Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Revealed Racy Love Letters to Killer Dad Chris Watts

Episode Date: September 2, 2021

Killer dad Chris Watts is getting a lot of female attention even though he is in prison. Women are writing and asking to be able to visit with him. Writing to those incarcerated is not new. It's a condition called hybristophilia, a sexual attraction to individuals who have committed outrageous and gruesome crimes. Other notorious killers like Ted Bundy, The Menedez Brother, and Charles Manson received love and proposals while behind bars. Chris Watts joins them.Joining Nancy Grace Today: Wendy Patrick - California prosecutor, author “Red Flags” www.wendypatrickphd.com 'Today with Dr. Wendy' on KCBQ in San Diego Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, www.drbethanymarshall.com, Netflix show: 'Bling Empire' (Beverly Hills) Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet", Featured on "The Piketon Massacre: Return to Pike County" on iHeartRadio Sheila Isenberg - Author: "Women Who Love Men Who Kill" (October 2021), sheilaisenberg.com, Twitter: @sheilaisenberg1 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. Love letters? Love letters? To killer dad, Chris Watts. Yes. Love letters.

How did these women, they want to marry Chris Watts. He's behind bars for life for murdering his two baby girls, his unborn son and his beautiful, who was pregnant at the time. Who wants to send him a love letter, much less send sexy photos of yourself to him? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It's not just love letters. They are spawning a whole series of conspiracies as to who really murdered Shanann, Bella, and Cece. The real, and baby Nico, the real killer.

For those of you that don't remember, who could forget, all you legal eagles know the case as well as we do. Chris Watts, killer dad. Listen to my longtime friend, Jim Murray at Inside Edition. The DA revealed gruesome new details about the murders. 33-year-old Watts strangled his wife. It would have taken up to four minutes to end her life. Then he smothered his two daughters. Four-year-old Bella fought back as her dad was killing her. Even more shocking, just hours after burying his wife and dumping his daughter's bodies in oil tanks, he was back with his co-workers acting as if nothing had happened. What kind of a sick freak is that?

Of course, those are technical legal terms. I've got Dr. Bethany Marshall on with me, psychoanalyst to the stars, joining me out of L.A. and star of a new hit series on Netflix, Bling Empire. I doubt sick freak is in your DSM. Diagnostic, what is DSM again? Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. I hope that's your dog and not one of your patients. That's not my dog.

That's somebody else's. Okay, yeah, right. It's your imaginary dog. Okay, Dr. Bethany Marshall, I hate to just kick it off with you right there, but IBQ, San Diego, WendyPatrickPhD.com, Dr. Bethany Marshall, who I've already attacked, Cheryl McCollum, founder, director of the Cold Case Research Institute, Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, star of a brand new series, The Piketon Massacre on iHeart. It goes on and on. Sheila Eisenberg joining me,

the author of Women Who Love Men Who Kill, volume two. Yes, let it sink in. There are that many women chasing convicted killers. Okay, you can find that on Amazon or SheilaEisenberg.com. Okay, where was I? I was going, oh, Joe Scott Morgan. That's where I was. Joe Scott, could you just give us all

a little refresher on how these two little girls, Bella and Celeste, were, quote, de-sleeved. You know, these two little babies. I know. Welcome to the program. These two little babies were taken and slid through what's referred to as,

now listen to this, as a thief hatch, which is a small opening on the top of this gigantic, there's two of them, gigantic oil retention tanks out in the middle of nowhere in Colorado. After they had been smothered, suffocated, they were stuffed down in there. And Nancy, let me tell you that the de-sleeving didn't just start with a chemical compound in the bottom of this tank. It started when their dad, I say that, it makes me sick to my back teeth, pushed their bodies through this tiny little hole, and it actually scraped their bodies. It scraped them. It took off that top layer of skin. And the job was finished when they nestled down into the substance in the bottom.

And this is caustic, Nancy. This is the stuff that they make household cleaners with. And it began to peel the skin off. They're already decomposing. Anadarko. Anadarko. Wasn't that the name? Yeah, that's the name of the company.

Right, of the oil company where he worked. This is where he worked, right? Yeah, it is. And, of course, this guy has access to it. Access and opportunity, right? So let me understand. Let me get this in my mind. And you can only imagine what I would go through trying to get everything in my mind for a jury trial.

But I'm trying to imagine Chris Watts after he's already murdered his pregnant wife, Shanann. Oh, by the way, he had sex with her, then murdered her. Then one daughter comes in and says, what's wrong with mommy? Well, she gets killed. But no, I think they were both

alive as he was driving out to Anadarko oil fields. And there are, in my mind, Joe Scott, there are huge cylindrical containers. Yeah. Why do I think that? Because the opening, I think, is round. And the opening is only like 10 inches, 12 inches or so.

And he goes out there. He's got the dead body of his wife in the car. The two little girls are alive. He smothers one dead with a blanket. And the other one says, are you going to do to me what you did to my sister? Don't, Daddy, don't. He then smothers the other child, buries Shanann in a shallow grave. She has coffin birth, which means she gives birth to baby Nico dead into her underwear.

Then he crams one at a time each little girl, Bella and Celeste, Cece, down into the container, but their shoulders are wider than the top to the container. She's supposed to cram them down in. Now you pick up. Yeah, once they're in there, they're nestled down into this caustic substance that's floating in the bottom of the tank. You know, Shanann is, like you said, she's buried in a shallow grave, but he took the

time to get on top of these things. And you have to get on top of them to access this, climb the ladder with the bodies. You're thinking about this, or he's, forgive me, he's thinking about this. He has to be as he's going up there. He's going there with the purpose. Carrying the dead bodies. Carrying his children, his babies, his daughter. And he is depositing them down into this tank, Nancy. It is absolutely beyond the pale of anything.

This case probably affected me more than anything I've ever covered with you. Because we talked about it for so long, but the longer we went, the more I seethed in this because I cannot fathom. I can't plumb the depths of this kind of evil. Those openings, Jackie is telling me, were only eight inches wide, so he had to force them down, and while they're down in that crude oil tanker, the skin on their arms actually comes off. That's what de-sleeving means. Now, that's all.

I don't want to go into more of the gruesome facts surrounding their murders. My point is, who are these nuts that are in love with him? Take a listen to our friends at ABC7. Convicted wife killer Chris Watts receiving love letters from women in prison. Prosecutors releasing dozens of letters sent to the 33-year-old. One woman writing, in my heart, I know you are a great guy. Another woman sent Watts a photo of herself in a bikini. Watts admitted to killing his pregnant wife and their two little girls. He's serving three life sentences. Earlier this month, Watts was moved from a prison in Colorado to one in Wisconsin for safety reasons.

Wendy Patchett, California prosecutor, author, Red Flags, moved for safety reasons? For his own safety? Even the other inmates want to kill him. When we see notorious killers like this, Nancy, it is true that safety reasons can, in fact, include their own safety. And that's one of the things the state agrees to house somebody. They also agree to protect them. Although we often don't know all of what goes on behind the scenes that leads somebody to be moved for safety reasons, we do know that it happened here with this inmate.

Yeah, Chris Watts had to be moved out of state to another penitentiary, another CIA correctional institution, because his life was in danger. Even the other inmates want to kill him, but these women are in love with him and quote, no, deep down in my heart, you are a good guy. No, he's not a good guy. Take a listen to our friends at Inside Edition. His crimes were unspeakable. The murders of his pregnant wife and two little daughters. Yet 33-year-old Chris Watts is actually receiving love letters. In my heart, you're a great guy, writes a woman named Candace. If you do write me back, I'd be the happiest girl alive.

That's for sure. She signed off with hashtags Team Chris, Chris is innocent, love him, and so cute. Another woman named Tatiana wrote, I found myself thinking a lot about you, and sent a photo of herself in a bikini. A woman named Kim wrote, I'm hoping to brighten your days. Hannah wrote Chris Watt's name in flowery calligraphy and told him, I feel this connection to you. Many of the letters, which were released by prosecutors, are signed with hearts and X's and O's for hugs and kisses. crime stories with nancy grace

chilla eisenberg joining me author of women who love men who kill volume two hashtag chris is innocent no he is not innocent He didn't have a trial. He pled guilty under oath. He admitted he's guilty. He's not innocent deep, deep down inside. Who are these people? Chris Watts is clearly guilty. There's no question about that. And he's just one in a long line of notorious and heinous murderers who attract the attention of women. And there are many, many people like him. For example, Ted Bundy had groupies in court when he was on trial, and he married one of them, Carol Boone, and he had a child with her. So the question you're asking, Nancy, is why? And I've spent 30 years asking that question and answering it. And it's really not that complicated.

For years, obsessive fans of celebrities have tried to get in touch with them. And they've written love letters. And ask yourself, who's going to answer your love letter? Prince Charles back in the day, or George Clooney today, or Chris Watts? Chris Watts is going to answer your love letter, right? So if you want to be famous and you want your name in the paper, you're going to write to a convicted serial killer or in the case of Watts, a man guilty of familicide, which means killing your whole family. And just by the way, serial killers like Ted Bundy are no longer what we hear about. We hear about mass murderers, people who do one large event, one large killing,

and they're the ones who get all the attention. Nancy, if I could jump in. Dr. Bethany Marshall. Sorry. Yes, I was just coming to you because Sheila Eisenberg, the author of Women Who Love, Men Who Kill, volumes one and two, has a huge long list. So these women are not isolated in their bizarre fixation. What is it?

There's actually a clinical name for this. Well, yes. You know what Sheila just now said I thought was brilliant is that they are not so different from fanatics who fall in love with celebrities, that there are some similar features. But I think it's a little deeper than that. There's a lot of research that goes into understanding women who fall in love with men behind bars. And one of the ideas is that some of them have grown up in violent households, so they fuse power, aggression, and love as if those three things are one and the same. They always know where their guy is.

I mean, imagine for most of us in love relationships, we have to tolerate that our spouses are desirable and out in the world and meeting other people. And we have to trust. We have to not be jealous. We have to not control them. And many of us may work on that throughout the lifespan. But these women have the fantasy that they know where their guy is at all times. He's behind bars. He's thinking about me. He's writing love letters. Oh, by the way, he's not cheating on me. He's not having sex with anybody because I know where he is. They imagine that these men have no sexual life behind bars. I mean, that's a huge fantasy. And Nancy, there's so much to say, but I love this one prison study where they interviewed women who were in love with men behind bars.

None of the women had read the court pleadings, the court files, or knew the guy's rap sheet. They didn't want to know. They had complete blinders on. So in some ways, these women are like control freaks on steroids. That's a clinical term. They want to control the narrative about the man who they think they love. So despite the fact that the man is a heinous killer like Chris Watts, they're telling themselves, oh, he's misunderstood. He's innocent. But think about how grandiose these women are. They're controlling the narrative about the man behind bars, despite what society, the prosecutor, the judge, everybody else is saying they came to know better.

Guys, there is a mental condition called hybristophilia. Hybristophilia is actually the sex attraction to someone who has committed outrageous and gruesome crimes. It is a recognized mental ailment. It does not rise to insanity. Hybristophilia. And Dr. Bethany, I believe you said that a study was done of these women that write love letters, and many, if not most of them, had not read their love object's record. They didn't even really know that much about the crime. An actual study was done? It was a prison study, and actually in this study, they interviewed prison guards because the prison guards were the ones who were talking to these women when they went in to visit the killers. So it was very interesting.

It wasn't necessarily just a study of the women, but the prison staff around these women. And one of the women in particular was Richard Ramirez, the Night Strangler. Is that what he was called? The Night Stalker? The Night Strangler? The Night Stalker. The Night Stalker. Yes. So he had a woman who fell in love with him while he was behind bars. And she knew nothing about the crime women who love men who kill we are now learning that killer dad chris watts is getting an avalanche of prison letters from women and men who profess their love for him even sending sexy photos bikini photos and more. But let's don't forget who Chris Watts really is. Take a listen. Chilling new secrets are being revealed about Chris Watts,

the dad who brutally killed his pregnant wife and their two adorable daughters. Daddy is a hero. Did he admit to you that he murdered his family? He absolutely did. Sherilyn Cato was fascinated by the case and started exchanging letters with Watts. Eventually, she started visiting him at a maximum security prison in Wisconsin. She spoke with Ann Ricogliano. What was it like to meet him in person? Very surreal.

At times when he would talk about the murders, his eyes would turn so black. He just would get a different look on his face. And he talked about it so nonchalantly, like, you know, going down to get a cup of coffee. Watt's letters are filled with shocking confessions he never told the FBI, including that he had planned the murders for weeks. You are hearing our friends at Insight Edition take a listen to more. He had secretly given his wife the painkiller OxyContin to end her pregnancy. He thought that would make it easier to leave her to be with his mistress,

Nicole Kessinger. The reason the medical examiner found OxyContin in Shannon's system is because I gave it to her. I thought it would be easier to be with Nicole if Shanann wasn't pregnant. He was very mesmerized by her. He just said in his letters that had it not been for her and the power that she had over him, she pulled at him constantly. So even now he is blaming his victims, his wife and his two little girls. Joining me, Sheila Eisenberg, author of Women Who Love Men Who Kill, Volume 2 on Amazon. Sheila, weigh in.

Yeah, I'd like to talk about a few things. First of all, there's two different types of women writing love letters and getting involved with men who kill. There's what I call the garden variety killers. The guy who's committed murder and nobody knows about him. He's in prison serving his life sentence and a woman gets involved with him and she is involved because she has had a traumatic childhood. She's been abused by her father her uncle somebody in her childhood an earlier relationship she's been sexually abused physically abused psychologically abused and for her this guy in prison is a safe relationship he's behind bars she

always knows where he is and she's in control for the first time in her life so that's the garden variety relationship. Also, I just want to address the fact that there's no sex usually involved in these relationships. The man in prison, the prisoner puts her on a pedestal. He writes her love letters, poetry, paints pictures of her, and she feels elevated and loved and romanticized for the first time in her life. In addition, she doesn't care about his rap sheet, as someone said. She doesn't believe he's guilty. She's convinced that he's innocent. He usually finds guards. He becomes a Christian. He's a good

man. There's a million different stories and a million different ways of looking at it. And I've interviewed dozens and dozens of women who fit this profile. Then there's the flip side of the coin. There's the woman who's in love with the Chris Watts kind of a killer. His name is in the papers. He's famous. He's notorious. Everyone knows what he did.

That woman also probably had an abusive past, but she wants something else. She doesn't just want control. She wants to be famous. She wants to be known because as a famous author once said, everybody wants to be known and everybody wants their 15 minutes of fame. So we have two different kinds of things going on with women who love men who kill. And I just want to also deal with the word hybristophilia. I have never found in anything, in any women that I interviewed, that they were sexually attracted to violence. As a matter of fact, they all, even the ones who were in love with the serial killers like Carol Ann Boone, who married Ted Bundy, she believed he was innocent, even though she sat through his trial and she had a child with him and she married him. When she finally was convinced that he was guilty, she divorced him. And every serial killer... It's my understanding that hybristophilia is the attraction to someone who has committed gruesome crimes, not the attraction to

the gruesome nature of the crimes, not attracted to violence itself, attracted to this person who has committed these crimes. Dr. John Money, psychiatrist, psychologist, coined the term, the late Dr. John Money.

I interviewed him for the first volume of Women Who Love Men Who Kill. But I have never found any evidence of this, Nancy. Interesting. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about women that love guys behind bars who have committed horrible crimes. In this case, we're talking about killer dad, Chris Watts. Take a listen to

Angie Harmon, Cellmate Secrets. In letters to Sherilyn, Chris writes how he carefully planned out the murders and reveals the tragic details step by step. On August 9th, 2018, Shanann goes away on business, and that's when Watts decides it's time to free himself of family constraints. The night Shanann is set to return, Watts puts his premeditated plan in motion. He told me that he knew that was the last time he would ever tuck his babies in. Then around 2 a.m shenan comes home from her trip watts admits to having sex with shenan to disarm her he leaves the room and unbeknownst to shenan he goes to the girl's room to smother them purportedly because he doesn't want them to hear him murder their mother according to chris's

letter to sherilyn he doesn't tell Shanann about his affair, only that he no longer loves her. There we hear what Chris Watts is telling at least one person. He fully confesses. And again, Watts pled guilty. It's not as if he were railroaded at trial. One of the dangerous aspects of these love letters is that they are spawning conspiracies, that Chris Watts is innocent and that someone else is responsible for the murders. Take a listen to our cut seven from Cellmate Secrets. I'm Krista Raquello and I met Chris Watts from Writington in prison. I've never seen a case in history that somebody took a plea agreement so quickly. A case was completely ended and not investigated.

And there's all these different theories because normally this would be going on in a trial for years. And it was only two months to this plea agreement. And that's what caught me. Prisons are familiar territory for the 42-year-old former prison psychologist who recalls visiting her incarcerated father when she was a child. It makes me feel more comfortable with inmates and then being a clinical psychologist I would work in the prisons so I would see the inside of it. However Krista admits that being intrigued by famous criminals is in her DNA. My mother was always fascinated with Charles Manson

from when she was younger. I do think my mom was drawn to my dad because he looked so much like him. Before she met my father, she was on her way to go to the Manson family to live on the ranch with Charles Manson, and then she saw my dad, and my dad saw her, and they just hit it off. It's pretty interesting because my mom did

stand up for Charles Manson through all that. And I'm standing up for Chris Watts. Guys, we were talking about women who seemingly fall in love with guys behind bars that have committed heinous crimes. This is by far not the first time it's happened. It's quite the phenomena. Danger. They come up with all sorts of half-cut conspiracy theories about who is the real killer. Wendy Patrick, joining me, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags. Jump in. I actually have a whole chapter on this in my book, Red Flags. And no doubt if I went back and read it, I'd probably quote people like Sheila. But one of the things that I distinguish between, because I have researched it and prosecuted this type of crime also in terms of women that break boundaries where they're supposed to be working at the prison and get involved with inmates, is the fact that some of them do believe that these men are guilty. In fact, the chapter is called, you know, when a wolf looks like a wolf. In other words, there isn't a red flag warning. This is why the person is dangerous being desirable. And I wonder whether or not, and I know our psychologists on the panel may have ideas too,

but there's this idea that this woman understands this man. She's the only one that can fix them. She understands. She is, in a sense, vicariously joined to the crime that, of course, she would never commit. And that would be a very different reason for becoming involved with a dangerous killer, not because you think he's innocent, but because you know he's guilty. And I wonder whether because Chris Watts pled guilty so quickly that that isn't the type of woman that somebody like him would attract. I mean, Joe Scott Morgan, his guilty plea came quickly because he was caught dead in the water. I mean, he is seen, Shanann and the children are seen going in the home.

Then he is seen leaving the home after packing up the, well, it's her body, Shan's body in the car. It's caught on the neighbor's surveillance video. His description of what he did to the children's bodies is completely consistent with the discovery of their bodies in those oil tankers and his wife buried in a shallow grave with having delivered baby Nico in death. I mean, how can his confession under oath, I might add, he pled guilty under oath to these facts, be so consistent and fit perfectly with the facts if it's a lie? It's overwhelming evidence. Nancy, the one thing my one regret about this whole thing when he was sitting in that courtroom and I watched this from beginning to end is that the judge did not compel him to allocute.

Because now you've got all of these people for years and years and years. They're going to be grieving with broken hearts because they don't know precisely what happened. The truth is painful, but sometimes the truth is one of the best medicines that is out there for people that need to recover. He is selfish to the end. Oh, and let me tell you one more thing about Ms. Psychologist, who says that she understands time in the penitentiary. I could care less. Let me tell you what, she's never spent any time. She's never spent any time at a death scene. She's never spent any time in the morgue. She hasn't looked at the remnant

of what these animals leave behind. What he did to these kids, what he did to his wife, what he did to his unborn children, his unborn child is absolutely horrific. And people need to be reminded of that. Speaking of Chris DiRicella, take a listen to our friends at Lifetime. One entertaining topic of conversation is the oftentimes bizarre fan mail Chris receives. I know I'm a stranger, but I care about you and your situation. You honestly have one of the kindest faces I've ever seen. For some reason, I find myself caring about how you're doing. I want to know you so bad, it's not even funny.

I just want to be your friend and let you know you're not alone. Never, we're never as friend, but at least almost a boy. However, in May 2020, there's one particular letter that Chris doesn't throw away. It's from Krista Raquello. I just wanted to give him hope and not to give up because I just felt he was holding something in. Did you include anything other than just the letter when you wrote Chris? When I wrote Chris, I put a picture of myself in so he knew what I looked like,

just to know I wasn't, you know, just some crazy girl. But I did. It was a three-page letter, and I put a picture in. It works in getting Chris Watts' attention. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. The spawning of conspiracy theories by these women who insist that he is innocent are actually proving to become a danger. The family of Shanann Watts has been trolled and attacked and mistreated. Take a listen to our cut 12, Dylan Thomas, CBS 4.

Frank Rusick tells me that the cyberbullying around this case has been relentless since the murders about 11 months ago. So bad that he's even gone to law enforcement and lawmakers seeking help, but has had no assistance. So now he's here in Colorado asking CBS 4 viewers to help him stop the trolls. I can't possibly describe how painful the last 11 months have been. How does one cope with the murders of their child and grandchildren? Just dealing with this type

of tragedy is more than a family should bear. Almost one year has passed since Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife in their Frederick home, later killing his own daughters, Bella and Cece as well. Since the murder, Shanann's family, led by father Frank Rusick, has been under attack. In the most vicious ways you can imagine. Intense cyberbullying by fans of the murderer and trolls around the world. England, Philippines, Australia. It's not fair to these victims. We don't deserve it. Shanann's family finally having to speak out, having been treated so badly because many of these conspiracy theories that Chris Watts is innocent focus on Shanann, the murder victim. Remember the mom who had coffin birth? After her murder,

she gives birth to her baby boy, Nico, she was looking so forward to. They're blaming her, among other theories. Well, maybe the theories are spawned by others who refuse to believe Chris Watts is in fact a killer. Take a listen to our Cut 9 WTVD. Chris Watts might have pleaded guilty to all nine counts against him last week in a Colorado courtroom. But his family says there are still unanswered questions about the case. I want the truth. I do want the truth to come out. I don't want this to happen to anyone else. You know, he's, he was normal. He was a normal kid and I just, I don't know what happened. Shanann's family responded to the Watts family interview

today, insisting they made, quote, vicious, grotesque, and utterly false statements about Shanann. Watts' family said they believed the version of events laid out in the initial affidavit that the only reason their son killed Shanann was because he had seen her strangling their children. What happened to that kid from Pine Forest High School? What happened to that kid from Pine Forest High School? He met Shanann. That's what happened to him. Bethany Marshall, how is this happening? He confessed he murdered Shanann. He confessed to murdering his own children so he could be with his lover. How can Chris Watt's family blame Shanann? Nancy, let me add another theory about women

who fall in love with men behind bars. They harbor secret aggression towards the victims. They are, these women are not so nice. They do spawn, we think of them as, oh, they're meek and mild and they fall in love with somebody behind bars because they don't know any better. Nancy, the opposite is really true. These women are not nice women. They lorded over the victim's families. They lorded over the victim. Reed Malloy, who's one of my favorite forensic psychologists, talks about the fact that these women take secret satisfaction in the nature of the man's crimes. So think about Shanann's family. They're being re-victimized by the women who are in love with killer dad. There was a famous story, I think it was 20 years ago, about a prison nurse

who actually fell in love with the man behind bars, tried to get him out of jail by shooting two prison guards. So let's not delude ourselves into thinking these women just like they fall, they're seduced by these criminals. These women are bad people themselves. I don't agree. I don't agree. I don't think you can lump them all into the category of being bad women. I mean, I've interviewed women who are nurses, journalists, college professors. They were a range of people. I'm sure there are some bad ones in there, but I think they're not bad necessarily or good. I think it goes deeper than that. I think these are all women who've been damaged themselves in their own lives, damaged by the way they were treated by parents, fathers, first husbands, boyfriends, and they are so damaged that they seek relationships that you

and I might look at and say, why are they crazy? And the truth is they're not crazy. They are looking for love. I think it's easy to see the men, the criminals as bad and the women as pure and innocent. I think that's a problem we have in our society to let women off the hook. Okay, ladies, I just want to say that anyone that supports a theory blaming a murder victim like Shanann Watts, I find that to be cruel, hateful, irresponsible, and hurtful. Cruel, hateful, irresponsible, hurtful. How do you think Shanann Watts' family feels?

With all of these women blaming Shanann for her own death and the death of her little girls? Her unborn son? Do I want anyone abused? No. Do I want anyone mistreated? No. But I do not condone conspiracy theories that hurt the victim's family. Period. Listen to WTVD ARCA 10. That boy, he knew what he wanted to do. He went to NASCAR Technical Institute. It has been a nightmare, a complete nightmare. It has been so overwhelming, and I feel like I have to do something to help my son.

I need to do something. If he's not going to fight, I want to fight for him. The Watts family told me they felt Shanann was dangerous. They didn't even go to the couple's wedding. In fact, they believed that Chris knew he was going to get life in prison for killing his wife and disposing of the girl's body. So this is why he confessed to all nine. Count Shanann's family said, quote, her memory and reputation deserves to be protected and her family is fully prepared to do so. Let me close with Joe Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, death investigator who has investigated literally thousands of homicides. Joe Scott Morgan, explain to me how Chris Watt's confession fits perfectly

with not one inconsistency with the forensic evidence of the three murders. It fits perfectly, Nancy, because we can marry up, first off, the most graphic of all of all of these little points along this continuum, the rate of decomposition that was involved in these bodies, how it was expressed or sped up as a result of him dumping these poor little children into these vats out in the middle of this wilderness. And we can also look at the evidence that was left behind when he, you know, very quickly dug the shallow grave and deposited this woman that he had actually created life with into this grave and then covered her up, the degree to which her body had been decomposed compared to the daughters themselves. And then you have this timeline relative to him being seen on the camera

and them being able to track him out to this specific location that he and only fellow co-workers would have access to. Then you begin to look at his behaviors. I think one of the things that really stands out, and I'll close with this, is that image of him standing on the front porch. And, you know, Dr. Bethany, you know, I'm sure has seen this as well, when he's out there and he's self-soothing on the porch where he has his hands wrapped around his own shoulders and he's rubbing himself and he's comforting himself while he's talking on air. And they're asking him very specifically, you know, about where his kids are, where his family is. And he's saying, oh, all I want is for them to come home. Well, they're not coming home, Chris, because you know where they were. They were stuffed away into these holding tanks. Your wife was buried in the dirt all along with your unborn child. Misplaced love for a killer behind bars is one thing. Spawning conspiracy theories about who really did the crime is yet another.

Chris Watts murdered his wife and children. Anyone who suggests otherwise is having tea with the devil. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.