Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Husband’s bizarre interview gives clues about murdered wife and tot-daughters

Episode Date: August 20, 2018

When Shannan Watts and her two young daughters disappeared last week her husband made a plea for their return. But something was strange about the TV news interview with Chris Watts, according to Susan Constantine, deception and body language expert and the author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Reading Body Language.” Nancy Grace talks about the case with Constantine, along with private investigator Vincent Hill,  Atlanta juvenile judge & lawyer Ashley Willcott, and CrimeOnline.com reporter Ellen Killoran. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Just 15 weeks into it, a young mom posting online it says 15 weeks baby is the size of an orange girl or boy planning her reveal party but that reveal party for shenan watts was not meant to be she is dead along with both of her little girls. Absolutely beautiful little girls, tots, all dead. Why? Bella and Celeste found their bodies submerged in oil, crude oil at an obscure drilling site.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us as the mystery intensifies. Take a listen to this. My daddy is a hero. He reads me books. He ties my shoes. If you're a hero, blue and blue, my daddy, daddy, it love you. Well, there you hear a little Bella singing. The daughters Bella and Celeste something about

it Ashley Wilcott when I first woke up I started reading about Shanann and her case and when I saw that reveal announcement

15 weeks baby is the size of an orange, girl or boy. I just burst into tears. I mean, when I was pregnant, Ash, I didn't have a reveal party. I was keeping it under the wraps because I didn't want press or anybody else to find out about it because it had been really, really hard for me to get pregnant. I was having a very difficult pregnancy. I didn't want it out there. I didn't have any kind of a reveal party at all. But I recently had a reveal party in the backyard with my nephew's wife. They opened up a box and balloons came out. And I still remember like it was yesterday. And they were so excited. And we had a cake and everybody was so happy.

And I'm looking at her, it was a little baby boy. And I found out just recently, Ash, she was battling lupus and had really struggled to even have children and they're finally getting their dream, two girls and a boy and that was not meant to be. She's dead and found in a shallow grave, Ashley. Something about this reveal party announcement just pushed me over the edge. Yeah, because look at the celebration and how excited she was. And she's got these two beautiful, beautiful, beautiful girls, right? And so they're gorgeous girls in here. She's going to have a boy in it. So exciting. And people don't do these reveal parties unless they want the child. They're excited about the child. She was going to be a mother a third time. It was a huge event. Oh, man, how I would love to be a mother for the third time. I guess part of it

that's getting to me with me is Ashley Wilcott, lawyer, judge, founder of childcrimewatch.com, investigative reporter with crimeonline.com, Ellen Kaloran, who's been on the case from the very beginning, cop turned renowned private investigator Vincent Hill, and Susan Constantine, the author of Complete Idiot's Guide to Reading Body Language. She is a deception and body language expert. To all of you, thank you for being with us. Something else, Ellen, I want to go to you. Sadly, Vincent, you're left out of this part because you're not going to get it. Hold on. Sorry. You may be a cop-turned-PI, but this is something completely different. Susan, Ashley, Ellen, I've been also looking at another photo that's just come out, and it's of Shanann, and she's standing there holding one of the baby girls,

I think Celeste. Bella's holding on to the dad's leg. They're standing in a living room and it looks straight, Jackie, you got to see this, straight out of HGTV. It looks like, look at that. Beautiful. And you know what struck me? I'm looking, I'm like, why is this so familiar? The lamp they have in the background is the same ones I have in our guest bedroom. Got them at Pier 1 on sale. And it's so, the whole home, Ellen, is just so cute and well-decorated. And she's all dressed up in some little black leather slash pleather pants.

And they have on their little outfit. They're just, it looks like the perfect family, Ellen. That's the thing. That's what's bothering me. And I think it may have been, or at least they believe that they were. Everything that we're learning about Shanon and the kids in the weeks and months leading up to this, they weren't scared. They weren't on the run.

They were thrilled about their lives. They were excited. They were excited about the future. You know, another thing I'm looking at is their home. And I'll tell you why I'm focusing on this. And Vincent, I'll get into the details of the disappearance and the murders with you in just a moment. But Ashley, I'm looking at the home. This is about a half-a-million-dollar home in this area, and it's really nice, especially for that area. It's not a bad area at all. It's a very nice area. But the other homes, and you can see the one next to it,

are nothing like Shanann's home. And this is what else i know ashley i know that the husband had been working for an oil company in a darko and they are basically a supplier of crude oil and drilling they drill and uh they had declared bankruptcy in 2015. And they were making a comeback because mommy, daddy's working, but mommy goes out and lands an $80,000 job with this health supplement. Sounds a little bit like a pyramid scheme because, and I don't mean that in a bad way, it's just that your job is not only to push the health supplement, but also to recruit other members to work under you.

Okay. And then you build the more you recruit, the higher up you go. What's the one? Amway. Amway. Thank you, Jackie. Like that. What do you know?

So here's the thing I have to point out. You know, they were having financial problems. They went through bankruptcy. Most of the times, that's what causes the stress, right? And that's when we can see instances of domestic violence or injuries or problems because of the stress. Well, now they're on their upswing. Now they're doing well. So what if it is, you know, whatever type of job it was, the reality is she was making good money and able to provide.

And so here and now, they've gotten through their financial crisis. You would think that that particular stress would now be gone. But part of the job, Susan Constantine, is that she has to travel. Now, if you look at all of her postings, and I was saying the other day, Susan's like the realtor that takes you around to look at apartments or homes or condos or whatever you're looking at. They always, they're dressed to the nines. They've got on awesome furniture, I mean, awesome jewelry. If they're driving, they have an awesome car.

It's perfectly clean and perfect and pristine. It smells new on the inside. They have to project that. They have to project that, whether it's real or whether that jewelry is uh costume jewelry no they've got to project an image and on her facebook she was projecting that image um because she was recruiting always recruiting in these trips out of town she was now having to take susan right to mexico to uh cool tourist spots to reel the next people in, to get them to work for the same health supplement.

And it was working, Susan, but it involved a lot of travel with daddy left alone with the children. Yeah, and you know, Nancy, I've spoken to several real estate companies, and you're right. I mean, they dress to the nth degree. I mean, you look out in the sea of people, and it's like a fashion show. They dress in St. John's and very expensive clothing. And in the fact that she's traveling a lot. Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. You said St. John's. You know who

wears St. John's? Gloria Allred. Can I just put that out there? Because I have looked at the tags in her clothes. I've walked up to her and said, Gloria, what is that? Why do you always have on new outfits? St. John's. I, when I was covering Top Mom in Orlando, of course, here comes me. And of course I go to the outlet. All right. I go to the outlet and even at the outlet, one jacket was like $700. I looked at one jacket. I'm like, this is not the right place for me. I have to go now. And I left. And, you know, what I'm saying is what they're projecting, Susan, it may be real. I don't know. But everything looks so happy. I think that's what's messing with my head. Right. And that's what I'm seeing here is this picture perfect life the beautiful home everything is staged so beautifully the clothing the the family looks picture perfect and so that in itself may have

even this wait I'm looking at this photo of them coming back from it oh oh oh another thing I found out uh earlier today they had just gone on a vacation to North Carolina to visit her family, Shanann's family. She stayed six weeks. He went home after one week. Now, here's the thing. I get vacation has to end after one week. I never even got a whole week off as a district attorney. I might get a couple of days here and there, but she stayed six weeks. They were away from the dad for six weeks. Interesting. Doesn't prove anything, but I'm just taking it away as information. My whole point is I'm looking at their travel photo. They have matching luggage. When we get our luggage off that luggage thing we're it's the saddest luggage of everybody traveling it's all beat up they've got pitiful little ribbons tied on it so you can identify

from the others everything they have it's like perfect they all have matching cute luggage they're all smiley and happy how the hey Susan, does she end up in a shallow grave? And the two little girls in vats of crude oil. We are taking your calls. 909-49-CRIME. I was in a really, really, really bad place. And I got a friend request from Chris on Facebook and I was like oh what the heck I'm never gonna meet him except well one thing led to another and eight

years later we have two kids we live in Colorado and he's the best thing that has ever happened to me and because of my health challenges because I got so, I let him in and he only knew me at that time. He knew me at my worst. You guys know my story with Chris. You know I gave him an out. I mean, he went to my colonoscopy. I tortured him. I rejected him. I pushed him away time and time and time again. But when I canceled dates last minute, because that's how life is with my health challenges. You cancel things last minute and it's hard for people to get. It's hard for me to understand. But he stuck around.

And he stuck around because he was the one for me. And he is amazing and I can't tell you how wonderful he is you are hearing the voice of Shanann Watts and she's talking about her husband Christopher Watts they married his wife goes missing. Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Listen to Christopher Watts immediately when his wife goes missing. And then Bella, Celeste, if you're out there, 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 with without anybody here. I Mean it wasn't like her not to answer a phone call or a text and when her friend Nicole showed up at the door, I was like alright something sums up and I came home and It was like I walked into a ghost town like everything She wasn't here. Kids weren't here.

It was like they were here and then they were gone. Like Shanann, Bella, and Celeste, if you're out there, please just come home. You're hearing Christopher Watts the first day that his wife and children both are missing. To Ellen Kaloran, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. Ellen, it's my understanding that Shanann had been out of town on a work trip and got in around 1 or 2 a.m. Is that right? That's right. She had been away on business for a few days yet again right before she went missing. She had gotten home late because of a delayed flight. Chris Watts was supposed to leave for work at about 5 or 5.30 in the morning, and he later said that he and his wife had an emotional conversation in those few hours. Yeah, and when he was asked about that to Ashley Wolcott,

he did not explain what he was saying. He just said they had an emotional, emotional conversation. So she's getting home around 1 or 2 a.m uh must have taken a red eye and connecting to try to get into denver anywhere in colorado no telling how late you'll be he leaves at five o'clock a.m according to him uh to go to work with the oil business anna darko ashley he obviously had been alone with the children the whole weekend while mommy's out of town. She's finally making some money and bringing in some money. How do you think he dealt with the stress of the shoe being on the other foot and him taking care of the

children all weekend? Yeah. How many times do we hear that when the rules reverse and that happens and no matter how good a dad is, it is stressful. It is something that affects their egos. It's a huge blow to them to think, oh my gosh, she's out earning the money and now I have to take care of the kids. So I think it affected him greatly. We hear it over and over and over again. However, it does not justify anything being done to kids or a wife. You know, I got to tell you, no offense, Vincent and Alan, when I come home from out of town, David is so proud. He goes, well, they're alive. That's his badge of honor. He's happy. They're alive. The place is a wreck. They've eaten nothing but Inman's mini muffs the

whole time I've been gone. They might get pizza. They might get Chinese. That's it. But he's right. They're alive. Everything looks like a cyclone hit it. The homework's late. The whole shebang. But they are alive. I can usually knock on wood. Count on that. So let me understand. Susan Constantine with me. Body language expert. Susan, I want you to hear his words again, and this is right when she goes missing. Listen. Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you're out there, 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. It was like I walked into a ghost town. Like everything, she wasn't here. Kids weren't here. It was like they were here and then they were gone.

Like Shanann, Bella, and Celeste, if you're out there, please just come home. Okay, Susan Constantine, deception and body language expert, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reading Body Language. Susan Constantine, you have gone over and over and over every bit of his interviews, his statements. What do you make of it? Well, the first thing that really struck me is the lack of emotion when he was when he was talking about her daughter and her daughters and his wife missing, you know, they're, you know, when somebody is really upset about something, you're going to see this pain and suffering in their forehead and you just don't see it. It's

very flat and affect. And he often speaks about, um, them in past tense. So there's moments where, you know, that's, that Bella was, was supposed to start in kindergarten. Well, it should have been Bella is supposed to start at kindergarten. So there's many times he's given us clues of he already views them as dead. And then his body language, you know, he's holding his arms really close. He's licking his lips. And then there's a moment at two, he's talking about the 2 a.m., you know, he's shuffling back and forth. There's something that happened right around 2 a.m. because there's an increase of anxiety. And that's what I was really honing in on. 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! Oh! I love you, girl. I got the baby a hug. You want to give the baby a hug? I love you, Bella.

Sweet. I like that shirt. Really? Really. That's awesome. I love you. I love you. I love you.

I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I like that shirt. Really? Really. That's awesome.

So pink means? That's just a test. I know. The pink is going to be girls? I don't know. Just a test. That's awesome. Guess when you want to, it happens.

You are hearing the reveal to the children and the husband that Shanann Watts is pregnant with her third child. Finally, they're going to have a boy. We learned that later to be named Nico. You know, the children sound a lot happier about it than the husband does. He just goes, awesome, awesome. You know, another thing I've learned, she had a very, very difficult time, very difficult time getting pregnant and maintaining the pregnancy because of her lupus. In the last hours, we learned the defense has filed a motion regarding the autopsies of the children. It states the autopsies are scheduled to begin in 20 minutes. The court has asked counsel to not email the court. Counsel has emailed the clerk so she can hopefully let the court know about this issue quickly. I've

never seen anything stated like that in a legal heading, but the gist of it after reading it thoroughly is that defense speaks with a DNA expert that morning who advised that the bodies of the two little girls, Bella and Celeste, have been hidden in crude oil several days, but the expert claims DNA would still be present, which I also believe if it's there, it's still present. Richard Eichlenboom says that he wants evidence from the necks, N-E-C-K-S, the necks of the two children. They want swabs of the necks, and they want general swabs taken from the entire body, to which I'm sure they want to compare the neck swabs. We see where this is going. If you can read between the lines of what the defense is saying, they're saying, we've got to have evidence of any DNA on the girls' necks, as if somebody else may have strangled them.

That tells me the cause of death is going to be strangulation and to the time of death. It was Monday because they're claiming that the girls had been under the oil for four days unless there was a delay between the murder and putting them into the oil. And they claim that they believe all the evidence will be destroyed if it's not done right now. Ellen Kaloran, this is what's happening right now. The judge has denied that request for the DNA samples, claiming that it's not their position, that's not the court's position to tell the medical examiner what DNA samples they need to remove. The way it's all playing out to cop turned private investigator Vincent Hill joining me along with Susan Constantine, Ashley Wolcott, and Ellen Kaloran. Vincent, my question is this. The mom gets in from out of town, 1 a.m. The dad says they have a, quote, emotional conversation.

He leaves at 5. By the time she's supposed to be speaking to her friends and work the next morning, it's over. She's gone. So what am I supposed to believe? That sometime between 5 a.m. and, say, 9 a.m., a mysterious killer comes in the home. There's no robbery. Nothing's ransacked and kidnaps and kills the mom and the two children. Question to you, Vincent, do you believe the children were

killed over the weekend when the dad was trying to take care of them by himself? Then mommy comes home to a murder house and she gets killed too? Well, that very well could be, Nancy. I mean, he did say himself they had an emotional discussion. It could have been that those kids were already dead at that time. We don't want to guess that. We definitely don't want to imagine that. But I mean, let's be clear here. You know, I always say things can look like heaven on the outside to people looking in, but hell on the inside. I mean, what's very telling to me, Nancy, and you touched on it earlier, he goes to the family vacation for a week. She stays with her family for six weeks. Maybe there was some domestic violence going on in his house

that we didn't know about, which may come out later. But, you know, that's the classic sign of brainwashed batterer who just goes along with things. We even just heard in the reveal, to me, it sounded so staged, like, oh, yes, we're having a baby yay yay and the only ones that were excited were the little girls so i think there was so much more going on besides the bankruptcy besides her taking these trips that we just don't know about yet nancy and again those trips as you refer to them as a hill you're correct but those were work trips those were work trips. Those were work trips. And yeah, as we say down South, she put on the dog, which means the outfits were perfect. The trip was perfect. What it is, work trips trying to enlist other people to work for that health supplement company. It's like Amway. There's absolutely

nothing wrong with Amway. Their products are perfect. But part of the selling is you sell not only the products, but you recruit people to work under you. And then they recruit and then they recruit and you it's like a pyramid, you get higher and higher and higher. And every time your subordinates, your recruits recruit somebody, you get a piece of that, and then a piece of their recruits and so forth and so on until you're bringing in quite a bit of money so all those as you say trips were her at just say uh cabo or wherever and every time she was recruiting all right so it looks glamorous but it's work these so-called trips you're saying that gender reveal party had been planned for Saturday, but everything goes sideways just 48 hours before that in Frederick, which is an upscale suburb north of Denver. This beautiful home on the outside and the inside is not a happy home with two little girls running around inside.

Now it is a very somber memorial with people leaving, stuffed animals piling up outside, flowers, candles, little teddy bears. It's heartbreaking. And it leads me to my next question to Ashley Wilcott, judge, lawyer, founder of childcrimewatch.com. If they had all been killed and disposed of at the same time, why were the girls, the two little girls, Bella and Celeste, submerged in oil? We've been told it was to stop the smell of the decomposing. And the mom is buried in a different spot in a shallow grave. It leads me to think they were, their bodies were disposed of at different times, Ashley. That's exactly what

I thought. That was the very first question I had is why were the two girls found in one spot and submerged in the oil and the mother in another? Guess what, girls? Mommy has a baby in her belly. A baby! Are you guys excited? Yeah! You are hearing the sound of Shanann Watts telling her little children, Bella and Celeste, Mommy's going to have a baby. The dad says he comes home and nobody is there. Later, their bodies were found in one of the areas where Daddy's company, Anadarko, does drilling.

The two little girls, Bella and Celeste, bodies found submerged in crude oil. The mom buried in a shallow grave. He takes to the air begging for their return, while neighbors take Christopher Watts in when his family goes missing. Listen as they talk to our friends at 9 News. They were always hugging or holding hands or kissing. Descriptions like these of Chris and Shanann Watts. They had the perfect family. Are the only way Nick and Amanda Thayer remember the two together.

They were family. They spent Thanksgiving's withings with us in fourth of July's and all the holidays. So it was an easy decision this week. It's unreal. To offer to have Chris stay at their home in Thornton. I just hope that this kind of puts it out there. While police searched for Shanann and her daughters. Had we had we had any inclination that we we thought he was involved at all no way would i have let him in my house with my wife and kid he slept right across the hall from her you are hearing friends of the family nick and amanda thayer talking to our friend jordan chavez at nine news about taking christopher watts in when his family quote goes missing we now are looking back. What happened? We know the couple had financial problems,

bankruptcy in 2015. And even though Shanann frequently posted on Facebook of her new Lexus through the company and frequent paid trips she got for selling health supplements, they were facing a civil suit, $1,500 from a homeowners association, but that did not stop them. They had a five-bed, four-bathroom home, $400,000 in 2013, that value soaring the mortgage payment around $3,000 a month, we learned according to bankruptcy records we've obtained. What went wrong in this happy home to hear her tell it you never know anything was wrong listen we're not promised tomorrow you know we're not promised anything but to be able to enjoy our children and um every crazy moment it can be super crazy. I'm not gonna lie, my kids are crazy,

but I love them and I love the fact that I can be there for them. 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 speaking before her death to Susan Constantine, deception and body language expert, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Reading Body Language. What do you make of hearing and analyzing Shanann herself? You know, I've been listening to this, and what comes to my mind is she is just really a hopeless optimist. I mean, she really looks at life through rose-colored glasses, and I think that she's very naive. So when she's looking at the whole big picture, she's not really seeing the real truth there. She's kind of living in this fantasy world of her truth. These crimes occurred in Colorado. And right now, Christopher Watts, the husband,

due in court in the next hours, will prosecutors pursue the death penalty against him? Now, Colorado is one of 12 states in our union that do not provide for the death penalty of an unborn child. This has nothing to do with a woman's decision to have an abortion. Whether you like it or you don't like it, that's not the issue here. The issue here is when someone intentionally murders the mother and kills the child, that is viable. After 12 weeks, a baby is considered viable. In other words, can live outside the mother's womb. Now, is that true practically speaking?

Not always, but after a certain point, the court determines for legal reasons, is the baby viable to the point it's considered an individual, a human, and if murdered, can be considered a part of a homicide investigation and charge. Here, Colorado, one of just 12, does not provide for a baby's murder being a homicide. So currently he is charged with three homicide and three tampering with body charges. Colorado is very shy about the death penalty. They, to my recollection, have only put one person to death after the death penalty was reinstated back in about 1977. But if you're going to have the death penalty, which is a whole other it and looking at it, because that is the report, is that the state is considering the death penalty in this case.

I'm telling you, to strangle the two little girls, Bella and Celeste, ages three and four, lay in wait for mommy to come home. They did have an emotional argument. Where are the children? It's probably what that argument was. And then she's found dead in a shallow grave. And right now the defense filing motions to have the children's necks tested for DNA. What does that mean? To Ellen Kalor in CrimeOnline.com, what do you know?

Well, the attorneys asking for DNA around the children's necks certainly indicates that there's a belief here that the children were strangled. And as you said, there are a lot of questions about why the mother's body was found in a different place than where the little girls were and why she was in a shallow grave and why the girls' bodies were much more concealed. But I mean, the trail he leads points straight to him. The so-called killer dad who we think strangled his two little girls, they're just three and four, dead, and his pregnant wife as well, is asking the judge for more DNA tests on the girls so he can use, many people have claimed, a discredited DNA expert. You know, that's certainly a matter of opinion.

Others would argue he's not discredited. The expert who worked on the JonBenet-Ramsay trial. So we're learning more and more and more. We know that this Colorado mom had struggled desperately to get pregnant again because she suffered from lupus, which makes an unlikelihood to get pregnant, lupus, an autoimmune disease. She struggled and struggled to have that child. They wanted a boy. They already had two girls, and that was happening. That was not to be. To Vincent Hill, private investigator, how will they determine or can they determine which victim was murdered first? Yeah, Nancy, I think that will be pretty easy to determine based

on the composition of the bodies at the time. I unfortunately think the little girls were killed first and that's why they were buried somewhere else other than the mother. But I think it'll be pretty easy to determine who actually died first, and then investigators can get that timeline. To you, Susan Constantine, at the very beginning, many people believed the dad. I would say split 50-50, while others thought that his begging for their safe return was shallow. Well, all of that, what effect will that begging have on a jury? Because you know it's going to be replayed over and over. Well, you know, people in general, just the research says that people are about 50% at best in detecting deception in people.

So that doesn't surprise me. So there are going to be those that are very kinesthetic that are going to listen to what he's saying and watch those videos and going, gosh, he seems like a really great guy. He seems very likable and approachable. And then there's other ones going to call, you know, BS on it. So, you know, it's going to be an equal split. Just depends on who's going to end up being on that jury. As a matter of fact, if you want to see and hear the entire statement given by the husband, Christopher Watts, go to CrimeOnline.com. A beautiful young mom's body has been found 15 weeks pregnant. Her two little girls, Celeste and Bella, ages 3 and 4, found nearby their bodies submerged in crude oil. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

She came home from the airport at 2 a.m. and I left around 5, 15. She was still here. And like about 12, 10 in that afternoon, her friend Nicole showed up at the door. Like 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's 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 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 it's vanished

nothing was here I mean she wasn't it she wasn't here. The kids weren't here. Nobody was here. What's your wife's name? Shanann, S-H-A-N-N-N. What's your kids' names? Bella and Celeste. What's Bella and Celeste? C-E-L-E-S-T-E.

How old are your daughters? 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 because after I called her and texted her once it was like maybe she was just busy like she'd just gotten back you know like everybody's probably calling her from her trip she just got back from Arizona and I figured she was's busy but when her friend

showed up that's what was like it registered like alright this isn't right she just 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 event 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 gonna 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 at 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. A traumatic night. They're not rushing in, Christopher Watts. They've been soaking in crude oil for several days now. Their mother buried in close proximity in a shallow grave. Yeah, they're not coming home. You might as well cut those lights off and save the electricity because you're going to stay in jail the way I see it. You were just listening to husband Christopher Watts,

the father of the three children, the husband of Shanann Watts. This is what we know. Prosecutors now revealing the homicides of mom Shanann Watts, 15 weeks pregnant, and her two little girls, Bella and Celeste, ages 3 and 4, did occur in the family home. How do they know that? Is there evidence suggesting that? The husband, Christopher Watts, the hero dad you hear the little girl singing about, appeared in court

for the first time. He has to be formally charged in the next hours. Under our jurisprudence, Ashley Wilcott, the law is that within 72 hours of an arrest, you must be brought to court and read your charges. Now those charges can be upgraded, changed, modified, but you have a court hearing within 72 hours after being arrested. Is that correct, Ashley? That is correct. And so they come in and they can then say that they're guilty or not, but that is required under the law, period. Watts arrested, was held in the Weld County Jail on three charges of first-degree murder, three charges of tampering with physical evidence,

and the murders of 34-year-old wife Shanann and daughters Bella and Celeste, also known as Cece. He will not be charged for the death of the unborn child, baby boy, Nico. You know, Vincent Hill, private investigator, former cop, everything he says in these statements can be verified or disproved. So when he's saying, oh, I called her and I called her and I called her and I texted and texted and texted, we'll be able to figure that out by looking at the records. And if he's lying, you clearly see the beginnings of a cover up. Yeah, Nancy, I don't think he's lying because I think he did those things because he wanted to be able to say, well, why would I do this if I knew she was dead? But I think his statement is very telling simply because he says, well, she didn't get back to me.

I assume she was busy. But when she didn't get back to her people, something was wrong. Wouldn't her people know she was busy? And the fact that the friend went to the house not assuming she was busy but she went to the house that afternoon that tells me the friend likely knew what was really going on in that home and she knew something was wrong with her friend well we also know that the friend is the one that reports her missing not the husband i don't like that because you'd think the husband would know. It has been reported that, reported, needs to be confirmed, the family already had tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt this after declaring bankruptcy in 2015. and that Mrs. Watts, Shanann Watts, suspected her husband was cheating. Well, won't that just be the icing on the cake?

Ellen Kaloran, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. What can you tell me? Was this guy cheating on his pregnant wife? All we know is that she did tell a friend that she had some concerns about possible infidelity. And we also know that they were spending a lot of time apart between all of her work travel and the fact that he left a family vacation five weeks early suggests that they were maybe spending more time apart than together. And he possibly had opportunities. Opportunities. Ellen, you know what, Ellen? Let me tell you something.

You call it an opportunity to cheat. Every time I go outside and go jogging, there's an opportunity to cheat. Somebody out there will have sex with you that could be a completely undesirable person, could ruin your life, ruin your family. How does every other weekend sound, everybody, about seeing your children? It sounds like hell to me. Pick them up on Thursday, bring them back on Sunday. Uh-uh. That's not going to be me. Not happening. Opportunity. Ellen, that's certainly putting perfume on the pig. I mean, when you go out anywhere to work, to the gas station, to the grocery store,

there's always somebody that will cheat with you. Yeah, there's always somebody to ruin your life. Ashley Wilcott, you deal with family law all the time. An opportunity to cheat. No, you have to say, I will cheat. I will risk my children and my husband and my life, as I know it now, to cheat for a throwdown. No, no, that's a decision you make. It's not like you're applying for a job and you have a job opportunity. You can get that in the meat section at the grocery store for Pete's sake, Ashley.

Yeah, I think that's what people forget is it is a conscious decision, a deliberate intentional action to say, I'm going to choose to cheat on my spouse despite the fact I have a spouse, two children, a family. It is absolutely a conscious choice. Susan Constantine, you have carefully studied every word this guy has uttered. What more can you tell me? Well, what I can tell you is that when he talks long enough, he eventually hangs himself, that he is leaving out and omitting very important information. And this is going to come back to haunt him in trial. Susan, what do you mean? What information? Well, he's when he's talking about these little timestamps, he's leaving out

additional information. He's actually setting up specific timelines to us as the viewers or listeners because he's actually mapped out what has happened in his own mind and that's what he's trying to convey. So around those areas are very specific areas to walk around and probe because there's other missing information he's not revealing. Much of what I'm learning at this hour, I'm learning from the defense's own motions. A motion just filed by Watts' lawyer, James Merson, asked a DNA swab to be taken from the two little girls next. Quoting an expert who believes the oil would not get rid of the DNA and says samples can be obtained, quote, after strangulation. Now, also, it has just been announced that the Weld County Coroner's Office performed the autopsies and confirmed the bodies of Shannon, Bella, and Celeste. Police not releasing any information about how they died. More testing is planned.

But this DNA expert named Richard Eichlenboom, he's a guy that's testified in a lot of high-profile trials. He often testifies regarding touch DNA when very small samples of genetic material have been left behind. Now, after Shanann and the daughters are reported missing, Watts tells reporters how much he misses them, and he wants to tell the girls to eat their supper, or he wants to look at them as they curl up to watch cartoons on TV. We know this. Watts is an oil and gas worker, and authorities believe he dumped his wife and daughter's bodies on his employer, Anna Darko's, own property.

That's where the bodies were found. He was fired the same day he was arrested. We know that as well. Regarding their money problems, Watts had gotten this job about six months earlier as an operator for Anadarko. We believe he was making around $60,000. Shanann was working at a call center at a children's hospital, making hourly wage $18 an hour. But then she gets this job with a health supplement. We also know this. They had tens of thousands of dollars of credit card debt, student loans, medical bills, about $70,000 on top of their mortgage. We also learned the defense is asking for the hands and fingernails of the girls and the mother to be tested. The hands and the fingernails, which gives us an indication of where the defense is going,

that someone else killed the three and they struggled and fought. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend.