do so much every day for us "'and you take such great care of us. "'You are the reason that I was brave enough "'to agree to number three.'"

From laundry to kids' showers, you are incredible, and we are so lucky to have you in our life. Happy Father's Day. So we have this woman who is praising her husband, essentially, right? She's talking about how great he is, also how excited she is to be able to spend time with him and their children that summer. So how do you go from that to then finding three bodies in an oil field? And also, Chris confessing to annihilating his entire family.

How could a seemingly happy marriage deteriorate so quickly? Well, starting in June, Chris began growing very distant from Shanann. He was quiet, cold, and he was uninterested in her or the girls. Text messages from the beginning of July show the start of some issues in their relationship.

Now, by this point, Shanann was spending the six weeks visiting family in North Carolina, and the girls were also there with her. Meanwhile, Chris had stayed back home, he had to work, but he had plans to meet up with them towards the end of their trip. So on July 10th, Shanann texted Chris, asking him if he was okay, because he hadn't said much during a previous phone call that they had. She said that she wished that her husband would just actually talk to her. But Chris insisted he was fine, he was just really stressed at work.

But then, after that, Chris just straight up stopped answering Shanann's calls, and he was barely responding to any of her text messages. Shanann was also having issues with Chris's family at the time while she was staying in North Carolina, so that wasn't making anything any easier on her. Now, these issues with the parents, they definitely weren't new. There had been tension there for quite a while. See,

See, years before, before Shanann and Chris even got married, Chris's mom Cindy straight up told Shanann that she didn't think that Shanann loved Chris, that she actually loved him. There was apparently such turmoil, too, in those relationships that a bunch of relatives didn't even go to their wedding. Which, that all sounds pretty bad, yes, but it was nothing compared to what actually went down during this visit with his parents in North Carolina. See, Cece, their young daughter, she had a severe peanut allergy.

Even a little bit of a peanut could cause this severe allergic reaction. However, for whatever reason, Chris's parents were just not taking that seriously, apparently. They gave the two girls ice cream that had pieces of peanuts inside of it,

And Shanann immediately went into, you know, protective mother mode and got very, very angry, like, what are you doing? You know that she has an allergy, like, why on earth would you give this to her? So Shanann got into a huge fight with Chris's parents, and they didn't see each other for the rest of the trip. His parents didn't even go to a party that Shanann had held for Cece's birthday.

So Shanann told Chris what had happened, you know, she was expressing her anger, but he acted like he didn't even care that his daughter had almost gotten seriously sick or could have even died. So she sent him a follow-up text message which read, "'These kids are my world and I have to protect them from the evil of the world. I shouldn't have to protect them from evil family.'"

Our kids deserve the same love and attention that other kids get. Nothing less. Then, on July 24th, Shanann sent Chris another text message. This one read, I realized during this trip what's missing in our relationship.

It's only one-way emotions and feelings. I can't come back like this. I need you to meet me halfway. You don't consider these at all, nor think about feelings. I try to give you space, but while you are working and living this bachelor life, I'm carrying our third child and fighting with two kids daily. And trying to work and make money. It's not hard to text "I love you" and "I miss you." If you don't mean it, then I get it, but we need to talk.

So by this point, there was definitely a fracture in their relationship. Whether it was surface level, it was certainly emotional at this point. And Shanann wasn't just sending these angry text messages to Chris. She was also telling her friends all about Chris's strange behavior.

How, out of seemingly nowhere, he just apparently completely stopped caring about her and their two daughters. But during all of this, he did make some effort to seem caring or committed. Because on July 31st, Chris flew out to North Carolina to spend that last week of the vacation with his family as originally planned.

But things were weird, and everybody could tell. All of Shanann's family noticed how distant Chris was acting, and, I mean, it was super out of character for him. Chris had always been so loving, so attentive, but now he was barely paying any attention to his wife and his daughters. So Shanann texted her friends about it.

She said, he's kissed me once since he's been here, and that was at the airport. I kissed him. No grabbing my ass, no hug, no nothing. I just wanted to cry. He said nothing's wrong. Five weeks away from me and not touching me.

So at the beginning of August, the Watts family flew back home to Colorado.

But if Shanann was hoping that things would just, you know, go back to normal once they were home and they would get back in the swing of things and their usual routine, she was definitely wrong. Because out of nowhere on August 6th, Chris apparently told Shanann that he wasn't even excited about having a third child. And we know this because the very next morning, Shanann sent another text message to a friend. It read, "'Chris told me last night that he is scared to death about this third baby.'"

and that he's happy with just Bella and Celeste, and that he doesn't want another baby. Now, two days later, on August 9th, the two of them had an ultrasound appointment. Chris went with Shanann, but again, he was very distant, and he just seemed very uninterested during the entire appointment. Even when the two of them learned the sex of the baby, they were having a little boy, a milestone that should be so exciting and so thrilling in a relationship. So again, Shanann texts her friend.

She said,

The only thing I can think of, even though I don't think he has it in him, is another girl. Later that day, Shanann told her friends that she and Chris had a very long conversation later that day and that things did seem to be better. She said he seemed happier about the baby once he did find out that it was a boy and that they even had picked out a name together, Nico. According to Shanann, it was the best conversation that the two of them had had in a really long time, and Chris was now finally acting like Chris again.

She said he even kissed her before going to bed that night, something that he hadn't done in weeks. But then, Shanann left for her business trip with her friend Nicole. And once they were physically apart from one another once again, things went right back downhill like they had before with Chris. But now he was telling Shanann that he didn't think that this relationship was going to work.

He wanted to separate. On August 11th, while Shanann was still out of town, Chris ended up going to a Rockies baseball game with some of his friends, while his two daughters stayed back home with a babysitter. He told Shanann that they went out for salmon and to grab a beer after the game, but then Shanann had noticed that he spent over $60 at this restaurant that he went to, which was a lot of money for a single meal.

So she pulled a typical sleuthy girl move, which, honestly, I've done something very similar in the past, not in my marriage, but in a past relationship, and she looked up the menu for this restaurant. She wanted to see for herself, how on earth could you calculate $60 on an entree and one beer? She even found the dish that he ordered, and it should have only cost him around $30.

So now she was wondering what he spent the other $30 on. Another meal? Maybe for somebody else? Shanann just knew in her gut, and she could not shake the feeling, that Chris was having an affair.

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So the day after this restaurant debacle and Shanann discovering that he had spent more money than he should have spent for a single meal, she sent a picture to a friend of a letter that she had written to Chris. She planned to give this letter to Chris when she got back to Colorado the following day.

The letter read,

I really don't know how we, quote, end quote, or if that is somebody else's words. The only thing that changed this month was everything that was going down with your family. I can't

I can't change what happened, but I can try to work things out with you, with them. But there has to be a mutual respect for everyone. I don't want to lose you, ever. I will suck it up and be civil with your family because I love you. But there has to be the same respect on the other end. That is what's right. I can't lose you. I won't lose you without a fight."

I will fight for your love, fight for us. I can't imagine life without you. It scares me to death every day that you go to work or we are apart, flying away. I will do anything for you, for us. This is the hardest thing I have ever gone through, but you are worth it. Just talk to me. Tell me what you need.

I love you, baby, with all my heart. Happy anniversary. Love always, Shanann. So as I mentioned earlier, Shanann was dropped off at her home around 1.48 a.m. on August 13th. The next day, she had an OBGYN appointment scheduled and also a really important business call that had been set up. So Nicole, the friend who had dropped Shanann off in the middle of the night after their work trip, texted her on the morning of August 13th. She was asking her if she wanted somebody to take her to that appointment.

Nicole knew what Shanann was going through with Chris, and she also knew that Shanann had been feeling pretty sick during her pregnancy. There were also a few days in North Carolina where she was feeling really, really bad. So Nicole wanted to be there for Shanann. She wanted to be a good friend for her. But hours went by, and Shanann didn't reply to Nicole's text message. And that was really odd.

Shanann's phone was almost always glued by her side, especially because she needed it for work because she was so active all the time on social media. So Nicole decided to talk to a few of her and Shanann's mutual friends, but none of them had heard from her at all that morning.

So they all have this gut feeling that something just wasn't right, you know? Something was wrong here. So Nicole decided to drive by Shanann's doctor's office. And she found out that Shanann never even made it to her appointment. She also had missed that business call that she had scheduled.

Now, Shanann was known to be very organized, always would hit her deadlines, just very thorough with everything. So she definitely wouldn't just skip a doctor's appointment or, you know, an important business meeting phone call. So Nicole decided to drive to Shanann's house to check on her. When she got there, she started peeking through the garage window. And when she did, she saw that Shanann's car was still parked inside of the garage. So she went to the front door. She started knocking, but nobody answered.

Now, Nicole also knew the code that unlocked the front door. So she punched it in. She was trying to get some answers. She was trying to figure out what was going on with her friend.

However, when she tried to open the door once she got it unlocked, she found that it was locked with a latch from the inside, like one of those, you know, privacy latches that they have on apartments and hotel doors. So Nicole, through the little gap, was yelling out for Shanann, but the house was completely silent. She could see that Shanann's black flip-flops were still by the front door, though, and this was yet another huge red flag to Nicole, because those flip-flops were basically the only shoes that Shanann ever wore. If

If she had left the house that morning, she certainly would have been wearing them. So now you have Shanann's car and shoes still at the house. She had missed that business call, also a very important doctor's appointment. The red flags were adding up. So Nicole decided to text Chris and ask him where Shanann was. Now, Chris was at work at the time, but he said Shanann had told him that she was going over to a friend's house with the kids that day, because according to Chris, they had talked about divorce earlier that morning.

He said that it was really upsetting for Shanann and that she just wanted a little bit of space to think, be by herself, take the kids out, and just, you know, kind of reset from that conversation. But coincidentally, what Chris didn't know is he couldn't remember which friend's house Shanann was going to. And Nicole, at this point, remember, she had already talked to a whole bunch of Shanann's friends, and none of them had seen her, heard from her, hadn't seen the girls, nothing.

So Nicole told Chris, no, I've talked to the friends. I'm really worried. Nobody knows where she is. So he said he was going to leave work, he was going to drive home, and he would meet her at the house. But being the stellar friend that Nicole was, I mean, she was just like relentless, which good on her. With everything else that had been happening in Shanann's life lately, Nicole didn't feel good about this situation at all.

So at around 1.30 p.m., she called the police. She explained the situation, and she asked if they could come to Shanann's house and do a welfare check on her. How you guys doing? What's that? Yeah. How you been? Hi. You're Nicole? Yes. Okay. What's going on? So my friend, we were out of town for a business trip this weekend. Right. And I dropped her off at 2 o'clock this morning. She's 15 weeks pregnant. She's

She wasn't feeling well and she had a doctor's appointment this morning at 9 and I told her to let me know if she needed me to take her. She's got two little girls and she was very distraught over the weekend, wasn't eating normally or drinking and we kept trying to force it on her because she's pregnant. Her husband and her supposedly are separating but she didn't know this. She thought they were just having issues. He disclosed that to me today because I called him and I was like, have you talked or heard from Shanann since you left for work this morning? Because I can't get a hold of her. I've called, I've texted.

Her car's in the garage. Her shoes she wears every single day right in the front door. She only has one vehicle? No, they only have the one vehicle and it's work truck. Okay, that's what I'm asking. There's no other. She went on a play date, but they're four and two. She went on a play date. Why wouldn't she take a car? They're both in car seats.

She had a doctor's appointment this morning at 9 and she didn't go to the doctor's appointment. Okay, no answer on the phone, husband's on his way. Supposedly, but he said that 30 minutes ago and I called him and told him because there's 45 minutes left still. Do you have the code for the door? You do? I do, but there's a thing on it. There's a, no, it'll, it'll, they have the thing flipped up here. Oh, what about the garage door? I don't know. Um, do you mind calling him?

and see if we can get a passcode to this and get my permit give him give me permission to go in okay

I'm just going to check the back, see if I can see anything. When the police arrived, they tried to explain to Nicole why Shanann maybe wasn't home or answering her phone. Maybe her phone had died. Maybe a friend picked her up in a different car. You know, all of these other things that could explain it. Maybe it wasn't foul play. Maybe it was nothing suspicious. And then the officer talked to a neighbor who said that he did see Chris earlier that morning, but he didn't see Shanann. Now, in the meantime, Nicole was on the phone with Shanann's mom, Sandy.

because earlier that morning, Chris had told Sandy that Shanann went to a friend's house with the girls, similar to what he had told Nicole.

So now Sandy was obviously concerned that nobody could get a hold of Shanann. She wanted to know what the heck was going on here. And while all of this was going on, the police officer couldn't just go inside and see if Shanann was inside for himself. He didn't have a warrant. Chris hadn't gotten home yet, so he hadn't received permission to go inside the house. But then finally, Nicole gave the officer Chris's phone number.

And the officer called Chris. Chris answered and told a really similar story to what he had told everybody else. Shanann took the girls, went to a friend's house. He also said that he was five minutes away. But here's the thing. Chris had been talking to Nicole all day. And he had also told her that he was five minutes away twice.

In fact, he had said that he was five minutes away, 45 minutes before that. But finally, Chris did arrive. And instead of going into the house, he opened up the garage door and he started looking through Shanann's car. When he was doing that, Nicole noticed that the two girls' car seats were still inside the car.

And she called this out as very odd because Shanann wouldn't have left these car seats behind even if a friend came and picked her up. She would need to put the car seats in her friend's car, right? So this was weird. Something wasn't making sense here. Then when Chris finally went inside, he didn't start calling out Shanann's name. He didn't call out for Cece or Bella either.

Instead, he closed the door so that nobody could follow him in from the garage. Then, about a minute later, he opened up the front door and finally let the officer and Nicole inside. They searched the house room by room, with Chris trying to really act concerned but honestly not doing a very good job at that. He even pointed out that the blankies that the two girls slept with were gone. They also found that Shanann had left a lot of her personal belongings behind.

Any friends you know she would be hanging out with? I mean... I know I guess her parents are out of state. Across country, North Carolina. Oh. Yeah, so that's not happening. All I got was blankies and gone. They're blankies they sleep with. They don't leave anywhere without them. Nothing else appears to be missing though? Just stuff you'd take for a quick trip?

she tell you anything about leaving moving out not moving out i mean the last time i talked to her was this morning she said she's going to take the kids to a friend's house and she asked where she was going to be and then i've texted her today i've never heard anything but the car's the car's here unless somebody came picked her up but the people that i know

Then a neighbor came by and asked Chris and the police officer to come over to his house. He had security cameras set up all around his house, all around the perimeter, some of which were pointed directly at the Watts driveway. So hopefully they could use that footage to figure out where Shanann was, who she left with, what time she left, start building a timeline.

Now, up until this moment, Chris had been unusually calm, especially for a guy whose whole family was basically missing at this point. However, while everybody was watching this footage play from the neighbor's house, Chris became antsy.

He was putting his hands on his head, he was fidgeting, he was talking nonstop, he was scrolling on his phone, he was looking very nervous. And right there in the neighbor's security footage, it showed that around 5.17 a.m., Chris's truck backed into the driveway, and he loaded something in the back seat. Then, he left, and nothing else was caught on camera. No Shanann, no little girls, no other cars...

Nothing. Now around this time, another police officer showed up at Chris's house, and Chris had left his neighbor's house to then go meet this other officer. So when he did, the neighbor pulled this cop aside in his house and kind of said, you know, hey, something's not right here. Chris is acting really weird. He's never acted like this before. I know him. I know him well. Something is up here.

He never talks. So the fact that he's over here blabbing his mouth makes me kind of suspicious. Yeah, but I mean, put yourself in his situation. Oh, I agree. So hours went by with no sign of Shanann and no sign of the girls. The next day, Shanann, Bella, and Cece were officially declared as missing.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI joined the search for them. People were handing out flyers, they were conducting searches, and Chris, he took to the media in a very now infamous interview, and he was pleading for his family's safe return. What's going on right now around your house, sir?

Right now it's got K-9 units, the sheriff's department. Everybody's like they're doing their best right now to figure out like if they can get a scent, see where they went. If they went on foot, they went in a car, they went somewhere.

And right now, it's just like they've been on point. They're going through the house trying to get a scent. And hopefully, they can pick something up to where it's going to lead to something. What happened? Your wife came home. Tell me what's-- She came home from the airport at 2:00 AM. And I left around 5:00, 15:00. She was still here. And about 12:10 in that afternoon, her friend Nicole showed up at the door. I had texted Shanann a few times that day, called her, say,

But she never got back to me, but she wasn't getting back to any of her people as well. And that's what really concerned a lot of people is like, she's not getting back to her. Like, if she doesn't get back to me, that's fine. Like, she gets busy during the day. But she didn't get back to her people, which was very concerning. And Nicole called me when she was at the door. And that's when I came home and then walked in the house and nothing has vanished. Nothing was here.

I mean she wasn't she wasn't here the kids weren't here nobody was here what's your wife's name shenan s-h-a-n-a-n-n what's your what's your kids Bella and Celeste uh c-e-l-e-s-t-e four and Bella's four Celeste is three and so how many times did you try calling her I called her three times texted her about three times just to say you know

what's going on like i did i could after that for the after i called her and texted her once it was like like maybe she was just busy like she just got back you know like everybody's probably calling her from her trip she just got back from arizona and i figured this she was busy but when her friend showed up that's what was like it registered like all right this isn't right do you think she just took off do you think i mean right now i don't even want to just like throw anything out there like

I hope that she's somewhere safe right now and with the kids. But I mean, could she have been because she just taken off? I don't know. But if somebody has her and they're not safe, like I want them back now. Like that, that that's what's in my head. Like if they're safe right now, they're going to come back.

But if they're not safe right now, that's the not knowing part. Like, if they're not safe. Last night, I had every light in the house on. I was hoping that I would just get, just ran over by the kids running in the door and just like barrel rushing me, but it didn't happen. And it was just a traumatic night trying to be here. I'm going to ask some kind of tough questions about your relationship with the kids. I mean, my kids are my life. I mean, those smiles light up my life.

And this like, I mean, last night, like during, you know, when they usually eat dinner, it was just like, I miss them. Like, I mean, I miss telling, hey, you got to eat that or you're not going to get your dessert, you know, and just like, you're not going to get your snack after. I miss that. Like, I miss them, you know, cuddle up on their couches. They have like a Minnie Mouse couch and a Sophia couch that they cuddle up on and watch, you know, Bubble Guppies or something. And it was just like, you know, I was crying.

It was tearing me apart last night and I needed that. I needed that last night and for nobody to be here last night and to go into their rooms and know that I wasn't going to turn their rain machines on, and know that I wasn't going to turn their monitor on, know I wasn't going to kiss them to bed tonight. It was, it was, that's why last night was just horrible. I couldn't do it. I just want everybody to just come home. Like wherever they're at, come home. That's what I want.

- Where has she gone? She came back Sunday, she said that to you at night. - Yeah, 'cause her flight got delayed from Arizona 'cause of like other storms around the nation.

So she was supposed to get home at 11, she got home at 1:48, got in bed about 2. What was she going for? It was a Thrive direct sales, it was a local event that was down there between a bunch of leaders in the company. And that night, that day she was back, I mean... I left work early that morning, like 5:15, 5:30, so she barely got into bed pretty much. This might be a tough question, but...

- Did you guys get into an argument before? - It wasn't like an argument. We had an emotional conversation, but I'll leave it at that. But it's, I just want them back. I just want them to come back. And if they're not safe right now, that's what's tearing me apart. 'Cause if they are safe, they're coming back. But if they're not, this has gotta stop. Like somebody has to come forward.

Yeah, they've been in constant contact like every hour. I mean, it's I mean, everybody back in North Carolina and the East Coast. I mean, from Maine to Florida. What is her parents saying to you? Just like if they need to get on a flight, just let them know because I mean, they don't they feel helpless right now because they're on the other side of the country. I mean, Colorado is I mean,

You can't just drive around and look. I mean, it's just like you wouldn't really know what you're looking for. That's what the cops pretty much told me. That first day, I was like, I want to get out and drive around. You wouldn't know what to look for. Last couple questions. What does law enforcement, what does the police or the sheriffs or your neighbors, what's police saying to you?

Right now, this is what they're doing right now is with the canines and the scents. I think this is the biggest thing. This is the biggest thing they've done so far because yesterday, the Frederick Police Department did all the searching of the house and tried to gather whatever information they could. And with the detectives, officers, and sergeants, and today it's, I mean, obviously with all the activity that's around, it's...

it's it's there's a lot going on around here and I really hope that all this can lead to something positive what did uh your neighbors did they see anything that you know like we've we've uh the police department door-to-door asking like cameras and everything just like nothing and my last question if you haven't handled some real crude stuff but my last question if your wife can see this

If she can watch these, what would you like to tell your wife and your kids? Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you're out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just please bring her back. I need to see everybody. I need to see everybody again. This house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring her back.

Now, the reason I say that this interview is now infamous is because it is used as a comparison interview to so many missing persons and murder cases. Almost any time a spouse now gives an interview, if they look even at the

tiniest bit of suspicious, everybody will say almost verbatim, you can probably say it before I even say it right now, he's given Chris Watts vibes. Because in this interview, he's like swaying back and forth. He's just looking dead in the camera. He has his arms crossed. And so we've actually seen that body language and that behavior in

quite a few interviews, as a matter of fact, post Chris Watts. The one that comes to mind the most is Trezell and Jackie West. They were from Bakersfield, California. They had two little boys that went missing. And that interview, people were calling out the red flags like from the jump. And so after this interview was given, people did identify it as suspicious right away. And they started noticing his body language. But now it is an interview that is

constantly referenced all over the place in all sorts of different cases. And so not only was the public calling this out as suspicious, the police thought that it was a little bit weird too. So that's when they decided to pull Chris in for his first official interrogation. This was on August 14th, one day after the disappearance. What do you think happened?

At first, I really thought maybe she was just at somebody's house, just decompressing. Just going off scene? Yeah. But after today, like with the onslaught of all the cars, I mean all the police cars, all the nudes, all the K-9 units, it's making me lean the other direction about someone took her. Okay. But it's just, if someone took her, it would have to have been someone she knew.

Because there's no sign of anything like being disturbed or broken. But like that's the way I'm leaning now. At first I thought for real she was just decompressing somewhere. I mean I thought she was safe. Even though everything in the house was left there. But now it's just after the day with the news crews and everything it feels more the other direction. And it's freaking me out.

Because I have no idea where they are. And this is like, that's what's driving me. That's like, when I tell the news, it's like, if she's out there, like, just come home. Like, if someone has her, or like, not just has her, but she's at somebody's house and she's just depressing, it's time to come back. Now this is real. This has gone to a different level. Absolutely. Okay. Do you have an inkling of if it's good or bad?

Yesterday I would have thought that she was safe and it was good that she would come home. Today it's more on the other side. I don't think that she would let it get this far if she was just decompressing somewhere. I mean, she's not talking to anybody. I don't feel like the love we have is there anymore.

And it's just like, I don't feel like, I mean, if we want to stay together for the kids, I'm not sure if that's going to work. Like, bringing us... Is this what you told him? Yes. Okay. Like, having another baby, bringing us into this relationship, do you think this is going to work? With us being together, or separation, I think is going to be the best possible route for us. And that's when, like, all the crying and everything proceeded, and...

It was just, it was very hard just to talk about that. But I needed to do it face to face. And I needed, like, I needed to see her face, like, why I did it. I couldn't text, phone, whatever. I needed to be face to face and be able to see her and know that she was going to be at least reciprocating back to me. Oh. What did she say?

She said that it was, I mean, it was, she wants, she wanted to kind of work on it, but if that's the way I was feeling, then she respects that. Okay. And she said that most of the time when you have kids and you have a relationship where people, like, they don't love each other anymore, they fall out of love, there's connection, that having a kid, even bringing a new baby into the equation,

doesn't always work as keeping the couple happy and the kids happy. It almost is better if you're on two different sides. Yeah, you don't want to spend your whole marriage disliking each other and faking it for the kids. Yeah, that's one thing.

And at about an hour into the interview, the detective told Chris that he looked suspicious. I mean, she and the girls just happened to disappear the same day that he said he wanted to separate? When does that ever happen? Can we talk about something that's kind of hard to talk about?

Yeah.

makes me sick to my stomach honestly. I know I've talked to a few of my friends who's like, you know, this does not look good on you. I'm like, I know. It's like people that if people knew that we were having marital issues, they're going to look at me, especially with the way everything looks. It honestly just makes me sick to my stomach because this is something that I would never do ever again.

I know like you have to look at every vantage point. This is something I would never do to my kids or my wife at all. I'm not sure like what I could do like to make people believe that just because if they think you were having marital discord, they would automatically look at me. But there's no, I would harm anybody in my family.

at all. I know we were having marital discord and we had that conversation that morning and then she goes, we have no idea where she is or the kids. I promise you that has nothing to do with any of that. Are you telling me the truth? I am telling you the absolute truth. Why should I believe you? Because I am a very trustworthy person and the people that do know me, they know how I am a calm person. I am not an argumentative person.

I am a person who is never going to be abusive or physical in any kind of relationship. I would never harm my kids. I would never harm my wife. You can talk to any of my friends, any of her friends. They know me. They know I'm a low-key guy that's quiet. I'm not about confrontation. I'm not about anything that elevates to that level.

I mean, if someone like yells at me, screams at me, I just take it and I just try to get it by the wayside and get it back to where it's a cool, just a cool conversation to where like none of that, none of that gets to that height. Because I am not that person.

I've never been that person. So Chris just says he's a low-key guy, that he wasn't abusive, and that he would never hurt his wife or children. But here's the thing. During the entire interview, Chris was referring to Shanann and the girls in the past tense, almost like he knew that they weren't alive anymore. The detective clearly didn't believe anything that Chris said either, so he asked him if he would take a polygraph test. And Chris agreed. And you understand that...

I'm not arresting you right now. You understand that you can walk out of here at any time? Sure. Okay. Having said that, I do want to talk to you. I have a lot more questions for you. Okay. Okay. Do you know where your wife is? I don't know where my wife is. Are you telling the truth? I'm telling you the absolute truth. Okay.

The investigators also asked to search Chris's phone, which he did agree to. And in it, they found text messages between him and Shanann, which indicated that they were in fact having a lot of marital issues. Chris had also told investigators that he had called the local hospitals, you know, to see if Shanann or the girls maybe were there, maybe there had been some terrible accident.

But now, when the police were looking at his phone records, they saw that each of those calls made to these hospitals lasted less than a minute. That seemed way too short of a time to get an answer. Which, I mean, think about it. Even if they answer right away and they don't put you on hold for any reason, it's going to take some time to explain who you are, who you're looking for, verify who you are, and then the person who's on the call would have to check their records almost immediately, which...

I don't see all of that activity happening in a minute, no less than a minute. I can't even make an appointment for literally like a dentist checkup in that amount of time. So it definitely seemed more likely that he called these hospitals and just quickly hung up, just making sure that at least it was inside his call log, just making sure that having those numbers inside his log would be enough, show that he truly did call and look like the curious husband who wanted answers. But that was just theory.

The police had to test this theory. So as a test, an officer called one of those hospitals and gave them a fake name, and they asked if that person was a patient there. And it took over two minutes for him to get an answer. So it was just another thing that made the detectives think that something just wasn't right with Chris. They did learn that Chris had contacted Shanann throughout the day. He had called her numerous times and sent her several text messages saying things like,

If you take the kids somewhere, please let me know where they're at. Can you call me, please? Where are you?" But after one of these calls, Chris also called the daycare that the girls went to. And according to the school's officials, he called to unenroll his daughters.

Which, I gotta say, it is just super, super suspicious if you ask me. If your children are missing, you're not calling their school to unenroll them. That seems a little premature. But that wasn't all. The detectives also discovered that Chris had been keeping an even more massive secret from them. Shanann was right. He was having an affair.

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So early the next morning, on August 15th, an FBI agent was able to corroborate Chris's claim that he was having an affair with Nicole. A regional manager from his job called to say that they had found some emails to prove it.

And almost two hours later, Nicole called the police herself and told them that she was, in fact, having an affair with Chris. Now, there's some speculation as to why she called the police at this specific time, and I will talk about that in a little bit, because we have got a lot to talk about regarding Nicole. But for now, let's just say Nicole said that she called them because she says she saw Chris on the news, and she realized in that moment that he had been lying about his marriage and about Shanann's pregnancy.

Nicole was under the impression, according to her, that the marriage was already over, and she had absolutely no idea that Shanann was pregnant. So the investigators continued to do some digging, and they discovered that Chris and Nicole had started talking in the early months of summer in 2018.

Nicole also worked at Anadarko, and she would sometimes see Chris in the break room. And one day, Chris went by her office and started talking to her there. Then, he added her to his phone as a contact on June 14th. They met up outside of the office later that month, and Chris had told Nicole that he and his wife were in the process of separating, and that he was also almost divorced.

So by July, while Shanann was away with the kids in North Carolina, Chris and Nicole were having a field day. They were seeing each other four to five times a week. Their relationship had also become physical by this point, and later that month, Chris told Nicole that his marriage was officially over. On July 14th, they went on a date at the Shelby American Collection Car Museum, and while they were there, Shanann had tried calling Chris four different times. But each time, the calls went unanswered.

And just remember, this was all during the time where Shanann was freaking out because something seemed off with Chris. However, he would never tell her what it was. A few days later, on July 18th, Nicole sent Chris these semi-nude bikini pictures, which he decided to save on a secret app on his phone. It's an app that looks like a normal calculator app, but it's actually a secret place to store photos or videos so that...

If somebody happens to see that app, if they're going through your phone, they won't suspect that it's a hidden folder. It's disguised, you know, as a calculator. So she sends him all these like really cringe nude, semi-nude, I should say, bikini photos of herself and he saves them into that app. Then 10 days after that, Chris and Nicole go on a trip together to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

And there, they spent the night together. So, he's ignoring his pregnant wife, his two young girls, he's making Shanann feel so insecure all while he's in this, what, romantic whirlwind with his co-worker while his wife is calling him, texting him, pleading with him, trying to make things better? And as if that wasn't bad enough, on July 30th, Chris gave Nicole a card that had a love letter written inside of it.

Then, he just up and left to go see his family in North Carolina like nothing ever happened. All while Chris and Nicole continued to message and stay in contact with each other while Chris was away. And remember how I said that Chris was at that baseball game on August 11th and he had paid the $60 for that beer and salmon and Shanann, like, knew something was off about that? Well, no surprise, obviously, but Chris was actually on a date with Nicole that night. That's why the bill was so high.

Which I gotta say, that is just so gross to me that he stuck his two daughters with a babysitter so that he could go out on a date with his mistress while his wife was on a work trip. Like, you are the scum of the earth. And so when Shanann said that she thought that Chris was, you know, getting it from somewhere else, she was right. Call it a woman's intuition. I always say, a woman's gut feeling is like the most powerful thing on the planet.

And while she was in North Carolina working, taking care of the kids, he was literally running around with a woman that he met at work. And on top of all of that, right before and after the girls went missing, Chris was searching online for different things like secluded vacation spots and two-person cars. He was also texting with a realtor the exact day that his family went missing. He was inquiring about selling his house. And

And at one point, the realtor asked why Shanann hadn't texted her at all, and Chris just said that he didn't know where she was, and he asked the realtor to pray for them. Which, what a bizarre conversation, right? I mean, I would love to know what was going through that realtor's head in that moment, when some guy texts and casually just mentions, oh, by the way, my wife is missing, but, you know, don't let that get in the way of me selling our house. Also, the fact that he was searching a two-person car...

Look, I'm no expert, but to me, that signals premeditation. You only are going to get a two-person car if you know that you're not going to need two car seats behind you. So the girls are still missing. Nobody knows anything. All the while, he is still continuing to text Nicole about their life together, even when people were actively searching for Shanann, Cece, and Bella. Now, I know that that's a lot, and that's all of what the police learn in just one

one day, just one day of searching his phone.

And also on that same day, or more accurately, that night, they got a phone call from Shanann's mom, Sandy. She told the police that she was positive that Chris did something to Shanann. He had hurt her. She noticed how he had been acting very weird lately, and she added that if he did in fact try to hurt Shanann, she wouldn't be able to fight back because of her lupus. Sandy was particularly afraid that Chris was going to pour oil on the bodies and dispose of them somewhere.

It was a very, very specific concern of hers, and she told the police about it. So on August 15th, now two days after Shanann and the girls had been reported as missing, Chris took that polygraph test. Now while all of this was going on, other officers were searching the Watts family home. They noticed how clean everything was in the home, but otherwise nothing really seemed too out of the ordinary.

At first, that is. Because when they went to the master bedroom, they noticed that the bed was completely stripped. There weren't any sheets, no blankets, nothing. The search team ended up finding the top sheet and the pillowcases, but get this, they were shoved inside the kitchen trash can. They also couldn't find a fitted sheet that matched the set. They couldn't find a fitted sheet that matched the set.

They couldn't find it anywhere. Now by this point, as I'm sure you probably would be and have guessed, everybody was suspicious of Chris. His story just wasn't making any sense. His behavior was weird. The police knew that he was cheating on Shanann. I mean, there were so many red flags going on.

So one of the CBI agents even told Chris that, you know, given the circumstances, it would actually be really dumb for you to take a polygraph test because if you did do something to the girls, we're going to find out. But Chris said that it was okay. He had nothing to lie about. He wasn't going to lie. So they did the test.

- Tons of polygraphs, obviously in my training. I went to 10 weeks for training. I've been a polygrapher for about five years. I went to the best school in the country. So I want you to have confidence in the fact that if you had nothing to do with this disappearance, like we're gonna find that out today, okay? I have the best training that they offer in the United States.

We used the most validated testing. That's the way I'm going to ask you the question. So believe me, if you had nothing to do with this, I will be able to show them that today. So that should give you some confidence that you're going to be cleared today if you had nothing to do with it. And it was just like, all right, so at this point I'm hoping she's at her friend's house.

she's safe and she's just decompressing. She's safe. But that night, as I'm calling hospitals and hotels, there's nothing there. Nobody's had her checked in. There's nothing at all. And then that was just traumatic because

I had every light in the house on just in case, like, you know, like, yeah, I went late in bed, but I didn't sleep. I was just sitting there. It was like, I had friends that came over. Nick and Amanda came over for a little while and they showed support. My friends Dave and Jeremy came over. They showed support. My friend Lauren came over. She showed support. Another friend, Melissa, came by that I didn't know that she showed support. Everybody's just like, I don't know, like, why this happened or how this happened, but, like,

hope that she's okay type thing and just like i was just hoping that i would get that knock on the door or a phone call or a text i mean her phone i mean they have her phone like hopefully maybe it's a number i don't know hopefully it's like you know like a burner phone or some some kind of some kind of like phone she bought she could just text me calling like hey i'm okay something or just get a knock on the door and the kids just run in and i was just like like it didn't happen and when i was

going through like that night just like trying to just trying to process everything like I miss like the kids like sitting at the dinner table and like having to tell them to eat their dinner and like I miss them throwing their chicken nuggets at me like I was when I went to their rooms just kind of like you know make the beds and it's like I wasn't going to turn the rain machines on you know like I wasn't like you know going to read them a book I wasn't going to like I wasn't going to kiss them goodnight I wasn't going to like you know

Dude, if that wasn't gonna play in the playroom, I wasn't giving them their nightly snack, their nighttime snack. I wasn't giving them their medicine. I wasn't getting them dressed for bed. All that just hit me. I'm not turning the monitor on to watch them because they're not here. Where are they?

And then I was just like, I didn't even want to stay in the house that night, but I knew I had to just in case, like, maybe they came home. Maybe they would come in that front door, garage door or something. Something would happen. But nothing happened that night. So I just slayed in bed and took phone calls and texts from all our friends that were, I couldn't sleep either. And just like,

just asking for prayers, just asking for prayers in general. Just like, these kids are gonna come home, they're gonna come home safe. And the next day, well, the detective, he called me about 2:00 a.m. saying like, hey, we're gonna do like the missing persons report and I'll get that all, get that all going. But yeah, it's like the next day, like when everything like started happening as far as the news crews like pulling in and then

all the canine units and the drones flying over my house. It was just like, it all set in like, this is not, she's not making something happen. Because all this right here, this means that, okay, my worst fear, that's where this is going right now. Because I thought she was just at somebody's house and she was safe. But now, it's going the other direction. With all this going on, with the dogs coming in, with the noose,

the news media, everything just kind of happening. It's like, "This has gone to a totally different direction." And it's like, I was, when all my friends were coming over to give me some support, I knew that like, all right, like, I was happy. All my friends came over to support. I didn't want to be alone for that long time. Like, this is the time you don't want to be alone at all. And my friends are supporting me all through this and I just want to find them.

I want them to come home safe, like wherever they are, I hope they are safe. I really, I really hope they can just come home. After the polygraph test, Chris was left alone for a little while. Two agents came back into the room, and that's when they shared the results with Chris. So it was completely clear that you were not on during the testing. I think you already know that.

You did not pass the polygraph test. Okay. So now we need to talk about what actually happened. I feel like you're probably ready to do that. I didn't lie to you on that polygraph, I promise. Chris, I know I stopped. It's time. Just stop for a minute. Take a deep breath. I want you to take a deep breath right now. There's a reason you feel sick to your stomach. When people hold stuff inside, it makes you physically ill.

And I can just tell on your face, I could tell you tell from the second you walked in that you were wanting to just come clean and just be done with this. And I appreciate that because you knew sitting down in that chair that you weren't going to pass today and you knew I was going to find out because I told you that. And then you continued to stay knowing that you could at the end say, you know what, I just need to get this off my chest. Like I just need to tell you what happened.

We're not here to play games. We're not here to do any of that with you. We just want to know what happened. So can you start from the beginning and tell us what happened? Everything that I told you, I did not lie on this polygraph. I don't know how much I can tell you right now. It's not even an option right now because you did not pass the polygraph. So I know you were being deceptive. So that's not even an issue right now. The issue right now is what happened to Shanann, Bella, and Celeste.

That's the issue right now. Okay, so let's talk about that. I know you want to tell us. I can see it in your face. Holding this lie in is going to do nothing for you. I know that. I'm not trying to cover things up. Yeah, but you kind of are because it's normal. Normal people would do that.

Normal people that make a mistake initially are going to go, I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't do anything. That's normal. I would expect that. It's just like if you ask your kid, did you write on the wall? And they go, no. And you're like, you have a marker on your hand. I know you just wrote on the wall. And they're like, oh, OK. That's a natural reaction that someone's going to initially lie about something like that and then eventually tell the truth. So this is your eventually telling the truth time. This is where the rubber meets the road, Chris.

Like don't let this continue any longer please. I'm not trying to make anything continue. I want them back home like... But you know they're not coming back home. You know that. I don't know in the back of my head. I hope they come back home. But you know they're not. I hope they come back home.

And I don't know they're not coming back home. At one point, Chris said that he probably failed because he hadn't talked about his affair with Nicole before. But the investigators knew that that was not the only reason why he failed.

And then, Chris asked if he could talk with his dad privately. His dad had flown in from North Carolina the previous day. So finally, when Chris's dad came in and they had their private conversation, Chris confessed. Well, I should say, he confessed to his first version. So according to Chris, on August 13th, he and Shanann had talked about separating, about divorcing. She freaked out, and he says she went upstairs and that's when she smothered Bella and Cece, killing them.

He says he didn't see her do it, but he did hear some commotion coming from upstairs. So he went upstairs to see what was going on, and that's when he found out what Shanann had done. So he says he freaked out, and in a complete rage, he strangled Shanann to death. Afterwards, he then put the bodies in the backseat of his truck. This

This was around 5 a.m. on the morning of the 13th. Then, he drove to one of those oil sites where he worked, and he buried Shanann in a shallow grave. Then, he put Bella and Cece in the crude oil tanks. He even told the police exactly where they could find their remains. So that night, the investigators went out to that site, and they found Shanann's body. This was around 11 p.m. They also found that missing bed sheet from the bedroom.

also parts of a broken rake that was all near Shanann's body, and Chris admitted that he had used that rake to cover her body with brush. However, even though they had found Shanann at this point, they still had to wait until the next day to get Cece and Bella. So on August 16th, the police went back to the site. They had to climb to the very top of the tanks to get to the openings, I mean, we're talking 20 feet high. And up there, they saw a tuft of blonde hair on one of the tanks.

hair that of course belonged to one of these little girls. They also noted how small the openings were. They were only about 8 inches in diameter, so they wondered how Chris was able to possibly squeeze their little bodies through that opening. Did he contort them? Did he break bones? How did they fit through an 8-inch opening?

They ended up draining all of the oil out of the tanks so that they could recover the bodies, and this took hours. But then they finally got the girls' bodies out. Now, no one actually believed the story that Chris had told about Shanann killing the girls. She was a great mother, a protective mother. She never would have done that. I mean, no matter how upset she was about separating from Chris, she never would have killed her daughters.

So instead, they thought that he was lying, and that he had been lying the entire time. When he was calling and texting her, asking her where she was and where the girls were, that was all just to cover his own tracks. Which honestly, he didn't do that great of a job at. He was pretty suspicious from the start. So on August 21st, Chris was officially charged with three counts of first-degree murder, plus two additional first-degree charges for the death of a child who was under 12 years old.

He was also charged with the unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a body. On September 1st, a funeral was held for Shanann, Cece, Bella, and unborn baby Nico. The funeral was held in Pinehurst, North Carolina,

And Chris was not mentioned once during the ceremony. When Chris did enter a plea on November 6th, 2018, he pled guilty to all of the charges. He finally admitted that he had killed Shanann and his daughters. And at his sentencing on November 19th, Shanann's mother gave a very emotional testimony where she asked the district attorney not to seek the death penalty. God makes no mistakes on who he puts in your life. Marriage is about love, trust, and friendship and unity.

We married for sickness and health to death do us part. Our daughter Shannon loved you with all of her heart. Your children loved you to the moon and back. Shannon's family was her world. Shannon put a crown on your head, but unfortunately the day that you took their life, God removed that crown. We loved you like a son. We trusted you. Your faithful wife trusted you. Your children adored you and they also trusted you. Your daughter Bella Marie sang a song proudly.

And I don't know if you got to see it, but it was, "Daddy, you're my hero." I have no idea who gave you the right to take their lives, but I know God and His mighty angels were there at that moment to bring them home to paradise. God gives us free will. So not only did you take the family of four, your family of four, you took your own life. I want the world to know that our daughter and her children were so loved by us.

there will always be protected by God and his mighty angels. I didn't want death for you because that's not my right. Your life is between you and God now, and I pray that he has mercy for you. From Shannon's mother, Bella Marie, Celeste Catherine, and Nico Lees. Nana. Thank you, Your Honor.

Now this is far from over because we still have to talk about Nicole, about her phone searches, and everything else. So much that makes people believe that she truly was involved in this. ♪

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So Chris was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole. Plus, he was sentenced to 48 years for the unlawful termination of the pregnancy and another 36 years for burying the bodies. But it didn't stop there. Oh no.

Because the same day as Chris's sentencing, Shanann's parents filed a wrongful death suit against him. And almost a year later in November of 2019, a judge ordered Chris to pay her parents $6 million. Chris was, and still is, completely broke, so he couldn't actually pay them the $6 million, but it was more of like a symbolic victory for Shanann's parents.

Now, needless to say, Chris did not have a good time in prison. Not at all. I mean, besides the fact that prison is definitely not a nice place for pretty much anyone, he was a very famous child killer. And there were a lot of threats to his safety, so much so that it ended up being bad enough that he needed to be transferred to Wisconsin. Then on February 18th, 2019, investigators from the FBI interviewed Chris at this prison.

This was his first interview that he gave since he confessed, or I should say since he confessed to his version. And he finally told the entire story of his affair with Nicole, and more importantly, how he ended up murdering his entire family. He said that what interested him in Nicole was that she was the one who approached him. She showed interest in him first, so it made him feel really good about himself. I should also mention that early on in his marriage, he was, I wouldn't say overweight, but...

not in the best of shape. And then as he started this affair with Nicole, he started getting like ripped, he lost a lot of weight. So he was definitely feeling more confident. And then in this interview, he says, Yeah, she just made me feel really good about myself. She's the one who pursued me, she sought me out.

He claimed that Nicole also wanted to have sex with him all the time, that it was just easy for him to talk with her, to be with her. He didn't worry that he was going to say something that she would find dumb or off-putting, and apparently Nicole just made him so happy that it made him decide to kill his entire family. And if not for her, he might have just continued living his life the same way that he always had. But he says instead, on the morning of August 13th, he woke up for work and he tried to smother Bella and Cece in their beds.

Then, he went over to Shanann, and he told her that he wanted to talk. He told her that the relationship was over, he wanted a divorce, and he says that Shanann did not take this well, so much so that she told him that he would never see the girls again. So for whatever reason, he says this just made him, like, go into a blind rage. He just flipped out, which, I don't know why, because by his own admission, he had already tried to murder his daughters, so he knew that he wasn't going to see them again either way.

But now he was just angry. And so he says he got on top of Shanann and he choked her to death. However, in a haunting and harrowing detail, in the middle of this barbaric attack on Shanann, Bella walked into the room and she asked what was going on. She asked if her mom was okay. Chris was surprised that she was still alive, but he told her Shanann just wasn't feeling well. Go back to your room. Then he put a plastic bag around Shanann's head and feet. He rolled her up in that bed sheet and

and he put her body on the floor of his work truck. Then, he brought both of the girls out of their room and put them in the backseat of his truck, because, as it turned out, both of them were still alive. He told them that their mom was really sick and that they were going to take her to the hospital, all together as a family. The girls, feeling safe and loved and protected by their dad, they napped in the car while he drove. Each of them had their blankie, and Cece was also holding onto a stuffed animal. Chris then drove 40 miles to the oil site.

He parked, took Shanann's body out of the truck, and he buried it there. And as he was pulling Shanann's body from the truck, Bella and Cece asked him what he was doing to Mommy. After burying Shanann, he went back to the truck, and

and there, he put Cece's blanket over her head and smothered her. Then, he got her body out of the truck, he stuffed it into one of those oil tanks, and he went back to the truck for Bella. Now, this next detail makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. It never gets easier, and I've been following this case for...

Years, like I said, and I've covered it before, but like, it never gets easier to say. It's something you will never be desensitized to. But before he killed little Bella, she turned to him and she asked if he was going to do the same thing to her that he had done to her sister, Cece. She also put up a fight and she yelled, Daddy, no, before he ultimately smothered her.

And it just makes me absolutely sick and enraged and just, as a mom myself, heartbroken for these little girls to not only have witnessed what he was doing to their mother, and then to have Bella seen him kill Cece and then dispose of her body and come back for her. And remember, they thought that they were taking their mom to the hospital. They felt safe enough with their dad that they fell asleep in the car. They were taking naps in the car. So for her to cry

cry out and say, are you going to do the same thing to me? Daddy, please no, and fought him off. A toddler doing this. It is sick. And he had that entire drive to change his mind. 40 miles to change his mind. They had already miraculously survived one of his attempts. He could have changed his mind at any moment, and he didn't. He didn't. He just didn't.

Killed them. So heartlessly. So evil. Just truly, truly diabolical. So once he killed Bella, he dumped her into the other tank, and he said that when he heard the girls' bodies hit the oil, he knew that they were really dead. He said he considered killing himself at this time too, but he decided not to because he didn't want to traumatize the person who would find his body. Which, great, so thoughtful of you. He then drove by a construction site, and he dumped his clothing and the girls' blankets.

And it's been reported, but I haven't been able to verify it conclusively, that cadaver dogs at one time led the police to these construction bins, but they were just ignored. So Chris then said he changed into another pair of work clothes that he had in his truck. Then he got breakfast at a nearby 7-Eleven, because nothing will work up an appetite like a quadruple murder on your wife, your two daughters, and your unborn son.

He said that he had no plan about what to do afterward because he hadn't been planning on killing them at all in advance. That it happened all in a moment of rage after hearing Shanann say that he wouldn't be able to see his kids if they separated. That it was something he never even thought about doing. He said he felt like another person was taking over his body.

But how is that true when you admitted to a first attempt, a prior attempt on the two daughters? Also, remember that search for two-person car that happened earlier? Like, how is that not premeditated? You clearly knew what you were doing. You had a huge window of time, too, to stop yourself and to cool off after you killed Shanann when you were driving that 40-mile distance, but you didn't. So...

How long was that fit of rage, that blackout rage, really lasting for? I don't buy it. Now, Chris's actual words were: "This was like the epitome of being angry, the epitome of showing rage, the epitome of losing your mind." And who really knows if this was some spur-of-the-moment thing. I personally don't think it was. But Chris has changed his story so many times.

He had said that he tried killing the girls first, then killed Shanann. Now he was saying it was some sort of moment of rage, reaction. I mean, honestly, who knows?

He also claims that he wasn't at all expecting Shanann's friends to jump into action the way that they did. He didn't expect the police to get so suspicious so fast, and he also said he was planning on pleading guilty before he was even arrested. I guess he just didn't want to draw out the legal process, he knew that it would be difficult for Shanann's family to go through a lengthy trial, so maybe he was trying to win some brownie points by saying that? But if you think all of this is bad,

It gets even worse because there's more. According to Chris, he was slipping Shanann Oxycontin. No one knows where he got the Oxy and he also said he would never reveal to anyone where he got it from. But as we go into Nicole...

There is a looming suspicion about who facilitated that oxy and who obtained it and how he received it and then started slipping it to his pregnant wife. According to Chris, he gave Shanann this drug so that he could try and induce a miscarriage.

He thought that it would be easier to leave Shanann if she miscarried and if she wasn't pregnant, because the baby made him feel trapped. And right before she was killed, Shanann was experiencing some very intense stomach pains, which definitely could have been from Chris drugging her. And remember North Carolina when she got so, so, so ill? Did he drug her before the trip? So before we get into Nicole, let's wrap up with Chris. Chris is still in prison in Wisconsin, and it's reported that he mostly keeps to himself.

He currently works as a custodian, and he has also become very religious, which, talk about a jailhouse cliche, right? But at one point, he befriended another inmate, and together, they self-published a book of prayers called Revelation in the Reckoning. One of these prayers in the book reads, "...my past is a blueprint, and the devil is the architect."

While I watch his fallen ones build stone upon stone every day, I see these walls as insurmountable, a barrier that blocks me from enjoying your love, your peace, and of your joy, O Lord. You are my master builder. Help me walk around these walls, sound the trumpet, and shoot that they may come crashing down like the walls of Jericho. Now, in a lot of these prison exchanges, I did a recent update, but I'm going to mention it here.

He also references Nicole. He calls her a Jezebel and does it with some really weird religious scripture in some kind of weird flowery type of way. But basically he calls her this Jezebel who like,

had her sex powers over him and like he was fixated on her and that Nicole made him do this. He also mentions that it's premeditated. So I will link that in the description of this episode so that you can go listen to that update of like the Nicole Jezebel situation. But he does talk about her and acknowledge that she did know more about this and that she is the one that drove him to do this. Not, you know, verbally making him do it necessarily, but that because of her, that's why he did this.

But I also think it's interesting because he has never flipped on her. He won't even tell people where the oxy came from. And I know, I keep talking about that, but we are going to get to that. So now, while Chris doesn't talk to many people in prison, he sure does have a lot of pen pals that he writes to frequently. And of course, just like Wade Wilson, the guy with all the tattoos on his face, that complete kiosk idiot...

These pen pals are a bunch of women who find him attractive, who feel bad for him, who think that they can change him. Even some who think that Shanann was the problem, which, gross. So gross. Now one woman, Sherilyn Cradle, did an interview with Inside Edition. And in this interview, she talked about some of the letters that Chris had written to her. And in these letters, Chris admitted to thinking about and planning the murders way beforehand.

It wasn't necessarily some random act of rage like he had told the investigators. Sherlyn also visited Chris a couple of times, and she said that when he talked about the murders, his eyes would almost go dark. Almost like he wasn't there. Almost like he was reading a script. He talked about the murders in just such a casual and matter-of-fact way. Chris also still keeps in contact with his mom Cindy, and she has done interviews as well, and she's...

She's something else, guys. She has said that she will always support Chris and that she can't ever understand what went wrong or what happened, but according to her, there was never anything throughout his childhood that indicated that he was capable of doing something like this. She said that he was a very quiet, very good kid, that he had a couple of close friends, but was pretty reserved.

But she also said some really weird things about Shanann and that she still has doubts about Chris's guilt. Take a listen. - It was always a little, a little strange that she always said a lot of things about Chris in front of me that I didn't like. Like this isn't the kind of person I would date. He doesn't know how to do this or he doesn't know how to do that. He looks like a skater boy. Look at his hair.

Look how much stuff he puts on his hair. It was just on and on and on, and I just got a bad feeling. And they got married in 2012. Did they get married in North Carolina? They did. How was that? We didn't attend. Really? We didn't attend because Shanann and I just couldn't get along. And I didn't like the way she treated him. What do you know about their marriage and their issues?

Very little, very little. You can only observe. I could only observe what I saw when I was around them. Christopher was, always seemed anxious and he, when she needed something, I mean he would run. He wouldn't walk, he would run, he would get it. He just always seemed to be right there at her beck and call.

And did that seem odd to you? Very odd. It was very odd. He just seemed nervous. But I think as the years went on, I think it just being in that kind of a relationship which the social worker even said, that marriage should have ended a long time ago. Shanann's pregnancy and was, what did Chris tell you about that? Was he excited? No, I don't think he was.

I think it was a shock to him. And he said that they have been talking about divorce, that they are not compatible anymore, and he was not happy anymore. And I finally thought he's finally seen the light. And I take it Chris had never been in trouble with the law? Never. He's got one speeding ticket and didn't even know about that.

Tell me what happened when they were reported missing. What did you find out? How did you find out? Who told you? I think Ronnie called me. Ronnie called me and said that they're missing. And I thought, I don't believe it. I didn't believe they were missing. I believed that she was going to punish Chris. She was just going to punish him, take the girls, and just punish him. I had no idea of anything else. Christopher called.

and said, "Mom, they're searching the house." I said, "Okay, that's fine." I mean, and I still was not worried. I hadn't, I was not worried. I just thought Shanann had run off with girls. All I want is the truth. I just want the truth. That's it. And I know Chris would take responsibility. And I guess,

Maybe he is. I don't know. I don't know. I just can't see him doing that. What do you think the truth is about how Shanann and Bella and Celeste died? Oh, God, I don't know anymore, honestly. I don't know his frame of mind. I don't know his frame of mind because why would you plead guilty to something you didn't do? And that's all I want to know.

Why would you plead guilty if you didn't do it? If you told your dad you didn't do it? And that's what I want to know. And they said, well, you'll find all that out. Christopher will talk to you when and after he's sentenced. Isn't that too late then? Isn't it too late? What if he tells me, no, I didn't do it? I just took this plea deal because they told me I was going to go to jail anyways. I just want the truth. All of us just want the truth. That's all. But I would like to know what...

What triggered it? How can a perfectly normal young man, and he's normal, he was normal, but he wasn't evaluated when he came into the system. He wasn't normal if he did this. It must be bewildering. It's bewildering to me. It is. It is absolutely. How does this happen? How did this happen?

And I go back in my mind thinking, was there something I didn't pick up with on Chris? But I can't think of anything except he was quiet. It sounds like in your own mind, you're unsure as to what happened. Yes. Have you reconciled the idea that he could have done all of this? Yes. And that scares me to death. It scares me to death to think that he could have done all of this.

And I don't want to go there. I don't want to go there right now. But I don't see why he's pleading guilty. I wouldn't. I'd fight. I'd fight to the end. But then you ask yourself, would a normal person put, dispose of the bodies the way you did? And I would have called 911.

I mean, this woman is just totally bizarre. I mean, first of all, read the room. Read the room. I understand standing by your child, but like, get a grip, lady. He murdered and admitted to murdering your grandchildren, his wife, three of your grandchildren. Like, get a clue. And the way that she victim blames Shanann and talks about how she never liked her as if her son isn't the terrible one in this situation, it is just so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so

So disgusting on so many different levels. Now, multiple people have also come out and said that they also too had affairs with Chris. Two different men, as a matter of fact, said that they slept with Chris, including somebody named Trent. Trent did an interview and said that when he started a relationship with Chris, he was under the impression that Chris had separated from his wife.

Chris told Trent that he loved him, but ultimately, apparently, they ended the relationship way before the murders ever happened. This is just Trent's account, and naturally, Chris has denied that he ever had an affair with Trent or any other man for that matter. He also denied the story that came from one woman who claimed that she met Chris one time in a parking lot at a Chick-fil-A just to have sex. He said, that's not true. That never happened. But now we need to talk about Nicole's

because the one person that we do know for sure that Chris had an affair with is Nicole Kessinger. And there are a lot of people who think that not only did she know about the murders, but that maybe she was somehow involved. So as I mentioned, I've already done a deep dive about Nicole and I will link that below, which I really recommend you guys go listen because there is so much information about this woman.

Which, if I went into everything, we would probably be here for like another several hours. But I do want to go over some of the especially suspicious details and red flags. So like I mentioned earlier, the investigators found out about Nicole pretty early on in the investigation. Remember, she called investigators herself, she told them that she had seen the news reports about how Shanann and the girls were missing, and that's what told her she needed to call the police.

And it was almost like she was kind of trying to be the Amber Frye in the situation, who was Scott Peterson's mistress, because Amber Frye did do the right thing. As soon as she heard from friends that Scott was married, that his pregnant wife was missing, she called the police and even wore wires and recorded her phone calls with Scott to, like, do the right thing.

And the reason I say that it seems as though Nicole was trying to follow that blueprint, it wasn't in an authentic way, in my opinion, because she even Googled, which we'll talk about more of her searches, but she Googled, how much was Amber Frye's book deal? She Googled this way

when the girls were missing. I can't actually, I can't remember if it was before they were found and while they were still missing or after they were found, but she wanted to see how she could capitalize on this. It was, it's truly disgusting. So anyways, a lot of people don't agree with this, that she was, you know, this...

shocked mistress who had no idea. It was all unbeknownst to her. No, no, no, no, no. And one of the main reasons people don't believe this is because she reached out to the police almost immediately after Chris's manager had passed along that information about the affair. Remember those emails that they had found?

It was almost like somebody had tipped her off, so now she wanted to get ahead of everything. The timing was very interesting. Nicole was also questioned by the investigators, and during these interviews, she said a lot of stuff that has since been proven to be false. For example, she acted like she didn't know that Chris was married when they started their relationship.

but it's since been proven that she did know that Chris was married. She also said that she told Chris that their relationship was over, that he needed to try and get back together with Shanann, he needed to try to fix his marriage and do it for the sake of his children. Apparently, this conversation happened while he was in North Carolina visiting the family. However, while Chris was in North Carolina, remember, he stayed in constant contact with Nicole.

And their conversations, like the context of them, they never changed. They still flirted with each other and sent the type of messages that you would send to your boyfriend or your girlfriend, so it definitely wasn't like how you talk to somebody that you supposedly just ended a relationship with and were encouraging to have them repair their marriage. Plus, the police searched in Nicole's phone, and they found that on August 4th, she spent several hours searching for wedding dresses online.

Again, not something that you would typically do after supposedly telling your boyfriend to fix his marriage with his wife. Now, in another shady detail, as if it's not looking good already, she did what we see people classically do when they are guilty: she deleted a ton of stuff from her phone, right before she handed her phone over to the police pretending or trying to act as though she was cooperating.

For example, on the day that Shanann and the girls went missing, Nicole and Chris talked on the phone around 5 p.m. Then they talked again for 51 minutes at 11 p.m., but those phone calls were deleted. Then on August 14th at 12.08 p.m., Nicole spent four hours searching the internet. She was searching things like interviews with Chris Watts, Shanann's disappearance, the words

Can cops trace text messages? And in her interview with the police, Nicole said that she found out about Shanann's disappearance one day after this, as if she was looking up all of those things without realizing that Shanann was missing, which make that timeline make sense. And of course, these searches on Nicole's phone were also eventually deleted.

Even weirder, though, the police found that Nicole had been searching Shanann and Chris's names since 2017, way before she ever even officially met Chris, which to me, that is a true, like, WTF detail in all of this.

Was she obsessed with this guy and maybe obsessed with his wife before she ever knew either one of them? Did she maybe intentionally try to seduce him and help push him to murder Shanann and their daughters? There's also a picture of Nicole participating in an event at the hospital where Shanann worked in 2017. So some speculate...

that maybe she saw Shanann there, got the job there to like suss out the situation and see, get close to, you know, keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer, and then just became obsessed. I mean, there is data that shows that Nicole basically stalked Shanann's Facebook page too. She saw that post that she had dedicated to Chris on Father's Day. She saw her pregnancy announcement. But yet again, when it came time for questioning with the investigators when she was trying to act unprofessional,

all cooperative and helpful, according to Nicole, she supposedly didn't know that Shanann was pregnant. Nicole also said multiple times that she thought that Chris and Shanann were separating. But then, there was data in her phone that showed that she had searched things like, the man I'm having an affair with says he's leaving his wife. So...

I don't know. I'm not Einstein, but it seems to me like maybe she knew they hadn't separated yet. If you think they're separated or you think that they're divorcing, you're not going to say, man, I'm having an affair with says he's leaving his wife. Are you? I don't know. That's just my opinion. Seems like a weird search. So when Nicole was interviewed by the police, they brought all of this up to her.

And she seemed to get really frustrated when they did. She said that she couldn't give any details about the things that had happened such a long time ago. And she also said that she and Chris only went out a couple of times. But, of course, the police found GPS data that proved the complete opposite of that. And on the day after Shanann went missing, before her body was even recovered, Nicole told Chris to pawn Shanann's wedding ring because it had been left behind. They found it in the house.

Again, I don't care if you're a mistress, I don't care if you were lied to by him, I don't care what the situation is. If a man's wife and daughters are missing, and actively missing, and they're searching for them, and you tell him you should pawn her wedding ring that you just found, you are a horrible, horrible human being. Point blank, period. But what's even more sketchy is that Nicole had absolutely no alibi for when these murders happened.

On August 13th, at 6am, her phone even pinged near Chris's house, and a neighbor reported seeing a truck just like Nicole's outside of the Watts home that morning. But the issue with that is Nicole lived 25 minutes away, and it wasn't normal for her phone to ping at this location like it was just some glitch or some tech issue. Because just the night before, when she wasn't home, she was FaceTiming with Chris, and her phone pinged off a completely different tower.

Also, like I told you, I did a deep dive into this. I pulled all of the cell phone records, all of the phone pings, everything. Every time that she admitted to the police that she was at Chris's house while Shanann was in North Carolina, those dates, I looked at all of her phone pings and her records, nothing.

They all pinged off of the tower near his house, which would coincide with her being at his house, right? Other than that, they never pinged at that location if she was not at his house, if she did not admit to being at his house. So now the fact that it just magically, after months, pings at his house, but she says she wasn't there, how does that happen? I don't work for Verizon, but I'm going to call bullshit on that.

Nicole didn't make any phone calls that day either until 2:00 PM. And that was a very, very abnormal for her. Her cell phone history showed that she usually made a single phone call every single hour while she was awake. So for her to go so long without calling anybody that day,

was very out of the norm for her. And on top of that, Nicole didn't clock into work until 3 p.m. that day. That was way after she usually was supposed to start work. And what she did when she got to work was really weird and sketchy. She clocked in, and then she made a couple of phone calls to her, quote, spiritual leader, whatever that means, and then she immediately left right afterwards.

It was almost as though she was trying to create some sort of alibi. Going to work, quickly clocking in, making a few phone calls, clocking out, leaving. It just was very bizarre. And like I said, she talked to Chris a few times that day. But the weirdest phone calls happened between 1 and 2 a.m. on August 14th. At 1.12 a.m., they talked for three minutes. At 1.51 a.m., they talked for eight minutes. The

Then at 1.58 a.m., a detective tried calling Chris. However, when the detective called Chris, he would answer, but it would just be dead air. And this happened for 10 minutes, this like calling back and forth with the detective without being able to hear anything. And between one of these calls during the back and forth, Chris actually called Nicole again and they talked for one minute.

Then Chris called the detective back from his work phone. Now in the meantime, while he was on the phone with the detective, Nicole called Chris's personal phone and he answered it. Both of those phone calls lasted for 11 minutes. Now I know that that was kind of confusing, so let me break it down for what a lot of people, myself included, have been speculating.

Chris was trying to secretly set up a three-way call between him, the detective, and Nicole. But it wasn't working. That's why it kept going back and forth for 10 minutes with the detectives, and they weren't able to hear anything, and it was just dead air. So instead, Chris called the detective on his work phone, probably put it on speakerphone, and then Nicole called Chris on his personal phone so that she could listen in on their conversation to see what they were saying.

Now again, whether you knew that he was married, didn't know that he was married, at this point, Shanann and the girls are missing, not found. The detective is calling Chris in the middle of the night trying to get answers, trying to like get information so that they could find his pregnant wife and two daughters, mistress or not. Why on earth would you need to be a part of that phone call? Why would you need to be a part of that phone call in secret?

Unless you're trying to listen in to suss out what the detective knows. Unless you're trying to see, do they have the jump on us? What are they asking? And not even to say that she was maybe involved in the murders, but what do they know about you, Chris? What, like, how can I help you with your story? It just, it makes no sense to me. If somebody can

clear that up for me. Why she would need to hear what that phone call was about in the middle of the night while Shanann and the girls were still missing, unless she was trying to suss out information, make it make sense. Because it doesn't. There's also evidence that at one point before the murders, Nicole and Chris talked on the phone, she hung up,

she called a clinic, and then she called Chris again. Now, she apparently called this clinic, and she asked if OxyContin was safe to take while you are pregnant. She also asked how much would cause a miscarriage. Now, remember, Chris said that he would never say where he got the Oxy from, that he was taking it to the grave, which, I gotta wonder, who's he protecting? So, to me, Nicole is just super, super sketchy, right? I mean, ever since the murders, she has changed her name, she's gone into hiding, which, I get it, it's because...

99% of the population thinks that she had some sort of involvement in this, so I understand why she wants to, you know, go under the radar. But what's frustrating is the police say that they never looked into her more, all because Chris confessed. So they figured they had their killer, why keep on looking into it?

I'll tell you why. Because this woman is diabolical, in my opinion, allegedly. And honestly, guys, this only scratches the surface of the suspicious things about Nicole. Like I said, I really recommend you go listen to that episode that we already released about her because we like that's where we really are playing the interrogation footage. We're playing her interviews. We're going through the screenshots of the phone records. And you can either go listen to that or

I did that, gosh, when did I do that? 2022? Maybe it was 2021. So if you want a fresh Nicole deep dive, definitely let me know in the comment section and we can do like a very fresh deep dive. I did that when I first started covering true crime. So I bet you I could dig even a little bit deeper now because I'm better at digging. So if you want a fresh deep dive, let me know. Otherwise, you can go listen to that one. Now, in another detail that I just got to point out that has always irked me is that

Shanann got pregnant while he was having this affair, right? And they found out it was a baby boy. This was in the summer while he was actively in this affair with Nicole. And when they found out that it was a boy, they decided on the name Nico. N-I-C-O. Nicole spells her name N-I-C-H-O-L. Now, I get it's not the exact same, but Nico...

and Nicole are way too close to comfort for me. So why he wanted to name his son a shorter version of his mistress's name has always really bothered me, really, really bothered me. Now, since Chris murdered Shanann, Bella, Cece, and Nico, this case has taken the media by storm. That's why in the beginning of this episode, I had said I wasn't ever planning on even talking about this, but so many of you requested a deep dive on Chris and the situation that here I am.

It's one that I feel like for some reason or another people are so invested in and fascinated with even though it's case closed. And my opinion on that and why that is is because the public doesn't believe it's case closed. They still believe that somebody else had a hand in this and should be held accountable, namely Nicole.

But I'm curious to know what you guys think. But if I'm being honest, I could do without ever hearing about Chris Watts again. I mean, he is truly a disgusting, diabolical, just gross human being. And I hope his ass rots in prison. Rot, rot, rot, rot, rot. And I hope that these girls who are sending him this like fan mail and fangirling over him get their heads screwed on right. Like this guy is a diabolical quadruple murderer. I don't care what the reason was. I don't care if it was a blind rage. Get a grip.

Get a grip. There are plenty of fish in the sea. All right, guys, that's my rant for today. So let me know in the comments if you want the fresh Nicole deep dive or if the other one will suffice. Thanks for tuning in with me. I know it was an extra long one today, but you guys asked for it. So here I am, you know, podcaster of the people.

Thank you guys for tuning in. Let me know on Spotify in the comment section or in the review section here on Apple what you guys want to hear more about, what cases you want to hear about, what older cases maybe you want me to revisit and do a deep dive into. Let me know. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. And until the next one, stay safe, be nice, don't kill people, don't join a cult, and just watch your back. All right, guys. Thanks. Bye.

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