Murder In America - EP. 15 COLORADO - Chris Watts, The Family Annihilator

Episode Date: May 8, 2021

In 2018, the United States was rocked by a brutal crime that shocked and horrified the population when Chris Watts, your average NASCAR-loving super dad snapped and slaughtered his entire family in one night. This case is interesting because every part of it was captured in videos, audio recordings and photos. And there is a spooky twist at the end of this one. This is one shocking tale, so buckle your seatbelts and get ready for the ride. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash America for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com In August of 2018, the entire nation was on the edge of their seats following the disappearance of a suburban family in Colorado. When most people think of this case, they think of the father appearing on the news, nervously asking his family to come home. In this podcast, we usually don't like to cover high-profile cases. But this story and all of its details have stuck with us over the years, because it's truly unlike anything we've ever heard before. It's a story about a perfect father with a spotless record and an impeccable reputation who suddenly snaps and kills his entire family.

This story has been told a thousand times, but we did a ton of research on this case for this episode. And hopefully we can provide more information about these murders than you've heard anywhere else. This is the story of the brutal slang of Shanan, Bella, Celeste, and Nico. at the hands of family annihilator Chris Watts. You're listening to Murder in America. On the day, January 10th, 1984, Frank and Sandra Rooschek gave birth to a baby girl named Shanan in Passaic County, New Jersey. Shanan had a beautiful life, but it didn't come without its fair share of trials and tribulations.

This is the part of the episode where we usually tell you about our victim's life prior to the tragedy that inevitably unfolds. But at many points in the story, we're going to have Shanan tell you herself. You see, Shanan heavily documented. documented her life on social media. Her Facebook is filled with videos of her telling her story and sharing intimate moments of her day-to-day life. If you type her name in on Facebook and spend about 15 minutes on her page, you'll feel like you know her, like she's an old friend, which makes the story all the more eerie. Shannan and her family grew up in New Jersey,

and she was always very close to her younger brother, Frankie. She was described as vibrant, trustworthy, and an extremely hard worker. One overwhelming quality about Shannan was that she's accomplished anything she set out to do. But growing up, friends and family said that she didn't have the easiest time making friends. You see, Shanan had some health problems growing up, which caused her to miss school pretty frequently. And in addition, her family moved to North Carolina for work when she was just 15 years old. It was a difficult adjustment moving schools in the middle of her high school career. But Shanan found an outlet in her school's theater program. It was here that Shanan could be herself, and she was surrounded by people that accepted her.

They often described her as an amazing friend and an even greater person. These qualities drew people to her, including a boy from her high school named Leonard King. The two fell in love, and in 2002, when she was just 18 years old, they got married. But they were young, and they still had a lot of growing up to do. As the years passed, their marriage slowly started to dissolve, And after about six years of trying to make it work, the couple decided to divorce in 2008. It was around the time of her divorce when Shanan started to experience symptoms of lupus, which took a huge toll on her. A video from Shanan's Facebook describes this time in her life.

Hey, everybody, so I'm going to wait until a couple more people hop on here. And I kind of just wanted to, sorry, just got out of the shower. But I wanted to come on here because in honor of world lupus day, I wanted to share with you guys a little bit about myself And it was just so much easier to share it live than via write it because it would have been written forever over 10 years ago I started losing a lot of my hair I started having a lot of body aches a lot of discomforts in my body a lot of things that were limiting my everyday living. I was also feeling extremely terrible to the point

where I did not want to get out of bed literally didn't get out of bed for days. I finally drug myself to the doctor's office and made them do all kinds of tests. I wanted to know what was wrong with me. A part of me was changing. I went from being super energetic, super happy, just an all around happy person. I loved going out and doing things. I loved getting together with friends. I loved, I mean, I loved working. That sounds crazy, right? So anyway, fast forward about two weeks, which was the first week of May of 2010 when they diagnosed me with lupus. From there, I was lost. I had no idea what in the world, lupus. was, of course we turned to Google and what's Google tell you? Google tells you're going to die.

I was put on all these medications which then made me gain weight. So I went from being 135 pounds to almost 170 pounds within a six-week period. And at the same time, my friend, a mutual friend of mine, sent me a friend request about eight months prior for Chris, my husband. And I deleted it. Lupus was a huge part of Shanan's life, and anyone with the disease knows that it can be life-altering. With her divorce and recent diagnosis, Shanan had felt like she was at the lowest point in her life. But she had no idea that during this period, she would get a friend request on Facebook that would change everything. A friend request from a good-looking guy named Chris Watts. Chris Watts had grown up in Fayetteville and spent his entire life in North Carolina.

His mother, Cindy, said that he loved sports in NASCAR for as long as she could remember. His childhood consisted of basketball, football, baseball, and weekends at the NASCAR racetrack with his father. Chris had an ideal upbringing. His parents were very involved in his life and gave him the childhood that every kid dreams of having. Chris's parents described him as the perfect teenager. He was always very soft-spoken and got along with just about anyone. A huge part of Chris's early life was his love for cars. He had dreams of working for a NASCAR team, so as a young adult, he moved to Moorsville,

North Carolina to attend a NASCAR Technical Institute. He graduated in 2006, but after many rejections within the industry, he soon realized that his NASCAR dreams were never going to happen. Instead, he found a job at a car dealership that he really enjoyed. He was getting to work on cars, and it paid good money, but there was still one thing missing in Chris's life. And that was a companion, someone he could really live life with. So that's why, when he came across the profile of a beautiful woman who lived in his

home state of North Carolina, he decided to send her a friend request on Facebook. Fast forward, in a dark place, all of a sudden, I get a friend request from Chris. I said, what the heck? I'll never meet him. He's just a Facebook friend. I have a million of them. Nothing's going to come of it. Well, two weeks later, we finally meet on a blind date. From there, I couldn't get rid of him. I tried. He wouldn't go away. He was stuck. Shanan never expected their relationship to go far. Chris was very shy and a timid guy, and she had a big personality. On one of their first dates, Shanan set up a date for the two of them to go to a movie theater,

but it wasn't just your average AMC. It was a nice theater where people wore dresses and tuxedos and drink champagne. Chris didn't know this, and he showed up very underdressed. He explained in an interview later that he could tell Shanan wasn't very interested in him, but unwilling to give up so easily he kept pursuing her. Chris took very good care of Shanan during the worst of her lupus, laying out her medications, taking her to doctor's appointment, and being a constant support in her life.

And after a while, she ended up falling heavily in love. I drug him to a colonoscopy. I drug him to rheumatology appointment after rheumatology appointment. I drug him to my spinal tap, which was awful. A student did it. which I'm all four people learning, but not when it comes to a smile. So that was really rough and ended up falling in love with him. I'm telling you, when I met Chris, I pushed him away.

I gave every excuse for him to run. I mean, I gave him an out every single day. I gave him an out. And if 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. He's the best thing that has ever happened to me.

And because of my health challenges, because I got so sick, I let him in. And he only knew me at that time. He knew me at my worst. And he accepted me. Chris had entered Chanan's life at one of her darkest moments, and he loved and accepted her for who she was. It seemed like a match made in heaven.

After a few years of dating, the couple got married on November 3, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their wedding day was beautiful. The two can be seen in videos from that day sharing a kiss at the altar surrounded by loved ones living out the happiest day of their lives. These videos are eerie when one considers the couple's eventual fate. But in 2012, as they were having their first dance smiling and laughing,

it seemed like all was right in the world, and it was for the time being. One issue that Chris and Shanan had almost immediately after their wedding was issues with in-laws. Chris's mom and sister were not huge fans of Shanan. Like we mentioned earlier, Shanan had a big personality and could be pretty opinionated. And Chris's mom, Cindy, did not think. that Shanan and Chris were the best fit, saying that Shanan was too bossy and controlling. But Chris was described by almost everyone as a super passive guy, so to everyone else, it seemed like the two balanced each other out pretty well. But because Cindy, Chris's mom, didn't approve of the

relationship, she decided to not attend the wedding. This caused a lot of tension between the newlyweds, causing Chris to be a little distant towards Shanan for a period after the wedding. But this tension didn't last long and after a few weeks the relationship was back to normal. Even though they went through a rough patch after the wedding, Chris and Shanan were still very much in love. But like many other couples, they'd a rocky start trying to navigate their first few years of marriage. Most of the struggles were due to their finances, but that is something to be expected for a young couple like Chris and Shanan. And though they were going through some hard times together, the couple experienced their first miracle at the beginning of 2013.

They found out that they were pregnant with a baby girl. With Shanan's health problems, she never thought that she would be able to have children. And with her and Chris now expecting, they wanted their child's life to be perfect. So they decided to leave their old life behind and start fresh into town called Frederick, Colorado. Shortly after their move from North Carolina to Colorado, the couple welcomed their beautiful baby girl into the world on December 17, 2013. They named her Bella Marie Watts. And despite all of life's dresses, their family finally felt whole.

Chris was a wonderful dad to Bella, and he did. everything he could to provide for his family. But unfortunately, they were still struggling with money, so Shanan picked up a call center job at the local children's hospital to help make ends meet. They were doing all they could to scrape by, but on the outside looking in, it looked like they had it all together. A nice home, decent cars, a loving relationship, and a beautiful daughter, Bella. And by the end of 2014, the two were even expecting their second child. Their family was growing and all seemed to be going well, but behind closed doors, the Watts family was falling deeper and deeper into debt. So much so that in June of 2015, just a month before their second daughter was born, the couple filed for bankruptcy.

According to CBSNews.com, their combined annual salaries were around $90,000. And with children, a hefty mortgage, and two car payments, the family was barely able to stay afloat. But in some strange sort of pattern, once again, right when Chris and Shanan seemed to be struggling, the most. They welcomed another member to their family. Like a light shining through the darkness, the couple welcomed their second baby, Celeste Catherine Watts, on July 17, 2015. And by looking at Shanan's Facebook, it is clear that she was so proud of her family and that her daughters were her whole entire world. With their family growing, Shanan decided to take a leap of faith and join a business called Thrive, a company that sells products that promote healthy living. Within this company are

promoters that make commission based on the products that they sell. Luckily for Shanan, she was very successful as a Thrive promoter, and for the next few years she fought very hard for her success within the company. So much so, that she and Chris enjoyed several vacations funded by Thrive, and she was even gifted Alexis because of her accomplishments and sales. It seemed like the perfect way to bring in some extra money for her family, and Shanan absolutely loved her job because it allowed her to spend more time with her kids. She went live on Facebook in May of 2018, describing the benefits of her job, and this is what she

had to say. We're not promised tomorrow, you know. We're not promised anything, but to be able to enjoy our children and every crazy moment, it can be super crazy. I'm not going to lie, my kids are crazy, but I love them and I love the fact that I can be there for them. Bella knows that mommy doesn't go into work, so when mommy leaves the house without them, it's boring to her, you know, we go everywhere together and we do everything together.

And that's what she's used to, you know. And just creating that, like, that legacy, like things that you want to be the example. You don't want to tell your kids what to do. You want to show them. And I feel like I'm able to show them how to be strong, how to work hard, how to be confident. I mean, I'm by far confident person, but I'm more confident than I've ever been in my life. By the beginning of 2018, Shanan was hitting major sales goals within her company, and Chris had recently accepted a new job as an operator at an oil and gas company called Anadarko.

And it seemed like for the first time in years, the couple was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. On May 5, 2018, Shanan took to Facebook to talk about her life. With Chris and her children playing in the background, she says this. I've never given up. A lot of you know 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. Got a friend request from Chris.

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 going to meet him. Except 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.

Shanan's positivity was admirable. And you can tell in the video that she's truly excited for, life. This excitement would only grow stronger about a month later when Shanan found out that she's pregnant with the couple's third child. In another Facebook video, she sets up a hidden camera and shows her friends and family a shirt that said, oops, we did it again. Soon after, Chris walks through the door, she surprises him with the shirt and a positive pregnancy test. We did it. I like that shirt. Really? That's awesome. So pink means...

That's just the test. I know. It's just because the pink is going to be girls. I don't know. Just the test. That's awesome. I guess when you want it, it happens. But that's the thing.

Chris didn't want this to happen. Despite his excitement in the Facebook video, Chris's future actions prove that he didn't want another baby with Shanan. And that he didn't even want the kids he already had. And if he did want them, this care and desire didn't like. last very long. Because just three days after, Chris adds a new contact into his phone. The contact information of someone he met at work, and her name was Nikki Kessinger. Chris and Nikki met at Anadarko,

and what started as a platonic friendship quickly turned into a romance, and by the end of June 2018, their relationship was very serious. Nikki knew that Chris was married with two kids, but allegedly, she was under the impression that he was in the process of separating from Shan. But as we know, that just wasn't the case. Chris and Shanan had never talked about separating. Instead, they were celebrating the news of Shanan's pregnancy, and Nikki claimed that throughout all of this, she had no idea that Shanan was pregnant with the couple's third child. As Chris and Nikki's relationship grew stronger, Chris started to become more and more distant with Shanan. Shanan communicated with several friends that she felt like something was off with her husband.

She felt alone, like she was going through her pregnancy without his support. Feeling like she was all alone and needing some extra help, Shanan decided to be. to take her and the girls on an extended vacation to North Carolina to visit friends and family. They were going to stay there for six weeks, leaving Chris back at home in Colorado. And it's possible that Shanan thought this trip would be healthy for their relationship. Like maybe Chris just needed some space and a few weeks away from each other would be good for them. But this vacation did just the opposite. While Shanan, Bella, and Celeste were spending time with family,

Chris took this opportunity to grow even closer to his mistress. With his wife and kids gone for weeks, he got to spend a lot of time with Nikki, going on a ton of dates together, spending time at NASCAR races, eating out at different restaurants around town, and they even went on a camping trip together. Nikki sent Chris this video in regard to their trip. Thank you. Coming out here with me, Christopher. I'm having a wonderful time.

You meet a lot to me. and I'm glad that you're having a blast. I am so out of breath. I miss your face. I was just gone. I'm so high. Chris spent the entirety of his time away from Shannan and the kids with Nikki, spending the night with her almost every single night of the week.

Law enforcement later found countless raunchy texts and photos shared between the two during this time period. Meanwhile, Shanan was constantly texting Chris, begging him to show her and the girl some attention while they were away. Two weeks into their stay in North Carolina, Shanan tried to FaceTime Chris several times, but he never answered. He later texted her. I didn't see these FaceTime's and I'm sorry I missed those calls.

I'm very, very, very sorry. The FaceTime went through on my work phone. Forget not getting my calls. You fucking call your kids when you wake up. You have not called one time since we've been here on our own. I know, and I will FaceTime B and C as soon as I wake up from now on. I'm extremely sorry. I feel like a jackass.

Please be okay. You would think you'd missed us, but guess not. I do miss you guys. I miss you tons. Shanan knew that there was something off with her husband, but she didn't suspect that he was having an affair. Earlier that week, Shanan had visited Chris's parents, and she and Chris's mom Cindy got into a big argument.

Like we mentioned earlier, Cindy never really liked Shanan, which had caused issues in their marriage before. So when Chris was being distant, she just assumed it was because she and Cindy were arguing again. But regardless of the reason, Shanan knew that her relationship was failing, and she wanted to do everything in her power to save it. So she texted Chris again. I realized this trip what's missing in our relationship.

It's only one way emotions and feelings. I can't come back like this. I need you to meet me halfway. You won't come back like this. I promise. I love you so much. Beautiful. I love you too.

It's not just about last night. I kept looking at my phone all night and no response from you. Like seriously, we've been together eight years and have 2.5 kids together. While his family was away in North Carolina, Chris got to have a taste of what life would be like without them. What life would be like with his new lover? He later explained his affair in an interview, saying this. What were you thinking this whole time? In the back of my head, I was just telling myself,

what are you doing? Like, you know, every time, you know, I open up my bone, I can see pictures and, like, my wife and my kids. I'm just like, what am I doing? And then, like, every time I was with her, it seemed like I didn't think. It seemed like it was like a blinder that was in my face. Oh. No one knows what thoughts were running through Chris's mind at the time. Maybe he was creating a plan on how to bring up the subject of divorce. Or maybe he was planning on how to eliminate his family entirely. No one knows except for Chris. What we do know is that Chris planned to fly to North Carolina on July 31st to spend a week with his family. He wasn't able to commit to the full six weeks like they did, but he did promise to spend the last week with them. In another video posted

to Shanan's Facebook, you can see Bella and Celeste running up to Chris in the airport. With wide eyes and big smiles, they run up to their dad and embrace him with a big bear hug, completely unaware that they were running into the arms of the man who would murder them just 13 days later. The Watts family spent the rest of the week trying to enjoy their last bit of the vacation, going to the beach, eating at different restaurants, attempting to spend some quality time together. Hey everybody, so this is the girl's first time to the beach. Come on girls. Come on, T.

I'm not to go to laugh at the... Come on girls. From a bystander's point of view, they look like the perfect family. A dad running with his girls on the beach, building sand castles, and the mom recording them and laughing from a distance. But as we know, at this point, everything was far from perfect. While spending this last week in North Carolina, Shanan texted a friend about her concerns with Chris. He's kissed me once since he's been here. That was at airport. I kissed him.

No grabbing my ass, hug, or anything. I want to cry. Tell him how you feel. He said nothing's wrong. Five weeks away from me and not touching me. I just want to cry. Later that night, Shanan texted that same friend again. Kids in bed, I took a night shower.

Means I want sex and he knows it. He's over here doing a fucking push-up challenge instead of discussing anything or fucking me. I'm over here crying in silence. He's never been like this. 5.5 weeks, no sex. Unless he was getting it somewhere else. He has not, girl. Don't think like that.

He claims there's nothing wrong with us, and this has nothing to do with us. But he's never, ever shut me out like this. Shanan probably expected their little family getaway to help their relationship. But as the vacation came to an end, she didn't get the answers that she wanted. The four of them flew back to Colorado and tried to pretend that everything was okay, even though it clearly wasn't. Shanan was only going to be home in Colorado for a few days before she had to fly to Arizona for a work trip with Thrive, so she was determined to try and make things better before she

had to leave again. But her attempts weren't working. While home, she texted her friend again. Something changed in the last five weeks. Something definitely has, but at least he's saying he wants to fix it. I'm so confused. What is he doing? He's in shower. I just got out. I'm so horny. He's been talking more on the ride home. I'm sure even if he hates me. sex is sex. Stay naked and go for it. Okay, he's getting out. Love you. Pray I get sex tonight.

A little while later, she sends her friend an update. Well, he rejected me. I just bawled for an hour, still trembling. Just went in his room and woke his sorry ass up and asked him who he's sleeping with. He denied anyone and told me not now. This isn't over a lack of communication.

Shanan started to put two and two together. Not only had Chris been growing increasingly distant, but he had also lost around 70 pounds since his affair started, which is usually a surefire sign of infidelity. He had also completely lost interest in having sex with her, which is another common sign of cheating. Shanan knew that she was losing her husband, the father of her two girls and their little son Nico,

who was on the way. Chris wasn't interested in being a part of their family's lives anymore, But despite her life falling apart around her, Shanan had to put a smile on her face and head to Arizona, leaving Bella and Celeste with Chris for the weekend. She was only going to be gone for a few days and figured she would try and work on her marriage when she got back. Friends said that Shanan wasn't her usual self that weekend in Arizona. The thrive events would usually be exciting for her, given how passionate she was about her job. But not this time.

Shanan was preoccupied about her failing marriage. On her first day in Arizona, she sent Chris a text as a last ditch effort. I miss and love you so much. I'm still in shock that we're having a little boy. I'm so excited and happy. Thank you for letting me hold you this morning. It felt good. Your letter is on the counter.

The letter that Chris found on the counter read this. My dearest Chris, I don't know where to begin. I'm so lost for words. I can't even explain how hard this pain hurts. The last five weeks have been so hard. I missed everything about you. I miss your morning breath, your touch, your lips against mine. I miss holding you.

I miss the smell of you in the sheets. I miss talking to you in person. I miss watching you laugh and play with the kids. I love seeing their smile with you. I miss seeing you naked on top of me making love. OMG, I missed having you around when I felt alone and upset. I just flat out missed the hell out of you. I've only seen you shut down like this once, and it was with your parents.

after our wedding. We deserve to have all family in our lives with love and not hate. I don't want to lose you ever. I will be civil and get along with your mom. We all just need to have mutual respect. I will do anything for you. The last thing on earth is for you to hurt. You deserve the world and I don't like when you hurt. It hurts me. I can't lose you without fighting for us. I will always fight for our marriage and you. This is the hardest thing I've ever gone through, but you are worth it. Tell me what you need. I love you, baby, with all my heart, always and forever. Shan. You can't help but feel for Shanan when reading the letter. She's pouring her heart out, desperate to save her marriage. Not to mention she's 15 weeks pregnant feeling all alone, and even though she's upset that Chris is pushing her away,

she is trying her hardest to get him back, to save their family. But unfortunately, Chris isn't interested and mending their relationship. After reading his wife's heartfelt letter and sweet text messages, Chris plans a date with his mistress, Nikki. He hires a babysitter for Saturday night and spends the entire evening at the Lazy Dog restaurant and bar, enjoying a night out with his new lover. Over in Arizona, Shanan knows that something is wrong. Chris told her that he was going to the Rockies game that night with some friends. But when she checked their bank statement, it showed that he spent $63 at the Lazy Dog. Now, to give you some context, this restaurant is not very very pricey and $63 was a pretty hefty bill for such a cheap place. So she calls Chris and asks him why the bill

was so expensive. He tells her that he ordered the salmon and some beer and that's why it was $63. They end the phone call, but at this point, Shanan goes full detective mode and Googles the lazy dog menu. She finds the price of the salmon and then adds a few beers on top and she estimated that the total would have only been around $30. Shanan knew that. that there was no way he was eating there by himself. He had to have paid for someone else's meal. And even though Chris is aware of his wife's suspicions, he and Nikki go over to her place after eating dinner at the restaurant,

where they hang out for a few hours. At around 10 p.m., Chris tells Nikki that he has to go back home since the girls are still there with the babysitter. And Chris and Shanan's house had a ring system set up on their front porch, which notifies your phone when there is any movement outside. When Shanan got on her ring app that night, she saw that Chris got home at around 10.30 p.m. She's very upset at this point because she had called Chris about the dinner bill hours before. Now she's wondering who he had been with for the last

few hours in between dinner and now. The next day was Sunday, the last day of Shanan's business trip and her good friend Nicole Atkinson, who was with her in Arizona, said that Shanan was very sad that day. Shanan had come to the realization that her marriage was probably over, and her husband had absolutely no interest in saving it. Nan packed her things and she and Nicole drove to the airport to head back home on their late Sunday night flight. Just before takeoff, Chris and Shanan shared their last text messages to one another. Thank you for taking good care of the kids' weekends so I could learn and work. I appreciate it. You're welcome.

What kind of vegetables do you want with dinner tomorrow? Broccoli works. Green beans work too. Okay, I'll get them when I go to Costco tomorrow. Anything else you want? want me to get besides salad and spinach? That's it. Plain take off yet? Finally on plane about to take off. Thank God.

Prayers for a safe light. Love you. Holy crap. Sorry, I passed out on the couch. That's going to be late. Shanan's plane landed a little after midnight, and her friend Nicole dropped her off at her house around 1.45 a.m. The footage from the ring system on their front porch shows Shanan getting her bags out of Nicole's car,

walking up to the house and unlocking the front door. This would be the last footage ever captured of Shanan alive. She had no idea that when she walked through that door, she was coming home to a monster that would soon murder her and her children. When Shanan walked inside of the couple's bedroom, Chris was asleep. She wanted him to wake up, so she made it a point to make some noise as she walked into the room, hoping he would hear that she was home. Despite being angry at him,

Shanan then walked over to Chris and started to rub his back, slowly waking him up. They exchanged a few words and then in a dark twist. They had sex. Chris had to leave for work around 5 a.m. that morning, so the two went to bed. I can assume that Shanan felt a glimmer of peace finally reconnecting with her husband. But when Chris woke for work a few hours later, the reality of the situation started to set in. He didn't want to be with Shanan anymore. He was done with the relationship.

So he laid in bed next to her and nudged her awake. When she opened her eyes, he told her that he needed to. to talk to her about something important. She turned towards him and he proceeded to tell her that he didn't think that they were compatible and that he wanted to separate. Shanan is understandably upset at this point and an heated argument ensues. Chris said later on that Shanan was crying with last night's mascara running down her face. She asks him, if you wanted to separate then why would you have sex with me. I just knew there was someone else. I knew it. I knew that there was someone else. At this point, Chris said that she was getting so emotional that he got on top of her, straddling her

waist. He then told her that he didn't love her anymore. Shannes starts to raise her voice saying, get off me. You're never going to see your kids again. You're never going to see them. The heated argument continues, and Shanninan keeps telling Chris to get off of her and that he's hurting her in the baby. I felt like she could probably listen to me just laying inside of her, but I got on top of her. And every time I think about it, I'm just like, did I know I was going to do that before I got on top of her? Really?

That's an interesting thought, Chris. You don't know what you did? Just like, no, everything that happened in that morning, I just don't know, like, I try to go back in my head, I'm just like, I didn't want to do this, but I did it. Everything just kind of like. It felt like you had to. It just felt like it was. I don't even want to say it felt like I had to.

I just felt like there was already something in my mind that I was in plan that I was going to do it. And I woke up that morning and it was going to happen. And I had no control of it. While straddling Shanan, Chris then wraps his hands around her throat and starts to squeeze. Surprisingly, Chris said that she didn't even fight back. I can't help but think about what was running through her mind at this time, watching her husband, the father of her children, towering over her with rage in his eyes as he slowly strangled her to death. He keeps squeezing her neck for nearly four minutes and slowly watches the life leave her eyes.

It was just like, I don't want, like, in the sentencing here in that prosecutor said, it takes two to four minutes, something like that to happen. Like, why can I just let go? It was a feeling like it was in motion and you just couldn't stop it? Yeah, it was just like, I don't even want to know what she saw, what she looked back at. Did you look at her? What was she doing? She wasn't fighting.

Why do you think she wasn't fighting? Maybe she was praying. Maybe she was just, and I read the Bible and said, you know, the scripture says, don't forgive these people, for they do not know what they do. Maybe she was saying that I don't know what she was saying in her head, but she, you know, like, when you guys told me, take off your shirt and step took for defensive wounds, and, like, you know, there wasn't going to be any,

She didn't fight you. I don't know why. Like she didn't grab, could she grab your arms or were her arms pinned down or? Not that I remember. I don't think so. I mean, I don't think like I moved toward my knees or around her arms or anything. It's just kind of like when I got on top of her, we started talking. That was it.

It's kind of like in my head, or like in the back of my head, that was going to happen. And just like at the end of the conversation, it was just like, that's what happened. I just wish I could. of let go. Did it seem like it was that long, two to four minutes? How long did it seem for you? Almost kind of felt like it was, I felt like it was longer almost,

because it felt like time was standing still. It's kind of like I just saw my life. It's just disappeared before my eyes, but I just like I couldn't let go. It was like somebody else, like, like if you picture somebody else around you, holding your hands, holding you, keep your feet. Not letting go.

After killing Shanan, Chris said that the reality started to set in. He started shaking uncontrollably, seeing his dead wife on the bed and knowing that he was the one responsible. The next thing he knows, he hears his eldest daughter Bella walk into the room, and she sees her dead mother lying on the bed and asks, What's wrong with Mommy? To which Chris responds, Mommy doesn't feel good. And with Bella standing right there, Chris takes off Shanan's wedding ring, places it next to the bed, and starts to wrap her up in a bed sheet. Four-year-old Bella is watching all of this unfold, and she knows that there's something terribly wrong.

Chris then drag Shannon's body off the bed and down the stairs. Bella is crying, following them down the stairs, just feet behind her mother's body. Chris then backs his truck into the garage so no neighbors can see him and places Shanan's body on the floor in the backseat. It's at this point when Chris knows he has to come up with a plan, so he decides that he's going to make it look like Shanan left him. He takes her phone and watch and shoves them between the couch cushions, hoping to conceal them for when the cops come later.

Then he takes some marriage therapy books that Shan bought and throws them in the trash, wanting to give the impression that Shanan was done with the marriage. He then gets both of the girls and brings them to the girls. them out to the truck. They didn't have car seats in his vehicle, so he just buckles them into the back seat and leaves them with their feet dangling just inches above their dead mother's corpse. Chris then starts his truck and he and the girls make the 45-minute drive to one of the Anadarko properties that he worked at. On the way there, the girls noticed that their mom is lying on the floor beneath them, that she isn't moving, and they know that something isn't right. Confused and scared, they asked their dad, what's wrong with Mommy? Is she going to be okay? And Chris tells them that she will be fine. So what were you thinking on the way out there? It's kind of like what I'm doing right now. I'm just like, you know, nervous, shaking, not knowing, like, you know, what's going to happen?

Like, I know, like, my life has completely changed. I don't know, like, what's happening. Like, honestly, like, I try to picture that whole ride. Like, it's like 45 minutes to an hour ride out there. And it's just, like, couldn't I have, like, saved my girl's life? Couldn't I have done something? Why did I do? I don't know.

Right. Like this is my flesh and blood. This is like what I wanted all my life was to be a dad, just to have kids and they love me. They, you know, all that. And it just nothing made sense. When they finally arrive at the property, Chris picks up Shanan's body,

leaving Bella and Celeste in the back of the truck. And he lays their mother's body on the cold ground outside. Next, he heads to the back of the truck and walks over to Cece. She sits there, looking up at her dad. clutching a blue blanket in her hands. He takes it from her and places it over her head, covering her nose and mouth. Cece struggles to breathe, fighting against the grip of her father. Bella watches in horror as her dad violently smothers her little sister to death.

Once Cece stops struggling and Chris knows that she's dead, he picks up her body and walks over to the two big oil tanks that are on the property. He opens up one of the tanks and drops Cecee inside, sealing her in a tomb filled with gallons of oil. He then goes back to the car, grabs the blanket that he used to kill Cece, and he walks over to Bella. She is terrified at this point after watching her dad kill her sister and dispose of her body. And she asks him, is the same thing going to happen to me as Cece? And right before he puts the blanket over her head. She screams, Daddy, no, but her pleas mean nothing.

Chris had already made up his mind. He puts the blanket over Bella and begins to smother her. Autopsy reports show that Bella put up a fight. In a struggle that took several minutes, Bella fought so hard against her father that she actually bit her tongue several times trying to get away from him. And the skin that connects her lip and gums was completely torn off during the struggle. In just a few short hours, Chris Watts had killed his wife, Shanan, his unborn son, Nico, and his two daughters, Bella and Celeste.

Well, thank nothing makes sense. I'm just like, what's doing? Mm-hmm. So what happened when you got out there? and out to a place off to the site. And then... What were the girls still in when you were doing that? Just sent them back in the truck.

They did have a blanket. She had a blue blanket. I named you blanket. So was she alive when she went to the oil tank? The blanket over at... I didn't want to... No, right there in the backseat. Okay. What was Bella do?

She was a good desire. Did she understand that she know what was going on? I didn't say anything. I didn't look. Every time I closed my eyes, I said to hear her saying, Daddy, no, and that was it. That's what Bella said? I hear that every day. You're like?

Sorry, it doesn't take anything back to that day. Is it possible in your mind you didn't want them to suffer throughout their life? Was this like a mercy thing? I mean, you can say that after the fact, but it was just like, I don't... You didn't feel like that during it? I just felt like it was just like an anger with Shann, with everything that I was just taking it out and everybody that was in front of me that morning.

Yeah. Kids growing up with, going up with other parents, depending on what grandparents or whatever they, whoever they grew up with seemed fine, but it was just like, it was an anger thing, you were just like. And what were you so angry at Shann about? Like if you could pinpoint it.

Nothing that makes anybody to want to do. this. You could be angry at your spouse, like, your whole life, but you should never done anything like this. You should never let it get to that point. And I let it get to a point where I never, I mean, I've never been angry before. Like, this was like the epitome of being angry. Yeah. The epitome of, like, showing a rage. The epitome of, like, losing your mind. Chris then grabbed Bella's body out of the truck and walked over to the other oil tank, a few feet away from the tank that he had placed Cecey in, and he shoved his daughter Bella's body inside. The openings to the tank were very small and Bella was too big to fit,

so Chris had to shove her in, tearing her skin, and ripping out some of her hair. Lastly, Chris dug a shallow grave and laid down Shanan's body inside, before changing clothes and heading to work that day, like nothing had happened. A few hours later, at around 8 a.m., Shann's phone started to receive a number of calls from Nicole Atkinson, the friend that had dropped her off at home earlier that morning. The two of them were close, and she knew that Shinnan had a doctor's appointment at 9 a.m. that morning. Nicole began to grow concern when she called and texted Shannes several times, and there was no response. Shanan always responded, and she definitely should have been awake by then. So Nicole texts her again at 8.55 a.m. saying, just wanted to see if you're okay.

Then at 9.21 a.m. saying, Let me know how your appointment goes. Then again, at 1146 a.m. I'm very worried about you. I'm coming to your house. You see, my name's Nicole, and I'm calling because I'm concerned about a friend of mine. I dropped her off at her house at 2 in the morning last night because we were out of town together and we were on the way back to the airport.

And she's pregnant. And I haven't been able to get a hold of her this morning. And I've gone to her house and her car is there and stuff like that. She won't answer the door. She won't answer phone call. She won't answer text messages. And I'm just really, really concerned. And she had a doctor's appointment this morning, and she didn't go to it.

And I'm just, I don't know what to do. I've called him and talked to him. And he said that she went on a play date with her other two daughters. But like if she went on a play date, they're both in car seats. Why would she not take her car? Well, do you happen to know her address, Nicole? Nicole quickly gets a hold of Chris and Shanan's parents so they can all figure out where Shan and the girls are.

Chris acts surprise and tells Nicole that he will come home immediately. On the way there, he starts to put his story together and text Shanan's phone several times, asking her where she was in an attempt to take any suspicion off of him. In the meantime, Nicole meets with an officer at the Watts residence. How are you doing? What's that? Do you remember me? Yeah. How you been?

Hi. You're Nicole? Yes. What's going on? So my friends, we were out of town for a business trip this weekend. Right. And I dropped her off at 2 o'clock this morning. She's 15 weeks pregnant.

She wasn't feeling well. And she had a doctor's appointment this morning at 9, and I told her to let me know if she needed me to take her. She's got two little girls. And she was very distraught over the weekend, wasn't eating normally or drinking, and we kept trying to force it on her because she's pregnant. Her husband and her supposedly are separating,

but she didn't know this. She thought they were just having issues. He disclosed that to me today. because I called him and I was like, have you talked or heard from Shanan's when she left for work this morning? Because I can't get a whole for her. I called. I've texted. Her car's in the garage.

As Nicole is telling the officer about the situation, Chris pulls up. And this is what the police body camp footage shows next. Scott, how you doing, Chris? So this is the only vehicle she would have? Only one that, yeah. She would drive? Okay. She doesn't ever blackout or have seen.

Is there anything like that? No, long, long, long time ago. It happened. She had a car wreck and I didn't believe that's what happened. But Emmetrex, there's something she takes from migraine. She took more Hemetrex this last month than she ever had before, but that's just because she was in Oklahoma with humidity and everything like that. She was there for six weeks and we got back Monday or Tuesday and then she flew out to Arizona Friday, Friday morning,

and then she got back last night about 2 a.m. Like I got delayed, she left about 11, she got here too. I went to work this morning about. Just more than about 515, 530. What do you do? I work on gas after a car. What do you do for them? Operator.

Long day, then. Yeah, I'd definitely still be out there. Yeah. It's always a long time. Chris is seen on body camp footage, walking around the house, attempting to look like a concerned husband. At one point, he walks into their bedroom

and comes out with Shanan's wedding ring, which he had placed on their bedside table earlier that morning after killing her. He shows the officer, trying to subtly convince him that Shanan had left him. The Watts residence is in complete chaos right now with everyone trying to find Shanan and the girls. Word had already gotten around to all of their friends and neighbors

that Shanan and the girls were missing. One of Chris's next-door neighbors lets a police officer know that he has a security camera that points towards the Watts house and that if anyone came and took Shanan, he would have it on camera. So the police officer and Chris make their way over to the neighbor's house. As the neighbor is setting up the TV to show what was captured, police body cam footage of Chris shows him visibly shaking, rocking back and forth. As the footage pops up on the screen, Chris starts pacing, placing both hands nervously on the

top of his head. He doesn't know exactly what will be on the tape, but he does know that it's not going to look good for him. And sure enough, at around 5.20 a.m., you can see Chris back his car into the garage. Chris continues to nervously sweat, watching. watching footage of him on the neighbor's security camera. But the footage doesn't show anything incriminating, just Chris backing his truck up. And it doesn't show anyone entering or leaving the house for the rest of the day. Interestingly enough, when the neighbor turns off the security footage, the regular TV starts to play again. And on the screen is a video of a fetus inside of a womb.

Chris looks at the TV for a few seconds and then turns out the TV for a few seconds. then turns to the cop and says, she's pregnant as well. It's almost as if the universe was reminding him of what he had done as the fetus popped up on the television. The police officer asked Chris why he needed to back the truck into the garage that morning, and Chris tells him that he was loading up tools to bring to work that day. And if Chris's shaky voice didn't immediately give him away,

the terrified look on his face did. Next, the police body cam footage shows Chris shaking his neighbor's hand and leaving the residence. As soon as Chris walks out the door, the neighbor turns to the police officer and says, he's not acting right at all. He's never fidgety. He's never rocking back and forth. And if you look, he never loads his stuff in and out of the garage, ever. He's normally, you can ask them.

He's normally quiet, real subdued. He never talks. So the fact that he's over here blab in his mouth makes me kind of suspicious of something. If he loads his stuff, he normally just walks back and forth because I get him on camera. What does he usually load up? All he usually has in her much. box and a book bag looks like a computer and usually a water joke that's it but the fact that he was in here and explaining to it over and over and over it doesn't he doesn't look worried it looks like he's trying to cover his

trap and it is here that the police leave the wads residents to continue their search around the city Half of the city had been out that day searching for Shanan and the girls, and everyone was holding out, hoping that they had just left for the day and would return home later that night. But that wasn't the case. As the friends and family and law enforcement searched for them, Shanan was buried in a shallow grave, and the two girls were submerged in murky black oil. That night, Chris lay down to sleep in his empty, home, knowing that he's leading everyone on a wild goose chase. The weight of the world is starting to close in. Haunted by his actions earlier that morning, he sleeps with all of the lights on in the house. As the sound of Bella's last words, Daddy No, continuously run through his

head. Please grow even more concerned when the next day comes around and Shanan and the girls are still nowhere to be seen. The idea that they ran off for a day was starting to look a lot less likely. Law enforcement had plastered Shanan and the girls' faces around town, and the news of their disappearance was starting to make national headlines. Please showed up to the Watts residence with canines that day to see if Shanan's scent would lead them anywhere, but unfortunately they came up with nothing. News stations also showed up to the Watts residents that day, asking Chris to make an appearance on TV. Wanting to look like a concerned father and husband, Chris agrees. Chris Watts, Watt, TTS.

What's going on right now around your house? Right now it's got K-9 units, the sheriff's department. Everybody's like they're doing their best right now to figure out like if they can get a cent, see where they went. If they went on foot, they went in a car, they went somewhere. I hope that she's somewhere safe right now and with the kids. 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. I mean, my kids are my life. I mean, those smiles light up my life. And this, like, I mean, last night, like, during, like, you know, when they usually eat dinner, it was just like, I miss them. Like, I mean, I miss telling them, hey, you got to eat that or you're not going to get your dessert, you know, and just like, you're not going to get your snack after. I miss that.

Like, I miss them, you know, cuddle up on their couches. They have, like, a mini mouse couch and a Sophia couch that they come. settle up on and watch, you know, bubble guppies or something. Where did you guys get into an argument before? It wasn't, it wasn't like an argument. We had an emotional conversation, but I'll leave it at that, but it's, I just want them back. I just, I just want them to come back.

And if, if they're not safe right now, that's what's, that's what's tearing me apart, because if they are safe, they're coming back, but if they're not, this, this, this has got to stop, like somebody has to come forward. And my last question, if you have any questions, you have a handle. It's a really great stuff. But the last question is, if your wife can see this, if she can watch these, what would you like to tell your wife?

Shann, 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. This interview is what a lot of people think of when they think of this case.

How could Chris stand in front of a camera, asking for his family to come home, knowing that just 24 hours before, he had murdered all of them? This was a bold move on his part. And this interview did a lot more harm to Chris than good. We will post a clip of this interview on our Instagram, but Chris had almost a nervous grin on his face throughout the entire clip, and his body language shows that he's a little. very anxious. He has his arms crossed across his chest and he's nervously swaying back and forth. I remember watching this interview back in 2018 when all of this was going down. And when I watched

this video of Chris, I immediately knew that something was off. I could tell he wasn't being honest. And I wasn't alone. This interview, plus other inconsistencies, led law enforcement to believe that Chris knew more than he was giving up. So they bring him in to the for questioning later that day. What do you think happens? I really thought maybe she was just at my house. Just deep in pressing. It's going on to see.

Yeah. But after today, like with the onslaught of all the cars, I mean, all the police cars, all the news, all the K-9 units, it's made me lean the other direction about someone took her. Okay. But if someone took her, it would have to have been someone she knew. So we're in working destinations like this. I have to keep an open mind.

on everything. Part keeping you open mind, listening to you talk about your wife and your marriage. The day she goes missing is the day that you guys have marital discord. You understand what I'm thinking about you. Yeah. I've mentioned something much on the comments. Like, I know, like, I've talked to a few of my friends, like, you know, just that's not good on you.

I'm like, I know. It's like people that, if people knew that we were having marital issues, they're going to look at me, especially with what everything was. and honestly just makes me sick to my stomach because this is something that I would never do. Chris completely denies that he is having an affair because he knows that once they know about his mistress, that it would give him a motive to want to kill his family. But one thing Chris doesn't know is that law enforcement are already one step ahead of him. They've looked through his phone records and have seen that he has had an extensive relationship

with a woman named Nikki Kessinger. So they decide to bring her in for questioning. He mentioned that he did have a significant other. And then he told me that those two were in the process of a separation. Did he mention the children's name or his significant other's name? I didn't know his significant other's name for a while. And then I think he told me his kids' names pretty quick, but to be honest with you on an exact date of when that happened, I don't know.

On Tuesday, which would have been the 14th of August, you had read some newspaper articles on the 13th and the 14th that regarded 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 don't let me put words in your mouth, but you found out that his wife was pregnant. And I, yes. And you did not know that prior. No. And you found that out via the news. 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's been 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.

Knowing Chris had lied about his affair, law enforcement believes. that he's probably hiding a lot more. So they asked Chris to take a polygraph. They spend hours questioning Chris during his polygraph. The machine he was hooked up to was measuring his body's response to those questions. And the polygraph gives a pretty good indication on whether or not someone is being deceptive. And unfortunately for Chris, the results of this test were not working in his favor. Chris's parents had flown in from North Carolina once they had.

heard about the girls and Shanan's disappearance. Chris had told them the exact same story he was telling the police, that he had no idea what happened to them. But after hours of interrogation with authorities, poking holes throughout all of his story, he was ready to confess. But he didn't want to confess to investigators. He wanted to tell his father. So they bring his dad into the interrogation room. We have clips of this footage, but it's Chris practically whispering the entire time, so it's pretty hard to hear. But we will read you the transcript. By the way, Ronnie is Chris's dad's name. So here's the transcript.

Ronnie, you're going to tell me what's going on or anything or Chris? I messed up the polygraph. I failed it. Ronnie. Failed it? Chris. Yeah, I mean, there's Ronnie. Too many emotions?

Chris. Yeah, I mean, they're not going to let me go. Ronnie, is there any reason why they shouldn't? Chris, they know I had an affair. They, they know. I came clean about that. Ronnie, anything else you want to tell me? What's going on or what happened?

or anything you can think of? Chris. When we had that conversation that morning, it was emotional and I told her about the separation and everything like that. I don't want to protect her. Ronnie, what? Chris, I don't want to protect her.

Ronnie, you don't want to protect her? Chris, I don't know what else to say. Ronnie, she hurt them? Chris, yeah. And then I had to kill her. Ronnie. What now? Chris, I have to tell them I hurt her.

Ronnie. So she started hurting the kids? Help me. me, Chris, what happened? Chris, she, she, she smothered them. Ronnie, she smothered them or choked them? Did she kill them? Chris, they, they were blue. Ronnie, both of them? She choked both of them to death? Chris, I freaked out and did the same thing to her. Ronnie, oh my God. And a few moments of silence. Ronnie continues. So she killed both Cece and Bella, choked them to death, and then you lost it and choked her?

Chris? Mm-hmm. It was rage. I mean, I... Ronnie. Good God Almighty, son. At this point, investigators walk back into the room. The neighbors are gone?

He did that. Back at all? Okay, can you work it for me? Okay. And where the girl's at? He was okay with letting investigators, his friends, family, and the public believed that Shannan was the one who killed his daughters, creating a story about a jealous wife who murdered their babies out of spite. But we and everybody else know that that story isn't true.

It's sad to think that he would not only take his family's life, but to also drag Shann's name and reputation through the dirt, wanting her to take the blame for his terrible actions that day on August 13, 2018. Luckily, Chris didn't stick to this story forever, and he ended up pleading guilty for the murder of Shanan, Bella, Celeste, and their unborn son, Nico. And on November 19, 2018, he was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus 84 years. Even after the trial, Chris's family still couldn't come to terms with the fact that Chris was the one that killed his family. And when they questioned him about it, he wasn't able to give them the full story. All he was able to say was, quote, Dad, I pled guilty for a reason, end quote.

Hinting to the fact that he indeed was the one to kill Bella and Celeste. Chris would keep these details of what actually happened that night with him. for months, not telling a soul. But eventually one day in February of 2019, the FBI paid Chris a visit in jail. It was then when Chris came clean about everything and where we got all of the details for this episode. In the four-hour interview, Chris sounds like a completely normal guy. Even the FBI agents tell him that they've never seen anything like this before. They talk about how most people in Chris's situation have had a violent past or a spotty record, but not Chris. Everyone that had ever known Chris said that they never in a million years would have ever seen this coming.

It's like he had simply snapped, revealing a hidden rage that had never been seen before by anyone, not even Chris himself. Now, this is where our podcast is different. We're going to talk for a second about the strange paranormal details that surround the Watts family murders. Almost immediately from the very beginning of this case, strange events have been captured on camera. And interestingly enough, a lot of these strange events were captured on police body cameras. First, I'm going to play you a clip taken from police body camera footage from when authorities did a sweep of the Watts family home before they knew that Shanan and the kids were dead. In the clip, two officials are walking a canine dog through the house trying to pick up some sense. When they enter a closet in one of the bedrooms, both officers hear the sound of a small child laughing.

What's crazy about this to me is that immediately you can hear the officers begin to discuss the voice that they just heard. Oh my gosh, the officer in the closet says. What in the world was that? They then proceed to try and step on objects in the closet to attempt to replicate the noise, thinking it may have been a toy or something innocent. But they are unable to debunk just what they heard. Here's the clip, listen for the laugh. A lot of people claim that they hear a lot of EVPs, or electronic voice phenomena, which people claim as the voices of the dead captured on recording

devices on the police body camera footage from the first walk-through authorities did of the house. A lot of these are pretty hard to make out, and you can find the clips on YouTube yourself if you want, but I want to focus now on something visual that was captured. After the documentary, American Murder, the Family Next Door, was released on Netflix last year, viewers began to point out something strange that they saw, once again in the police body cam footage from the initial walkthrough of the home. This moment occurs when Nicole Atkinson hands Chris Shanan's phone, which she had recently found during the initial walkthrough of the house. Around the time when Nicole hands Chris the phone, viewers pointed out something strange

in the bottom left corner of the body camera footage, a figure. But this isn't just any figure. It looks like a small child that is playing with something in one of the bedrooms. It's hard to make out because the footage is low quality, but it definitely looks like something was in the doorway as the shape and the colors of the object in question do not match the background and the furnishings in the room and appears to be moving on its own. We know that there were no children in the house at the time, so what could this be?

Did police capture some sort of apparition on their cameras? Was this Bella or Cece appearing trying to let everyone know that they had been killed? I guess we will never know. Now, this next bit of paranormal mystery is absolutely eerie. Fast forward to September 21st, 2018, over a month after the murders. And before I describe these events,

I want to inform you that these incidents were described in detail in official documents released by the Weld County District Attorney's Office and published by the Denver Post. Apparently, on September 21st, 2018, a woman believed to be Shannon Watts' mother called into the police to report that she had received a text from an unknown phone number, stating that the back door to her deceased daughter's home was open. Two officers from the Frederick Police Department were immediately dispatched to the home, and upon arriving, noticed that a screen that was covering the back door to the house had been slid open, but the door behind it was tightly shut. shut. The report goes on to state that the officers checked out the house from multiple angles and did not notice any sign of vandalization, disruption, or any indication in general that a person

had entered the house. The report also notes that upon leaving the house, one of the officers observed that there was a garage light on, and it had not been on when the officers arrived earlier that day. The officers then left the house, but police would soon be back later that night. Later that evening, Shanan's father contacted Frederick Police after he had been contacted by a neighbor who had told him that, mysteriously enough, the garage light, which he had noticed was off in the afternoon, was on again, and that he had captured video on his security camera of a woman walking up to the house earlier that day, but no footage of this phantom woman leaving. When officers arrived at the house that night, it was dark outside.

You can view body camera footage from this incident on YouTube, and let me tell you, you can feel the creepiness of the scene through your screen. All the lights are out in the Watts home, and it really seems to breathe with some sort of darkness. Shanan's father gave officers the security code to the home so they made entry, but upon checking out the inside of the house, they determined that no one had forced their way in, nobody was inside of the home, and nothing was out of place. The officer who wrote the report from this incident noted that a garage alarm went off when he pushed on the garage door before making entry. When he relayed this information to Shanan's father later, he told the officer that he was the last one to visit the home and that

he had left the alarms unarmed. People claim that they can see more spirits in this police body camera footage, specifically the shadow of a small girl running by police officers at the top of the stairs. We're going to post these clips on our Patreon, so go sign up there if you want to see all of this. And from watching the body camera footage of the officers who entered that night, you can tell that all of them were on edge. And after hearing all of this, the biggest mystery still remains unsolved. Who was the woman who walked up to the house but never walked away from it? Where did she go? Nobody has ever been able to provide a definitive answer on this. But what I will say, which is absolutely eerie is that after viewing the footage of the woman walking up to the home,

the neighbor and the officials who were viewing the clip determined that they couldn't make out a face because it was too grainy, but they could tell that it was a woman with dark hair wearing black. And what was Shanan wearing on the night that she was murdered as she walked up those same very steps to enter her house after her trip to Arizona? Dark-washed jeans, a gray shirt, and a black cardigan. Finally, let's talk about Chris's life in prison. Obviously, he's tormented by what he did. His life consists of about 23 hours a day alone in his cell and one hour of free time to exercise or shower. And the only things that he's allowed to have in his cell are a Bible and family photos. This would definitely drive me crazy, but some of the things that Chris has claimed

to experience in prison are eerie. I actually filmed a video for my YouTube channel about a year ago where I wrote to famous killers in prison and asked them if they had ever seen the spirits of their victims or felt like they were visited by them when they were incarcerated. I'd love to ask these questions to Chris. According to the Daily Mail and author Sherilyn Cradle, who published a book containing communications that she had engaged in with Chris while he was behind bars, Chris allegedly once had a dream where Cece was dancing next to the chair in his jail cell, and he was suddenly startled awake, because while he was having this dream, the folders and items on the chair in real life began to move and shake on their own. In the same article, it's alleged that Chris claimed to

have a phone call conversation with Shanan while he was behind bars, placing his allotted collect calls, after he had killed her. While these stories were probably fabricated by Chris or the result of some sort of mental condition, they're still interesting to note when considering the other strange things that occurred in the Watts household after the murders. I've also read, now take this with a grain of salt, that Chris has claimed at times that he felt a darkness settled over him in the weeks before the murders, and that he was reportedly given three chances to end his affair with Nicole by God, but that he ignored those voices

offering to guide him down a better path, and instead went with the route of darkness. In the HLN docu series lies crimes and video, a woman who reportedly visited Chris many times in prison and built up a relationship with him claims, Chris feels like he had a break in reality, like he snapped, like he was demon possessed. This is interesting given the fact that in the same book that contained Chris's letters and his accounts of receiving a phone call from Shanan and seeing Cecey dancing in his jail cell, he states that Nicole Kissinger, his mistress, and her friends were into dark things, and that the details of these dark things are details that he will take to his grave.

What could he possibly be talking about? Did this crime have some sort of a cult element to it? Or is this all a manufactured farce by Chris to shove some of the blame off of him and onto anyone else that he thinks could take it? I guess we will never know. It's just interesting to note because these were allegedly things that Chris himself stated. Also, I just want to state real quick before we end this paranormal segment. This was very strange.

So Courtney works as a nanny. That's her day job. And earlier today, while I was working on the episode, she played an episode of some kids show on YouTube, totally random, has played this show hundreds of times for the kid that she nannies. And weirdly enough, in the song, the lyrics are talking about wanting to come home, wanted to be united with people that you miss. And they say, Bella, Celeste, Nico, and talk about how they want to come home to them. And Courtney heard that while she was nannying today, playing on the phone that the kid was watching.

And I just couldn't believe that. It is so bizarre. I'm going to post that pick and video on the Patreon as well. But how weird. Those are the things you got to consider. The weird circumstances when things like that happen. And Chris had a rough time in jail at first, with the weight of reality setting in. To get away from the heat in Colorado, he was moved to a prison in Wisconsin.

But no matter where he goes, he is constantly haunted by his actions of that day in 2018. When investigators questioned him about them, he said this. You could be angry at your spouse, like, your whole life, but you should never do anything like this. You should never let it get to that point. And I'll let it get to a point where I never, I mean, I've never been angry before. Like, this was like the epitome of being angry. Yeah. The epitome of, like, showing a rage.

It pitimmy of, like, losing your mind. And even, like, some people in here said, they're like, the heck happened. It snapped. Like, I'd walk away. It was like, you know, I don't see it in my mind how it could, like, you know, I look outside every day. I'm like, what could we be doing right now? You know, right now I'd have a five-year-old or a three-year-old and it wasn't likely a

one-month-old son. Chris gets emotional several times throughout the interview and states that he hopes one day Shanan, Bella, Celeste can forgive him. To end the episode, we want to share with you. a song that Bella sang for her daddy just months before he murdered her. We hope that he hears this song play every night when he closes his eyes. Growing up, my mom was always the best at handling sticky, stressful situations. I mean, we have so many crazy family memories, so many things that stick out to me, so many trips that

we took and just funny moments. I mean, I remember specifically one just crazy time when we were We had jet skis and we took them out. We had rented them for the day and we took them out on this lake. And somehow something got on the engine of the jet ski. Mine stalled. My dad stalled. And my mom and sister had to come rescue us because we floated to shore on the other side of the lake. We've got some hilarious pictures from that day.

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Well, everybody, it's Colin here. That was quite the episode, wasn't it? An hour and almost 20 minutes long. That took Courtney forever to research and write, so send her lots of love on social media. It took me a long time to edit, too. I hope you guys enjoyed this really in-depth look. It's such a popular case. I learned a lot from this episode, so I hope you guys did too.

Just a reminder, if you guys want to follow us on Instagram and Twitter, it's at Murder in America. Our Patreon is up right now. We're about to upload a new episode about a map. shooting in Texas tomorrow. It's going to be very, very dark, if you ask me. But I just want you to consider before we go, especially with the rumors of the Watts family house being haunted. If those spirits are there of Shanan, Celeste,

everybody that was killed, what do you think they would have to say? It makes you wonder, the dead don't talk, or do they? See you guys on the next one.