Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Colorado dad Chris Watts claims he killed wife after she strangled girls

Episode Date: August 23, 2018

The Colorado father charged with murdering his pregnant wife and two young daughters and then hiding their bodies near his job claims his murderous rage was triggered by watching his wife strangle the girls. Nancy Grace explores the latest in the case against Chris Watts. Her experts include forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, private investigator Vincent Hill, Atlanta juvenile judge & lawyer Ashley Willcott, New York psychologist Caryn Stark, and CrimeOnline 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. A beautiful young mother of two expecting a baby. Dead. to expecting a baby dead. She goes missing, and her husband makes an urgent plea for her return. Now we learn the bodies are concealed on a drilling site. The two little girls included, ages 3 and 4, their bodies concealed in vats of crude oil. Right now, a stunning twist. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank helps me snuggle too. He reads me books.

He ties my shoes. If you're a hero, blue and blue, my daddy, daddy, it love you. You are hearing the girls singing about their dad. That's Bella and Celeste, ages 3 and 4. They are found in vats of crude oil. The pregnant Colorado mom, Shanann Watts, buried in a shallow grave at that same oil field. We want justice. We are taking your calls. 909-49-CRIME. 909-492-7463.

Straight to the lines. Joining me from Atlanta, Michelle. Hi, Michelle. What's your question? Hi, Nancy. Do we know if the husband had any money or mental issues? Michelle, just stay with me just for a moment. Michelle, why do you assume that a man has a mental issue? He had a girlfriend. That's his issue. That's the word, that he's having an affair. Okay.

Would you call that a mental issue, Michelle? No, I wouldn't. That's really sad. I would say that's an issue below the belt in his pants. That's the issue. Wow. Wow. Michelle, that's not all. Hold on. Did you know that in a New England Journal of Medicine study, I didn't believe it. I had to bring the author, the researcher on and question her before i believed it the number one cause of death amongst pregnant women is homicide shenan was about 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy she had two girls baby boy oh michelle they had the whole thing that saturday they were having the reveal party she never made it what about that that? That's so sad.

This is really horrible. I really hope they find justice and put him under... Do you have children? Do you have children? Yes, I do. Yes, I do. Well, if you're like me, I remember having those sonograms, and I was in a very high-risk pregnancy.

And I will look at those sonograms, and I was in a very high-risk pregnancy. And I would look at those sonograms, and I will never forget. I didn't know I was having twins. Then I found out. That was a shock. And I'm thinking, how am I going to use all the love I had planned to lavish on one child and split it? I didn't know that, like in the Grinch, your heart just gets bigger. But then I remember when I went to the doctor and they said baby B, as in brother, had disappeared. That that was a common phenomena amongst twins. One child would just go away during the pregnancy.

And I remember I was just heartbroken. And I didn't know these children. I knew nothing about them except the pictures on the sonogram. And that's what she had. Shanann had the sonogram pictures of the baby. She was so excited. They had already picked out a name, Nico, Michelle. So that, in connection with the stats that the number one cause of death amongst pregnant women is homicide. I don't know. Is that a mental issue, Michelle? No, I don't think so. That is a below the belt. Hey, hey, Jackie, pull that sound for me

where Shanann is showing the girls, telling the girls she's going to have the baby. Not only that, Michelle in Atlanta, the wife wasn't just killed. The children weren't just killed. The way their bodies were disposed of, out in an oil field. I mean, just think about it. I know nobody wants to think about it, but submerging your baby's body down into crude oil vats so everyone doesn't smell as your baby decomposes. I mean, listen to this. Guess what, girls? Mommy has a baby in her belly. Are you guys excited? Yes. Are you really excited? Oh my goodness. Come give me a hug. Oh, I love you. I got the baby a hug. You want to give the baby a hug?

I love you, Bella. Now, when you listen to her telling the husband, he's just like, awesome. Oh, you've got it, Jack? Listen to this. We did it. I like that shirt. Really? Really.

That's awesome. Yeah, that's awesome yeah that's awesome michelle how am i going to be able to explain that to my girlfriend what about that he did not sound excited no he didn't sound excited i don't have to be a voice analyst to figure that out let me me ask you a question more formally to CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter Ellen Killoran. Ellen, I'm going to get back to what we know about the crimes. First, I want to know, how do you know he was having an affair? Where is that even coming from? Investigators found that he was having an affair. He initially denied it, but according to the arrest affidavit, I do think that he did confirm that it happened. They had access to everyone's phone and a two-day investigation revealed that he was, in fact, having an affair with a co-worker. Take a listen to a friend of Shanann Watts. This is Nicole

Atkinson speaking to our friend Clayton Sandell at Nightline. Listen. He wasn't being the loving Chris that he normally was. He wasn't touching or hugging or doing stuff like that. And he wasn't being as attentive to the girls as he normally is. Did she suspect he might have been cheating? There was speculation, but she didn't want to believe that either. So you were listening to her friends. So Michelle, while I've got you, how can you tell when a man is cheating? They definitely become withdrawn. That's all you can say?

Yes, other things are more important. They quit? Well, other things are more important. You're not probably going to have sex, and they're not going to touch you, they're not going to be lovey-dovey, none of that. Here he wasn't paying as much attention to the children, and Shanann had noticed, but you know the whole thing about the sex. Whoa, whoa whoa miss michelle because she's 15 weeks pregnant hello

something happened yeah that tells me a lot about him he's playing two women like a fiddle two women like a fiddle one's pregnant and he's sleeping with the other one. So to Ellen Kaloran, you're telling me he confessed. That's the motive? He couldn't just get a divorce, Ellen? Yeah, I don't understand it. And like you said, maybe the pregnancy was a surprise for him. We don't know.

We could only speculate at this point. Ellen, Ellen, Ellen, the pregnancy was a surprise. Ellen, you know where babies come from right do I need Joseph Scott Morgan the forensic expert to explain to you where babies come from you don't just sleep with somebody and they go what you're pregnant how did that happen well I think they teach you in 5th grade

or 6th grade how that happens but I know this when I hear this, it nearly breaks my shoes. If you're a hero, blue and blue, my daddy, daddy is a hero. The charges filed, formal charges against Christopher Lee Watts, the charges that we filed are as follows. Three counts of murder in the first degree after deliberation. One count naming Shanann Watts, one count naming Bella, one count naming Celeste.

Each of those is a class one felony. We also filed two counts of first degree murder of a child under the age of 12 by a person in a position of trust. Obviously, you can tell based upon the elements of those in the description that those counts named Bella and Celeste as victims. Those are both also class one felonies. We filed one count of unlawful tampering, excuse me, unlawful termination of a pregnancy in the first degree, which is a class two felony as a result of Shanann being pregnant at the time of her death. We filed three counts of tampering with a deceased human body, each of which is a Class 3 felony,

each of which count obviously names Shanann, Bella, and Celeste as victims. You are hearing the announcement of three murder charges leveled against loving husband Christopher Watts. His wife found buried 15 weeks pregnant in a shallow grave on the property of Anadarko Oil and Drilling. Nearby, his two little girls, Bella and Celeste, dead bodies submerged in a vat of crude oil. We are taking your calls, 909-49-CRIME, 909-492-7463. Let's go straight out to the lines. Chris calling in. Hello, Chris, what's your question? What was the motive? Well, Chris, you know, there's never a decent motive for murder,

and I don't mean to argue with you, but are you suggesting, when people ask me what's the motive, like, is there a good motive for murder? But here we know, as I was just explaining, that there apparently had been an affair. And while she, the wife, was so excited about being pregnant for the third time, I don't think he was that excited. I mean, Chris, let me ask you, are you married? Yes. Well, that doesn't sound very enthusiastic.

I hope your wife's not listening. Have you ever been divorced? I'm going through a divorce now. Oh, okay. All right. Now I can understand the less than enthusiastic response. Why have you decided to seek a divorce instead of just, why don't you just kill your wife? I'm doing the right thing.

I don't think killing would be the right thing. You do the right thing and do a divorce. Well, that's wise. It's not the right thing. And now this guy's looking at the death penalty. And here's the kicker. But as to your question, I think he didn't want another child. They had had a bankruptcy and had managed to rack up thousands and thousands of dollars of debt since then. The wife goes to work and starts bringing in more money than him and traveling. All that together spells trouble. Ellen Kaloran joining me,

CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What can you tell me about, I want to go into her travel and how that affected the marriage, but what can you tell me about their debt. We know that they filed for bankruptcy in 2015. And at that time, they claimed that they only had a few hundred dollars in the checking account and almost no money in savings, student loans, credit card debt, mortgage payments, two kids. they were just really, really overwhelmed. We do know in the next couple of years, the situation changed a little bit. And that's largely because Shanon ended up getting a good job that seemed to have paid her a good salary and gave them a lot of extra perks. But Chris's income seems to have dipped a little bit over the years. And we're not sure why that is because he was at the same job, same company. A good job with a good salary.

Yeah, it was $80,000 a year. She was part of one of the health supplement patches. In fact, in some of her photos I've looked at online on Facebook, she's pointing to it, a little patch, you know, like people used to wear, well, still do the Nicoderm patch to get rid of smoking. This was a tiny square patch of health supplement, but part of it was like Amway. You not only sell the product, but you recruit other people. And then the more you recruit, the higher you go up the pyramid. And the more people under you, you take a cut of everything they bring in as well, a tiny percentage. So it's incentive

for you to recruit more people. So she was traveling to exotic locations, recruiting. She would post those pictures being a full-time mom. In the last hours, guys, the development is her father, Shanann's father, breaking down, full-on crying in court. The son-in-law, Christopher Watts, showing up in shackles. The dad sobbing in court because now Christopher Watts, the husband, has jumped up and said that he, yes, killed his wife after he saw her on the baby cam strangling the two daughters. Well, when Shanann's father hears this, he just breaks down and cries. The father of murdered Shanann Watts, weeping silently and uncontrollably. His son-in-law, Christopher Watts, facing nine felony charges. The 55-year-old dad just crying as Judge Kupkow read out the charges against Watts.

Three counts of murder. One, two of those, the children terminating a pregnancy. Three counts of tampering with bodies. The brother of Shanann, I'm watching him right now rubbing the dad's back, patting him on the shoulder as the husband just sits there. He wouldn't even look up. He wouldn't even look up at anyone in the courtroom. Joining me, Joseph Scott Morgan, Vincent Hill, Ashley Wilcott, Karen Stark, Ellen Kaloran. Joseph Scott Morgan in a bizarre, bizarre request. The defense demands that the medical examiner swab the girls' necks, claiming they think there will be touch DNA there. Clearly what they're going at is trying to suggest that the mother strangled the girls.

Let me just tell you, that didn't happen, Joe Scott. But what do you think is behind this unusual request? Yeah, I think that they're trying to play defense from the beginning here. They're trying to also suggest that it could have been another perpetrator that may have come into the home. And it's fantastical. First off, you know, we don't need a judge in the medical legal community coming in and telling us how to do our job in the morgue. In a case like this, it would be standard operating procedure not only to swab for DNA, but also to do a rape kit. We don't need someone telling us to do that. Well, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Do you typically swab someone's neck?

Do we typically swab someone's neck? Well, if there's an indication that there's trauma there, yeah, I think that that would be standard operating procedure. Okay, I think what the defense is doing is just trying to put it out there and get it in the court of public opinion, trying to suggest Shanann comes home from out of town. The husband tells her he's leaving her for the other woman, so she kills the children. Oh, uh-uh-uh. O-H-E-L-L, no. It wouldn't be the children I'd kill. You know what my husband was talking to him, and he said, so-and-so has an open marriage. Ashley Wilcott. I said, the day you ask for an open marriage, you can count on an open casket.

How about that, Ashley? Open marriage. Oh, my God. Open casket, brother. I love it. And Nancy, earlier when you asked the caller, you know, what kind of man cheats? Like one that's breathing. I don't really literally mean that. Men, gentlemen listening and those on the phone.

I'm just saying it is so, so, so tiring to hear the same old story and not cheating men murder, not all cheating men murder, but the fact that that was his motivation in this case. And I'm just going to kill the kids and kill my wife. Who does that? Who goes there? This is a crazy, awful, disgusting case. Three murder charges leveled against loving husband Christopher Watts. His wife found buried 15 weeks pregnant in a shallow grave. Out to the line, Stacey in Alabama. Hi, Stacey. Nancy, Chris Watts is full of crap. He is saying that his wife has strangled the two daughters. That does not add up. When you look at the timeline and when she got home and when there's not enough time for that to strangle these children then to for her to go put them

in a barrel and and then there to be an altercation with this horrible murderer then him to murder her and then bury her the timeline timeline does not add up. I listen to you every day. I adore you. I stopped you in the hall at CrimeCon, told you how much I love the Haley Dean mysteries. I'm with you, Nancy. You are not dealing with this bullcrap. You do not believe it, and neither do I. It's insulting what he's expecting not only a grand jury to believe, but the general public to believe. So I'm here with you, and I am listening daily. Sister, thank you for seeking the truth. Stacey, number one, thank you for everything you just said. And I remember meeting you at CrimeCon in the hall, by the way. Thank you for calling in.

And I want to go through what you just said. When they take this to a jury, and they will, because he's going to be looking at the death penalty, this is mass murder. Under the code book, anything more than one body is mass murder, and that's a qualifier for the death penalty, a special aggravating circumstance, along with killing someone under a certain age, which these children qualify for. But they're locked into this now. They're locked into this, because this is what he told cops,

that she killed the children and then he killed her and disposed of all the bodies. What an insult to the memory of Shanann. 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. 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, if they went in a car, they went somewhere. She wasn't here, the kids weren't here. Nobody was here. 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. Because if they are safe, they're coming back. But if they're not, this has got to stop. Like, somebody has to come forward. Just come back. Like, 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. I'm watching him as he speaks, and the whole time he's speaking, he's shaking his head no. That is from our friends at KMGH. He has his arms crossed in front of him. He's going back and forth from left foot to right foot. And the whole time he's saying, bring them back, bring them back.

He's shaking his head. No. Well, now we know why. He knows they're not coming back. He knows where they are. They are buried on an oil field, the children, in vats of crude oil over what? An affair? What, he didn't want the baby?

Then get a divorce and throw a little child support. You know, drop a stack of pampers on the front porch like half the men that are not paying their child support do. I mean, but really? Strangling her? And now in a stunning twist, he puts the blame on her? Joining me, Ellen Kalorian, CrimeOnline.com. There you can find the full affidavit.

Karen Stark, New York psychologist. Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com. Vincent Hill, cop turned PI. And Joseph Scott Morgan, forensics expert professor at Jacksonville State University and author of Blood Beneath My Feet. You know, I'm trying to figure out if there's going to be a forensics way to prove this shameful lie is just that, a lie with him turning the blame, this killer turning the blame on his wife. To Karen Stark, New York psychologist, his timeline changed with what he said. And his own story that she gets in around one or two o'clock in the morning, and then he leaves for work at five o'clock in the morning, and they had this emotional conversation where that makes his scenario

virtually impossible. So Karen Stark, what do you make of his lies? I'm not the least surprised. Are you Nancy? I mean, this guy is a psychopath. He will say anything to make sure that he can escape from being blamed for this. I'm not even surprised that he's now putting it on her and saying, well, he had to kill everybody. Of course, anyone would kill everybody. He had to kill everybody because she was trying to kill the girls. So he had to kill her. And then he had to go ahead and bury the bodies and not report it to the police.

The whole story stinks. But he's very smooth. That's what a psychopath does. They don't just get divorced. They decide that they are going to murder because they don't have a conscience. So why not? Let's just get rid of everything and go on with my life. And that's what he did. I really believe that. The Colorado husband and father, Christopher Watts, now accused of murdering his pregnant wife and his two little girls, Bella and Celeste, before he dumps them in an oil site, now tells cops it was his wife, not him, who strangled the baby girls and that then he strangled her out of rage. And I'm learning this from an affidavit for arrest that has just been released,

and we've gotten it. It's on CrimeOnline.com. Christopher Watts, 33, according to police, had been having an affair with a co-worker. How predictable. Vincent Hill, cop turned PI. Can a man just surprise me and do something different? You know, Nancy, I ask that

all the time. Even when I was doing PI work in Tennessee, people would ask. I think my spouse is cheating on me. And I would always tell them, if you believe that, chances are they are because some of their patterns have changed. There's something that they used to do that they're not doing. But let's be clear about Christopher Watts. I assure you, the investigators from day one were looking at him even during his BS interview about bringing them back because the spouse is always the first person investigators look at. So I don't even think they were buying his story from day one. We don't know that for sure, but if I was an investigator, I wouldn't have bought his story. He tells police

he, Chris Watts, was looking at the family's baby monitor why why is he looking at the baby monitor number one and he sees his wife strangling daughter celeste age three their daughter bella age four was already lying on her bed and appeared blue man that must have been some baby monitor that he could figure all that out and our our baby monitor we had, I couldn't see a thing. It was all fuzzy and gray. After that, he says he goes into a rage and he strangles her. Have fun with that, defense attorney that's taking this case. Try to make a silk purse out of a cow's ear on that. Ashley Wilcott with me, juvenile judge, lawyer, founder of ChildCrimeWatch.com. Ashley,

weigh in. This case disgusts me. Here's the other thing I think. I really wonder if he did not murder his two children while she was out of town, and then she came back in town, and the gig is up, so to speak, and she realizes what he's done and he just decides he'll kill her too. This case sickens me. And I think at the heart of it, we all need to remember it's not just murder of a family. It's child abuse to start and then resulting in murder. Or Nancy, even worse, I'm sorry. Let's say the little girls actually walked in on something that was going on between Chris and his wife. And then he says, well, I got to take care of them because they too could be a witness. Either then he says, well, I got to take care of them

because they too could be a witness. Either way, it's sick, but we don't know what happened. But if those little girls saw something, that's the last memory they will ever have. A lot of you know my part of my story, my health challenges, bad relationships, things that could have knocked somebody down completely hardcore. But the thing is, is I believe that everything in life happens for a reason.

And I also believe people are placed in our life for a reason. You are hearing Shanann Watts in her own Facebook video post talking about meeting and falling in love with her husband, Christopher Watts, the father of her three children now accused of her murder and the murders of Bella and Celeste, ages 3 and 4, and their unborn baby boy. The reveal party was set for that Saturday, set to be named Nico. We are taking your call straight out to Bob. Hey, Bob, what's your question? Hi. Well, I have a comment. I think that the prosecutor, his prosecutor, could call on friends and acquaintances of the wife to letting people know how much he loved her daughters. You know, that's a really good defense, especially, Ashley, if you pack the jury with moms, all right, moms,

that there's no way that they would do this to their own daughters. And I mean, if you love your children so much, then don't have an affair and ruin the marriage. It's easy. You can go pick somebody up in the potato chip aisle at Kroger or Piggly Wiggly or Publix. Yeah, there's always somebody you can pick up. But the reason you don't do it, even though you might be mad at your spouse that day, because you don't want every other weekend with your children, if you're lucky, Ashley. Well, that's if you care about your children, you put them first as a parent. Clearly, clearly, this gentleman, man, I'm not going to call him a gentleman, he's not, this murderer, did not care enough about his children to put

them first. And that's what it boils down to. If you're going to put them first, you're not going to have an affair, you're not going to break up the marriage, and you're not going to murder your family. Ellen, Ellen Kaloran, you had a question about the potential defense in this case. Yeah, I have a question about how his defense team thinks that they're going to convince a jury that Chris Watts found his wife strangling his two daughters and doesn't call 911. How are they going to explain that? Well, how are they going to do it? To you, Joseph Scott Morgan, you're the forensics expert. How are they going to do it? I've got a pretty good idea, but let's hear yours. Yeah. You know, I think that they're probably going to talk about,

you know, that old legal theory about the heating and cooling of blood. The defense is probably going to put forward that he was so impassioned and so enraged he flew up there and choked out the wife. And they've already been saying this, Nancy, over and over again. But the dog won't hunt. It's just not going to hold water as far as I'm concerned. What about it? Joining me, Vincent Hill, cop turned PI. What about it?

Yeah, I don't think it's going to amount to a hill of beans either, Nancy, because I assure you investigators combed through that house looking for all evidence in this case, whether it be fibers, print, you name it. They're building their case against Chris Watts. And this whole story about his wife choked the girls is a load of crap as far as I'm concerned, and I think the evidence will show it as well. Out to the lines calling from Idaho. Hello, caller.

What's your question? That Colorado father, he's a liar. He killed that family, and he's a liar. Nobody's dumb out here. We all know his game. He's played it out. Tell him to confess. You know what?

You're right. I think that you can see it a mile away that he is lying, and it is in direct contradiction to what he first said, that he came home and they had a, quote, emotional conversation, and then he went to work. It's funny how Karen Stark liars will weave a little bit of truth into what they're saying. I bet they did have an emotional conversation.

He told her he was having an affair with a co-worker and that he was leaving. I guess that was emotional, but the rest was BS, Karen. And no one's better at doing that, Nancy, than someone who's a psychopath, a pathological liar, because they believe their own lies and they get everyone else to believe it because they're such smooth talkers. So, yeah, he would have her head on his lap and he would comfort her. And you could be sure that he's capable of pretending anything that he wants to. We are taking your calls 909-49-CRIME 909-492-7463. Let's go to Yodi in LA. Hi, Yodi. I am completely speechless. I have no words. I don't even know.

I can't even believe this. If this is real, like, how can you do this to your own children and wife? I believe this guy was cheating with other women or he just wants to get rid of them. Don't have to pay child support or spend any money on them. But it doesn't matter what's the case. He should just leave or he should do something to himself, not to his wife and innocent children. This is the worst thing that I've ever seen my whole life.

I am completely speechless. I have no words. I just cry, cry, cry. Yodi, joining us from L.A., I could not agree with you more. Of course, her friends knew something was horribly wrong when she missed a doctor's appointment. Take a listen to close friend of Shannan Watts. This is Nicole Atkinson speaking to our friends at Nightline. Listen. Atkinson had seen Shannan that morning around 2 a.m., she says,

dropping her off at home after returning from an out-of-town business trip. She went inside, turned around and waved at me and shut the door. But several hours later, the 34-year-old mother of two isn't answering her phone. She misses a doctor's appointment. Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant. She was gonna get to hear the baby's heartbeat and see how he or she was doing.

Growing worried, Atkinson says she went over to their house. Things were not how I would think that they were supposed to be, I guess. The front door was locked differently than it normally was. I had my son look in the garage to see if her car was there, and it was there, which was really peculiar because Shanann doesn't go places without her car, usually because both of the girls are in car seats. But then when the same friend, Nicole Atkinson, speaks to Christopher Watts,

listen to her reaction. So he tells you everything's normal. She's on a play date. Yes. And you didn't buy that. No, because Shanann, like in my mind, I couldn't figure out why she'd go on a play date without her car. So apparently he tells this woman, Nicole Atkinson, that they had all gone on a play date. And right then she knew it was all a lie. Karen Stark, now that's three stories he's told so far. Is he just a complete psycho? Yeah. I mean, he's able to keep coming up with new stories in a way that you would find hard to believe, Nancy. You put this guy in a situation, and he will keep coming up with another story

that will blame somebody else, that will take it away from him, that will try and show him to be loving and terrific, because he's capable of doing that. He can do it all. We are talking about the case of Christopher Watts, his wife, Shanann, and both children now dead. We wait for justice to unfold. I'm Nancy Grace, signing off.

Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.