Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killer Dad Chris Watts Claims He Is A New Man

Episode Date: September 14, 2025

Hours after Chris Watts made an emotional plea for help finding his missing wife and two young daughters, the Colorado man led police to their bodies hidden in oil tanks near where he worked. After be...ing convicted for the three murders, Chris Watts labeled his pregnant wife, Shanann, a “control freak,” and claims that he sought refuge with his mistress. He says Nichol Kessinger  was “everything my wife wasn’t like with me.” Watts confided to a jail mate that his marriage to Shanann was unhappy but Nichol was just everything my wife wasn’t like with me. She was just nice, and not a control freak." Later on, Watts told the jail mate that Kessinger became “the death of me,”  blaming her for inticing him away from his morals.  Now Watts claiming from behind bars that he is a new "forgiven" man. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 This is an I-Heart podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Oh, my stars. Chris Watts, the killer dad. Can you just be quiet. Go away. Go serve your life sentence and shut your pie hole. You know what?
Starting point is 00:00:24 That's not possible. In the last days, so-called killer dad, Chris Watts. I ain't even say his name. It tastes like dirt in my mouth. I'll say his wife's name, Shannon Watts. Beautiful, loving, hardworking, supporting the family. Mother of two little girls, Celeste and Bella. They were murdered too. Mother to be of baby Nico, her first son. They're all dead thanks to dad, Chris Watts. Motive? To be with what? of his many, many lovers. But in the last days, emerging, Chris Watts in the headline again, Go away. And his twisted prison letters claiming he's a, quote, new man, and that God has
Starting point is 00:01:15 forgiven him for murdering his pregnant wife and both of his daughters. Did God tell him that? I don't know. I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime stories. Thank you for being with us. I ain't to even look at him. Why do women think he's attractive? He looks like the devil to me. Absolutely the devil. Killer Dad Chris Watts now claims he is a, quote, new man. And God has forgiven him.
Starting point is 00:01:42 This, as he rots in prison, for really horrific crimes and the disposal of his wife and little girls. As I recall it, the Anadarko Oil Well Grounds, where he worked. His wife endured coffin birth. I don't know if endured is actually the right word. After she died, she gave birth in her makeshift grave to baby Nico, who of course also died. I'm all for forgiveness.
Starting point is 00:02:20 Lord knows I need it too. Dear Lord, I hope you're listening to that. And I think that if he seeks forgiveness, he will get forgiveness from God. I do believe that. He can also rot behind bars at the same time. They're not mutually exclusive, okay? The killer insists he is a, quote, new creature in recent handwritten letters to a female pen pal. A new creature, yes.
Starting point is 00:02:54 I don't know how new he is, quote, I have always taken full responsibility for what I did. Okay, right there, that is a lie. He did not always take responsibility. In fact, he lied about it and begged for his wife's return, knowing full well he had murdered her and the two little girls that Nico had been still born because of the murders, and he had disposed of their bodies in the worst way. You know what? Let's have a little reality check. This is what happened. I don't care if he says I've taken full responsibility for what I did. I want you to hear the husband as he begs for help.
Starting point is 00:03:37 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. 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
Starting point is 00:04:07 I'm looking at a photo of her right now with her two daughters Celeste just three years old Bella just four straight out to Ellen Kalorian joining us with crimeonline.com Ellen I want to start at the beginning as this whole thing unravels tell me a 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. And part of what a multi-level marketing job is, is recruiting more salespeople. 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
Starting point is 00:04:55 time of her life. And juxtaposed 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.
Starting point is 00:05:27 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.
Starting point is 00:06:08 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 ratting and disgusting inside right 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
Starting point is 00:07:25 other people taking the the kind of job that she has she's recruiting as well so she has to project project an image that makes us look very very enticing 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 they still are considering selling the house, Ellen? Yeah, a neighbor told a reporter that just this week 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 Shannan got this job. And also Chris had been working at the petroleum company.
Starting point is 00:08:08 So they're both working, but it's hard to, 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 Shanon'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?
Starting point is 00:08:29 Christopher Watts's his job. He worked for a petroleum company. He's been working there since at least 2015. I want to get back to her going missing. Ellen, when did that happen? Give me the timeline. She had just got back from yet another work trip on early in the Monday morning hours. Now, wait a minute.
Starting point is 00:08:47 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, Punta, Dominican Republic, Puerto Valerita, Vegas, San Diego.
Starting point is 00:09:14 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.
Starting point is 00:09:48 You're exactly right, Nancy. It is not. It's very tiring, and you are worn out by the time you can 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.
Starting point is 00:10:08 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? Because she wasn't seen again after that. Well, you know, when one partner travels a lot to Dr. Judith Joseph, renowned New York psychiatrist joining us, that's very hard. As a matter of fact, Dr. Judith, when my husband traveled coming. 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. that fortunate to be able to just go run out and start your own business.
Starting point is 00:11:12 And it's hard when one that's very stressful on a family with two tauts 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. You know, 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,
Starting point is 00:11:38 young children, a husband who's bearing the brunt of things. And, you know, traditionally in our society, some parts of this country is still very, very traditional. It's not common for the mother to leave the home. And so there's a lot, there probably were a lot of feelings there. And, you know, sometimes people, they come up in the community about this. And so I'm not sure what was happening with this family in particular. However, you're absolutely right.
Starting point is 00:12:04 Travel is stressful. And when one parent has to stay behind. and one partner has to be 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. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Also in Chris Watts's letters, he says, as I mentioned, I've always taken full responsibility for what I did. The rest of that sentence, even though.
Starting point is 00:12:38 I was misled by a wicked woman. He seems to be blaming his mistress for him murdering his family. Now, is that taking full responsibility? No, it is not. And P.S., which mistress are we talking about? There have been so many in their disappearance and murders. Her flight got delayed from Arizona
Starting point is 00:12:59 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 Chanana 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, if she's not
Starting point is 00:13:29 getting back to her, like, if she doesn't get back to me, that's fine, like, she gets busy during the day, but she didn't get back to her people, which was very concerning. And Nicole called me when she was at the door, and that's when I came home. and then walked in the house and nothing was vanished nothing was here I mean she wasn't 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 toss and to top it all off Shannon is pregnant I recall covering a case and I learned a startling
Starting point is 00:14:08 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. Joseph and Ellen Coloren, so Ellen, she goes missing. We just heard the husband, Christopher Watts, begging for help to try to find her. I'm thinking this, so it's not like she'd run away with another man and bring the two little girls, Bella and Celeste, with her.
Starting point is 00:14:54 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 her work at 5 a.m. She's alive and well then. So how does she turn up dead and where, Ellen? 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.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Well, according to, and yes, yes, Mark 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.
Starting point is 00:15:53 I also know this. Problems allegedly surfacing just in the past two months. Because a coworker 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. 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. and it looks like they're turning the corner on all their financial problems when she goes missing, Judith.
Starting point is 00:16:37 Well, yeah, I think that that's the statistic that you mentioned about pregnant women and homicide being on 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. 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 then people explode. And I don't know this family in particular.
Starting point is 00:17:19 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 and Joseph, everybody has those problems. Everybody that is married with the 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, I'm sorry, but I just don't think men do as well as good a job as women do, raising children.
Starting point is 00:18:04 And here he is taking care of these two children? 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. This is a husband who had financially struggled in the past. He's 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
Starting point is 00:18:30 that his role had been diminished in the family well 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 an Adarko 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 what thank you that's what i'm talking about dr michel dupre help me out here pathologist medical examiner 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.
Starting point is 00:19:26 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? In San Francisco Bay, because he's comfy there.
Starting point is 00:19:47 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 when I come 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 I called her three just texted her about three times just to say, you know, what's going on? Like, I did, because after, after I called her and texted her once, it was like,
Starting point is 00:20:28 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 just she was busy. But when her friend showed up, that's what 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.
Starting point is 00:20:51 But, I mean, could she have bent? 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's what's in my head. Like, if they're safe right now, they're going to come back. But if they're not safe right now, that's the not knowing part. Like, if they're not safe.
Starting point is 00:21:08 Last night, I had every light in the house on. I was hoping that I would just get, just ran over by the kids running in the door and just, like, barrel rushing me. But it didn't happen. And it was just a traumatic night trying to be here. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace He also says in these letters, quote, I know God does not see me as a sinner who killed his family. I don't think you should be speaking for the Lord Almighty.
Starting point is 00:21:42 He says, I've confessed my sins I am forgiven. Okay, that's between you and the Lord. But you are not getting out of jail. Again, you being forgiven by heaven is not mutually exclusive with you staying behind bars and rotting till the day you die. Let's have a little fact check. This is what happened to Shanan, Bella, Celeste, and Nico. Just remember, his two little girls, Bella, four, and Celeste three were in his truck as he carried their mom's body to holly
Starting point is 00:22:19 light it at the oil fields where he worked. He suffocated the two little girls one by one as they begged for mercy and stashed their bodies in oil drums. In addition to multiple handwritten letters, mostly about himself, he shared his thoughts with an inmate, Dylan Tallman, a president in Wisconsin, who befriended Watts. Tallman was in a cell next to Watts and the two became friends, jail buddies. Tallman actually released a series of books titled The Cell Next Door. He says Watts confided that his marriage to Shanan was unhappy. Really? Then where did the three children come from? Watts whined that Shanan was quote really busy with her job and that he was often the quote primary caregiver to his daughters. Uh, so Watts claims when he lost weight and
Starting point is 00:23:17 started working out, women started paying attention to him, and he, quote, met Nicole. She was, quote, everything my wife wasn't like with me. She was just nice and not a control freak. Watts also trashed Nicole, Kessinger, claiming she, Nicole, quote, became the death of me. He also called her a, quote, harlot and a quote, Jezebel. who led him to destruction. Oh, okay. So now he's blaming his mistress. Okay, it's her fault that Shanan, Bella, and Celeste, and the baby boy, Nico, are all dead.
Starting point is 00:24:02 He wrote a prayer of confession, Chris Watts. Quote, the words of a harlot have brought me low. Her flattering speech was like drops of honey that pierced my heart and soul. Little did I know that all her guests were in the chamber of death. Can you believe this guy? What happened? I don't want anybody to get some of those texts. Like, they have nothing to do with those days and they're just like...
Starting point is 00:24:28 Between you and Chris? Yes, they're just, they're just... So just tell me what you're in? They're just kind of raunchy. Okay, well, I don't need anybody. Everybody's an adult. We're not going to post it. I don't need, I don't want the newspapers to get that.
Starting point is 00:24:44 That's all I want. The only ones that we would be looking for again. is the same kind of questions we're getting to here is things about his children, things about his wife, the questioning of did he ever, you know, has he ever said something to you that might indicate maybe not then, but now that there was something like this in his mind or you know what we're looking for. I don't need to come out and tell you that. You are hearing the alleged mistress of killer dad, Chris Watts. And even in light of the fact that his wife, his pregnant wife, and two little girls were found dead.
Starting point is 00:25:22 The mom, Shanan Watts, buried in a shallow grave, the two little girls found in vats of oil. She's still whining about how she doesn't want to hand over her cell phone to investigators because there are, quote, raunchy texts. Unless you want it on page 6 of the New York Post, do not put it in writing. And really, don't even say it. If it's something you're ashamed of or something you don't repeat it, just don't say it for Pete's sake. And she is impeding a homicide investigation because she doesn't want the world to see her raunchy texts like I care about her raunchy texts. Well, in the end, she did not impede the investigation.
Starting point is 00:26:05 She handed over the phone at, let's take a listen to Nicole Kessinger, the girlfriend, the mistress that finally comes forward two days after Shanan's disappearance. after she read newspaper articles. Listen. On Tuesday, which would have been the 14th of August, you had read some newspaper articles on the 13th and the 14th regarding this case. You had also had a conversation with Chris at some point during the day on Monday. And on Tuesday, because of what you found, specifically what you said was, and I don't let me put words in your mouth, but you found out that his life was spent.
Starting point is 00:26:44 And I, yes. And you did not know that prior, and you found that out via the newspaper articles, and that caused you concern. Well, I just realized that he was lying to me, and I was like, well, if you can lie to me about this, what else he lied to me about? And it made me realize that maybe his wife was in danger at that point, and it was day two, too, and she still wasn't home. What did that cause you to do with your phone, though? Oh, what? When I deleted those, I was just kind of grossed out by him, to be honest. with you. I was just like, I don't know what's going on right now, but you just lied to me. And I don't want to see this come over my phone anymore. So I removed it.
Starting point is 00:27:25 So you just, you already said, but you removed text messages? I deleted all of his stuff because he lied to me. I mean, that's what it was. It was, it was the hurt that made me delete it. And then it was the lie that made me start questioning everything else he'd been telling me for the last few days. And that's when you decided to come forward. Yes. Okay. are hearing the voice, Nicole Kessinger, Killer Dad, Chris Watts, is the mistress during this time. Joining me right now, in addition to Susan Constantine, Vincent Hill, Ashley Wilcott, also with me is Ellen Killora and CrimeOnline.com, investigative reporter. You say there are inconsistencies, and isn't it true? She has some very unusual computer searches as well?
Starting point is 00:28:08 Well, that's exactly right, Nancy. And the computer searches are what I see as some inconsistencies. As you hear in her discussions with the investigators, she talks about her relationship with Chris as one where he was more serious about her than she was about him. She says repeatedly she encouraged him to try and save his marriage. She said he has such a beautiful family. Why not hold on to this, this beautiful home? She says repeatedly that she encouraged him to stay married. married and work on his marriage um but once the there was a data review of her phone it looks
Starting point is 00:28:52 like maybe there there is some inconsistencies she had spent two hours online um doing a google search for wedding dresses um she wait is this the same woman that searched for anal sex preparation that is correct yeah that you know it's funny how you gloss over the hard part so you make me say them okay in addition to the frothy wedding dress I'm the one that has to blurt out the anal sex searches thanks Ellen what else did we find on our searches she definitely she did a search related to terms marrying your mistress whoa whoa whoa what what did you say she did it she did a Google search term search of terms related to the phrase marrying your
Starting point is 00:29:41 mistress is it true she did a search on how much she could make if she wrote a book like Amber Fry. I don't think it was specifically how much can I make if I write a book, but she absolutely was interested in she did Google searches on Amber Fry and her book deal and what is people hated her. Okay. Let me remind everybody who was Amber Fry. Amber Fry was the mistress of Scott Peterson. Amber Fry did not know Scott Peterson was married to a pregnant woman. Amber Fry then cooperated completely with. with police and actually caught Scott Peterson in damning cell phone conversations, wiretapping him. And as a matter of fact, there was a fear that Peterson would come kill her.
Starting point is 00:30:26 But she stuck it out. And she was a star witness at the trial that turned everything around in the Scott Peterson prosecution in the murder of his pregnant wife, Lacey and their unborn child, Connor. So you know, you hear Nicole Kessinger going, wow, I don't want you. you know, to find out to release my raunchy text, Amber Frye put it out there and completely cooperated with police. She volunteered to cooperate with police and was a star witness. She then later wrote a book, and I hope she made a lot of money off that book. God bless her. To Susan Constantine, deception body language expert, you know, I've got to give it to Nicole
Starting point is 00:31:11 Kessinger, without her cooperation, this case may not have cracked the way that it did. But according to Ellen Kalloran, there's a lot of inconsistencies. Yeah, there are a lot of inconsistencies, and the thing is, is that they need to go back and be able to verify the information that she's given them. But overall, you know, when I'm listening to her, Nancy, there's a lot of truth in what she's saying. So the issue was hard to come over is her lack of emotion, you know, her emotional. You know, her emotion affect is just completely off.
Starting point is 00:31:43 She's very cavalier. Her tone of her voice is really off-putting. And so she really sets herself up for people to really scrutinize her because her personality is shining through about how she, you know, how she sees the entire situation and she how detached that she has. The part that bothers me the most is that she's trying to pretend like, hey, I'm coming in. I'm the savior.
Starting point is 00:32:12 Work things out with your wife. But yet, she's kind of like pushing them away, but then kind of motioning to come closer. So she's very manipulative. At one point, he told me that they sat down and they talked about it. And he told her that he wanted to either fix things or like to try to fix things. And if she didn't want to fix them, then they needed to like move forward with the separation and like actually file for a divorce at this point was,
Starting point is 00:32:39 was the impression that I got from this and was what he told me and so he said that she was like pretty receptive to just not trying he was like she seemed like she just wants me to go he's like when she has her mind made up she has her mind made up
Starting point is 00:32:55 and that's what she wants and he's like she doesn't want to try anymore and he's like and neither do I really and he was like it's done and he's like and then the next day I don't even know what days these were sometime when he was out there He told me, we're putting the house up for sale as soon as we get back.
Starting point is 00:33:15 And I was like, well, that was quick. And he was like, it's her. She's ready to go. And I was like, okay. It's the dramatic moment cops confront Chris Watts' mistress after he murdered his pregnant wife and two daughters to start a new life with her. Why would you wipe out of your family to be with me? The just-release video shows 30-year-old Nicole Kessinger being interrogated.
Starting point is 00:33:38 Did you ever say anything to him about her? Never. Anything about his kids being a problem? Anything about his wife being a problem? Never, never. This shocked me just as much as I think it shocked the rest of the world. She breaks down, sobbing over the gruesome fate of the children, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste.
Starting point is 00:34:00 Ugh. He's so disgusting. I'm so ashamed of him. Why? Why? Why? How? I don't even understand how.
Starting point is 00:34:08 You could, like, bring yourself to do that to somebody who's like that big. You are hearing girlfriend, Nicole Kessinger, and you were hearing our friend at Inside Edition, Jim Moray, Susan Constantine, Deception, and Body Language Expert. What do you make of that where Nicole Kessinger, the mistress, breaks down in tears? Well, it came on very sudden. So that's the one thing that I look for, and also how quickly she recovers after it. So that's what I'm looking at is that it's not a new. usual for someone just to break down. But when you listen to her voice, there is, I'm listening for these kind of breaks or pauses in the voice, but I'm not really hearing that. I'm not saying
Starting point is 00:34:51 that she does not feel that way. I think that she does. But what bothers me the most is how quickly the onset of that emotion was and then how quick it ended. That bothers me because there should be remnants of it throughout once she's finished making that statement you should still hear her voice still cracking up afterwards so even though she's emotionally upset she quickly gets over it awfully fast that's suspicious to me to ellen calloran crime online.com investigative reporter you mentioned inconsistencies what other inconsistencies have you discovered because i think not only was she genuinely upset about the deaths of the deaths of Bella and Celeste, but also was distancing herself because if she had known anything about this murder plot, she would
Starting point is 00:35:44 have been roped into doing jail time right now. Yes. One thing that I want to make clear is that even though there are some inconsistencies in her story, it's also very clear that Chris Watts lied to her. She did not know Shannon Watts was pregnant, and he told her that Shannon was ready to leave the marriage when that is 100% not true. We see that. However, there's one other instance of the interrogation when Nicole tells police that she never told any of her friends or anyone about her relationship with Chris because it was very early on and he was still, you know, working through a separation. But that ended up not being the case. She did have a text message exchange with a girlfriend about.
Starting point is 00:36:30 her relationship with Chris, and she called investigators the next day and told them that. Alexis Tereschuk, not just the girlfriend we've been listening to Nicole Kessinger, but also some other woman who played these kinky sex games with killer dad, Chris Watts. There was a second mistress, a woman named Amanda, and her name was secret all during. You know, his wife took their children to visit. Both of their parents live in North Carolina. So she went for six weeks in the summer with her girls when they were out of school to stay with his parents and her parents for a vacation.
Starting point is 00:37:08 And that is when he went wild. He was like a bachelor. Even his friends had joked with him. And this was all in the police report, the police report that the county has released. The friend sent him a text and said, how was your life as a bachelor? And he lied to his friends. He said, oh, you know, I'm just. working out i'm not doing anything else he wasn't working out working out working out
Starting point is 00:37:30 i can make a lot of crude jokes right now but i'm not jumping into a new relationship is a little quick it's like i was in a relationship earlier this year and i think this is also a little quick and i'm like so why don't we take our time and i'm like if you guys end up doing a week on a week off with your kids i'm like the week you have your kids be with your children and the week that you don't i'm like i don't even want to see you every day i'm like i think we should spend like a few days of that together. I'm like because I like my space and I think you need your space. I think you need your space to like
Starting point is 00:38:01 develop your identity again and like get it back because I think he's just been like so wrapped up in this whole thing that he's got in his own life and his life that he I mean he doesn't remember probably what it's like to like be single or have time where it's like just him. And so I was just like you know
Starting point is 00:38:17 like embrace that. It's a beautiful thing and I really try to like take it smart with all that and it was the same thing with his kids. I was just like you know like And we talk about things every once in a while where I'd be like, hey, if I ever meet, you know, because like I have a lot of house plants. That's a good example. So I have a lot of houseplants. And I told them I was like, one day if I ever meet your kids, I was like, I'm going to show these girls how to like paint pottery and plants plants.
Starting point is 00:38:43 It was like I think they would love to see something grow that they build. I think it would be really, really cute. And like little stuff like that, but it wasn't very frequent. It wasn't, hey, we should get married and hey, we should have babies and hey, I want to live with you. hey, I need to meet your children now, and let's cut the mom out. It was never like that. There was never any conversation about, you know, we can't do this with her around. We can't do this with the kids around.
Starting point is 00:39:06 He never said that. You never said that. Yeah. Maybe they didn't talk about the marriage and the moving in because there was a problem. His wife, Shanan, the pregnant wife. You know, I'm listening to the girlfriend, Nicole Kessinger, were these. statements, Alexis Torreschuk, before or after the bodies were found? Before.
Starting point is 00:39:31 Okay, so she didn't yet know that the wife and the children were dead. Okay, that that's a little, that alleviates some of this because I was wondering, how could she talk about all that when the bodies had just been recovered? You know, another aspect to this is police were listening to her, but they were probably also looking at her as a potential person of interest. potential she did not have anything to do with these murders let's just be clear about that so the wife and the children at this point are missing and she's just talking as fast as she can't she conveniently left out the search for wedding dresses do people quote hate amber fry it was scott peterson's
Starting point is 00:40:14 mistress when lacey his pregnant wife was murdered um how to prepare for anal sex oh let's see There's just so many to choose from. I don't really know what to pick first. Alexis Tereschuk, I doubt pretty seriously she knew his plan to murder his wife and children or that he had another mistress. Bring us up to date, Alexis Tereschuk. So I don't think she did know that he had another mistress. There's a woman named Amanda.
Starting point is 00:40:44 And we secretly interview her before her name became public. And she told us that she met Chris on a dating app. had a really dirty one-night stand. She said that he was into, he wanted to do a rape fantasy, that he choked her out while they had sex and she loved...
Starting point is 00:41:04 In the rape fantasy, was he the victim or was she the victim? She was the victim. So he was the one that was raping her in their sex fantasy that was consensual, she said. All that rage, all that hate towards women. I just, okay, go ahead.
Starting point is 00:41:21 And she said that she really, she had a really good time with it. She thought he was really attractive and it was a really sexy one-night stance. Yeah. So he started cheating on his wife, his pregnant wife, basically the same minute she got pregnant. And then he moved on to not just cheating on her, but having a full-borne relationship and a woman who thought they were going to get married. This is somebody who, he facetimed with this mistress.
Starting point is 00:41:46 So he killed his wife and children. Why are you acting so indignant that the mistress just thought they were going to get married. The mistress knew he was already married. I guess when she thought he was a marrying type, but he would just bounce back from one and marry her again. And so the night that the women went missing, the first night, I'm sorry, the daughters and his wife, he sat on his bed, his unmade bed in his bedroom, on his phone, his iPhone, and FaceTime with her so she could see. He said he was in bed where his wife had most likely died and that he was just chatting with her. she said he was staring at her very intently
Starting point is 00:42:23 and he wasn't crying about his children missing or his wife missing. He was just carrying on like a flirty conversation with her knowing that his wife was, he had killed his wife and his daughters in that merry house within the last 24 hours. Wow. You know, it's interesting that people worry about the,
Starting point is 00:42:44 you Alexis, let me be clear, worry about how the mistress was hurt. You know, to Hay with the mistress, she knew, full well. He was married with children, although, although I don't think she knew the wife was pregnant. Vincent Hill, private investigator, author of Playbook to Murder, so often the defense will be, and I remember Mark Garagos, who never agree with him, but he is a good defense lawyer, would always say, an adulterer does not a murderer make. And that's true. Just because
Starting point is 00:43:14 you're having an affair does not mean you're going to commit murder. But in domestic homicides, very often you will find when the wife is murdered by the husband, there has been an affair. So the converse, to me, is true. Very often in domestic homicides, you will find the killer is an adulterer. True, adulterer doesn't mean a killer necessarily, but the reverse may very well be true, Vincent Hill. They had to know they were going to dig up at least one mistress, Vincent. What's really disturbing, Nancy, is I think with this other mistress that he met on Tinder or whatever dating website it was, the fact that he wanted to play out this rape fantasy and strangle her, I think he was kind of setting the tone of what he was going to do with his
Starting point is 00:43:58 wife. And I wouldn't be surprised if more women came forward at a later time, whether it's from 10 years ago and say, yeah, he'd like to choke or strangle or something like that. So I think all the signs were there this whole time. And luckily for this other mistress, I think she got out kind of lucky to be honest with you. Well, you know what? You're right. You're right. And again, although we're giving her a hard time, she is in no way implicated in his murderous plan. As a matter of fact, listen to girlfriend Nicole Kessinger. You know, it wasn't fair to his family for him to have an affair. It wasn't fair to me to have him lie to me and make me think that everything is the plan. And still to this day, I don't even know what's a lie and what's not. I don't even know if they were like filing for divorce. I don't know if they were putting it. the house up I don't even know I don't even know anymore what is real and what it's not but what I do know is it's just like you know that wasn't fair to me
Starting point is 00:44:55 either because if I don't know not even all the truth but like obviously some of it I wouldn't have even engaged in any of this in the first place and it just I mean and that's the part for me just like on my personal level outside of everything that is happening that is gonna affect me long-term It's like, you know, I'm going to wake up every day and know that, like, this mom and her unborn child and these two little girls are not around anymore, and it breaks my heart. It is so, my God. And then I have to think about, like, the consequences of his actions and how they affect
Starting point is 00:45:36 everybody else. Like, all of these her families impacted, my name is about to be, like, slandered for probably a while. Elsewhere in these letters, Watts continues to repeat his, quote, Jezebel Mistress, Nicole Kessinger, is really responsible. Quote, quote, oh, my stars, this idiot, quote, I hope the appeals court sees this. Again, quote, she was a harlot. Does somebody actually still say harlot? I guess so. She was a harlot, a Jezebel, who led me astray, who spoke sweet, words of destruction. But I will let God have his justice with her. I was weak, and I let her cloud my morals and my judgment. Okay. She was never implicated in any of this. She had nothing
Starting point is 00:46:30 to do with the murders. As he is, quote, taking full responsibility, he's blaming the woman he conned into an affair. One of the many women he conned, he conned. He conned. One of the many women he conned into an affair. Now, he's saying she's a Jezebel. Who is Jezebel? I think he's talking about the biblical Queen Jezebel, known for her wicked and immoral and immoral actions. This guy, okay, Nicole Cassinger had nothing to do with these murders. He did it all on his own. Chris Watts, you may have gotten forgiveness by the Lord, but don't expect any special treatment from Lady Justice. Goodbye, friends.

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