Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - BONUS Episode: Pregnant mom, 2 girls found dead inside oil tanks at dad's job

Episode Date: August 18, 2018

Hours after Chris Watts made an emotional plea for help finding his missing wife and 2 young daughters, the Colorado man led police to their bodies hidden in oil tanks near where he worked. Nancy Grace looks at the murder case with pathologist Dr. Michelle DuPre, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, psychiatrist Dr. Judith Joseph, and CrimeOnline.com reporter Ellen Killoran. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph. A beautiful young mom who had just landed a fantastic job, a mother of two little girls and expecting her third child a baby boy her loving husband sees a sonogram and says I love this baby already she's dead the two children are dead the two little girls are dead the unborn baby of course is dead why I'm Nancy Grace this This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I want you to hear the husband as he begs for help. 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. Because

if they are safe, they're coming back. But if're not this this this has got to stop like somebody has to come forward somebody come forward the husband begging for help at that point trying to find his wife she's gorgeous a million dollar smile long brunette hair shannon watts i'm looking at a photo of her right now with her two daughters, Celeste, just three years old, Bella, just four. They have just been located. Their remains have been located, that is. Straight out to Ellen Kaloran joining us with CrimeOnline.com. Ellen, I want to start at the beginning as this whole thing unravels.

Tell me about Shannon's new job. I want to start with the beginning as this whole thing unravels tell me about Shannon's new job I want to start with that Shannon was having a lot of success selling weight loss patches through a multi-level marketing company did you send weight loss packets or weight loss patches I believe it's patches yeah because I'm looking at a picture of her ek and she's got she's sporting a patch that's like she's kind of almost showing it off or really not trying not you know when people have those nicotine patches they'll put them under their sleeve or something this is a little mini patch

she has like just underneath her collarbone and when I first thought I'm like what is that then I figured out that must be one of those weight loss patches it was wildly successful he came she was traveling all over the the world really pushing it but but that's about all I know about it you start at the beginning okay so yes she was she would had been having a lot of success and part of what a multi-level marketing job is, is recruiting more sales people. So she was posting on Facebook all the time showing how well she was doing. She was getting a car allowance, she's got a Lexus, she's going on work sponsored vacations

all the time. She's working really hard but she's also having the time of her life. And juxtapose this with what we later learned, that the family had been having financial trouble and they had filed for bankruptcy in 2005. And Chris had reportedly told some neighbors pretty recently that they were thinking about selling the home. Uh-oh. Now, here's a mom who has been devoting her entire life to raising the two little girls, Celeste and Bella. And then they hit hard times. The dad is no deadbeat. He's been working, too. So they fall on hard times, and they have to get out from under staggering debt by filing bankruptcy. She manages to land a job at about $80,000 a year. But part of that job is having to travel away from her children, which she hated. She would leave for work. And I believe this country, they call it health supplements, this $80,000 job.

She had a lot of trips to Mexico and Dominican Republic. Her work often took her away from home. And that leaves the husband, Christopher Watts, at home with the two little girls. During this time, she gets pregnant. And they are looking forward to the birth of the first boy in the family. Also with me, renowned pathologist and medical examiner, Dr. Michelle Dupree and forensics expert, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet. To you, Ellen Killorn, have you ever noticed realtors? Okay, realtors always have beautiful cars.

I'm convinced they're all leased, by the way. Beautiful cars, beautiful clothes, beautiful jewelry. And I guess it's part of the image they need to project. I mean, Ellen, if you're going to go look at an apartment or look at a house, you don't want to get in a car that doesn't crank up. It's all ratty and disgusting inside. You know, Ellen, you know, I drive a beat-up minivan. It's pretty messed up on the inside.

You know, Lucy and John David, they always want hot chocolate at the drive-thru, and I get it. You know that's made of milk, Ellen. So when they spill the whole thing on the carpet, after about or three days after about a day is pretty rank right so so I'm not judging people on their cars but it's a facade that they need to present this mom got this job and had to present this facade exactly it's part of the job to make it it's part of the presentation to make the whole experience seem like something that you want to participate in. Her job isn't just selling the weight loss patches.

It's also selling other people taking the kind of job that she has. She's recruiting as well. So she has to project an image that makes us look very, very enticing. I'm taking a look right now. I noticed one of her posts says, quote, did you know Lavelle gives an $800 a month car bonus for hitting only the second rank in the company? How amazing is that? She just wrote that in the last month. Hey, you know what? I think I'm going to go do it. $800 a month for a car bonus? Could I get rid of my stinky minivan ellen so i think you could so i want to get back

to the mom missing so she starts this job and even amidst the new job where she's really having to work and travel out of town away from her two kids she they still are considering selling the house ellen yeah that a neighbor told a reporter that just this week that that chris has kind of offhandedly mentioned that they were considering selling the house. So it's really hard to say what their financial situation was like. It seems like obviously there had been some trouble in the past, but after they filed for bankruptcy is when Shanon got this job. And also Chris had been working at the petroleum company. So they're both working, but it's hard.

They've got two children. They've got two children. They've got another on the way. That's a lot of financial pressure. It's hard to know how easily they really were making ends meet. Because like you said, a big part of Shannon's job was making the job look really, really attractive to other people. All we know is that... Well, what was his job? Hold on. What was his job? Christopher Watts' job? He worked for a petroleum company. He's been working there since at least 2015. It's not clear exactly what his job was. I want to get back to her going missing. Ellen, when did that happen? Give me the timeline.

She had just gotten back from yet another work trip early in the Monday morning hours. Now, wait a minute. I want to clear something up. I want to clear something up. With me, Dr. Michelle Dupree, Joe Scott Morgan, also New York psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Joseph. You know, I don't know if you have to travel for work, Dr. Michelle Dupree, but it sounds so glamorous. It is not glamorous. Like this woman went to New Orleans, Toronto, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Puerto Vallarta, Vegas, San Diego.

When you travel for work, Dr. Michelle Dupree, it is not glamorous. I typically get off of a plane. I go straight to the work site, dragging my beat-up suitcase behind me. And I get there. I work. I work late because I want to hurry and work as late as I can so I can get back earlier end up spending the night in a hotel grab something on the way and then I get up as quickly as I can sometimes at three or four in the morning to get to the

airport to get back home that's not glamorous Dr. Michelle Dupree. You're exactly right, Nancy. It is not. It's very tiring, and you are worn out by the time you get home. So tell me this. She gets back, Ellen, from one of these trips, and what happens? She gets back late, early in the hours of Monday morning. He goes to work at 5 a.m. Apparently, they stay up together for three or four hours talking, and he admitted that it was an emotional conversation so that's going to be a really big question in this case what was going on in that quote-unquote emotional conversation well because she wasn't seen again after that well you know when one partner travels a lot to doctors you that Judith Joseph renowned

New York psychiatrist joining us. That's very hard. As a matter of fact, Dr. Judith, when my husband traveled constantly, he would leave on Sunday night and get back, if I was lucky, on Friday night. Our entire relationship, when we had the twins, I said, listen, something's got to give. I cannot work and be on call for crime related stories 24, 7, 365, and you be gone. It's just, it's well, you know what? He started his own business so he could name his own hours. But Dr. Judith, not everybody is that fortunate to be able to just go run out

and start your own business. And it's hard when one that's very stressful on a family with two tots and another on the way for one parent to be gone all the time. I guess they did have an emotional conversation. I agree with you, Nancy. Traveling is hard on anyone. Even people who don't have children suffer from depression, anxiety, sleep disorders related to extensive traveling. And so then when you put that stress into the mix with two young children, a husband who's bearing the brunt of things.

And, you know, traditionally in our society, some parts of this country are still very, very traditional. It's not common for the mother to leave the home. And so there probably were a lot of feelings there. And, you know, sometimes people comment in the community about this. And so I'm not sure what was happening with this one in particular. However, you're absolutely right. Travel is stressful. And when one parent has to stay behind and one partner has to stay behind, sometimes the imagination goes wild and there are accusations of jealousy, of infidelity, and we don't know what's happening in this family. We are taking your calls,

909-49-CRIME, 909-492-7463. You are listening to Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. What happened to Shannon Watts? Window treatments is one of those terms for something necessary but boring. Your blinds. You don't even think about them unless you move or they break. Well, when they're right, everything in your home looks better. But when they're right, everything in your home looks better. But when they're wrong, everything in your home looks tacky. But let's be honest, taking the time and the effort to pick out and buy blinds sounds expensive, boring, and then think of installing them yourself. Who wants to do that? But Blinds.com makes it really easy for you. Not sure what you want or even where to start? With Blinds.com, you get a free online design consultation. Send them pictures of your home.

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because like other storms around the nation so she's supposed to get home like 11 she got home at like 148 she came home from the airport 2 a.m and i left around 5 15 she was still here and like about 12 10 and that afternoon her friend nicole showed up at the door like i had texted shenan a few times that day called her say you know 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 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 was vanished. Nothing was here.

I mean, she wasn't here. The kids weren't here. Nobody was here. We are discussing the case of Shannon Watts. We want justice. Shannon goes missing along with her two children, Bella and Celeste. Little tots. And to top it all off, Shannon is pregnant. I recall covering a case and I learned a startling statistics. I believe it was from the New England Journal of Medicine that the number one cause of death amongst pregnant women in the U.S. is homicide. The number one cause of death. It's not heart failure. It's not stroke. It's not anything you may imagine. It is homicide. Very disturbing. Joining me, Dr. Michelle Dupree, Joseph Scott Morgan, Dr. Judith Joseph, and Ellen

Kaloran. So Ellen, she goes missing. We just heard the husband, Christopher Watts, begging for help to try to find her. I'm thinking this through. It's not like she'd run away with another man and bring the two little girls, Bella and Celeste, with her.

Also, she came home that night. She got home from out of town. She has this discussion, probably related to the out-of-town trip she had to take. And then the husband leaves for work at 5 a.m. She's alive and well then. So how does she turn up dead and where, Ellen? I have a lot of questions about that segment of the interview that we just heard. I'm curious why that friend went to the home in the first place. Why would she just go over there? I'm wondering if maybe there was a sense among some of her friends that Shannon was in distress.

And as far as I know, there were not any accusations of infidelity on her part. But apparently she did mention to a friend at one point that she was wondering if maybe her husband was being unfaithful well according to and yes yes Martin Garagos my colleague defense attorney for Michael Jackson Scott Peterson Winona Ryder he'll tell anybody a cheater, a murderer does not make. And he's absolutely right. But I can tell you this, when you have a happy family and a happy marriage, the husband's not waiting in the shadows to push the wife over a cliff. I know that much. I also know this, problems allegedly surfacing just in the past two months because a co-worker of shannon's

mom said they may have been headed for divorce right when they're turning the corner dr judith joseph new york psychiatrist joining us uh they yes they went bankrupt in 2015, but they recently had enjoyed these lavish trips and a Lexus automobile thanks to her new job. It took her out of town a lot, and then problems began to surface at home. It looks like they're turning the corner on all their financial problems when she goes missing, Judith. Well, yeah, I think that that's the statistic that you mentioned about pregnant women and homicide being a normal cause of death is so significant. And people don't realize this, that partners, people who are not pregnant, husbands, they also experience postpartum depression and stress. And it's not the same cause it's not hormonal it's there's a lot of transitions that people have to face

when they're having multiple children and you add the stress of finances you add marital pressure and maybe a third party as someone who's engaging in adultery and and then people explode and and I don't know this family in particular. I haven't treated any of them. However, it sounds like they were trying to create this facade, this appearance that things were okay. And clearly things were not okay. Well, another thing, Dr. Judith Joseph,

as Judith Joseph, everybody has those problems. Everybody that is married with a family will have children to take care of, jobs, financial pressures. And she certainly was never accused of having a sex relationship with anybody else. So why does she go missing and what does all of that have to do with her body being discovered? I can tell you this much. To Joseph Scott Morgan and Alan Duke in LA, Jackie Howard here in the studio. Jackie's shaking her head yes to this. Alan, Joseph, I'll throw to you, Joe Scott. I'm sorry, but I just don't think men do as well, as good a job

as women do raising children. Because every time I have to go out of town, I start getting emails from the children's teachers. They don't have their gym clothes. This and that. They didn't bring this. They didn't bring that. I find out they go to school with nothing but mini muffs in their stomach. You know where those come from, Joe Scott? They come off the shelf out of a plastic package.

True. They're good. They're Intimans. I didn't get paid for that. Those little bitty chocolate chip. Those are treats they have after dinner if they're good. They're Intimans. I didn't get paid for that. Those little bitty chocolate chip. Those are treats they have after dinner if they're awesome. That's what John David might get if I can drag them off Fortnite, or as we call it, Fart Night.

Anyway, long story short, that's such a treat. That's not breakfast. And I find out, I come home, their toothbrushes are bone dry. I've even put them in different places in the bathroom, so I can tell if they have been used one time since I have been gone. The cat's starving, crying. The dog's laying in the driveway, starved. The guinea pigs are beep beep beeping everybody's

starved the place is a wreck no joe scott i'm sorry i just don't think men do as well of a good of a job as women and here he is taking care of these two children hey i gotta i gotta stand in proxy your wife is listening just so you know i know i know i i gotta i gotta stand in proxy for your husband here uh take it easy on us we bruise really you know what he said you know what he said when i confront him with two starving screaming guinea pigs you know what he says about the children i say why didn't the children have their gym clothes he goes they're alive they're alive there you go they got to school and they're alive i'm like that's all you've got to say and he goes yes and i go you should have exercised your right to

remain silent you should have just stayed quiet on that okay anyway my point is he's got these two children so ellen how does it go from him taking care of the children and now she's dead and goes missing, Ellen? Come on. Fast forward, Ellen. We don't know exactly what happened. Police aren't revealing anything about the presumed causes of death. All we know is that this is a husband who had financially struggled in the past. He is at home alone with two daughters.

His wife is having a lot of success. They have another baby on the past. He is at home alone with two daughters. His wife is having a lot of success. They have another baby on the way. He could have been under a lot of stress and he may have felt that his role had been diminished in the family. I'm asking you, I'm not concerned about his male ego, Ellen. She's dead. And now let me just Q&A with myself here. Isn't it true cops believe she was killed in her home and then her body moved to Anadarko oil and gas drilling properties? Who worked there? May I ask you that, Ellen?

Who do we know worked at Anadarko oil and gas drilling? Name one person. Chris Watts. Thank you. That's what I'm talking about. Dr. Michelle Dupree, help me out here. Pathologist, medical examiner. Dr. Dupree, you know what you and I talk about?

When somebody kills, they very often will do it or dispose of the body in a place they are familiar. And I always point to Scott Peterson. He's a fisherman. He goes fishing in San Francisco Bay all the time. He fishes, he golfs, and he cheats. He fishes, he golfs, and he cheats. It's like rinse and repeat on the back of your shampoo. He fishes, he golfs, and he cheats.

Where is Lacey, his dead wife and unborn child, Connor? It's like rinse and repeat on the back of your shampoo. He fishes, he golfs, and he cheats. Where is Lacey, his dead wife and unborn child, Connor? In San Francisco Bay because he's comfy there. He goes and dumps the bodies there, Dr. Michelle. You see it over and over. Exactly. You really do. We love it when they're dumb.

Yeah. And here we've got an Adarco Oil and Gas drilling, one of those properties where the husband, Christopher Watts, works. And Joe Scott Morgan, I need expertise from you regarding how they might know the mom and the two little girls were murdered in their own home. This is Crime Stories. Tip line 909-492-CRIME. 909-492-7463. I called her three times, texted her about three times just to say, you know, what's going on? Like I did, because after that, after I called her and texted her once, it was like,

maybe she was just busy. Like she had just gotten back, you know, like, everybody's probably calling her from her trip. She just got back from Arizona. And I figured, you know, she was just busy. But when her friend showed up, that's when it was like, it registered. Like, all right, this isn't right. 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's 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 what that's the not knowing part like if they're not safe last night i was 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. Okay, there you're hearing the husband, Christopher Watts, begging for the public's help. I got to tell you something too. Forensics expert, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, death investigator, and author of Blood Beneath My Feet. You know, with a title like that, I just want to read it right now, Joe Scott Morgan.

Anyway, Joe Scott, how do they, where do you believe they're getting the evidence to support the theory that mommy and the two little girls were killed in the home and then their bodies moved to this obscure drilling location? Two of the things that we look for, Nancy, are going to be, and this is generally blanket statements that you'll see in a death investigation report, evidence of forced entry struggle, and also is there any evidence of physical evidence that's left behind relative to things like blood evidence. The police are keeping a very tight lid on this as far as what they're releasing to this point,

and I applaud them for that. But if I were to speculate at this point, it would be something like blood evidence. And the point of origin of this, how did we come to this point where blood would be distributed, for instance, in a house? Was there evidence that they were killed in one spot and then the bodies perhaps as gruesome as this is

drug around? It could be just Scott Morgan. It could be fibers. Hold on. Hold on. I'm getting a call from Atlanta. Let's go straight out to the lines. 909-49-CRIME. Ray in Atlanta. What's your tip, question, or theory? Hey, listen, Nancy, you have got to stop immediately blaming the husband on these things. Now, you look,

we've debated this for years. First of all, one thing... You need to be at work and not listening to the radio, number one. But go ahead. Well, because you get get me and I'm aggravated and that's why I'm doing this now listen one thing that it does do and I think you will agree with this and your many years of experience when the focus is on whom almost everybody assumes it harms law enforcement let me tell you why law enforcement and some of these cases just wants to sit back and lift the in some cases the husband

or the partner act the fool go to the funeral make the statement try to cover up evidence and it just makes a better case for law enforcement additionally for us criminal defense lawyers if the immediate and full focus is on this number one suspect it gives us some play in the defense like, hey, law enforcement, you never even looked at the gardener or the guy that she had an argument with last week or this guy that's been flirting with her online. You went right to my client. No, no holds barred. So again, the initial focus on someone who was presumed innocent till proven guilty has some flaws in the prosecution of the case. You know, Ray, don't you need to be somewhere right now, like in court or at your office or

with your feet kicked up smoking your cigar, cashing that fat paycheck you get from that law firm? You know, Ray, it's not just me claiming the husband did it. Didn't you used to be a long time ago before you went to the dark side? Didn't you used to be a long time ago before you went to the dark side didn't you used to be a prosecutor and do i have that wrong yes but then i saw the light then you saw the paycheck you saw the paycheck ray giudice that's what happened with you you're always waving that little pocket copy of the constitution around the difference is i read it okay and these folks are entitled to the presumption of innocence oh now i know you're in trouble when you start

dragging the presumption of innocence out of the mothballs listen i'm not just blaming him because he's the husband i'm blaming him because he's the last one with her at 2 a.m when she gets out of town because she has to go out of town to work and make a living to support the family, she's got two little babies at home, two little girls, Bella and Celeste, and she's pregnant. This woman is not just going to run out to meet some other man. Plus, it's 2 o'clock in the morning. He's there until 5 a.m. when he goes to work at some oil, Anadarko Oil and Drilling Company. And guess where her body has just been found, Ray Giudice? Guess.

I've been following the story. And so I agree with you. On a property where the husband's business does drilling. It certainly would make him a person of interest drilling it certainly would make him a person of interest it would certainly make him a person that law enforcement wants to speak with thoroughly do his timeline arrest may lead to the it may but but that information listen you remember Richard Jewell, the alleged Olympics bomber, cover of Time magazine as the evil guy. Wrong, wrong. Man, you had to dig deep, didn't you? You had to go all the way back to the, what was that, the 1996 Olympics to find an example of somebody that was charged, that was innocent.

That's digging deep, Ray. Well, I was trying to find something from your elementary school days that you would remember back in school. I believe that was about the second grade when that happened. So bottom line, what's your advice? So you're arguing against he's the last person with her. I guess you want to drag out his last statement that he made. His public statement. I love the baby already looking at the little

baby boy sonogram. Now, you know, Ray, there's an unborn baby. There's Celeste and Bella. Now, you know what? If he was my client, he would be duct taped in a closet in my law office and not making these

kind of statements look i agree with you uh this is a guy that law enforcement should absolutely focus on but build their case slowly and steadily you know there's a timeline there's physical evidence and you know also nowadays there are so many cameras, so many ways to track vehicles. I mean, I just was involved in a case where we were able to clear my client through an alibi that he wasn't at the scene of a crime from an ATM camera on the other side of town where he actually was using the ATM to withdraw some money. And so we had a time stamp. We had video of him putting in his card and getting his $200. At the same time, it was alleged he was crosstown. And if you know Atlanta, getting crosstown ain't easy. So there are so many ways to track this, the murderer, whoever it may be.

I would bet you there's security cameras around this oil refinery. Those are places nowadays that are high security because of terrorist risks and other things. Cell phones can be tracked to the cell towers. I think I just saw something on the news the other day that Google has a tracking system that they haven't told us about that we all have in our phones. You know, I'm so not concerned about Google tracking me.

They'll track me from one crime scene to the next, to the elementary school, to the grocery store, to a crime scene, to the house. You know, blah, blah, blah. Track me. Go ahead. I'd be mad if you didn't. You know what, Ray?

You were talking about how you want this guy duct taped and hidden under your desk at your office. Well, take a listen to this. Her flight got delayed from Arizona because of other storms around the nation. So she was supposed to get home at 11. She got home at 1.48. She came home from the airport at 2 a.m. And I left around 5.15.

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 you know 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 but like 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 was vanished nothing was here I mean she wasn't she wasn't here me when she was at the door and that's when I came home and then walked in the house and nothing was vanished. Nothing was here. I mean, she wasn't, she wasn't here. The kids weren't here. Nobody was here. I just want them back. I just, I just want them to come. And if, if they're not safe right now, that's what's, that's what's tearing me apart. Cause if they are safe, they're coming back. But if they're not, this has got to stop. Like somebody has to come forward. You are hearing the sound of husband and father, 33-year-old Christopher Watts begging for the return of his wife, Shannon,

his two little children, Bella and Celeste, and his unborn baby boy. And just before that, he had posted loving messages to wife Shannon when she sends him an ultrasound showing the progress of their third baby. Quote, little peanut, exclamation, exclamation. Love her slash him already. He wrote in response to seeing that ultrasound image. Now she, the loving wife, shares the exchange on Facebook the very same day. Quote, I love Chris.

He's the best dad us girls could ask for. Right now, that husband, Christopher Watts, under suspicion in the disappearance and death of his wife and two children. The police remaining tight-lipped regarding the cause of death, but we are hearing from police sources they do believe Shannon and the two baby girls were murdered in the home, their bodies disposed of at an obscure drilling location with the oil company the dad worked with, Anadarko. Listen to this. At this point, we have been able to recover a body that we're quite certain is Shanann Watt's body.

We have strong reason to believe that we know where the bodies of the children are, and recovery efforts are in process on that. And in the last hours, a stunning development in the search and the discovery of those bodies. Take a listen to the police sergeant, Ian Albert. They're in Frederick, Colorado. To give you some background, the Frederick Police Department received a missing person call just before 2 p.m. on Monday, August 23, 2018. Our agency launched an investigation conducting interviews, neighborhood canvases, in an effort to locate Shanann and her two girls,

Bella and Celeste. We also contacted the FBI and the CBI to assist in this case. In addition to providing investigative agents and crime scene responders, a missing endangered alert was announced on Tuesday afternoon. Frederick PD conducted additional canvases where flyers featuring Shanann, Celeste, and Bello were distributed throughout the day. Finally, in the late hours of Wednesday evening, the husband, Chris Watts, was taken into custody and was transported to the Well County Jail just after 3 p.m. last night. He is currently scheduled for a bond hearing later today. And there you have it. The husband has just been arrested. There will be a bond hearing regarding this case.

The wife and the two little girls dead. I've got a theory Joe Scott Morgan and I want to think about what you and Dr. Michelle Dupree medical examiner have to say on this he's alone with the girls for several days while mommy's out of town working bringing in all the money she comes home, has he already killed the girls? Because if you're having an argument with the mom, why kill the children too? How would we be able to tell that from the crime scene,

Joseph Scott Morgan? What's going to happen, Nancy, is you're going to couple the findings at the crime scene relative to if these children had been down for several days, there might be evidence of the fact that, as hard as it is to say, that these kids may have begun to decompose in the house at some point in time. And then you couple that with any kind of what are referred to as post-mortem changes that have taken place in the bodies, and they find them out at the scene at this Anadarko refinery, or I think that it's probably natural gas wellheads.

This is a vast area that he would have knowledge of, Nancy, and that's going to be very important to this case and so this this is all going to tie back together with what happened in that period of time when she when these kids were last seen and when they were found coupled with the findings on her body because the two time the timelines are not going to be the same, because if she comes home and these kids are missing, an argument ensues. Maybe he's already gotten rid of the kids. Maybe he's already killed the kids at this point.

Her body, for lack of a better term, will be fresher than these poor little angels. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, pathologist and medical examiner, specifically, how would I be able to prove if Watts murdered the two children first and then the wife comes home from out of town? How would I be able to prove that, or could I? Yes, Nancy, we should be able to prove that and again as what was just said we look at the state of the body and by comparison we can tell who died earlier than the other by the post-mortem changes. We also look at the

totality of circumstances and we look at the crime scene itself. There may be clues there. We can look at blood pooling. We can look at different forensic evidence to help us determine those things. And then we put it all together. But mostly, the key is going to be looking at both bodies and compare them. Christopher Watts, the husband, says the last time he saw his wife was at 5.15 a.m. when he leaves for work. He also says the two stayed up late having an emotional conversation after she got home from out of town at 1 a.m. Late night sounds like a red-eye flight back home. He says he got worried when she did not reply to a text messages that morning

and then he began to panic after a friend came to the home around noontime and there was no answer. Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant carrying a baby boy who she planned to name Nico. At this hour Christopher Watts the husband is being held without bail in the Weld County Jail. He's due in court for a bond hearing. No formal charges have been filed. He was arrested on counts of murder and three counts of tampering with evidence. Ellen Kalora, an investigative journalist with CrimeOnline.com. I assume the three tampering cases deal with moving the bodies?

That would certainly be the implication. And I'm also seeing, and this is really horrible, but I'm also seeing that the bodies of the girls, presumably the two little girls, were found inside an oil container or an oil vat. And I've seen speculation that that could have been done intentionally to conceal any smell. Oh, Ellen. Ellen, that's a new fact for me. And, you know, I was trying to put together a photo album late last night because I'm so, so far behind. And then I got to looking at photos, Ellen, and then I ended up with the children at ages two and three.

You know, that's a long time ago. And they're so tiny. They're so tiny. They're so tiny. And to think of those little children down in an oil vat. Is that what you said, some type of a vat? Yeah, an oil container or an oil vat, yeah, but whatever it is, it's filled with oil. The CBI, Colorado Bureau of Investigation,

say authorities found the body of Shanann Watts three days after she was reported missing on property owned by Anadarko Petroleum, where the husband worked. He has since been released from his job. At the time they found her body, I recall, E.K., that they mentioned something about having strong reason to believe they know where the bodies of the two daughters, Bella and Celeste, are. They didn't find them in the same place as the mom, Ellen. That's right. And we don't know what that means in terms of the timeline. But I think that coupled with the fact that he reportedly gave a confession, that must have been how they found the bodies. It seems to me that he led them to where they were. She didn't show up for a doctor's appointment, didn't answer her phone,

and it was a friend who called police after the friend finds a cell phone, purse, and keys in the home. Right now we are waiting for justice to unfold. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.