Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 495 - The Watts Family Murders

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

When a wife and two young children vanish, the internet’s favorite theory shows up fast: it’s always the husband. This week on Timesuck, we dig into the horrifying Chris Watts case - a story of appearances, assumptions, so, SO many Thrive supplements, and a seemingly normal man whose life imploded in the most unthinkable way.Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: [e-mail] (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It's always the husband. Some version of that statement gets circulated damn near every time a married woman with a male partner goes missing. My wife, Lindsay and I have darkly joked about it over the years. However, if she goes missing, I am fucked. After all the shit I said on this show, and in my stand-up over the years, combined with how I look,

oh, I will for sure be guilty until proven innocent. Sometimes it's always the husband is a call to action, delivered with the confidence of people who have watched so much true crime, they believe their pattern recognition counts as actual professional expertise. Sometimes it's a half joke, a throwaway comment, that nevertheless reassures us that there is a clear explanation for what happened here if we can dig into the relationships around the case enough to see it. And sometimes it's a rallying call against jumping to conclusion.

If it's always the husband, does that mean that investigators will look too much at the person closest to the case and then miss other important credible leads? If as a culture, we assume it's always the husband, does that put untold pressure, even unwarranted aggression on a person who may be totally, perfectly innocent, and grieving the greatest loss of their life? Indeed, in the early hours of a disappearance, before bodies or timelines or evidence, suspicion fills the vacuum. And the husband becomes the most convenient container for fear. People scrutinize his expressions, the way he phrases, his sentences, is he too calm? Too brief in what he says. Is he grieving too much in a showy theatrical, oh, he's playing a part kind of way?

Is his willingness to talk openly proof that he's not involved, or is he just that confident that he committed the perfect crime? But I think a lot of us tend to forget when watching developing true crime stories, when someone's partner is suspected in their disappearance and or murder, is that there's no correct way to behave when your partner vanishes. We all handle and process grief. and fear and loss and trauma very differently. And most of us are not psychologists or criminologists

trained in spotting when someone looks guilty because they probably are guilty. In the case of Chris Watts, the It's Always the Husband. Accusations were lobbed pretty much immediately when on August 13, 2018, his pregnant wife, Shannon, and their two young, adorable daughters,

Bella and Celeste, disappeared. Why? Well, for starters, Chris didn't seem all that concern. when his family disappeared, when friends and family called him asking if he knew where Shannon and the children were, he casually told him that, you know, she'd probably just taken them to a friend's house. And then he added, as if it were no big deal, that they were going to be getting a divorce soon. Strange timing to make that announcement. Did that mean he was supposed to care less that she disappeared along with his two-born children and also unborn third child? When the police first showed up at his house, he also didn't seem too bothered by the fact that Shannon had apparently gone to a friend's house.

Without her purse, her favorite, most commonly worn shoes, any of her medications, or most unusual, the toddler's car seats. Something very, very unlike, the type A rigid perfectionist, hyperprotective of her children, mother, who had cut off contact with close family members for less than driving off without putting them in car seats. And something about the way Chris appeared to the news later, unemotionally begging for Shannon and the Kid Safe Returns, sent a chill down the spines of friends and family members who watched. On a gut level, many if not most, close to Chris, had a very bad feeling that he was behind something very, very wrong, which was very odd because the very idea of Chris doing something harmful to his wife

and or children had previously been unimaginable, not just a few years prior or just a few months prior or even just a few weeks earlier. To the outside world, the North Carolina natives turned Colorado residents had seemed like a perfect couple. The kind of nice people you want raising the next generation of good citizens. Shannon had a thriving home business, pun intended, you'll see why.

Chris was a respected employee at Anadarko Petroleum. They lived in a nice new home. Never were problems to their neighbors. They had a cute little dog, two adorable kids, were also polar opposites. Chris was very shy and a follower while Shannon was the textbook definition of a go-getter,

but the match seemed to really work. As many opposites attract, pairings inexplicably do. But then, over half of one summer, everything fell apart very, very quickly. And then Shannon and the girls were gone. Someone had done something terrible to them. Who? Was it the husband?

And if it was, well, why? The tragic and thrilling story of Chris Watts, but also a lot of ridiculous jokes right now on another true crime mystery edition of TimeSuck. This is Michael McDonald, and you're listening to TimeSuck. Well, happy Monday. Welcome or welcome back to the cult of the curious. I'm Dan Cummins, the Suck Wizard, Radical Humanist, Conscience Agitator, and you are listening to TimeSuck. Hail Nimrod, Hail Lucifina.

Praise me to Good Boy, Bojangles, and Glory B to Triple Am. One fun announcement, and then Storytime. I'll be returning and bringing scared to death. Back to the Crime Wave cruise, Lindsay and I did last November. As I mentioned, a few weeks ago, sell fun, and tickets are on sale now. The cruise will be in the Caribbean. February 8 to the 12th, 2027, just in time to get home for the Super Bowl. More details are now up at crimewave at sea.com. If you want to get $100 off your state room and a private meet and greet with us, the only way to do that is to go to crimewave at sea.com slash scared.

That's crime wave at sea.com slash scared to get your discount and meet and greet code. We'll be there with the gangs from last podcast on the left, the unexplained podcast, true crime, Samfire, Sinisterhood, A Paranormal Chicks, the No Sleep Podcast, and more. Lindsay and I will bring another live, Scared to Death, to the cruise, and all the other creators will have shows. Again, get $100 off your state room and a private meet and greet with us. Just go to crimewave at sea.com slash scared to do so due to all the big shows that will be on the cruise.

Tickets are expected to go fast, so don't wait if you want to hang out in the sun with us. And now, are you ready for the topic? Are you settled in? Or are you driving? Or are you in the middle of another ultra-marathon? You know what? Whatever works for you? Not much background info needed to get all that we need to get out of these weeks' episode, this week's.

More of an escapist episode today, an enthralling story to not just be upset by, but one to get lost in. A somewhat recent story that takes place in a time and place. The late 2010s that most of us remember pretty well, even if in some ways it seems like a lifetime ago. But like all good stories, it's centered around a timeless theme. What does it actually mean to have the perfect relationship? And can you ever really have one? As the conventional wisdom goes, there are two dominating theories regarding the type of

romantic partner you end up with, either someone who is a lot like you or with someone who is nearly or completely your opposite. The first one is a sort of twin flames idea. Remember that weird-ass episode? That's a fun one. that pairing comes with obvious pluses. You'll have the same interests. Want to do the same things together?

Speak the same language, so to speak. Feel like they're the one person in the world who truly understands you above all others. Of course, there could be drawbacks. You know, you might fight, or I guess you would fight the same. So you might not compromise that easily. You might have the same stubbornness, the same tendency to say things you don't mean in the heat of the moment,

which, you know, it's fine when it's you, but not okay when it's them. Maybe you both hate confrontation. and you just let things simmer until resentment boils over into something terrible. When you're with your opposite, though, things like that tend not to happen. You're fiery, they're calm or vice versa. One of you loses your mind under pressure. The other knows exactly what to do.

One person gets maybe overwhelmed by household chores. But the other has an entire organizational plan in their head that they just can't not think about, and they can come up with a system that works for everyone easy-peasy. But different doesn't always work. Sometimes the differences are too great, too many. many. It's just too hard to understand what the other person's coming from. You might have started out to appreciate in all the ways they compliment you, but what if one day you just don't anymore? What if little quirks? You thought were kind of cute in the beginning, endearing. Now they

don't feel so cute anymore. Now they're just fucking tedious, annoying. What if you no longer interpret their independent spirit as admirable, but as narcissistic, self-centered? What if you look at the person you're married to and think, why the fuck did I ever choose someone I'm not compatible with? What was I thinking. I'm so sick of disagreeing on damn near everything. This is exhausting. In my experience, dating or marrying someone who I have a lot of things in common with, but I'm not alike in ways that conformate each other is best. Like Lindsay and I, you know, she's better at nurturing relationships than I am, like friendships, giving people gifts, you know, making sure to send that text, hitting them up on their birthday. She's better at worrying more about today and tomorrow

and making sure that we are always building good memories through fun experiences with family and friends. I'm better at making sure that we don't do too much and wear ourselves out in the moment and not be able to get our work done for the future. I'm better at financial planning and making sure that we don't spend too much today and fuck our future selves over.

You know, she's more emotionally expressive than I am, good at sharing her feelings that helps me be more emotional, but I'm also more grounded and stoic and good at keeping her from spiraling out emotionally. She loves planning trips, experiences for our family. I'm a little more spontaneous, but also good at going along with somebody else's plan. She likes to be the home leader, which is awesome because I tend to not care at all what kind of fucking couch we need to get to match a living room aesthetic and those sorts of

things, but I do appreciate it when she does it. I like to be in charge at work. She does not. She doesn't like to pick out what we watch on TV or what move we go see. I love to pick that shit out. You know, for the most part, our differences complement each other. And we both value that a lot because we've both been in relationships where that was definitely not the case. But still, we have plenty of arguments, you know, tons of little disagreements. All relationships, even the best ones take work. Even the most compatible couples still have occasional moments of friction, tension, need to work on things, you know, get away from each other little moments.

From the outside, the relationship between Chris and Shannon Watts looked like a classic case of opposites attract success story. She was outgoing, driven, constantly documenting her life and her love on social media. He was quiet, agreeable, and steady, happy to go along with whatever made his family happy. Sure, they bickered. Yes, they got annoyed with each other sometimes, but 99.9% of the time, they sure seemed to their friends and families and followers on social media like a very happy couple, madly in love with each other, devoted to one another. and yet in the early morning of August 13, 2018, Shannon Watts went missing, along with her two children, Bella and Celeste, and Chris quickly became the primary suspect. Let's find out why. And if Chris Watts did what people thought he did in today's time suck timeline.

Shrap on those boots, soldier, we're marching down a time suck timeline. Christopher Lee Watts was born in four. Fayetteville, North Carolina, on May 16th, 1985, the second child of Ronnie and Cindy Watts. His sister Jamie was six and a half years older. Ronnie, his dad, worked as a parts manager for a four-dealerhip, while Cindy, his mom, worked as a secretary and notary. Pretty average middle-class family setup. From an early age, Chris idolized his father, who was also quiet and reserved. Indeed, the two had a lot in common.

They love sports, for example. Chris loved to play sports. His dad loved to watch. happy to take him to basketball games in the winter football, baseball games in the summer, cheer him on, right? How lucky. A lot of kids dream of a dad like that. The two also shared a love at NASCAR, went to more than 200 races together, yes, 200, including the Daytona 500. Ronnie also taught his son car mechanics, which Chris had a natural talent for. And again, what a lucky kid, right? Ronnie clearly very, very invested in his son, spent a lot of quality time with him.

they loved to hang out together and they hung out all the time. When he started school, Chris was an average student in the classroom but he shone at sports. Won a bunch of trophies that made dad super proud. Ronnie was a regular in the stands cheering him on again and sometimes accompanied

by his maternal grandmother Gertrude Shotner McLeod. Grandma Gertrude. That's a solid Nana name. Chris adored his dad and Nana. When he was young, he preferred their company and adoration to the company of his peers which didn't seem like

anything to worry about, but maybe it should have been. At 14, Chris followed his parents and sisters' footsteps to Pine Forest High School, where he became even more withdrawn as far as his peer group was concerned. He kept to himself at school, was uncomfortable around his schoolmates, who largely ignored him. But his teacher didn't see that as a red flag at the time. They seemed to think Chris was a great kid, very polite, you know, reserved, not a troublemaker. When Chris enrolled in the automotive technology class taught by a man named Joe Doody, he soon became one of his star pupils, a true teacher's pet. The gangly teenager with braces and a bowl cut impressed Joe with his encyclopedic knowledge of NASCAR stats and trivia. It's hard to find a more

perfect kid, Dutie would later say. He was in the top 10% of students I ever had. He was very quiet and introverted, but he was always completely polite and courteous. Mr. Dutie, a great name for a teacher. Like others, did notice that Chris didn't really have to be. have any friends, let alone a girlfriend, but he wasn't that concerned. You know, he had a bunch of girls who obviously had crushes on him. He never acted on those crushes. But again, you know, some kids are shy. There seemed to be a general consensus that once he became an adult himself, he'd be just fine socially. In the 2002 Pine Forest High School yearbook, Chris appeared in the group shot of Academy of Applied Technology Students on another yearbook page and taught a life in the

fast lane. Chris was asked whether American cars were better than foreign ones, because he was car guy in his school. American sports cars, said Chris, because Ford's are made in America. Uh, okay. I'm not, I'm not sure that actually answer the question, Chris. Why do you think American cars are better than foreign cars, Chris?

Because Ford's are made in America. Right. But how does that make them better? Are they faster? Do they handle better? Do they last longer? They're better because they're made here. Well, actually not necessarily, Chris.

Most Fords are assembled here, but not all of them. A lot of models. About half the parts are actually made overseas. Is that change your answer? I like Ford's because they're made in America. Oh, all right. Chris, thanks for talking, buddy. I'm starting to understand why you struggle in some of your classes.

America. Okay. See you later, dude. I actually love Ford's, by the way. I think certain Raptor models are the fucking coolest-looking trucks ever. But I wish we had higher standards for allowing companies to market shit as being made in America. Get pretty sick of all the manipulative false advertising we're exposed to constantly. Driver in an American-made car was a big point of pride for Chris.

And I do believe his model of Mustang, you know, is assembled in the States, you know, good chunk of the parts made here. His dad had bought him of that Mustang and helped him fix it up. While some parents might worry about giving their kid a car thinking it might open the door to drugs, alcohol, sex. Oh no! Ronnie and Cindy never worried about Chris. He never got in trouble. like ever.

While this was comforting to two parents who wanted the best for their kids, to some others, his total lack of rebellion seemed a little lot. Like maybe he was pushing too many of his own wants and desires down in an unhealthy way, afraid to express himself or fear of disapproval from the authority figures in his life. Right? You do that too much.

You risk snapping one day, when it all bubbles up inside of you. His sister Jamie gone through her share of rebellious phases. She started to worry about Chris. Was he hiding something? Was he maybe just on the spectrum? What the fuck was going on? At the end of May 2003, Chris Watts graduated from Pine Forest High School.

Not with amazing grades, but, you know, he didn't just barely graduate either. He did fine in most subjects, and he fucking killed it in that automotive technology class. He was awarded a $1,000 scholarship to the NASCAR Technical Institute in Morrisville, North Carolina, where his teacher, Mr. Dutie, was convinced he would excel, maybe even become a crew chief on a NASCAR team someday, which was high school Chris's dream. In the summer of 2003, now 18-year-old Chris, left home for the NASCAR Technical Institute, right? Mooresville, North Carolina, just 160 miles away, a two-and-a-half-hour drive if traffic's light and you ride the gas pedal. He's fucking pumped. Right?

The kid raised on NASCAR going to their institute. His dad's pumped, too. The Charlotte suburb of Moorsville, recently ranked as one of the fastest growing suburbs in the U.S., was Chris' first taste of city life or something close to it. his parents still as supportive as ever, fully paid his rent and helped out with groceries and paid his car insurance

and Chris worked as well, found a part-time job at a Ford dealership in Mooresville. All right, dude's living the dream. Working for Ford and studying at NASCAR. Fuck yeah, bro. Vroom, vroom, motherfucker. Right, his fam could not be prouder.

But despite having this newfound freedom, despite sharing an apartment with another technical institute kid who did go out and drink and have fun like a typical 18-year-old, Chris did not do any of that. His life stayed on the straight and very narrow. School, work, you know, talking to family on the phone, driving home to visit him,

watching NASCAR races on TV or in person with his dad, talking about him with his dad. That's about it. But it seemed like it was enough and that it was working. On 2006, Chris not only graduated from the NASCAR Institute, but did so with honors. All right, dude's still crushing it. He then immediately transitioned to a full-time job at the more. Morrisville Ford dealership as a service technician making solid money, but not satisfied with that. He wanted more.

The now 21-year-old still dreamed of a career in NASCAR, and he spent his off hours sending off a stream of job applications. But then he only got one interview and went nowhere. And that was it for his dream of joining a NASCAR race team. Seemed to have given up pretty quick after experiencing just a little bit of rejection. Over the next few years, Chris would continue to work at a Ford dealership, buying himself a hot rod Mustang, another one saving for the future. Also met his first steady girlfriend,

who was on the rebound after a messy divorce, but then she soon left him for another guy. We don't know why. After that, his cousin, Nicole Kennedy suggested they fuck and see how they liked it. She sent him an email with links to all sorts of people. Very successful people would fuck their cousins to sell him on her plan, right?

And he thought about it. First cousins at that, she sent him. People like Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Edgar Allan Poe. She pointed out how well their parents already got along. Their dads were each other's favorite sibling. They'll be a match made in heaven. Also, they were both made in America, for God's sake.

They could fuck in his Mustang. Two American cousins fucking in the backseat of a mostly American hot rod. Him wearing nothing but a NASCAR T-shirt. And don't tread on me socks. Her and some kind of star-spangled banner lingerie. Lee Greenwood, blast on the fucking speakers. What can be more American? Nothing.

Nicole did not suggest any of that, by the way. Apologize. Apologies to her if she's listening. What Nicole really did suggest was that Chris sent a Facebook friend request to her work colleague, a young woman named Shannon Rusek. Shannon was coming out of a bad marriage. Maybe that was his type. Chris sent her a message, but it would be months before he got her reply. She was currently dealing with some shit. So let's talk about Shannon. Who was she? Shannon Catherine Rusek was named after Shanaana, the popular popular. either 60s and 70s, kind of throwback rock and roll doo-wop group, almost a parody group.

But a parody group who played Woodstock, here's a little snippet from their performance on the Midnight Special. It's just fun. Does this kind of music just make you want to go get a fucking milkshake, get a diner? That's what it makes you want to do. It makes me want to dance. I don't know how to dance. I mean, I understand how dancing works. I'm not good at dancing.

But it makes me want to be good at dancing. It makes me want to be good at like swing. Suddenly I'm wearing like a t-shirt with the fucking sleeves kind of rolled up tight. You know, I've got a pack of smokes that I don't even want in there. I got my hair slick back You know Lindsay's in a poodle skirt We go to a car hop

Afterwards We get maltz I don't know Her name is spelled S-H-S-H-A-N-N To somewhat match the band's name If you're like How does Shannon match that?

A true child of children Of the counterculture Shannon was born January 10th, 194 in Passaic, New Jersey To Frank and Sandy Rusek Almost two years later Her brother Frankie

arrived to complete the family Shannon was a smart, vibrant little kid But also suffered from debilitating migraines That began in early childhood That kept her seeing a rotation of doctors When Shannon was still little Frank moved the family to Clifton, New Jersey Where she attended number 11 elementary school

In the Lakeview section I always think it's weird when schools are just named numbers It's fucking makes him feel communist to me Where do you go to school? Number 11 school Then around 1999 Frank Rusek moved the family to Aberdeen, North Carolina, where job prospects were better.

Started his own home improvement business. Sandy worked in a hair salon, dreaming of opening up her own salon one day. Now 14 years old, Shannon began her freshman year at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines. Founded in 1969 as a progressive school, Pinecrest featured something called team teaching, closed circuit television instruction, and a fully equipped media center. Sounds pretty technologically advanced. It's a kind of place that attracted young artists, and that was exactly. who attended. And now Shannon was one of them. So that sounds fun. She blossomed at Pinecrest

into a confident actor with a new group of friends to match, including Colby Cruz and Claire Little John. The three would be friends throughout all the high school through acting and improv classes and long after school hours organizing props and making stage sets. By her sophomore year, Shannon was the stage manager of the Pinecrest Players production of Little Shop of Hors. In her junior year, Shannon's stage manager production of Godspell and found some extra time to work on the Pinecrest High School yearbook, so she is active. During the summer between her junior and senior years,

Shannon found a part-time job at Vito's Pizzeria in Pinehurst. Man, I used to work at a pizza place for a while. It was fun. During her senior year, she fell in love with a fellow student named Leonard King. It was a whirlwind romance, and the two were engaged when Shannon graduated in May. Despite the fears of friends and family, who worried that the two were far too young

and experienced to settle down because they were, they would get married. and then Shannon started college while her new husband joined the Army. But Shannon soon dropped out of college, got a job selling pagers and cell phones, not glamorous work, certainly not artistic work, but it paid the bills and she was good at it. And soon a good opportunity came along because of it. In 2006, Shannon became the manager of a cell phone store in Fayetteville, North Carolina, owned by Lebanese-born entrepreneur, Hisham Bedouin.

For the next few years, Shannon worked for Bedouin, eventually becoming the bookkeeper for his new company. the Dirty South, custom car fittings and wheels company with stores in Fayetteville and in Charlotte. It had a wealthy clientele of rappers, sports players, right, professional sports players, car enthusiasts. Sports players, who the fuck am I? Had a wealthy clientele of sports people. I meant professional athletes. That was a really weird way of saying professional athletes.

There was rap people, sport guys, and car folk. What? Anyway, she worked long hours managing both stores, which were 130 miles apart. To get around the company gave her access to a custom-fitted Cadillac Escalade. Oh, hell yeah. I fucking love Escalates. God, I did.

I wanted to get one. I test drove one a while back when my truck got smashed up, and I was like, it's just too big. For me, at least right now, it feels just gigantic. But I think they're so pretty. Anyway, she was bawling out in that thing. And then according to her husband Leonard, this was when Shannon stopped coming home at night.

They went to a couple of marriage counting sessions, but it was obvious that things were over. So in 2007, they got divorced. Now on our own at 23, Shannon moved to Charlotte, where she enrolled in a psychology course at Queens University, and also decided to build a custom home at 23 years old. And I don't think she had family help. November 30th, 2009, Shannon signed a $309,000 mortgage to build a luxurious brick mansion overlooking Lake Wiley in the swanky Charlotte suburb of Belmont. crazy that you can buy a badass house, new house,

for just above $300,000 back then. Over the next few months, she supervised the building of 1,000 Peninsula Drive. The 4,000 square foot, 12-room mansion had four bedrooms. Maybe I'm being a little bit generous with the term mansion, but it's a fucking big-ass house, four bedrooms, four bathrooms, big balcony with a sweeping view of the lake, a sunroom, custom-made kitchen, all that for 309K. Man times have changed.

The estimated value of that, bad boy today, anywhere from 800K to about a million. Ridiculous. Anyway, everything seemed to be going well for Shannon, but then her health took a nose dive. Soon after moving into her big custom home and a thousand peninsulate drive, I probably don't need to say the whole address every time. So much house for just one person, Shannon got sick, very sick. Her hair started to fall out.

She lost 20 pounds in one month, quickly shrinking down from a size six to a size one, which is scary as hell. She finally went to a doctor who did a barrage of test, find out what was wrong. Why had Shannon been so ill, not just recently, but her whole life? Why was she constantly in and out of doctor's offices and hospitals? Well, the doctor finally gave her an answer in May of 2010. She had lupus. And lupus, if you don't already know, is a disease that rhymes with poopis for good reason.

It's caused by the brain's signal to the colon to release toilet demons, not firing when it should, not firing as often as it should. And so even though your body has made some fresh waste, it's often in no hurry to discharge that waste with lupus. And your poopus just starts to build up. At any given time, some with lupus will have anywhere from 25 to 40 pounds of poopis inside of them. For a small person like Shannon on a bad day,

half her weight could be from lupus poopus buildup. And then when your brain finally does decide for you to release the crack in, you can drop dramatically in size like she did. You can poop over 50% of your body weight in one extreme dramatic sitting and shitty on certain occasions. select few people. Also, real quick, did anyone actually believe my lupus poop is bullshit? Even just maybe for a few seconds? Do you maybe think it might be true?

Probably not, but I'll keep my hopes up. Lupus is actually an incurable autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own organs and tissues, causing inflammation, damage to joints, skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, brain, blood cells. Not sure about pupus. Sounds brutal. I do have a friend who has lupus, and it does not sound fun. Hard to diagnose because it presents as a vast

collection of seemingly unrelated symptoms, right? Pain, swelling, tenderness, extreme tiredness, unexplained fevers, swollen lymph nodes, rashes, anemia, chest pain, headaches, seizures, et cetera. And there's no cure, only some treatments to reduce inflammation. All of this understandably freaked Shannon out. Over the next two months, she sought second opinions from a host of rheumatologists who all confirmed that not only did she have lupus, she also had fibromyalgia. And fibromyalgia is caused by a huge... poop build up. Most people with fibromyalgia will eventually be made of 80 to 90% poop. No, that's way too much poop. No, fiberalumalgia, according to the Mayo Clinic, it's a long-term

condition that involves widespread body pain. The pain happens along with fatigue and also involve issues with sleep, memory, and mood. Researchers think that fibromalgia affects the way the brain and spinal cord process painful and non-painful signals that increases your overall sensitivity to pain. Symptoms often start after a triggering event. Triggers can include injury, surgery, infections, or emotional stress, or the symptoms can build up over time with no single event to trigger them. Like lupus, like Pupus lupus, it's a bit mysterious. There's no cure, only treatment. Also often connected to Pupus lupus, about 20 to 30 percent of lupus patients will eventually develop fibromyalgia. Shitty. Not literal shitty, not Pupus lupus shitty, just shitty,

Shannon was prescribed heavy medications for treatment that initially made things worse. The left her with flu-like symptoms her weight balloon to almost 170 pounds. In a dark place, she quit the dirty South, telling Hisham Bedouan that she could no longer physically handle managing his stores due to her medical condition, right? Truly sad. Now she's lost. And in late July 2010, when Shannon was at her lowest point, she received a second Facebook message from Chris Watts. And this time, she thought, fuck it. I guess I'll take a chance on the stork.

Cool. Now I'm considering fucking some NASCAR nerd. God, I hope this is rock bottom. I don't know what she thought. But she replied. And two weeks later, Shannon and Chris went on their first date. To the epicenter theater in Charlotte, the kind of dine-in movie theater you can find in a lot of major cities today.

Back then, the cocktails and meals served during the movie, made the whole thing seem classier than just catching a flick at the local AMC. I wish we had one of those places around here. They are cool. If the location was classy, Chris, maybe not. Let's find out more about how this date went after today's first to two mid-show sponsor breaks.

If you don't want to hear these ads ever again, please send her to be a spacer on Patreon. Help us make monthly charitable contributions, get the catalog ad-free episodes three days early and more. Thanks for listening to our sponsors. Hope you heard a deal that makes sense for you. And now let's hear about what Chris Watts wore to his first date with his future wife, Shannon Rusek.

He arrived. for a first date, wearing a graphic t-shirt, Army camo shorts, and tennis shoes. Who do you think he was? Me? Shannon had dressed up for the occasion. Unsurprisingly, the two had little chemistry. Also, Chris still painfully introverted, was too nervous to eat, but he really liked her.

And a few days later, Chris invited Shannon to a kid rock concert, and despite that red flag, she still agreed to give him another chance. Concord went well, she agreed to see him again. But it wasn't like Shannon was in love with him, at least not until a trip to him. Myrtle Beach late that August.

On the trip, Shannon had a flare-up common for Lupus patients after spending time in the sun, and Chris led her lay for three and a half hours on his lap, even though he really had to pee. He was a romantic. To Shannon, this meant a lot. So much that feeling confident in a new relationship, she started feeling good enough to go back to work in part-time with the dirty south to help pay off her mortgage and living expenses. Also started a photography business, specializing in weddings and portraits of young kids. Then still feeling better and looking for a third hustle, Shannon also.

advertised her services online as a nanny and soon she found a customer in the Dietz family uh gina deets or jena jina i think jena maybe a nurse who was expecting her second child with her husband charlie i definitely can say charlie correctly uh paid shannon to look after her 18-month-old son eli several times a week before long shannon had bonded with her new employers you know pretty strongly uh very likable but no surprise here after taking on so much again she got sick again The intense schedule, bad for her illness, stress being one of the primary causes of lupus flare-ups. But this allowed Chris to shine again. Whenever she had a medical emergency, whenever her lupus, puppis went nuts.

Chris was always on call to help her, and he often picked up the slack wherever she needed it, right? Sorting her pills, taking her to a colonoscopy lupus, or to a spinal tap, literally being a shoulder to cry on, he was a rock. And that fall, Chris moved into 1,000 Peninsula Drive, started sharing expenses with her. he had saved $11,000 working at the Ford dealership, and he gave Shannon all that money to look after. So clearly they trusted the hell out of each other. Also, maybe kind of weird, that he handed over his savings so early in their relationship.

A lot of people have talked over the years about how controlling they thought Shannon was, how tightly she began to control Chris starting early on, maybe even in a manipulative, borderline, emotionally abusive, or outright emotionally abusive way. On November 25, 2010, Shannon went public with her new relationship, posting a photograph of her and Chris on Instagram

with the caption, My Baby. A few days later, they had a cookout, inviting both sets of parents and Chris's sister, Jamie. Unfortunately, it did not go well at all. Cindy, Chris's mom, immediately didn't get along with Sandy, Shannon's mom. Cindy also found Shannon a bit suss. She wanted how her son's girlfriend could live in luxury without a full-time job.

Jamie, too, wanted if Shannon was living beyond her means. They got a little judgy. Shannon's parents picked up on the tension and shit got heated. When Shannon and Chris took their fathers and Jamie on a tour of the house, leaving the mothers on the back porch, Cindy turned and asked Sandy, Shannon was married before? And Sandy quickly shot back, yeah, just like your daughter was, referring to Jamie's failed marriage. Then Cindy straight up said that she didn't think Shannon loved Chris. Uh, fucking what? First time to come over, first time they're alone together and she's. She says that shit. Chris's mom comes across as a bit of an asshole this episode.

Easy Mama Bear. Maybe don't go so fucking hard out of the gate during the first family cookout. Maybe less is more. The tension between the two must have faded at least a little bit pretty soon, though, because Shannon and Chris celebrated their first Christmas and New Year's together at her parents' house. In Aberdeen and everyone was over. In late February of 2011, Gina and Charlie Dietz, the couple Shannon and nannied for, moved to Broomfield, Colorado, just a few weeks after their daughter, Eva, was

born. Shannon drove them to the airport, already making plans to go visit them in Colorado. And indeed, over the next few months, Shannon was in daily contact with Gina Deeds, who kept telling her how good the fresh Colorado mountain air would be for her lupus. And then soon, Gina asked, would she and Chris be interested in moving to Colorado? For now, they decided to stay. After all, they were still working on establishing themselves as a couple settling into the routines, figuring out their communication style, et cetera. As the year progressed, it seemed like everything was really falling into place and maybe they'll be heading out to Colorado soon.

At the beginning of August 2011 the couple rents a house in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina and Shannon's parents joined them there. Chris had hoped they would. He was planning something big like Airbnb rented, not like long term. He was planning on killing his mom

in front of Shannon and her parents as a way to write Cindy's wrongs. No, he had bought an engagement ring, planning to propose to Shannon on the beach. But first he had asked Frank Russek for his daughter's hand in marriage, Frank gave him his blessing, and voila, the two are engaged. And then that Thanksgiving, the engaged couple flies to Colorado, spend a week with Gina and Charlie Dietz in their new home in Broomfield. It was the first time the Deitsis had

ever met Chris, and they were very impressed. They were blown away by how devoted he seemed to be to Shannon. And the soon-to-be-watches, they were impressed, too. They decided they could really see themselves living in Colorado, which I get Colorado is gorgeous, full of a lot of very cool people too. And now plans are made to move there. Chris and Shannon planned to, or for Chris, to move to Colorado first, stay with the Dietz's while Shannon stayed behind in Charlotte for a little while to sell the house. But when they told Chris's mom Cindy that they were moving, she's fucking horrified. And she throws another fit. It felt to her like Shannon was stealing baby boy from her, bringing him to a place where he had no connections because she thought it would be better

for her and her illnesses. And again, Cindy's seeming like a problem. Now, wonder Chris didn't socialize with a lot of other kids or date while he was in high school. Maybe fucking mommy wanted baby boy all to herself, or at least only with her and his daddy. Well, things will get even worse between Cindy and Shannon at the engagement party. Shannon and Chris asked Jamie, Chris's sister, to mail out the invitations and also order strictly gluten-free food. A diet Shannon abided by to keep her lupus and check in her fibromyalgia. Later, Shannon's mom, Sandy, claimed that the food Jamie ordered did contain gluten, and she claimed Jamie ordered it on purpose so that Shannon couldn't eat anything at her own party or, you know,

would get fucked up if she did. Also, most of the 80 invitations Jamie was supposed to send did not go out. And Sandy felt that that was on purpose as well, that Jamie was sabotaging the party. And maybe she was. Jamie denied the accusation and felt insults it. But come on. Chris's mom and sister, both sounding like fucking problems. How hard is it to mail out 80 invitations? It's not. And order gluten-free food? What's going on with these weirdos? Yeah, Chris is surrounded by some fucking weird women in his family. Now things get explosive. At the party, Shannon and her future mother-in-law have a huge fight.

After Cindy accused Shannon at her own engagement party of turning Chris against his family. My God. I know I wasn't there. I don't know these people. I don't have a lot of details, but fuck Cindy. That was a death knell for the Watts'. After the party, apparently, at Shannon's instigation,

Chris broke off all relations with his family. He stopped taking their calls, told him to leave him alone. Very uncharacteristic thing for a man who had never been known to get angry at anybody or anything to do. And his family had always been so supportive, but it seems like that support may have come with a lot of strings, right? With the feeling of you owe us, you must listen to us, Christopher. His family would think that Shannon had told him to cut him off, and maybe she did, or maybe he just was sick of fucking mom's shit. In early April of 2012, Chris quit his job at more than,

Horsville Ford headed out to Broomfield, Colorado. He moved in with Gina and Charlie Deetz and soon found a job at the Longmont Ford dealership thanks to his reputation as a master mechanic and thanks, obviously, to having, you know, specifically worked for Ford on Ford's. Six months later, Shannon moved as well, despite not having sold the house yet. During that period, Chris had been diligently saving money looking after the Dietz's new daughter, Eva, so much so that the baby wanted Chris when she was upset or sleepy, right? Pretty adorable.

He seems like a... a good nurturing guy. She keeps sounding like a great guy, not like the kind of guy at all who could, you know, kill his whole family. In early August, Shannon finally sold 1,000 Peninsula Drive for $349,900, almost $41,000 more than she paid for it three years prior.

Not a ton of equity, but not nothing. Soon afterwards, Shannon moved into the Deits' basement in Broomfield. Didn't have to look long for a job. She found a sales job at the Longmont Ford dealership, where Chris worked and soon the natural saleswoman sold more cars than anybody else there. Right? They're a fucking power couple at this four dealership. But some of their coworkers, they start noticing things about their relationship that makes

him think that maybe their relationship not so perfect. Chris, for example, always gave his wage envelope straight to Shannon. Also, anything she said, do this. Chris, do that. Don't do that. Don't do this. He agreed to without argument quickly. Some of the guys thought the way she bossed him around like he was her child.

and not her husband must have been humiliating, but Chris didn't seem to mind at all. Makes me wonder if Chris married his mom. Anyone else picking up on that vibe? Was Cindy super controlling? I wouldn't doubt it. Did he do whatever mommy wanted him to do growing up? And then he ends up just transferring that power to this lady.

He marries somebody a lot like her, you know, because that kind of love felt familiar and comforting. Did he marry somebody who butted heads with Mommy? Because Mommy wanted Chris to do what she wanted him to do and not what, you know, fucking Shannon wanted him to do and vice versa. Soon after she started working with Chris, Shannon befriended some of his, their co-workers, including David Cullen,

who reconditioned cars at the dealership, guessing David's last name is pronounced Cologne, but it spelled Cullen with no accent mark. Mr. Cullen. I'm liking the name variety in this suck. When Mr. Cullen bought a house in a little 14,000-ish-person bedroom town of Frederick, Colorado, about 25 miles straight and,

north of Denver, Chris and Shannon helped to move in, and they thought the town was very cute. They liked the small but quickly growing town, deep into the Rocky Mountains, and they started to look at property there. Set in the heart of Weld County, Frederick's grassy plains are littered with drilling rigs and oil wells

with an official logo of a gas lamp set against a mountain range background. The town motto is built on what matters. What does that mean? Oil? Is that what matters? Oil? And what matters? family? Wrong. Try again. What matters?

Loving the neighbor? Fuck you pussy. Try again. Treating others as you would like to be treated. Shut the fuck up. Oil! Oil, you dip shit. That's what matters. On October 17th, 2012, Chris signed a $392,7009. I know how to say numbers. Mortgage for 2825 Saratoga Trail and Frederick, where the home was still be being built part of a new development on the Wyndham Hill estate. Not even married yet, Shannon posts on Instagram, and at 12.30 p.m., Christopher Watts will be signing his life away to build our new home in Colorado! Exclamation, boy, and smiley face. Super stoked, all caps.

Their brand new 4,177 square foot, yellow two-story house with brown trim would have five bedrooms and hardwood flooring. Damn, they fucking love to live in big houses. It's gourmet kitchen with boasts a double oven. granite countertops and the huge basement had a nine-foot ceiling. The monthly mortgage was $2,800 and the deeds were registered in Chris's name. Then on October 19th, Shannon and Christopher's wedding website appeared online, and the soon-to-be bride invited everybody on Instagram to check it out. That Halloween, Shannon and Chris were back in their home state of North Carolina making the final preparations for their wedding.

And on Thursday, November 1st, they took out a wedding license at the Mecklenburg County Registrar of Deeds in Charlotte. On the following night, they held a rehearsal dinner, and the Deeds family flew in from Colorado to attend. Shannon had appointed Gina, her maid of honor, Gina's son, Eli, ring bear, and her baby daughter, Eva, was the flower girl. The Watts family? Not there, not invited.

Fuck you, Cindy. That had to sting. On Saturday, November 3rd, 2012, Shannon married Chris Watts in a fairy tale wedding ceremony at the Double Tree Hilton Hotel in Charlotte. The bride wore a Cinderella-style wedding gown with a bearded corset bodice,

a long white veil and a tiara. Their wedding cake was Pittsburgh Steelers themed in honor of their favorite football team and then time to party. For once, Chris seemed to lose all his inhibitions as he performed a raunchy dance move from the movie Magic Mike. And the next day, Chris and Shannon left

for a short honeymoon in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. They had wanted to go to Cancun, but worth all their recent purchases, they just couldn't afford it. Later, Shannon posted romantic pictures of them on the beach on Instagram, thanking everyone. who came to the wedding. A few weeks later, back to Colorado. While they waited for their house to be ready, they stayed again with the D-Tis. Everything was falling into place, including

Shannon hoped a baby. She didn't actually know if she could conceive due to her lupus-poopis and fibromyalgia, but she and Chris both desperately wanted a baby. So she downloaded an ovulation app, started taking fertility drugs to help make it happen. But then the winter passed with no positive pregnancy tests. Then that spring, they found themselves in a big new house alone. To lift their spirit, Shannon ordered a $7,500 supercharger for Chris's 2006 Mustang to improve its engine performance in the mile high state. She planned to give it to him as a 28th birthday present. Apparently, that was what did it, because on the weekend of Chris's birthday, May 16th,

they fucked. They fucked hard and they conceived their daughter. They would now spend the summer in their new, idyllic small town, and join all the amenities of their new housing community, which included a clubhouse, parks, a playground, a swimming pool. Life is going very well for these two at this point. And they are working hard to keep it going, and they have to because they have a lot of bills to pay. In early July, Shannon, who was now three months pregnant, started a new job working nights at the pediatric call center at Children's Hospital in Aurora.

Gina D. got her that job. Paid $18 an hour plus extra for weekends and holidays. On July 9, Shannon posted an Instagram photograph of her holding a baby's dress with the caption, Bella Marie Watts, coming this Christmas, 2013, so excited. A few days later, Chris called his parents with the news that Shannon was. pregnant and made peace with them. It had been more than two years since they'd spoken. And suddenly Chris called acting like nothing had ever happened. Weird, but apparently his family, especially as a meddlesome mom, they kept their mouth

shut, acted like nothing was wrong, so they didn't get cut out again. For the rest of the summer, Shannon meticulously chronicled her pregnancy on Instagram, posting numerous photographs of her holding her ever-expanding stomach. Also went on a shopping spree. buying dozens of baby dresses so, so many toys, even a bikini for an unborn daughter. All this, of course, costs lots of money,

money they didn't have. Shannon and Chris were running up their credit cards, or more accurately, Shannon was. Chris apparently didn't know about the family's financial home. So he just gave all his money to Shannon and just kind of stayed checked out. Oh boy.

Financial infidelity is nasty. I would rather be cheated on than have my finances fucked over. Not that I want to be. Both bad. but if I had to pick. November 3rd, the couple's first wedding anniversary, Shannon threw a baby shower,

posting a photo of her and Chris passionately kissing. But despite the outward appearance of a couple madly in love, some still had misgivings. Shannon and Chris had recently become friends with Jeremy and Jennifer Lindstrom, who had just moved into the neighborhood.

They would visit the Watts's house often, and they wondered if Shannon might have OCD because everything was, like, so organized, like rigidly organized. And they noticed that, Chris did all of the cleaning, all of it. On one occasion, Jeremy arrived to take Chris to the airport, but Shannon made him finish cleaning first, even if that was going to make him miss his flight.

The fuck? That's wild. Another example of someone seeing Chris being treated more like a child than a partner. But Chris, again, didn't seem to mind. To most people, these incidents were just evidence, just proof that the two of them had found the right people to complement their personalities, right, to tolerate their shortcomings. But was that true? Or was Chris afraid to speak up from me?

himself and pushing down more and more resentment. On Monday, December 16th, 2013, Shannon's water broke right after she came off of a night shift. Chris rushed her to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lafayette, Colorado, where she was in labor for 16 and a half hours. I fucking don't know how you ladies do it. Oh, I guess because you have to. Sounds terrible.

Bella Marie Watts, born the following day, December 17th. A few hours after baby Bella arrived, Shannon posted a photograph of Chris holding a new baby, sharing, uh, excuse me, staring proudly at her. On Christmas Eve, Shannon had him dress up in a full Santa Claus outfit, posed next to the Christmas tree with Bella's presents. A week later, she posted on a New Year's message to all her friends and family said, 2013 has been an amazing year. I am truly blessed with our baby girl Bella, my amazing husband and father, Chris Lee Watts.

Chris and I built and purchased our first home together, so much to be thankful for this year. Then she announced that they were already planning a baby brother or sister for Bella. first week of January 2014 Ronnie and Cindy Watts while they floured to Denver to meet their new granddaughter It was the first time they'd seen their son since his engagement And they wanted to mend some fences And established a good relationship with their daughter-in-law Shannon

And it seems like that's what they did The visit went well And they would make return trips to Colorado twice a year But although Shannon continued posting online photo After photo of her and Chris's seemingly idyllic marriage Her mother-in-law continued to worry about her baby boy she saw a different side of the relationship. Chris always seemed anxious,

Cindy would later say. And when she needed something, he would run. He wouldn't walk. He would run. It was very odd. He just seemed nervous. Huh, I don't know. Maybe I've been a little too hard on Cindy.

I'm not sure. Maybe she was right to be alarmed by Shannon. On May of 2014, Chris left Longmont Ford to work as an oil-filled contractor for covenant testing technologies and nearby Greeley, Colorado. Fuck yeah, bro. He finally figured out what matters.

Oil. That is the only thing that matters. You either love oil or you're a fucking piece of shit idiot, ne'er do well. Yeah, that's right. A ne'er do well. Apologies, if there's any children listening. Around that time, Shannon had another lupus flora, probably due to stress and overwork. Or maybe her body was mostly poopous at that time.

It's hard to say, lupus is a mystery. Is lupus related to poopis? It could be. We don't know. in addition to her shifts at children's hospital she also worked part-time at children's place in Colorado Springs as well as doing direct sales for custom jewelry and also instant coffee companies man she loved to have a lot of different irons in the fire with the extra money coming in from Shannon that Shannon made a lot of extra spending followed too much way too much more extra

spending that she could afford the week before Christmas Shannon and Chris signed a lease on a new loaded 2015 Ford Explorer with monthly payments of almost $600. a month. That was on top of their monthly $2,800 mortgage and other growing expenses. Makes me think about advice I got from a financial planner so many years ago that really stuck with me. She said, Joni Hubbard. I don't know where she is. She's retired now. But Johnny said, it's not about how much you make. And she said this when I was making almost nothing. But she said, so I thought, part of me thought she's just saying this to make me feel good. But it was very true. She said it's not about how much you make. It's about how much you save.

Now, if you're not making enough to save to better how fucking tight your budget, that fucking sucks. but a lot of people like this couple here, right, they were making plenty, but they just kept growing their expenses, having them outpaced their earnings, and they were constantly financially stressed unnecessarily. I always just think that's crazy, a crazy way to live. Yeah, the couple's hemorrhaging money compared to what they're bringing in,

and their growing debt will soon catch up to them. On January 10, 2015, Shannon turned 31, announced she was pregnant again on Instagram, so it's going to be even more expensive now. Around the same time, Chris gets hired as an operator, by the Anadarko Petroleum Corporation. Fuck yes. One of Colorado's largest oil and gas drillers.

He gets it. He gets it. More oil, more money. Actually, it's a good job, though. And good benefits. And I have nothing against it. He got better money. The position paid a respectable.

$61,500 a year, which was still far from the zone of comfort with the bills they had. He worked out of Anadarko's Platteville Colorado office, but mainly was out in the field, maintaining scores of oil sites and, you know, dotting the area.

On mid-March, Shannon went online to announce that their new baby was a girl and would be named Celeste. Love that name. May 16th, Chris Watts turns 30. Shannon marks the occasion with a photograph of her and Bella posing with him. Happy birthday to my best friend, my husband, and father of our princess, and soon-to-be princess, she gushed. I hope you have a fantastic day. You are an amazing husband and father to our little girl. We are truly blessed to have you in our life.

Love you, baby. And happy birthday, hashtag dirty 30. Seems like everything was so lovely in their life. But behind the scenes, things were less than happy. Things were very stressful, right? The first week of June, Shannon and Chris filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. They now owed almost $450,000, including $70,000 on credit cards, a bunch of random medical bills, and numerous big student loans.

Holy shit. In their Chapter 7 filing for protection, Shannon and Chris reported that they had less than $10 in their two savings accounts combined $10. and only $860 in their checking account. But so much expenses. Most of their debt came from credit card purchases from a string of retail stores like Macy, Sears, Nordstroms, and Toys R Us. The bankruptcy filing showed their combined 2014 income was $90,000 a drop from the $147,256 of the previous year. Mortgage and car payments ate up most of their $4,910 joint monthly income. the Watts are expecting another child noted their filing and Mrs. Watts will work fewer hours.

Under a Chapter 7 filing, the Watts theoretically would be able to keep their primary vehicles in their house. But anything deemed non-essential could be auctioned off, you know, and the money given to creditors. Also, their credit would be nearly destroyed, making it hard to get any new credit cards or cards with much of a limit for quite some time. Friday, July 17th, Shannon gives birth to Celeste Catherine Watts at a Vista Hospital in Denver. sadly Celeste was sickly diagnosed with this is a tough one Eosanophilic Eosanophilic Eosanophilic Oosinophilic

Osofitiata oh my Jesus Christ Eosanophilic esophagitis An allergic swallowing disorder If you say it a bunch of times I'm sure it's easy Yodina Yosanapelic asophagititis Atalisia esophageia

I don't know it's an allergic swallowing disorder for her first year of life. She had to be put on steroids to help her breathe. But things would get a little better financial-wise. August of 2015, a federal judge agreed

to discharge most of their debt if they just took an online credit course, which seems insane to me. I feel like most people have to do, you know, a lot more to repair their debt than just like take an online class. They hit the fucking jackpot.

They each took the course, each passed, earning a financial management course certificate, and two months later, their bankruptcy was discharged. Just a little, slap on the wrist. Shannon seemed to think that the crisis had been totally avoided.

No big whoop, but spend some more. But the whole thing left Chris feeling pretty anxious. He had had no idea how much death they were in, going all the way back to the wedding, also had no clue had to curtail his wife's continuous spending to keep them from repeating the same mistake. Soon, Shannon will seem to think she had found a solution, though. She had another idea for a side hustle that could be much more lucrative, supplements, poorly regulated, possibly very profitable.

On mid-January 2016, Shannon signed on as a promoter for the lifestyle supplement Thrive, owned by parent company Lavelle, founded in 2013. This Thrive, by the way, not to be confused with Thrive Market, a completely different company

and one of our responses over on Scare to death. Lavell, again, the parent company of this Thrive is spelled like level, but pronounced fans here. It's the next level of level. Very on brand for these guys.

on the surface, Thrive was, still is, a company that sells vitamin C and herbal extracts and more as part of its quote, Thrive Premium Lifestyle Regiment. The vitamins and extracts are packages, capsules, drink mixes, DFT patches, dermofusion technology patches, weren't anywhere in the body.

I might have actually even put on one of these patches at a party once. If you liked it, if you thought Thrive was awesome, you could sell it to other people who knew, who could then see, sell it to other people they knew and so on in one giant glorious pyramid. It's a huge MLM company. And that was how Shannon found her way in.

And before we hear more about Shannon's Thrive Journey, going to be so much Thrive Talk, the rest they suck. Time for today's second and two mid-show sponsor breaks. Thankful listening to those sponsors. Hope you heard some deals you liked. And now let's hear more about the beginning of Shannon's Thrive Journey, her Thrive Exodus. She started taking the supplements to feel better, right?

Stress and multiple jobs for two kids, only barely breaking even each month that had taken his toll on her, you know, fragile health. Immediately after taking some of Thrive's products, she felt better or so she would claim and she convinced Chris to try them. Shannon then started recruiting her friends and family within five days.

She had enrolled two new customers, sold $800 worth of Thrive, earned her a VIP 800 award. Huge, congratulations to Shannon Watts, for smashing her VIP 800 posted her team leader Amanda Aikman on Facebook. This gal is on fire, sharing the Thrive Experience, way to go, Shannon. A lot of capital letters, a lot of exclamation points. A week later, Shannon had achieved VIP600 status.

Fuck yeah. Recruit another two customers making more sales. Later, Shannon would describe her huge aha moment when she woke up one morning at 5.30 and reached for her Thrive Shake. I did two loads of laundry before seven o'clock. she enthused. I had the kitchen rearranged. I was cleaning out cabinets. I made homemade pancakes. I just wanted to enjoy my kids. I died. I love there so fucking much.

Soon Shannon had her parents on Thrive. She didn't say that last part. Posting a photograph of her and Sandy both proudly displaying their DFT arm patches. Like a couple of fucking Thriveheads. She now started posting on Facebook to a growing number of followers about her personal transformation,

claiming she was no longer in pain. She had stopped taking her lupus-poas medication. By her fourth week, Shannon had progressed to 4K VIP status earning over $1,000 in commissions, as well as a free iPod, bitches. This girl's on fire!

Posted Aikman with a lot of R's and fire. She's a dynamo and feeling fantastic. She is running circles around her babies and living the life she deserves. I love to drive! Like any good MLMer. Shannon began contacting all her old high school friends back in North Carolina trying to sign them up.

It was the first time she'd heard from her in years. Most of them were not into it. first time many had heard from her in years this all reminds me of buddy mine at the gym this guy Ty. He started taking peptides I don't know maybe two years ago. Had good results. He's in great shape. And then he figured out how to buy them wholesale.

And he started testing out more of them, taking more of them, had better results. Now he has his own business selling them, excuse me. They're just about all he talks about now. Like just completely obsessed with peptides, peptides, peptide. I'm a peptide, profit. We call him Ty RX, our little gym's resident drug dealer. I hope I like him. I hope he knows what he's doing.

It's not hurting himself. Shannon also enlisted Chris as a thrive promoter, having him recruit his Anadarko workmates. However, Shine withdrawn. Chris was not a natural salesman, so Shannon wrote all his Facebook post for him. By April of 2016, Shannon had advanced to a 12K VIP

to qualify for Lavelle's VIP Auto Club, earning $800 a month towards a new car. She chose a white Lexus, persuaded Chris to trade in his beloved Ford Must. so he could get it. Ronnie, Chris's father, was appalled by this. The Ford Mustang, he felt was Chris's, you know, identity, his personality, his baby, his project,

a link to his past. But Shannon told him to trade it in, and Chris just fell in line and did it. Was he pushing down more feelings of resentment now? Meanwhile, Shannon was busy further establishing herself in the online Thrive community and her natural gift of salesmanship again paying off. She started hosting phone and events to sell the product,

her growing success, gave her a new independence and confidence, despite having worked at hospitals for years. she believed this was evidence that she was directly improving people's lives. Also, she's making a ton of new friends. I love this girl so much, wrote Addie Maloney, another thriver on Facebook. There isn't a more genuine caring soul than Shannon Watts. I'm so happy this company has connected us in friendship. You're pretty intense, girlfriend, and I love it.

On May 31st. Two weeks after Chris's birthday, Shannon marked her four-month thrive anniversary, her thriveversary with a heartfelt Facebook post. My name is Shannon Watts, and this is my name is my name. my four-month thrive experience. I'm a 32-year-old mother of two girls, 10 months and two years old, and married to the love of my life, Chris.

My only motivation to keep going was my husband, Chris, who on his first day of Thrive was a revived person. He beamed with euphoric joy, energy, and the mental clarity that Thrivers all speak of. I wanted to feel as good as him. Throughout the summer of 2016, she would preach the Gospel of Thrive, the Gospel According to Thrive.

Posturing, or posting, excuse me, numerous photographs of her, Chris and their daughters, talking excitedly about the product. Well, maybe not the kids. The 10-month-old, probably not saying a lot of shit about Thrive. But she and Chris saying a lot. On July 17, Shannon throws a party for Celeste's first birthday. Her mom invites Nicole Atkinson, who worked with her in a hair salon. Nicole immediately hit it off with Shannon.

As they had children in the same age, Shannon turned her on, of course, to thrive. And she was soon an integral part of Shannon's Thrive team, her threem. in late July on the 6th year anniversary of Chris and Shannon's awkward first date She celebrated by posting a photo of the happy couple at the Windham Hill swimming pool Sporting their DFT patches Living out Thrive life baby Thriving all the time If you're not thriving you're dying

You've never felt more alive than we thrive That August Shannon and Chris enrolled Bella now too Into the Thrive Academy to get her fucking selling those fucking patches Come on baby Stop crying to start selling that shit No, they enrolled her at the Primrose School of Erie at Vista Rich. School that is still around, long name and all.

Early morning at 8 a.m. Shannon would drop Bella off at the private preschool and collect her at 5 in the afternoon. This allowed Shannon to concentrate more fully on thriving on her growing Thrive-a-prize business during the day and also use pick-ups and drop-offs for a little Thrive promotion. During those times, she chatted to the school's director Amanda Thayer about the benefits of Thrive. It would take Shannon nine months To wear Amanda down And have her join her team But she will

She will feel the fucking thrive She will start dosing preschoolers with Thrive Kid a little too rowdy Hmm Poor little Thrive chill in their sippy cups That's a real thing by the way Kids still crashing too hard When nap time's over

Slap a fucking Thrive DFT recharge patch on their little fucking forehead Kids constipated Nothing little Thrive restore powder can't fix Some kid looks like he's been eating too much packing on too many extra LBs a little too early. Gem of my GLP's sublingual activation strip under his tongue, kill his tiny appetite.

Every problem is solvable with thrive. Feel alive with thrive. I'm pretty sure Amanda was not doing or dosing the kids with those thrive supplements, but all of those are real supplements. What's in them? Doesn't matter. Not important. Thriving is all that matters.

If you're not thriving, you're dying. By September. Shannon progressed to 40K VIP brand promoter taking her to a new Lavelle in the company. Oh, fuck yeah, bro. She's lavelling up with Lavelle. I wish that would have came out better. She now had scores of customers and promoters underneath her

and was thinking of quitting children's hospital and going full time. One of the biggest accomplishments I've ever done, she wrote, next stop, 200K. On behalf of her team, Addy Maloney, congratulated Shannon on, quote, working her butt off. There is no more deserving leader. Shan, you make us so proud.

Your dedication is abundant and it's paying off. To the wider world, it seemed like Chris was just as invested as his wife and thrive. He achieved 12-K status, earning his Lavelle car bonus. But he didn't do much, if any, of the work. Despite Chris not seeming to really care about all this, behind the scenes, Shannon was going to great lengths to present herself and Chris as a team adopting the hashtag of Team Rockstars. She did all the work on his behalf,

posting on social media, staging elaborate Thrive photo ops. That month, she would also start going live on Facebook, beginning and ending a lot of her videos with her catchphrase of, I'm super excited. Here's a few moments from a video reposted on January 26, 2020. Doesn't have her catchphrase in it. Not sure of the original publishing date,

but just to give you a feel for this. Anyone wanting to start the Thrive experience, I have three extra candy cane for you. Herb, I got you cover. Hell yeah. It's so good. Like seriously, mint ice cream.

Green mint ice cream is exactly what it tastes like. Like, amazing. I'm going to actually blend this tomorrow with some ice. She turns and looks at Chris. She was just holding the dog in the background quietly. Ice cream in a cup. She's like, oh, you idiot. Except for it's not green.

But it's delicious. It's really, really, really good. Okay, guys. Tomorrow morning, be prepared. I'm going to go live with cafe and candy cane. Yes. Cafe candy cane.

Happy mama right here, because I'm bacon tomorrow. You guys saw what I'm baking. Should I tell you guys what I'm baking? Listen, you're going to be at work, so you can't taste test. Who wants to know what I'm baking? Krista does a little, like, goofy, like, nod. They are a strange couple.

Like, she is clearly, like, by far the dominant one of the two. And it seems just in, like, little, like, the way she looks at him and turns, it just seems like a little bit like, oh, you idiots. Like, kind of like sitcom-y wife from the 80s, like, oh, you clown like that.

I always hated that vibe. Like sitcoms. He's the bumbling husband. He's a dummy. They have kind of like that chemistry. Soon Thrive would give them something the couple had always wanted, but had never been able to afford

pretty exciting the gift of clairvoyance. Just slap on the Thrive, clairvoyant DFT patch on your third eye See the future. Thrive is life. Thrive is power. Thrive is God. No. The company actually gave them a big vacation. Through the company, the Watts won in all expenses paid getaway to New Orleans. Love New Orleans, where they can meet, distinguished members of the company in person.

The highlight of the Nola trip would be a fancy masquerade ball. So Shannon took Chris shopping for his suit to wear. On Wednesday, October 5th, Shannon and Chris flew out of the Denver airport, posting a photo themselves in the plane shown off of course. horse, their thrive patches. Can't fly without thrive during, playing would have crashed if they didn't have those patches on. During a stopover in Houston, Shannon met fellow team member,

Chrissy McMullen and shared a few more photos on social media. Always got to be posting. After checking into the Hyatt, New Orleans, she and Chris explored the French quarter with her old friend, Christina Meacham, enjoyed a Cajun dinner at Cafe Solet and attended a masquerade ball before the returning to Colorado. Actually sounds awesome. And then with the holidays approaching,

Shannon increased her presence on Facebook. besides holding Thrive promotions for her customers, she now chronicled almost every aspect of her and Chris's apparently idyllic family life. In one Facebook life, she described how Chris became a cleaning machine after taking a new Thrive product. Chris literally cleaned the house while I was out running errands, and then he lifted weights for an hour.

By mid-November, 2016, Shannon was ready for the holidays. She'd already taken Bella and CC to see Santa in a local mall had trimmed her two Christmas trees in the living room as a part of a social media challenge Addie Maloney asked her to share everything she was grateful for every day for two weeks she did that she had no hesitation with her number one

my husband Chris she wrote he is my biggest supporter he's an amazing father to our beautiful girls and the best husband ever it is a weird thing where whenever she's writing about Chris it's so over the top positive but again when you actually see the two together

I will say just from I don't know maybe just my opinion, or my perception, maybe it wasn't entirely true, but she doesn't seem to really respect him. Then become emotional. She writes how he was growing as a person, quote,

My husband is very shy, so we blend very well as individuals because I'm very outgoing and very vocal, whereas he's shy and behind the scenes, so to speak, he's grown a lot in the last couple of months. On December 17th, Bella turned three years old,

Shannon threw her a Princess Sophia theme party. Adorable. Happy birthday. beautiful princess, she posted these three years. You have taught us so much. Your love is pure and innocent. You're an amazing big sister and a wonderful daughter. Love you so much. But the very next day, Bella had to be rushed to Children's Hospital with an ear infection. Fucking, what? I don't understand. How did you get an ear infection? Why couldn't Shannon just, just, I don't know, put a Thrive Rejuvenation and a healing cocktail inside of her? Just like, I don't know,

give her an enema or put a Thrive, Heal, DFT patch on top of her ear. Why just rub a thrive bottle Let the thrive genie That comes out of it heal her with thrive magic Actually both little girls Have been in and out of the doctor's offices In hospitals for months CEC had been diagnosed with a life-threatening nut allergy

After a scary incident Both of them were susceptible to viral infections Made worse by their asthma Got a lot of shit going on But the Watts family would still have a very merry Christmas And on Christmas morning Chris would again dress up as Santa And give Bella and Celeste Their little Christmas presents

Shannon was delighted with the present He bought her a t-shirt with the words wife, mom, boss. I feel like she was probably mostly excited about that last word. January 1st, 2017, Shannon welcomed in the new year with a live broadcast from her Lexus with Chris driving. Throughout that month, Shannon's Facebook Live Lives would become more personal. They'd focus more on Chris and the kids.

She would become emotional when she described her perfect marriage. I like to say perfect marriage. Chris and I have an amazing relationship. She said in late January, relaxing on the deck and her sunglasses, we get each other. I'm definitely the dominant one in the relationship. He is very sweet. He's very calm.

I'm the high-strung one. At the end of January, Ronnie and Cindy Watts arrived in Frederick for two weeks to take care of their granddaughters while Chris and Shannon were in Punta-Kana on another Thrive Sponsored trip. In a couple of days before Shannon and Chris left, she even got her father-in-law to become a thriver. Hail Nimrod! Hail!

Thrived! The nectar of the gods! Yes. A huge shout out. goes out to Ronnie Watts for hitting 4K VIP and 4K rank. Shannon wrote, you were on fire. Oh, Shannon was thrive. In February, Shannon invited Primrose School Director Amanda Thayer and her husband Nick to their house.

They brought along their daughter, Amalie, who immediately bonded with Bella and Celeste. Chris and Nick also got along well, started running together every morning. Two families became very close, meeting up on weekends for kids to play while the adults would relax. Shannon soon turned them on to thrive naturally, and Amanda became a promoter. then at the beginning of April Shannon quit Children's Hospital to devote herself full-time to thrive. Praise be to thrive, God! Hallelujah!

She proudly posted the news on Facebook with a photo of her pediatric ID, officially retired from Children's Hospital, she wrote, turned in my computer and badge. I'm really excited and looking forward to working from wherever my girls are. That actually is very cool. That Easter, April 16th,

Shannon booked a session with a professional photography studio in Denver for a series of family photos. The Watts's pose with a life-size Easter bunny. Shannon uploaded all the photos, of course, to social media over the Easter holiday. What's the point of taking photos if you don't post them?

She also started posting inspirational daily love notes, purportedly from Chris, scribbled and black marker on Thrive lifestyle mix, sachets, the little single serving packets. Oh, he's writing her love notes on Thrive packs. One red strive for greatness. I'm so lucky to have you.

And then dollar sign 80K, 200K. Okay. Another said, determined, strive for greatness. 80K, 200k, no limits, all caps. I love my note. My husband writes every day, she told her followers. But some thought she was writing these notes herself. This was all theater, right? Prepared by the high school drama kid. May 16, 2017, Chris Watts turns 32. Shannon gives him a metallic t-shirt and tickets for

their upcoming show in Denver. I am jealous. I've yet to see them. Shannon streamed him opening his birthday present. What's the point of gifting somebody, something, if you don't stream it? Uh, His gift is wrapped, of course. And it's wrapped and put in a large thrive box. Is there any other kind of box? You have to stay on brand. Oh, you got to be kidding me, said Chris,

as he pulled out a black metallic a Colorado t-shirt. I picture them doing this scene several times and a pair of concert tickets. Are you serious? And then he gives Shannon a big hug. Go. Now, Chris. Seam.

Do it. Action. It seemed like a genuine display of emotion. Actually. From a guy who seemed to express you know, not much. Oh my goodness, he said after they parted. Hell yeah.

On June 50, 2017, Celeste started at the Primrose School nine months after Bella, who is now in pre-K-1, and it's cost them a lot of money. Cost them $25,000 a year for both girls. And so that, you know, even more of a drain on their finances, although Shannon justifies it by saying she will be more productive at home selling so much more fucking thrive. Plus, they figured out that if push came to shove, they could to make some extra money open up an only fans thrive hybrid account where they would get all hopped up on Thrive

to demonstrate its powers and also hardcore fuck. Did you know that you don't need to warm up for anal if you take Thrive? Right? You just got to take enough. You just cover each ass cheek with three to four Thrive DFT hardcore sex patches. Take a Thrive Libito Boost protein shake, drink it enema style, then jamming in.

Also, Thrive was allowing Chris to do things he never thought possible. Did you know if you put two DFT sexual power Thrive patches on each of your balls, four more on your taint, and then he dumped two cups of Thrive Extension powder on your wrecked penis,

you can suck your own dick. Not thriving, you dying! In reality, Chris would also spend the next months working on himself. By taking a fuckload of various Thrive supplements, naturally, not kidding. He lost another 20 pounds,

turning his basement into a gym with weights and an elliptical machine. He was now fanatical about his daily runs and workouts, which Shannon attributed to the glorious power of thrive. Another Thrive getaway at the end of June found her in Toronto where it was announced that the next Thrive

trip would be in October to Puerto Vallarta. No one had ever thrived like she was thriving. Monday, July 17, 2017, Celeste turns two. The Watts is through a big party, but unfortunately, like the last birthday, the festivities would not, would end, excuse me, rather, in a hospital trip. On July 20th, Channel announced both girls were being treated

with a nebulizer for asthma and viral nematitis. I didn't look up that way. pneumonia. I think it's pneumoniaitis. I don't know. God damn it. They clearly weren't eating enough thrive. If they would have only been cool with wearing

Thrive optimal nutrition patches in place of eating old school food, if they would have drank Thrive classic vegan immortality smoothies instead of water they would have never gotten sick. Also, did you know if you ingest nothing but Thrive products for at least 90 days straight, you'll be able to levitate, teleport, and astral project. If you're not thriving, you die in!

As the cost and demands of child rearing increased, Chris found another outlet. He started boofing thrive. Sure, you can wear a patch. You can crush it. You can snort powders and capsules, but don't enter your bloodstream and power you immediately like boof and will. No, that summer, a young woman named Nikki Kessinger. They've been assigned to the Anadarko office where Chris worked. She was curvy and brunette.

She never once talked about Thrive. Each morning, she walked through the break room to put her lunch in the fridge. Chris's wandering eyes would follow her across the room, roving over her body. Around that same time, Shannon was embarking on another leg of her medical journey. Her migraines now become so bad that she decided to have orthoplasty neck surgery to fix a degenerative disc. And the surgery would cost $25,000. Huh, weird. Why couldn't she have just had a surgeon to open up her neck with a little incision and pour a little thrive skeletal restore powder in there?

I feel like that would have fixed her up a little faster and cheaper. On the day of the surgery, doctors made a one-inch incision in her throat area, removed the disc, which was pressing on her spot. spinal cord. Oh my God. That's an intense surgery. A graft was in and inserted to fuse together the bones over and under the disc. She would have to wear a neck brace while she recovered. A day later, Chris announced on Shannon's page that the surgery had been a success. Meanwhile, Shannon already working

for Thrive from her hospital bed. That's insane. In early October, Shannon took off the neck brace. Probably just rubbed some spinal regrow, Thrive powder on her neck. Didn't need that brace. She was preparing for her next trip to Puerto Vallarta with her mom flying in to look after the girls. while since he had started wearing the duo burn thrive patch formulated to burn fat Chris had lost

even more weight and they still sell that patch. October 12th the couple flew to Mexico checking into a hotel room that overlooked the ocean at an 80s glam rock party Chris wore a long frothy wig in the pool they made out like while somebody filmed them of course they had their thrive patches on they seemed to be having an amazing time Shannon looked like she was feeling great but then just a couple months later they didn't seem to be he's hell great. On Christmas Eve 2017, Chris once again put on a Santa Claus outfit.

Shannon was going live for Santa's annual visit, but things were not going according to plan. For a brief moment, a glimpse of what was really going on in the Watts household leaked out to the world. Celeste crying hysterically, Bella wearing a green elf outfit, looking distracted as Shannon turns on

the Christmas tree lights and goes live. That was Chris's cue to enter through the front door. Santa's here, announced Shannon, but the kids are freaking out. Hey, Santa, where's your phone? on top of your car in the garage. Chris replied unenthusiastically, as Shannon flashed him a very disapproving look.

I needed it for the pictures, she said as she went into the garage to retrieve it. Then with her iPhone camera still running, she reversed the lens onto herself. My husband's a genius. She sarcastically snapped. Doesn't listen. After retrieving his phone,

she returned to the front room, placed her iPhone on the floor, so Santa and the tree were in focus, then she went off to find Bella who did not want to meet Santa. Come on, Bella coaxed her mother. Santa has presents. When Bella came into living room, Shannon tried to persuade her to go to Santa for her presents,

but Bella just stared at him and bewilderment. Merry Christmas, Bella, said Santa. Have you been expecting me tonight? Celeste can now be heard crying off camera. As Bella started to open her present, Shannon left to go find her youngest child for family photos. A few moments later, Shannon returned, placed her on Santa's lap next to Bella. Finally, after taking a half dozen photographs of Santa and the girls, Shannon was done. All right, let's take goodbye to Santa.

She snapped. gathering Celeste into her arms. And look, everybody has bad days, parenting stuff, bad moments. But this seemed to be on brand. And again, I've watched some old videos, and she consistently, in my opinion, is just condescending towards Chris,

always annoyed with him. Like, he can't do anything right. And meanwhile, he just takes it. Smile on his face doesn't really change. Doesn't protest, doesn't correct her in any way, but internally, what is he thinking? New Year's Day. 2018 Shannon Watts vowed to double her team's

2017 sales in another post And she already had sold 720,699 worth of Thrive in 2017 Which was twice as much as a year before More than twice as much In early February Shannon and Chris fly to Las Vegas For their fifth lifestyle, Thrive Getaway

They check into the wind hotel, meet up with friends Next morning, Chris and Shannon test drive A Tesla Model S even though they're having A lot of money problems This puts a new idea into Shannon's head back in Colorado. She decided to trade in the Lexus for something better. Out of her and Chris's combined $1,600 car allowance from Lavelle.

I think I'm an Audi girl, she told her Facebook followers, because they're awesome. The problem is, she can't afford an Audi. She can't afford anything. Despite how successful she seemed, she had only earned around $60,000 in MLM money in 2017. Not nothing by any means, but also not the image she was projecting to the world. Meanwhile, Chris earned $62,000 combined they made six figures, but they were still living well outside their means. Very, very rare to make six figures on one person's MLM money, by the way.

According to a recent Federal Trade Commission report, less than 1% of participants in multi-level marketing companies typically earn enough money to make it full-time, you know, like full-time income. An estimated 99% of participants lose money or barely break even after expenses. Despite being in the upper 1%, of all thrive earners, Shannon still not getting rich. In fact, the Watts are falling back into debt. They paid around $25,000 a year for the Primrose School alone again,

as well as mounting medical bills from Shannon's neck surgery, girls overnight hospital stays. It all added up to thousands and thousands of new credit card debt, and here we go again. Then in March, they receive a warning letter from Chase Bank for being three months behind with their mortgage. In desperation, Shannon takes out a $10,000 loan against Chris's 401K, but then new fees just jump out from everywhere. They owed the Wyndham Hill Master Association

a full years worth of monthly dues, and now they face a civil court action. Despite all that, there is no hint of any problem at all in Shannon's aspirational social media posting, just to fake it till you make it, right, attitude. Being so financially irresponsible, not having enough money to keep living the lifestyle, she's promoting in post after post after post,

not on brand. Turning an explorer tomorrow, she wrote at the end of February, and decided on Audi Q7 or Tesla X. For fuck's sake, right? Hearing about people put themselves through this kind of unnecessary financial stress is painful. So much stress for what? Status flexes to impress strangers.

Is that worth it? February 23rd, 2018. Shannon becomes an 80K VIP brand promoter, just one rung below the very highest ranking, the 200k VIP level. She would now earn a 4% commission on the eight levels of customers and promoters below her. She had around 200 customers beneath her,

including 50 promoters, doing about a million dollars in annual sales, which was only going to equal about $40,000 a year. Not nearly as much as I thought, right? Less than she had made the year before because the year before, part of her income was from the hospital job.

March 12th, Bella is back at the Children's Hospital, E&T, with breathing problems. Two days later, she and Celeste both undergo surgery to remove their adenoids. Despite the financial pressure is mounting that spring, Shannon tells his friend, she's trying to get pregnant again, and that Chris wants a boy.

At 3.40 p.m., Tuesday, May 29th, Shannon Watts sets her iPhone and begins filming in her kitchen. Chris is on his way home from work, and she has a surprise for him. First, she steps in front of the camera to show off her new t-shirt with the words, Oops, we did it again, printed across the chest. Chris walked in wearing sunglasses. He stopped mid-strizzrides. He looked at his wife's direction. He seemed confused at first, then started to grin when he saw her t-shirt. We did it again, he asked, walking towards her, giving her a hug off of the outside of

of the camera. I like that shirt. Really? Really? She says. When he steps back in a frame, Chris is holding a pregnancy test and staring at it. So pink means? That's just a test. She says, I know it's it. Chris, is pink and a bee girl? I don't know. It's just a test. That's awesome. Chris says. He leans in, kisses her. I guess when you want to, it happens. Wow. Was he genuinely happy or was he feeling more and more trapped? More and more chained as someone who always wanted more, more, more. On June 1st, Chris Watts meets his crush. He had problems with the computer app controlling the gas monitor sensors out in the field.

So he goes to his health and safety representative, Nikki Kessinger. First time they never spoken directly. She later said she noticed he didn't have a wedding ring on his finger. Why not? He claimed it was because he had recently lost so much weight that it no longer fit. Thank you, Thrive! Shedding both unwanted fat

and unwanted marital fidelity. Seriously, though. Why didn't he just get another one? I don't think he wanted to wear a ring anymore. A week later, June 8th, Shannon put her husband on the newly released Thrive Burn Patch, which supposedly elicited dramatic results. Early next morning, she reposted a text message from Chris wearing a super dad t-shirt.

I cannot stay still, the text said. I vacuumed kitchen, entryways, and mop them. Vacuum downstairs and now moving upstairs. Sounds like Thrive Burns' main ingredient might have been meth. Online, Shannon listed her husband's accomplishments since he'd started infusing from the new patch. Chris just said he's been more talkative since he started hashtag burn. talking to random strangers Hashtag he's an introvert

Shannon's still into her man Also is her man okay Is it good that Chris is talking to random strangers And he can't sit still Or is he cracked the fuck out What is that shit doing to his brain Four days after that post on June 12 Chris and Nikki Kessinger

Had their first deep conversation He explained how he'd moved there From North Carolina How he had two daughters He took out his cell phone Showing her a photograph Of Shannon and the girls on the lock screen but then he told Nikki

he and his wife were separating. A few hours later, Custinger sent him an email. Chris, thank you for being honest with me this morning. Truthfulness is so underrated in our culture. Saludos cordiales. Nicky. Hour later, Chris replied,

Nikki, I'm a straightforward guy. Lying just complicates things. I think you're absolutely stunning. And from what I've learned about you so far, you seem like an amazing person. I hope to continue to get to know you better since we have a lot in common. Man, looks like he was getting better

at meeting people. He is thriving. in ways Shannon did not anticipate. Always nice to find people you can relate to, Kessinger replied. I enjoy talking to you as well. I feel understood. I'm looking for someone to build a beautiful life with. Seems so simple, but it's unrealistic sometimes.

Build something similar to what you've done with your wife and those cute little girls. I do believe in karma, so out of respect for myself, you and your family, I think it is best if we keep the friendship at work. Less than two hours later, Watts replied, Christopher Watts, in all caps. Holy fuck I'm wired right now. I thrive, burn. You're only supposed to take one passage at a time, but I have 20 or 50. All right now. I lost count. I also opened up a wormhole of my soul and step through it to the other side. It's so dark over here. Some of the creatures I can see are scary, but I can also manipulate time.

I think I can go back and undo my marriage and Shannon and the children. Oh, the darkness cannot consume you when the Lord of Light is thrive. Here's what he really texted. Yes, a beautiful life is something that is hard to find in this world since people always seem to have an agenda for everything. I do believe in karma, so I agree with that as well. any conversations we have will stay between us no need to worry here hmm uh he then gave her his work number in case you needed to get a hold of him in the field saying the email service would be could be spotty out there and that was the last message

they would exchange on their work emails but they would keep talking on father's day june 17th as shannon made post after post extolling chris's virtues to facebook uh chris added nicky kessinger's mobile number to his work phone contacts knowing and Shannon constantly checked his personal iPhone. He was smitten with Kessinger, but he was waiting for Shannon and the girls to go to North Carolina for the summer, a trip that would last six weeks

before he made his next move. In the meantime, before the trip, there would be another Thrive getaway to San Diego, of course. Always Thrive. Thrive is life. Thrive is God. If you ain't praying to Thrive, God, you're licking some second-rate vitamin demons nuts.

On Tuesday, June 26, Chris and Shannon flew back to Denver. Then they arrived home to, Not the best news. They'd gotten a letter from the Wyndham Hill Master Association, ordering them to appear in Weld County Court on August 24th for failing to pay almost $700 in homeowners' dues. The association now suing them for a total of over 1,500,

including attorney's fees and court costs, and they chose to ignore it. That same afternoon, Chris drove Shannon, her father and the girls back to the Denver airport for the flight to Charlotte, North Carolina. Then he returned home, and immediately called Nikki Kessinger, arranging to meet her the following afternoon after work.

and so less than 24 hours after dropping off Shannon and the girls Chris Watts met Nikki at a nature preserve near her house in North Glen, Colorado. Sitting down on a bench by the lake, Nikki asked when he had decided to separate from his wife. Chris said it was in late March, and since then they had not slept together because he's a truthful guy, you know.

He said that they were putting their house up for sale and sorted out their finances. Again, because he's so truthful. She asked why he had asked for divorce, which he hadn't, and he replied that Shannon was, quote, bossy. When Nikki asked what he meant by Bossy, Chris replied that she was extremely controlling

and that she constantly belittled him in front of the kids. That part might be true. He said that the final straw came when Bella and Celeste started to repeat Shannon's words back to him, mirroring their mother's disrespectful tone. Only time he tried to stand up for himself, he said, she threw him out of the house for the night, and he avoided further confrontation after that.

After several hours, they went back to Nikki's house. Chris brought two packets of condoms with him, one unopened, the other parts she used. Fucking weird. Why would you bring a opened condom container? When she questioned him why one of the packets was open, fair question. He said he got them when he and Shannon were still having sex, and they'd been gathering dust in a closet.

And I'm not sure that that answers her question. Nikki apparently wasn't bothered by the answer, though, because she still slept with him. Next day after work, Chris drove back to Nikki's house. He had sex again. No condom. This time, he just put a thrive. No more babies' DFT patch on his shaft.

She told him out of sex That she was going out of town And we'll be back on her birthday July 3rd Sleeping without your warm body next to me Is not going to be fun tonight He texted He spent the time she was gone fantasizing about road trips

Going to see drag races together Probably beat an awful lot Being in your life is something that I crave He texted Nikki on Sunday afternoon July 1st July 3rd was Nikki's 30th birthday Chris arrived at her house bearing flowers in a birthday car

With a poem he'd written Your energy is so insane you heat me up you make me melt and then you cool me down like rain Thrive his life Not the last sentence He also wrote her a love letter Big things will happen this year

Redd dreams will come true That smile that stare that laugh That giggle gets me every time You are truly an amazing inspirational An electric woman That takes my breath away Every time I see you Oh fuck

The next morning July 4th Chris wakes up in Kessinger's bed To find Shannon had called it About a dozen times Goes outside to call her back Shannon said the girls wanted to talk to him. When he told her that he'd been asleep, she allegedly said, screw you

and hung up. Chris then headed home, called Shannon and the girls maybe kind of smooth things over. Then calls Cassinger, invited her over to help him set up a new fitness app she told him about. Balsy, to do that in front of the neighbors. When she arrived, Chris took her on a tour of the house. She wondered how the family could possibly afford such luxury. Well, about that. They can't, actually.

If you look at their credit card history, they actually can't. Then they went down to the basement. where she set up the fitness app. He told her that he lost a bunch of weight taken Thrive and of course he recommended it. Oh yes, the Thrive train won't quit. Indeed, during their time together, she never saw Chris without at least

two Thrive Patches on his biceps, triceps, or lower back. You're always supposed to take one. But one's no fun! Do you want to dip your toe into the Thrive Pool? Or do you want to take off all your clothes jumping and wear that shit like a second fucking skin? If your blood isn't at least 50% thrive nutrients, what the fuck are you doing with your life?

life that afternoon. They parted away, so Chris go to a baseball game. Then Nikki waited for some other dudes to show up. She was not just dating, Chris. She'd actually set up two dates on the E-Harmony app for that night. Right? She is not as serious about him as he is about her. Neither one turn up, though, so she's like, okay, Chris can come over, and he fucking

runs over and does not leave. Over the next five weeks, Chris Watts spends every night at Nikki Kessinger's house, having sex, watching movies, only goes home to change clothes and eat dinner. No. when he's not at work. He is obsessed with her, as obsessed as Shannon was with Thrive. Speaking to Shannon, her calls to Chris now mostly go unanswered. Chris seems distracted during their nightly FaceTime sessions with the girls. On July 7th, he takes Nikki to see the new Jurassic Park movie. There, Chris tells her that he's in love with her, says he had never been able to open

up to anyone like he had been with her. He said she made him think about the future in an excited way, not with dread. Nikki, unfortunately, has fallen in love too. But she tells him, that he has to secure his divorce before things go any further. Meanwhile, over North Carolina, Shannon and the girls are spending the weekend with the extended Watts family. Chris's sister, Jamie Lynn Williams,

brings her two kids, Dalton, 10, and Dylan seven, brings them over to the parents' house for the afternoon. Everything's fine, everyone's getting along great, until Dylan goes to the fridge for some ice cream. And then Shannon walks into the kitchen and is horrified to find her daughter Celeste, also about to eat ice cream,

which Shannon later claimed contained extracts of tree nuts. but her mother-in-law Cindy will assist did not. It was just plain vanilla, vanilla, no nuts. But Shannon was fucking furious. She thought Jamie and Cindy had put her kids in grave danger, and she called her dad to come pick her up ASAP. That seems like a bit much to me.

As soon as she got to her parents' house, she called Chris to tell him what had happened. He told her to calm down. He'd take care of it, but then he didn't do anything. Next day, Shannon called Chris out to work. She again tells him, you have to confront your parents about what she half jokingly referred to as Nutgate. That's pretty funny.

But Chris did not want to challenge his parents this time. He told Shannon, well, the night before, you know, what his parents had done, you know, was not fucking cool at all. But since then, he cooled off. He actually didn't think it was that big of a deal. It was just vanilla ice cream. And now he starts to avoid more of her calls than ever. Texting that he is swamped with work. But of course, he's actually swamped with something entirely different.

Nikki and Chris were, in fact, very busy. Fucking a whole bunch. exchanging nude selfies of each other when they're not fucking. To make sure Shannon never finds the nude photos, Chris downloaded a secret calculator app into his iPhone that allows you to, I guess, hide photos and videos. Has some kind of password required to find that part of the app? I don't know.

July 21st, he had Nikki go to watch drag races at the Bandamere Speedway, stopping for lunch at the rooftop tavern and Morrison. It was Chris's first time back at the track since he was a kid. He loved every minute of it. So did Nikki. 117 p.m. Tuesday, July 24th, Nikki Googled, Man I'm having a fair with says he will leave his wife. She apparently now had hopes that the relationship was going to actually lead to marriage.

And she spent the next several days online searching for wedding dresses. Jesus. Shannon, meanwhile, growing more and more suspicious. Chris rarely answered his phone now. He gave Shannon intentionally boring lies to explain what he was doing when he couldn't answer the phone, like saying he was getting air put into his tires on the car. you could have answered her texted back, wrote Shannon. Thought something happened, but you don't care about others' feelings, no consideration of others. Chris doesn't reply.

He's busy Googling the Victoria's secret website. Dude is just fucking busy blowing up his life. Not getting a response, Shannon fires off another text. I realized during this trip what's been missing in our relationship. It's only one way emotions and feelings. You don't consider others at all. Not think about others' feelings or nor think. But hadn't she just been singing his praises nonstop online for years?

crazy how different the life we post can be from the life we live, right? Chris apologized after that text. Said he loved her, but Shannon insisted, yeah, they needed to talk. And she's clearly not wrong. I kept looking at my phone all night and no response from you, she said. Like, seriously, we didn't just start dating yesterday. We've been together eight years and have two and a half kids together. Yeah, she's not wrong.

Chris doesn't care, though. He's thinking about other things. When Nikki suggested a camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, Chris is delighted. He'd never been camping before. but always wanted to go. It would also be their last weekend together before he had to leave for North Carolina

for a week with Shannon and the girls. On Saturday morning, they set off early in Kessinger's Toyota four-runner for the four-and-a-half-hour drive south to Alamosa, Colorado. To cover his tracks, Chris told Shannon he was going on a weekend hike with a co-worker. We'll be out of cell phone contact.

I'm sure she didn't find that explanation, suss at all. In the park on his camping trip, it started raining, but Chris and Nikki toughed it out, taking selfie to themselves, kissing with the sand dunes in the background, That night they took shelter from a rainstorm in their tent, whispering back and forth that they love each other. Uh-oh.

On Sunday morning, they went sandboarding. Chris replaced his iPhone home screen of Shannon and the girls with a photo of the sand dunes. Then they began the long drive back in late morning, stopping off at BJ's brewhouse in Colorado Springs for lunch. Watts snuck off, left his wife a voicemail. Finish the hike, packing up and heading home. Then he ignored a whole string of calls from Shannon, who finally texted him that afternoon. I'm assuming you're safe, considering it's been three and a half hours. There was a car fire, he replied, and the Renaissance Festival traffic in Colorado Springs.

Just got our car headed home. It was another two hours before he finally answered her calls. After hanging up, Shannon sent him a sarcastic text. Sorry you're so tired, but I haven't talked to you in 48 hours, and I had a hard weekend. If you care. Ten minutes later, he responded, I'm sorry you had a hard weekend, boo. I will make it up to you, I promise. I'm sorry, I'm out of it tonight.

July 30th, 2018. Chris is last night in Colorado before he joined his family in North Carolina for a week. He spent the night at Nickies, of course. Early to the next morning, Chris Watts arrived at the Denver International Airport,

dropping off the Lexus at the long-term parking lot. Then he took a photo of the car park sign, texted it to Shannon with the words at the airport. While waiting at the gate, he transferred dozens of photos and videos of Nikki

at the Great Sand Dunes into his secret calculator bullshit calculator app thing. At 4 to 46 a.m., he texted Shannon on the plane love you boo she immediately texted back complaining that a long-term car park would cost $16 a day you never even listen to me she wrote a hundred and thirty dollars we can't spend at the beach five hours later wads landed at the raleigh durham airport texted Shannon who was there waiting with the girls let me know when you're coming down the us

litter so i can record girls she texted him despite the turmoil she still wants to create more family content about how loving they all are all about the brand Although it was the first time Chris had seen his family for five weeks, he seemed cold and distant when they reunited. Over a long Italian dinner that night, he hardly spoke, a peer distracted. Shannon wanted to know what the fuck is up. Back at the Rusex house, Chris and Shannon went outside to talk on the porch. He immediately noticed he had replaced a photo of her and the girls on his iPhone

lock screen with sand dunes. When she asked why, he was evasive. Then later the night, he refused to have sex with her, saying he didn't feel like it. Then he left her in the bedroom, going back outside to call Nikki. Ooh. Next morning, Frank Rusek drove Shannon, Chris, and his granddaughters to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, where they'd rented two condos for a five-day vacation. The plan was for Frank to stay a couple of days, go back to Aberdeen.

Then Shannon's mom, Sandy, would join the rest of the rest of the time. Ronnie Watts had taken a week off work, so he and Sydney could join them as well. But then Shannon refused to allow them to come still blaming them for Nutgate. Ridiculous. Chris spent the first day their beach vacation stewing over there. That's back at the condo that night, he went out for a walk, spent more than an hour on the phone with Nikki. Meanwhile, Shannon called her friend Christina Meacham, who was in Hawaii to complain that she no longer recognized her husband, who refused to touch her, was pushing her away all the time. Next morning, Shannon texted Meacham that she thought Chris might be angry.

He's been so closed off and only focused on his food, she wrote. Kiss me once since he's been here, not grabbing my ass, hug, or anything. I want to cry. that night while Shannon stewed in their bedroom Nikki and Chris spent almost an hour and a half talking to the phone again Chris refused to have sex with Shannon preferring to do push-ups in the bedroom instead Kids in bed a frustrated Shannon text to Christina

I took a night shower means I want sex and he knows it he's over here doing a push-up challenge instead of discussing anything or fucking me I'm over here crying in silence girl stop him replied Christina tell him don't cry in silence that's not good for your baby I can't do this Shannon texts is back. Not three alone. He's never been like this. Five point five ducking weeks, no sex, unless he is getting it somewhere else. Finally, she confronted him. And he told her he was upset

that his parents had been banned from coming to Myrtle Beach. But she wouldn't relent. I told him over my dead body. Shannon later told Christina, they don't get to disrespect me and him and his kids and get rewarded. Okay, it was fucking ice cream. Later that day, Chris decided to invite his parents to Myrtle Beach to see the kids. When Shannon found out, she is livid. He then, and backed down immediately and uninvited them, but then that night he called them, saying that he wanted a separation. Guessing they didn't push back on that.

Then he called Nikki again. Maybe something she said gave him the courage to stand up to Shannon again because that's what he did. They have a screaming confrontation. They go to different bedrooms to sleep that night. It got ugly. Shannon texted Christina. Truth came out. Getting no reply from Christina, who was six hours behind Hawaii.

Shannon wrote a long text to Chris expressing exactly what she thought. She told him to his parents' home was no longer a safe zone for Bella and Celeste. You can let them tell you what you want, she wrote. You can believe I created this dagger, but I didn't do that. These kids are my world. I have to protect them from the evil of the world.

I shouldn't have to protect them from evil family. Evil family, because they had some vanilla ice cream in the freezer that might have, but probably didn't have something that one of the grandkids was allergic to. I know that Shannon is one of the victims in this story, but that doesn't mean she can't also be just such a flawed human being. she just comes across is so manipulative and emotionally abusive to me such a melodramatic potster and control freak Shannon then told Chris

Not that Chris is looking good at all right now Shannon told Chris that he had changed texting something changed when I left You may be happier alone and that's fine You can be alone Next day things are frosty Although staying in the same condo Shannon and Chris are solely communicating via text now

So they don't argue in front of the daughters and Shannon's mom These kids mean the world to me and always will. Chris replied early Saturday morning. I'm sorry for the way I've been acting. It's just been in my head. I haven't been right at all. I do not deserve to be treated the way you have.

Shannon texted him back. I have defended our daughter. Kristen, thanks Shannon. Quote a million times a million for protecting Cecee, but added that his parents still wanted to be in their granddaughter's lives and should be able to be. Shannon demanded that his parents apologize for not attending Celeste's birthday party back in mid-July now

right after Nutgate. As she did this, Shannon also gave Christina a play-by-play of how this all went down and also added something else. She texted that she felt physically ill and didn't know why. Chris Watts later admit that he had become so desperate to leave Shannon and start a new life with Nikki that he was grinding oxycodone tablets into a powder, putting that into her thrive protein shakes in an attempt to make her fucking miscarry, figuring it would be easier to leave if she wasn't pregnant. That's dark. Several times Shannon complained to Christina of chronic constipation.

a common symptom of opioid use. On the last day of the disastrous Myrtle Beach trip, Chris and Shannon took the kids to Pavilion Park, photographing them as they jumped on some trampolines. And then the next day, they drove back to Aberdeen in silence. And afterwards, Shannon texted Christina. I told him to find a place when we get back, and I'm putting a house on the market.

He said nothing. I need to move out of Colorado, she added. Too expensive to live alone with three kids. I'm not moving to North Carolina. Despite those texts, Shannon was not completely decided on divorce him, though. excuse me a day or so later she texted him desperately I don't know how you fell out of love with me

in five and a half weeks or if this has been going on for a long time but you don't plan another baby if you're not in love kids don't deserve a broken family when I left you you couldn't take your hands off me you show up and I have to practically ask you for a kiss in the airport I mean yeah it's fucked up

the text arrived when Chris was in the middle of a 90 minute call to his girlfriend so he doesn't answer Shannon texted again writing being away from you I miss the smell of you. You touching me when I'm cooking. You touching me in bed. You touching me, period.

I missed holding you and snuggling with you. I missed eating with you. Watching TV with you. I miss staring at you. I missed making love with you. I missed everything about you. If you are done, she wrote, don't love me, don't want to work this out,

not happy anymore and only staying because of the kids. I need you to tell me. I mean, fuck. Yeah, fair. Around midnight, when there was still no response, Shannon sent him one final message. I just don't get it. You don't fall out of love

in five weeks. How can you sleep? Our marriage is crumbling in front of us and you can sleep. If she wasn't decided about the marriage being over, despite really not liking certain aspects of her personality, I do feel so terrible for her now over how devastating this must have been. Chris certainly was decided. He was done, done. At a Watts family reunion, which he attended alone without his wife and kids, she actually seemed happier and lighter than his family had seen him since before he had met Shannon. He told his family that he wanted a separation and would soon be filing for joint custody of Bella and Celeste. Back at the Rusek, Shannon confronted Chris once again, and he dropped the bomb, or well, he dropped one bomb, not the most explosive one. He said he didn't

want the new baby, and Shannon burst into tears. A few minutes later, she texted her husband, I was trying to get you to fucking hug me, make me feel safe. This is much deeper than lack of conversation. Makes me feel like everything is going to be okay. Or, no, sorry, make me feel like everything's going to be okay. It will be okay. Chris calmly texted back. This will all get fixed. No, I don't need words, damn it. You just told me you don't want this baby, she texted. Something changed in the last five weeks.

Something you won't say. I'm scared, okay? Chris wrote, you wanted the truth and I told you how I felt. You didn't share the whole truth. Chris and Shannon arrived back home late at night in early August. After they had put the girls to bed, Shannon texted Christina that she wanted sex, but was feeling insecure and scared of being rejected again. He's in the shower, she wrote.

I just got out. I'm so horny. I'm sure he, I'm sure even. if he hates me, sex is sex. Christina told her, stay naked and go for it. How do I approach him? You should jump in the shower with him.

Go wash his back. Okay, he's getting out. Pray I get sex tonight. A couple hours later, Shannon texted that Chris had spurned her advances, and she had been bawling her eyes out for an hour and was still trembling. Just went and woke his sorry ass up,

she wrote, and asked him who he was sleep with. He denied anyone. Next morning, Chris went back to work. When he arrived at the Anadarko, headquarters that morning. Chris went straight into Lake Luke Eppel's office, closed the door, told his boss that he and Shannon were having issues. He said if anything was weird on his company truck's GPS,

it was only because he was staying with a friend. Watts also asked for Friday off to take Shannon to the airport. She was going to Arizona for Lavelle training weekend, more of that thrive life. After getting off work, Chris drove to Nikki's house. First time they'd seen each other more than a week and they had enthusiastic sex. After he left to take Shannon for her Ultrasound, Nikki Googled,

Marrying Your Mistress. Meanwhile, during the ultrasound session, Chris and Shannon were given a sealed envelope with the baby's gender inside. Back at 2825 Saratoga Trail, Shannon gave the sealed envelope to her friend Nicole Atkinson, who had been watching the girls

to bring it to the upcoming gender reveal party. Later that night, after she and Chris fought, she called Nicole and canceled the party. Right? What a fucking nightmare. Just after 6 a.m., Thursday morning, August 9th, Shannon sent Chris another text, said she still wanted to repair their marriage. Do you want to find out together with me tonight?

The baby gender, she asked. Yes, he replied. Please take five minutes today to write me, replied Shannon, and tell me how you're feeling. I love you, Chris, more than you know. God, this is so sad. That same morning, Chris Watts deleted his Facebook account when his father asked if he had done it

because he and Shannon were done, a jubilant Chris, replied, yes, sir, liberated. At 1144 a.m., he sent Shannon at a bizarre folk One of the girls' dolls lying on their sofa with a sheet covering like a burial shroud. The fuck? Puzzled. She immediately posted it on Facebook saying, I don't know what to think about this. Yeah, that's creepy.

Then Shannon went on Amazon, ordered Dr. Sue Johnson's best-selling self-health book, Hold Me Tight, Seven Confessions for a Lifetime of Love to be delivered to Chris on Saturday while Shannon was in Scottsdale. Also grabbed an e-book for herself. That night, Shannon and Chris had their own gender reveal party. which she recorded and later posted on Facebook. It was a boy, and they decided on the name Nico Lee Watts. They talked, and according to Shannon's text,

to friends, Chris agreed to stay and work things out. He kissed her before going to sleep in the basement, which she thought was a good idea. But it wasn't. Not at all. Down in the basement, Chris opened a new box of DFT patches he had opened from Thrive, part of their new, still being beta-tested line called Family Be Gone. And, of course, that's not real.

Do you hear me, Thrive Lawyers? I said it's not real. Thrive his life. Down to the basement, what Chris really did was call his mistress Nikki, and they talked for more than an hour. Then he Googled prices for an Audi Q7 before transferring the latest batch of nude selfies from Kessinger into his secret app.

Fuck. For 30 a.m. Friday, August 10th, Shannon's friend Nicole Atkinson picks her up to take her to the Denver airport for the Thrive Promoter Training Weekend in Scottsdale. Shortly thereafter instead of reading the loving letter that Shannon had left on the counter. Chris called Nikki to set up a Saturday night date. Then he called his friend Jeremy Lindstrom.

see if his 17-year-old daughter McKenna would be available to babysit saying he'd want a work raffle to go to a Rockies game Around lunchtime Shannon received confirmation from Amazon that the hold me type book had been delivered

she texted Chris to check his mail he did he finds the book and throws it in the trash dude needed a therapist you know he's probably been pushing again down a lot of resentment

for a real long time and then in half a summer man it bubbled up and he went from punching bag and a doormat to self-stice that are cold-blooded asshole. After tossing his gift in the trash,

it was off to run some errands. Just after 3 p.m., Chris met co-worker and friend Troy McCoy. That's an interesting name. Really? Last name of McCoy, and your parents are like, let's put Troy on there.

Troy McCoy. All right. It does sound, it does sound nice. It does sound pretty nice, actually. In a Safeway parking lot. Meet him there in Ford Lepton to learn how to use his new Amazon Firestick TV.

During their conversation, McCoy takes a call from Cody Roberts about a leak on the Survee 319 oil well. which could wait until Monday. Overhearing, Chris, you know, perks up, immediately enthusiastically volunteers to fix it first thing Monday, even though he had promised to take his daughter Bella to her first day of kindergarten that day,

and this may have indicated some dark planning on Chris's part. Some premeditation. Remember that name, Servi 319. That night, Shannon has dinner with her promoter friends at the yardhouse in Scottsdale around the same time. Chris fed the girls before he put him down for bed. then he went online to plan his date with Kessinger. While he was Googling upcoming shows at the Comedy Works in Denver,

oh man, love that club. Shannon is searching Groupon for hotel deals in Aspen, hoping she and Chris can use the vacation to work on their marriage. She books a room for the two of them for the following weekend at the Weston Snowmass Resort. Around 9 p.m. Watts calls Kessinger, tells her that he and Shannon's transition will begin on Monday when she returned from her business trip.

Hmm, what does he have in mind for that? 12.40 a.m. Saturday morning, Watts texted Nikki. Hope you had a great night, beautiful, miss you. Get home safe. Sweet dreams, my sexy empanata. At 9.30 a.m., Nikki Kessinger starts preparing for upcoming date. She spent around 45 minutes, Googling anal sex and how to prepare for it. Then she went on Porn Hub, search for threesome with double penetration and interracial porn. 4.25, really, a lot of preparation. 4.25 p.m. Jennifer Lindstrom drops off her daughter McKenna to babysit Bella, and Celeste. Chris gives her a tour of the house before giving Bella and Celeste already in their pajamas, their medicine. He instructs McKenna to put them to bed at 7 p.m. showing her the baby monitor hooked up to cameras in their rooms so she could keep an eye

on them. Then he ordered a pizza from Papa Johns. All through the evening, Shannon, who was spending her training weekend, mostly hold up in her hotel room, reading Hold Me Tight and writing letters to Chris, texted McKenna checking it on the girls. Also asked McKenna to babysit the following Friday because she and Chris, you know, heading to Aspen for a, you know, a romantic weekend. Meanwhile, Chris drove straight to Nikki's house, dressed casually in a white t-shirt and jeans,

over a salmon dinner at a local restaurant. They discussed Chris's plan to rent a two-bedroom apartment when he moves out. Chris then gets a check, pays for it with a light blue credit card. The one link to his joint account was Shannon. First time, he had not used his Anadarko rewards card for a date. Did he know she would see the charge? Did he want her to see it, or was it a mistake? Either way, she did see it.

She received a bank alert charge of $68 for a $7. salmon dinner immediately was suspicious. It seemed like an unusually high price for one person in the restaurant. The lazy dog was just 15 minutes away. Why wasn't he home until 10 p.m.? When McKenna texted Shannon that she had left? Well, because he was having wild sex with Nikki Kessner at her house. Shannon called Chris, who by then was on his way home, asking what he had eaten for dinner.

He said salmon and a beer. Then she went on the lazy dog website, found out that the meal would cost less than 30 bucks. Of course, more suspicious, rightfully so. Sunday, August 12th now. Dawn's with a change for Shannon. Though she had her suspicions about Chris's cheating, she'd also read most of the Hold Me Tight book and resolved to be nicer to him.

She decided to start wearing Thrive, Irrational, empathy, and kindness DFT patches. They'd leave you feeling happy and acting sweet towards others no matter what they're doing to you. You could be being chased out on alley by a serial killer. And instead of worrying about your own safety, you're just hoping that they thought to put on good shoes and weren't damaging their knees

or hurting their feet with all that aggressive running. sorry hard for me to stop being ridiculous about Thrive For real though She was trying To see things

From Chris's perspective Observing to friends That he never complained About the way she treated him Meanwhile Nikki Kessinger Was updating her friends too Keeping it a secret

She texted Dude loves to eat pussy Never met a man Who does till now I just let it happen LOL Well alright 4pm

Chris drove Bella and Celeste home From birthday party Feeding them cold pizza From the night before An hour or so later, Chris texted Cody Roberts about his plans to check on the oil leak the next morning. Meanwhile, 900 miles away, Shannon Watts is having an early dinner with her friends before boarding her plane home. She will soon find out that her plane has been delayed due to a bad storm.

While she's waiting at the gate, she composed a rough draft to what she planned on telling Chris when she got home. At 9.28 p.m. Shannon called Chris, but he doesn't answer because he's in the midst of a two-hour call to his girlfriend. Shannon and Nicole finally arrived at the Denver airport 1245 a.m. Monday morning. At 2 a.m. that morning, Nicole dropped Shannon off at her home at 2825 Saratoga Trail, right in Frederick, Colorado, waiting to leave until she's safely inside. Despite the late return, Nicole would be up that morning by 7.45, ready to begin the day. Normally after business trips, Shannon was ready to go early as well, hounding Nicole to make calls, send emails, etc. But Shannon didn't call, and Nicole started to worry. All through the morning, Nicole texted and called Shannon without any response.

Shannon did not post on social media either, which was very unlike her. Nicole also knew that Shannon had a 9 a.m. prenatal doctor's appointment and had been looking forward to hearing her baby's heartbeat for the very first time. After calling the doctor's office, finding Shannon had not kept the appointment. Seems like a hip-a violation, but okay. Nicole knew something was very wrong. Finally, midday, she drove over to Shannon's house. And after ringing the door mail, getting no answer, despite seeing Shannon's white Lexus in the garage, she called Chris. I'm worried about Shannon, she tells him.

Her car is here, but she's not at home. Do you know where she's at? Weirdly, Chris, who's at work, checking on an oil well, seems completely unconcerned. He said Shannon had taken their girls to a friend's house on a play date, although he couldn't remember which friend. And then suddenly unprompted, he informed Nicole that he and Shannon were separating and selling their house.

And Nicole thought that was weird as fuck. Your personal stuff is none of my business, she told him. That's not my concern right now. Where's your wife? Chris said he was too busy to talk and then just hung up. and now Nicole felt very uneasy. And she's not the only one. Shannon's mom, Sandy Rusek.

Several friends had also been trying and failing to reach Shannon that morning. They too had spoken to Chris, were shocked by his apparent lack of concern for his wife and kids. Shortly after Chris hung up on her outside the Watts House, Nicole held a conference call with Sandy and several friends decided on how to proceed.

The decision was unanimous. Put on a fucking thrive patch for better thinking, faster decision-making. No, call the cops now. And that was a right call. at 136 p.m. Nicole Atkinson called the non-emergency line of the Frederick Colorado Police Department, which transferred her to the Weld County Dispatch Center. Four minutes later, Officer Scott Coonrod of the Frederick Police Department was dispatched to 2825 Saratoga Trail to carry out a welfare check, pulled up at 1.50 p.m., turned on his body cam. Nicole and Nicholas Atkinson, her teenage son, both greeted him. She filled him in on what had happened that weekend, how Shannon was pregnant and vulnerable, when he told his wife, when he was told, when he was told,

that his wife was missing. Chris kept insisting they were getting a divorce, even though Shannon hadn't told anyone that, uh, that information and Nicole had not asked. When the officer asked Nicole to call Chris for the garage passcode and permission to enter, she did. She told Chris the police were at the house and they couldn't get in. And instead of giving her the code, also suss, Chris replied he's only five minutes away. And now as they waited for him, young Nicholas told officer Coonrod that he was suspicious of Chris Watts. We know he's been lying, said the team, because the story not adding up. He's been telling us a lot of different stories. I mean, I don't see anything out of place, said Officer Coonrod. I'm not hearing kids. I'm not hearing anything. At 207 p.m.

Chris Watts pulls up outside in his Anadarko truck, his work truck, calmly strolls over to Officer Coonrod, introduced himself, shakes hands. He then opened the garage with his remote, goes inside to open the front door where he invites Officer Coonrod in, says he's going to take out the dog Dieter. As the police officer looks around, Nicole tells him to check the security camp and see what time Shannon had left, noting Chris had told her Shannon had gone on a play date with the kids, but he had said to Addie Maloney that she had left in the middle of the night. Oh, no, said Watts dismissively.

She didn't leave the middle of the night. The trio kept looking around, winding up in the master bedroom where the curtains were drawn and all the bedding was piled up in the corner. Nicole immediately heard alarm bells. She knew Chris, still the laundry, so if Shannon was still asleep and when he left for work, why was the bed stripped?

A few minutes later, Officer Coonrod and the others go next to the next to her. door to neighbor Nathaniel Trina Stitch's house to watch his CCTV camera, the video of the driveway outside of the watches garage. And there they see the 517 AM video of the Anadarko truck back and into the driveway. Chris explained he had loaded his truck with things needed for work, but the same camera did not show Shannon leaving with the kids. So where the fuck are they? At 2.35 p.m., Detective Dave Baumhover from the Frederick Police Department arrived at 2825

Saratoga Trail. the two officers, Baumover and Coonrod, go up into the master bedroom where they don't find signs of foul play. What's going on? For the next several hours, Coonrod, canvases the neighborhood, asking people if they've seen anything suspicious

but nobody had. As social media lit up with calls from Shanahan's Thrive community to pray for her safe return, the police continued their search of the house. Watts signed a consent form, also saying they had, quote, free reign to do whatever you've got to do.

After the cops left, friends started to arrive to offer their support and brainstorm things for Chris to do, but he seemed evasive. He said he didn't want to make himself look guilty by contact in the media and that the police had told him not to go out looking for his wife and kids.

But did they say that? After the friends left, Chris called Nicky Kessinger, of course. And the rest of that night, he cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Dude actually probably was fucking hopped on Thrive for that. Feel not Thrive, burn! Meanwhile, back at the Frederick Police Station,

Officer Matthew James is calling Shannon's friends for more info. They all told him how worried she was about her marriage and that she strongly suspected that Chris was having an affair. They also all said that she never would have left without the girl's medicine, her purse, her cell phone, the girl's car seats, and now the police

are becoming more and more sure that Chris Watts knows a whole hell of a lot more than he's letting on, and that this missing person's case might end up in homicides. Before going off duty, Detective Dave Baumover decides to call in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI if Shannon and the girls have not turned up by the morning. August 14th, Tuesday.

It dawned with no sight of Shannon of the girls. Early that morning, the police had tried to reach out to Chris, see if he had anything new. Chris didn't ask them if they were calling about an update when the call connected. He simply said he didn't have anything to report, which seemed weird. After the call, Officer Ed Goodman sent the information to the Weld County Dispatch Records Office, who now officially listed Shannon, Bella, and Celeste Watts' missing persons. Then at 7 the next morning, Detective Dave Baumhover issued a press release appealing for any info about the his family disappearance.

He then called in the CBI and the FBI for assistance. In response, Anadarko told Chris to stay home until his family was found. He'd originally been planning on going to work that morning. That's wild. Just driving to work while your wife and two young kids are missing. You know, they've just gone missing. Everybody from family members to the police to the FBI are fucking looking for them. Hey, how's it going, Chris?

Good. You know, I'm good, but isn't your family missing? Yeah, they sure are. No one knows where they are. burgers or pizza for lunch today. Both sound good to me. Thrive life. Someone else read the press release

and its subsequent coverage that morning and freaked out. Nikki Kessinger. Yeah, holy shit, I bet she did. She had not known that Shannon was pregnant as the press release stated and now she wondered, what the fuck is this guy doing? Who is he? What else is he hiding?

What happened to his family? She immediately confronted him. He denied that the baby was his, quickly asking if this would ruin their relationship. But then when she pressed him further, he admitted that the baby was his, and that he had known about the baby the whole time. Nikki is now furious, of course.

She tells him to focus on his family and then hangs up. For the next few hours, she closely monitors online news coverage, realized that everything Chris had told her was a lie. And she got suspicious as fuck. She deleted all his texts, photos, and videos from her cell phone, as well as anything she had ever sent him. That same day around noon, Officer Catherine Lines at the Frederick P.D.

And three search and rescue dogs arrived at 2825 Saratoga Trail. Chris had given the canine unit permission to search the home. but the first sign of something to miss was palpable to human noses as well, cleaning chemicals. After escorted in the officers around his house, Watts remained outside while a cadaver dog went inside a search. Several times the dog picked up sense where there might have been trauma or struggle, but nothing definitive. Dog's noses are insane. One of the cadaver dogs was taken to Watts' work truck parked outside. Dog detected something, but didn't enter the vehicle as it was locked.

Meanwhile, Chris was giving media interviews From the porch, Shannon, Bella, Celeste, Watt stared into the K-M-G-H-TV camera. If you're out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just bring her back. I need to see everybody again. This house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring her back.

The full interview is still on YouTube. Let's hear a bit so you can hear straight from him how he sounded that day. You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark. and hear the screaming of the lambs. And you think if you save poor Catherine,

you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs. No, that was Hannibal Lecter from the signs of the lambs. This is Chris. Chris Watts, W-A-T-T-S. What's going on right now around your house?

Right now, it's got K-9 units, the sheriff's apartment, 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. And right now it's just like they've been on point. They're going through the house trying to get a scent and hopefully they can pick something up to where it's going to lead to something. What happened? You know what's... She came home from the airport 2 a.m. and I left around. 5, 15, she was still here.

And like about 12.10. And that afternoon, her friend Nicole showed up at the door. Like I had texted shenan a few times that day, called her, say, you know, but she never got back to me, but she wasn't getting back to any of her people as well. Why was he saying, like, I hope this dog's fine. Aren't the cadaver dogs? I mean, I hope those dogs pick up, you know, the scent of a dead body here soon. It'd be great to know where my dead kids, you know, dead wife are.

Like, that's fucking weird, unless I'm misreading that. And also his tone, I know that people I talked to the beginning about, people grieve differently, and they do. But his tone and body language is so concerning, right? Dude's wife and two kids are missing. He's almost smiling while he talks. He has all of the emotion of a dude being interviewed about how, like, a neighbor he doesn't know very well had their bike stolen. It just does not seem upset at all. Seems very relaxed.

Eyes are very clear, very dry. It looks like he slept great the night before. Probably drank some fucking thrive conscience cleaner smoothie. Maybe popped a few Thrive, Guilt Begone capsules. Yeah, he does seem very suss. All four local networks would begin the 6 o'clock news with interviews of Chris Watts. And that would not be good for Chris. Special agents, Tammy Lee and Graham Coder watched the Chris Watts interviews with Detective Dave Baumhover at Frederick Police Station.

If they had been suspicious before, they were now certain he was lying. At 6.46 p.m., And Baumover called Watts and asked him to come to police headquarters as soon as possible. And he would. He would walk into the police headquarters on Fifth Street in downtown Frederick in less than 15 minutes shortly before 7 p.m. He wrote down a full account of what had happened on August 13th, how he and Shannon had talked, agreed to separate, and then he went off to work. Agent Coder took him through it step by step for three hours. Chris never once seemed nervous.

Also not once did he ask how the investigation was going into finding his fucking family. when Agent Coder said that they had to look at him as a suspect because of the timing of the separation and her disappearance, Chris swore he had nothing to do with it. And he volunteered that he had never cheated on his wife. Agent Coder said he didn't believe him. He asked what's her name. Chris continued to deny that he had seen anyone.

He also agreed to take a polygraph. Finally, questioning wrapped up at 10.30 p.m., Coder told Chris to come back tomorrow at 11 a.m. and then took Chris's phone to extract some data. at 6 a.m., Wednesday, August 15th, lead detective Dave Baumover and officer Steve Walja met CBI Special Agent Matthew Saylor and crime scene analyst Dave Yocam outside of Chris's address

on Saratoga Trail for a forensic search of the house. They sprayed luminal, didn't show any blood. There were other things that were suspicious, though. Both girls' beds were now made, although they hadn't been during previous searches. Also, the master bedroom's pillowcases and the top sheet were in the trash can in the kitchen, but the matching footage sheet was missing.

Officers seized computers, iPads, Apple watches, and Amazon Echo, logging that stuff into evidence. Meanwhile, Shannon and the girls' mysterious appearances were making front-page news all over the country. Millions watched Chris Watts' interview on NBC's Today Show. Then at 8am, CBI agent Tammy Lee received a phone call from Anadarko security, saying Chris Watts's work email showed he was having a romantic relationship with another employee, 30-year-old

Nikki Kessinger. And now they have proof that he has lied and lied repeatedly. At around the same time, Nikki called the Weld County Sheriff's Office, saying she had important information on the Shannon Watts case. She heard the nature of their relationship, or she shared, rather, the nature of their relationship,

maintained she had been unaware that Watts was still with his wife, and she expressed fear of Chris and remorse for her actions. And then she faded from public view. She legally changed her name, has not been definitively seen since. Now for that polygraph, I don't blame her.

In an initial interview with the FBI pre-polygraph, Chris said his time while the rest of his family was in North Carolina had just been spent going to work, working out, going running, and just keeping the house up. He said the week he had spent with them there was awesome and made no mention of Nutgate or his constant arguments was Shannon. And this was bad because of his dad, because his dad, excuse me, Ronnie, who had just flown in, was being interviewed next door and he was telling FBI officers, all about Nutgate.

Such a ridiculous name. Makes me picture a literal gate covered in scrotums. Like the kind of gate Ed Gein would have loved to have. Things are about to get even worse for Chris. Around 2 p.m., CBI agents Matt Saylor and Greg Zentner, met Chris Watts's boss, Luke Eppel at the Love's travel stop in Hudson, Colorado, followed him down several dirt roads to the Servi Ranch. There, the Anadarko supervisor explained the layout of the site,

had a wellhead, a separator, three storage tanks, mounted on a gravel pad. He told them that after the oil, gas and water were separated, the gas is pumped to another location while the mixture of oil and water is stored in two giant holding tanks, each with the capacity of about 400 barrels. After separating inside the barrels, the water is fed into a third smaller holder tank, leaving just the oil in the two big ones. While a drone took aerial photographs, right? It's a kind of place where you could store a dead body. While the drone took aerial photographs, the search began, and investigators soon focused on what seemed to be a sheet lying on the ground, tucked into the brush south of a gravel pad.

They walked over to the fitted sheet, and it had the same distinctive pattern as the flat one found in Chris Watts's kitchen garbage a few hours earlier. Two black garbage packs with red drawstrings were lying in the brush nearby. Meanwhile, at 2.23 p.m., Agent Tammy Lee began Chris's polygraph. He passed the first directed lie test,

a test in which you are asked to lie on purpose. I had to turn down the sensitivity, because you were starting to go off the page, agent Lee said brightly. adding that that was a good thing, because when she asked him questions about his wife and daughters, it was going to be ten times more amplified

if he wasn't telling the truth. There would be three questions. Did he cause Shannon's disappearance? Was he lying about the last time he saw Shannon? Did he know where Shannon was now? He answered no to each question. At 4 p.m., Agent Tammy Lee returned to the interview room with a special agent coder.

She now graded Watts's polygraph test, and he had failed big time. For someone to tell the truth, there would be a grade of two above the baseline. For someone line, there would be negative four or more below the baseline. And while we know that polygraphs are not always reliable, Chris Watts scored a negative 18. At the very least, questions about his wife made him anxious as fuck.

Bet he regretted not put on a thrive nerves be gone patch that morning. Now with renewed questioning, he admitted that he cheated on Shannon, but still denied he had anything to do with her disappearance. So now, agents lead in code to try another task. tactic. Had Shannon done something? They asked. Was he covering for her? What did Shannon do to them, Chris? Asked Lee, adding, chicks are crazy. He wouldn't say anything. But then they left and sent in his dad. His old NASCAR buddy Ronnie Watts came in. And now talking to his dad, Chris spilled, kind of. I don't want to protect her, but I don't know what else to say. She hurt them. Yeah, and then I freaked out and hurt her, he told his dad.

He now claimed that Shannon had smothered their girls, that she had killed them, and then Chris had freaked out and killed. killed her in the same way. God, imagine being Ronnie right now. Having your son tell you that your grandkids are dead and that your son has killed your daughter-in-law. Chris will now repeat this same story to the FBI agents that he was downstairs, getting ready for work when he heard a commotion upstairs. He went to check the baby monitor in Bella's room, quote, and she was just laying there.

He then cycled the monitor to Cece's room, saw Shannon choking his little girl. Finally, he said that he had loaded Shannon, Bella and Celeste bodies in his truck, taking them to Servi 319 where he was working that morning. Right? Survey 319. Did he take that gig because he was planning for days at least on killing his family? Did he want to work at that location because it would give him a good place to dispose their bodies? How premeditated was all this?

Chris said that nervous he would be blamed for all the murders. He put the girl's bodies in an oil tank. When the drone footage from the site arrived, agents asked him to point out where he had put the bodies and he did. marking Shannon's spot with an S, Bella's with the beach, Celeste with a C. CBI and FBI agents would now start to recover the bodies,

making arrangements to drain both tanks in the morning. But Shannon would be found that night. Her body was found facing, or face down, about nine inches below the surface and a shallow grave in the dirt. Her knees were pulled up to her chest in a fetal position

with her left arm up towards her head, the body already decomposing. She was wearing a blue pair of underwear, a light colored shirt, and an amniot, and an amniotic sack containing a fetus was visible. Damn. Nobody believed for a fucking second that she had murdered her children, by the way.

So what really happened in the early morning hours of August 13th? Here's what seems to be the most likely sequence of events based on testimony and forensic evidence. And there was, well, there won't be a, well, I don't want to give away trial stuff, but based on, you know, people's statements and interviews and stuff. Heads up, this section due to dealing with little children particularly brutal. At 148 a.m., Shannon Watts entered 2825 Saratoga Trail through the front door. She kicked off her flip-flops, left her suitcase at the entrance. Then she went into her office to buy some hair care products, but her credit card was denied, thanks to the couple's financial woes.

Chris was lying in bed in the master bedroom when he heard Shannon come upstairs. He looked at his iPhone to check the time. He will later say that Shannon initiated sex. He thought she was testing him to see if he had been unfaithful, said they had sex after they finished, they went to sleep. A couple hours later, Chris said he woke up, put on a blue fire-resistant shirt, pants, and a pair of old boots.

Went downstairs into the kitchen and prepared his lunch. Then he came back to the bedroom and woke Shannon up saying they had to talk. He told her their marriage was over, that they needed to cancel the trip to Aspen. Shannon started to cry. She said she knew there was someone else. She said she was going to leave with the kids

and that Chris would never see any of them ever again. And Chris snapped. He said he told her he did not love her anymore as he put his hands around her neck and started to strangle her. Using all his strength, he watched her eyes turn bloodshot. As mascara street, tears ran down her face, he said that Shannon never struggled during the two to four minutes it took for her to die. Fuck. Their daughter Bella, who had been woken up by all the commotion,

then walked into the bedroom, saw her mother lying dead on the bed. What's wrong with Mommy? She asked. Mommy don't feel good, he said. Then he took the top sheet off the bed, wrapped Shannon's body in it, leaving the pillows and comfort her on the floor. He attempted to pick her up and carry her downstairs, but she was, too heavy. He dragged Shannon's body down the stairs and into the garage as his four-year-old daughter trailed behind. Bella is crying. As Chris would later say, she's a smart girl. She knew

what was going on. This is so brutal. 5.17 a.m. Watts opened the garage door with his remote. He backed his Anadarko company truck into the driveway in front of Shannon's white Lexus, where it remained for the next 28 minutes. During that time, he put his wife's body in two black garbage bags, one over her head, the other over her feet. He lifted her into the back. of the truck dropping her onto the floor behind the driver's seat. Then he went back inside the house, grabbed his lunchbox, grab some water jugs, put him in the truck, along with a gas can, right? Can't forget to, uh, you know, have lunch when you're out there murdering your family. Got to make sure you get your macros in. He could hear Celeste and Bella walking around upstairs. So we went back

up to collect his daughters, bringing along Cece's pink blanket and her favorite barking dog toy. Then he turned out all the lights and went into the garage with the girls where he put them on the bench seat in the back. Shannon was on the floor. So the girl's feet are literally resting on their mom's dead body. Girls kept asking if mommy's okay. Watts reassured them. She'll be fine. She's just sleeping. At 5.45 a.m. Watts reversed out of the driveway onto Saratoga Trail, closing the garage door behind him. The truck turned right into Wyndham Hill Parkway. Chris took another right on County Road 7, then it left to County Road 52 out of Frederick for the 40-mile journey to the Servi 319 oil well. At one point, Bella said, Daddy, it's

smells. As Watts drove through Hudson and turned north onto I-76, it began to get light. Drive, flat scrubland lined both sides to the road. At 629 a.m., he turned off onto the rural route 386 to Rogan and reached out to his coworkers making sure nobody would disturb him. Almost 15 minutes later, at 6.53 a.m., Chris Watts drove through the front gate to the Survee Ranch, out to the 319 oil well. He unlocked the gate, proceeded into the three-quarter acre well site, parking by the wellheads of the twin tanks, telling Bella and Celeste he'll be back soon, he got out, opened the back of the truck, lifted out Shannon's body. What are you doing to Mommy? asked Bella. Chris didn't reply. He dragged his wife's body, concealed in the garbage bags, across the parking lot, out into some scrubland, a few yards away where he dumped it. Then he walked back to the truck and got in the back. Then as Bella watched, he smothered her sister Celeste, his hand wrapped inside her favorite blanket. All so he could try and

and fucking have a new life full of hot sex with his mistress. What a piece of shit. What a monster. After he finished, he pulled his youngest daughter's body out of the truck, leaving Bella behind alone. He calmly carried Celeste across the parking lot to the towering 20-foot-high oil tank. On the right, walked up the stairs. At the top, he opened the thief hatch,

slowly lowered Celeste feet first to the eight-inch opening. He dropped her inside, hearing her tiny body make a splashing sound as it hit the crude oil below. Then he walked back to the truck where Bella is waiting. What happened to Cece? She asked softly. Will the same thing happen to me? Yes, her dad coldly replied.

Then he grabbed the blanket and came for her. Daddy no, daddy no, she screamed. His hand went over her mouth. Unlike her mom and sister, she fought desperately for her life, biting her tongue multiple times before taking her last breath. Chris then picked up his daughter's dead body,

carried her up to the stairs of the right tank, across the catwalk to the one of the left. He put Bella's body down as he opened hatch. But the four-year-old was too big to fit. He had to force her body through the eight-inch opening, scraping some of the skin off her shoulders and back. And he still thought he was going to have some big romance with Nikki after all this shit. Finally, he turned his attention to Shannon's still unburied body. He walked over to us, started raking away some weeds, picked up his shovel, dug a hole, 27 inches deep. When he finished, he pushed her body into the shallow grave,

glanced down, saw she had miscarried their son, Nico. He covered them both in Earth, smoothing over the ground to make it blend in with the rest of the scrubland. After he finished burying her at 7.40 a.m., he sent a text to Shannon's iPhone. If you take the kids somewhere, please let me know where they were at. Watts made a couple calls to his coworkers making it seem like he was out on a normal morning check-in. They would report he sounded just fine. At 8.25 a.m. Watts called Shannon's phone again, leaving a 23-second voicemail. then he googled the primrose school

called the main number the owner answered and Watts announced that Bell and Celeste would not be returning because he and Shannon were moving out of the area dude is not a criminal mastermind five minutes later two co-workers Chad McNeil and Melissa Parrish arrived at Survee 319 to find Watts digging a small

hole with a shovel where the bypass line was leaking he seemed to be in good humor chatting about his weekend describing the Rockies game which he had not gone to as epic fucker just killed his two daughters an unborn son and mother of his kids and he's joking around about a Rockies game. That's some sociopathic shit. Was he always this fucked up

and just really good at hiding it over the years? From then on it was a normal workday for Chris, kind of. 10.10 a.m. He made a half dozen Google searches for the lyrics to a Metallica song, Battery. A song with lyrics such as breeding on insanity,

smashing through the boundaries. Lunacy has found me. Cannot stop the battery. Yeah, dude definitely smashed some boundaries that day. While he was reading the lyrics, Syndi Rusek texted him asking is Shannon okay? Watson called his mother-in-law, calmly explaining they had argued that morning, and Shannon had taken the kids to a friend's house, but he didn't know whose. Then Watts went on his phone and canceled the book in an Aspen before

he headed home to meet Nicole Atkinson and the police. Back to our main timeline now. At 9.52 p.m., Denver 7 reported that Chris Watts had confessed to killing his wife and his daughters and was helping police recover the bodies. An hour later, Chris was booked and taken into custody, held on three counts of first-degree murder. and driven 35 miles north to Weld County Jail and Greeley. Shannon's family would read the news of Chris's confession online, and at 12.5 a.m. on Thursday, Shannon was pronounced dead by the Weld County corner. At 12.08 a.m., the Frederick Police Department officially announced Chris Watts's arrest for the murder of his entire family. That morning would begin with recovering the three bodies,

which would be a lengthy process because the tanks took six hours to drain. While that was happening at 2.30 p.m., Chris Watts appeared at the Weld County Courthouse for a bail hearing alongside his public defender James Merson. He was denied bail, placed on suicide watch alone in his cell, and Unit 7 at the Weld County Jail. Apparently he was respectful and polite to the warders, spending hours blankly staring at the wall. Every day he was allowed an hour out of his cell for exercise.

Sadly, he wasn't able to do as many push-ups as normal. Not because he was sad, but because he had been denied his thrive patches. He's not thriving, not at all anymore. Meanwhile, the hazmat team was preparing to enter the East Tank to recover Celeste Body. Celeste body was brought out of the tank amid waves at toxic fumes. Her hand was de-gloved of its skin, which was handed to Detective Dave Baumhover as evidence. Fuck. Body was covered in oil wearing a pink nightgown in a diaper would be placed in a white decontamination box with rope handles.

The Hazmat team then moved over to the West Tank to recover Bella's body. Once it was empty, the investigators could clearly see Bella's oil, soaked body still dressed in pink pajamas with images of hearts and butterflies. Both girls officially pronounced dead and taken away for autopsy, that motherfucker. All of the autopsies would take place the next day, August 17th. Shannon's cause of death was ruled asphyxiation due to manual strangulation by another individual. Manner of death was homicide. Bella's cause of death is fixation due to smothering, as was Celeste.

Both girls would have to have specially made sealed coffins so that the dangerous gases their bodies had been immersed and would not leak out. Their dad not only killed them, but he didn't even have the decency to bury them. Monday, August 20th, 2017, DA Michael Warke held a press conference at Weld County District Court to announce nine felony charges against Chris Watts,

three counts of first-degree murder after deliberation, two counts of first-degree murder of a victim under 12 by a person in a position of trust, three counts of tampering with a deceased human body, one count of first-degree unlawful termination of a pregnancy, if convicted for the five counts of murder,

the minimum sentence will be life imprisonment and the maximum would be death. His family's still on the side. Ronnie and Cindy Watts, despite receiving hate mail and threats, believed that Shannon had murdered the girls. It's a fucking amazing what people will rationalize, isn't it?

Just so many ways. Saturday, September 1st, a funeral mass for Shannon, Bella, and Celeste Watts held as a Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in Pinehurst. Month and a half later, October 18th, Chris Watts ordered to pay $37,000 towards the cost of burying his family. the crime victim compensation program

also ordered him to pay Frank and Sandy Rusek $5,400 and lost wages. Meanwhile, the Rusek's were working with the DA's office on a plea deal. They didn't want Chris's case to drag on in court for years or even worse for him to somehow be found not guilty or get out on a later appeal, so they agreed to taking the death penalty off of the table

if Chris pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. And on late Friday afternoon, November 2nd, Ronnie Watts got a call from the Weld County DA's office asking him to fly out to Colorado as soon as possible. The DA informed him that Chris was taking the deal if he would be allowed to sell Thrive from inside prison. Thrive wanted to try out and then sell their new Thrive, existential crisis-be-gone, DFT patches and gummies

designed to make you feel free and happy no matter what your actual circumstances. No. When Ronnie White survived at the Weld County jail, Chris confirmed it. His family was devastated, feeling that he'd been railroaded into it since they still believe Shannon had committed two of the three murders.

Chris would plead guilty to all nine charges on November 6, and sentencing was set for November 19th. At the end of it all, Chris Watts was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole in order to pay court costs and restitution. The nine counts would run consecutively, meaning Watts would serve a total of three life sentences

plus 84 years so he really will need a lot of thrive if he's going to stay alive in prison for several hundred years. That same morning, attorneys for the Rusek family filed a civil action against Chris Watts for punitive damages, under Colorado's wrongful death statute

to ensure he would never receive shit from Shannon's estate. First week of December after 10 days of evaluation in the Denver reception and diagnostic center, Chris Watts was secretly moved to the Dodge Correctional Institution in Wapon, Wisconsin for his own safety. He was placed in the maximum

security prison's evaluation unit with a cell to himself, a shower, nice, access to a TV room, cool. He's able to work out in the gym three days a week, and he plays basketball with other inmates. How fucked? every night Chris Watts spoke to his parents for an hour mainly talking about finding God fuck off you pathetic shit and helping other inmates with religious instruction and again go fuck

yourself not much pisses me off more than disgusting dirtbags finding God in prison they don't deserve to go to their deathbed thinking the sky daddy has saved a celestial seat for them that's not justice right their victims don't get that kindness why the fuck should they he put up photographs of Shannon Bella and Celeste in the wall of his cell also disgusting he would talk to them every night gross Also write them letters go fuck yourself Which he would send to his parents His parents if they have any fucking decency

Should just turn their backs on him Let him rot in there alone February of 2019 CBI agents Lee and Coder Along with Detective Baumhover Would visit him in prison To wrap up the final question of the case What happened? Why did he do it?

Why did the seemingly devoted father or two A man who had always done as his wife Has told him just snap like that And he said he didn't know it's like the whole he began trailing off everything that happened that morning I just don't know like I tried to go back in my head

and I'm just like I didn't want to do this but I did it and everything kind of like did you feel like you had to ask Coder I just felt like it was I don't even want to say I felt like I had to I just felt like there was already something in my mind that was implanted that I was going to do it

and had no control over it you never thought about it before Like in the sentencing hearing, that prosecutor said it takes two to four minutes for something like that to happen. Why couldn't I just let go? I didn't, he said. Was it like feeling like it was already in motion and you just couldn't stop it, asked Detective Baumover? Yeah, it's like I don't even want to know what she saw when she looked back to me. Honestly, I just felt like it was, I don't even want to say I felt like I had to.

And then again, he said, I just felt like there was already something in my mind that was implanted. I was going to do it. And I had no control over it. What was going on? That's the mystery at the center of all this, right? Let's get out of this timeline and look into that a bit more. Good job, soldier. You've made it back.

Barely. How could Chris Watts have done what he did? News coverage made it not incorrectly seem like Chris was a sociopath, a man whose propensity for violence had finally come out in one cruel and human mourning when he strangled his wife and daughters. But if so, why Chris never seemed violent before that? There was zero indication. He had struggled with control over his family as many family annihilators do,

or that he had given himself allowances of smaller incidents of violence over the years, like cruelty to animals, rape or beatings like serial killers do. Was Chris really that good at hiding his dark urges for so long? Or was something else maybe going on? Now, it's entirely possible that Chris was indeed a monster hiding in plain sight, or that he simply became so fed up with family life, he snapped. But what if there was another contributing factor? remember that Shannon started getting involved in the Thrive Regimen

all the way back in January 2016. And this is actually not me joking again. I'm being serious about Thrive this time. She soon got Chris taking Thrive as well and reported gleefully on social media about how much energy he had that he could run a marathon. Then there were the text about how he was vacuuming the whole house, doing all the mopping, et cetera,

seemed to have unlimited energy. You know, and that's a good thing, right? But maybe not. many energy or weight loss patches and capsules, including various thrive formulations contain or have contained phenylethylamine, P-EA, or its derivatives, as well as caffeine and synephrine, both stimulants and vitamins B-12 and B-6. One P-EA derivative is a street drug sometimes called N-Bomb that is a powerful hallucinogen, often taken as an alternative to LSD, but way more unstable, and it can induce profound alterations in cognition and sensory perception. P.EA is chemically related to amphetamines. In the brain, it can trigger a massive release of dopamine, or it will in the right doses, and a noraphenephrine.

Some of thrives products contain doses range from 100 milligrams to 400 milligrams. Normally the body breaks down P.E.A. quickly, however, in high doses, or when combined with other stimulants, it can cause something called stimulant-induced psychosis. This is linked to grandiosity, paranoia, a manic delusional state. high levels of PEA often correlate to experiencing sudden, unprovoked violent urges. Indeed, a case report in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry from 2016 titled Five Supplements and Multiple Psychotic Symptoms Detailed a man who developed homicidal ideation and violent visions while taking a supplement stack containing PEA. His doctors concluded the PEA caused a, quote, dopamine storm identical to methamphetamine-induced psychosis.

Another similar study described a man who, after taking supplements, walked off his job due to a sudden and powerful urge to kill his boss and a customer while experiencing a visual hallucination of doing that. It's fucking scary. Similarly, synephrine is a potent stimulant that mirrors the effects of aphedron. These ingredients spike blood pressure and heart rate put in the body in a permanent fight or flight mode. Chronic overuse can lead to irritability and aggression. When combined with the sleep deprivation that these stimulants cause, it creates an intensely reactive nervous system. And what about vitamins B6 and B12?

At toxic levels, defined as above 200 milligrams a day for long-term use, vitamin B6 causes peripheral neuropathy. This starts as a pins and needles sensation and progresses to total numbness in the hands and feet. There's a strong link between physical numbness and psychological disassociation. When your brain stops receiving normal sensory input from your body, you can begin to feel detached from your actions, as if you're watching a movie of yourself rather than living it. similarly while B12 is generally safe,

megadosing at levels like 5,000% to 10,000% of the daily value, that has been recently linked in medical journals to mania and anxiety disorders. High B12 can trigger what psychiatrist or trigger what psychiatrists call a mixed episode where a person has the high energy of mania, but also the dark agitated thoughts of depression. It's considered one of the most dangerous states for potential violence or self-harm, right? watch was reportedly wearing two patches at a time at least drinking who knows how many thrive smoothies on top of that popping who knows how many thrive

capsules every day day day week after week month after month meaning his brain was facing this continual onslaught for about three years when you look at his behavior and weight loss he dropped from around 245 pounds to 180 in those three years looks like uh or a lot like the effects of continually abusing meth of course it wouldn't be the reason why he killed not saying thrive was responsible, thrive lawyers, many people are on stimulants over the course of years, even meth, and don't ever kill. And many were on and many are on right now, the Thrive Regiment, and also didn't or do not kill. But if Chris Watts definitively, desperately wanted

the way out of his marriage and his life, could the right supplement cocktail have helped just kind of push him towards snapping and go from having, you know, dark fantasies to doing dark shit? It is actually possible. And it's an interesting. interesting theory. So maybe be careful when it comes to taking all the supplements that are out there on the market. They are very poorly regulated. No matter why it happened, it is such a sad, terrible story. I'm willing to bet many of us came across it at some point in 2018.

It was all over the news kind of story that immediately gripped viewers attention. I remember it. I remember thinking like, what? This guy seemed so perfect. What the fuck? In the first hour, so many people from family and friends to total strangers reading about it online or hearing about it on TV, desperately hoped that Shannon and the girls would reappear, clearing it all up is a big misunderstanding, that to look at the husband first clause

that so often goes with investigations into women's murders would prove to be nothing more than an overreaction, that the women like Nicole Atkinson worried about how her friend missed an appointment, would prove to be overly paranoid, suspicious, too willing to point fingers at a guy who'd never been anything but a supportive family man. But Nicole and so many others, they were right. It was Chris. The signs were there. He was evasive, seemingly unconcerned. He cleaned up the family's home when Frederick Colorado said it was spotless, and yet a sheet from the couple's bed was in the trash. There was a video of Chris back in his truck up to the family's garage of five in the morning, which he rarely did. There was the fact that he couldn't remember where he'd gone

that morning. Indeed, within days, the bodies of Chris's family proved easy to find. They were at a remote work site. Shannon buried in a shallow grave with Nico's premature fetus. Bella and Celeste unce ceremoniously shoved into two oil tanks. And so in the end, the question to watch family murder case wasn't who had done it it was just why chris to all the world it seemed for so long such a devoted family man and maybe for a long time he really was perhaps he fought sometimes with shannon over money how she spoke to him in front of the kids uh perhaps he wasn't thrilled with being on her social media page as often as he was but overall maybe he was happy but then in the summer of 2018 he started an affair with the colleague nicky kessinger

and experienced the kind of overwhelming attraction chemistry lust he had never felt with shannon and he wanted of that it was intoxicating and what was he willing to do to get it murder his wife his children it's possible people do it he did kill him it's possible that chris's quietness his easygoingness massed something far darker possible he grew to hate shannon in the direction she had taken his life possible he grew to believe when she refused to accept the end of their relationship that she didn't love him she just loved the idea of him what he could do for her but then why not get a divorce was he really afraid of never seen his kids again of losing control of of his family as so many family annihilators fear was something else going on did a dangerous

amount of supplements he was taking play a role in the monster chris became if so how much of a role we might not ever get the answers we want to those questions since he pled guilty chris is not required to undergo any psychological evaluations and of course if he were to come out with a definitive viewpoint on why he did what he did why would we even believe him in the absence of concrete information we can only, as is so often the case here, speculate as to the root of this week's particular brand of evil. Let's head to some takeaways. Time suck.

Top five takeaways. Number one, in the early morning hours of August 13th, 2018, Chris Watts strangled his pregnant wife, Shannon Watts, at their home in Frederick, Colorado, hours after Shannon had returned from a business conference. He then brought Shannon's body along with her two daughters, Bella and Celeste to a remote work site where he buried Shannon in a shallow grave before smothering his four and three-year-old and placing his daughters in separate oil tanks

shoving their bodies to the eight-inch diameter hatch. Oof. Number two. For many years, Shannon and Chris seemed to have a perfect relationship. Chris was quiet, calm, agreed to almost anything Shannon wanted him to do. He offered her support for her ongoing health challenges, including the lupus diagnosis. And she drove the couple's vision of family life, kids, luxury household items, plenty of toys, holidays, complete with the visit from Santa. They did face their challenges, however. Their daughters had constant medical issues combined with Shannon's lupus.

This meant a lot of medical bills. And unrestrained spending added more financial strain. But until they really, really did, things never looked, well, really bad. While some people said they saw Chris and Shannon yelling at each other, occasionally there was never any reported abuse, never any physical altercations, never any obvious verbal abuse, either, at least not on Chris's part. Of course, it's possible that Chris was very good at hiding his violent tendencies,

or that he simmered for years before it all boiled over, or does something else explain whether this devoted family man. A man who had never shown any violent tendencies before just fucking snapped. Number three, for three years, Shannon Watts was a devotee, an employee of Thrive, an MLM supplement

company owned by Lavelle, Thrives Regiment, consisted of patches, drinks, and pills that Shannon and Chris both used extensively, with Chris using them at several times the recommended doses. It's possible that the effects of these supplements, emotional deadening, lack of sleep and rage, contributed to the murders of his wife and daughters, and Chris himself has stated that he didn't feel like he was committing the murders

or could do anything to stop himself while he was committing the murders. His extreme weight loss and change and affect could also be related to supplement abuse. Number four, in November of 2018, Chris Watts pled guilty to the nine charges against him in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table. instead he received five life sentences without the possibility of parole three to be served consecutively which he was mostly uh which he has mostly served out in wisconsin his parents continue to believe that shannon murdered the girls as chris initially stated in an interview because they are

fucking delusional number five new info lavelle as i mentioned is still around still making supplements and apparently he's selling g lps now hormones produced in the gut that regulate blood sugar and appetite. Maybe. They are selling something called my GLP, which is not a real pharmaceutical GLP-1 medication like semi-glutide. Not OZempic. It's a nutraceutical dietary supplement system designed to support natural GLP1 activation, okay, through patches, of course, capsules and shakes. Is it safe? Who the fuck knows? There's currently no clinical research confirming it saved your effectiveness that I'm aware of. Also, the past several years have been rife with controversy for Lavelle, including claims from the Better Business Bureau that the company has greatly misrepresented

its promoters' earnings, and also claimed to be able to cure everything from breast cancer to COVID-19. Fucking Thrive Life, baby! In 2021, Health Canada issued a final decision that the Thrive DFT patch was a natural health product and ordered Lavelle to cease all sales and marketing on the product or of the product in Canada. The Federal Court of Appeal upheld the decision, agreeing that the patch, which was marketed for fat reduction, made unauthorized. authorized therapeutic claims. So again, be careful when it comes to living that thrive life.

But despite the controversy, the company still seems to be going strong. Time suck. Top Five takeaways. The Watts family murders has been sucked. Thanks to the Bad Magic Productions team and their help of making time suck. Thanks to Queen of Bad Magic, Lindsay Cummins.

Thanks to Logan Keith, helping publish this episode designing merch for the store at bad magic productions.com. Thank you to Sophie Evans for her stellar research. Thanks to the Y'all seen eyes, moderating the cult of the curious private Facebook page, Mod Squad making sure Discord keeps running smooth. Everybody over in the time sucks subreddit

and bad magic subred it. And speaking of our moderators, a big congrats to Josh Miles. Longtime Mod, fantastic meat sack. He and his wife have a new space, Newt, Olivia, and Miles. Five pounds, six ounces, 19 inches long, super smart.

She's already been accepted into a PhD program at Columbia. Just completed her master's at UC Berkeley. Very impressive for only being a few weeks old. Kids, they grow up so fast these days. But for real, enjoy the ride. Mr. Miles, soak up every phase in every minute. Go kick some ass young Olivia Miles. May Nimrod and Lucifina guide you well.

May you be wary of thrive. And now let's head on over to this week's Time Sucker Updates. Your time sucker updates. Going to start with the health insurance, update today from those sent in to bow jangles at timesugpodcast.com. As a reminder, I am recording several weeks ahead. So I won't hear feedback from the previous episode for a few weeks in case you're wondering why I'm not sharing info about something I may have said in the past few weeks that you think

would get me messages. No idea what that could be. A wink. This message comes from a Dayton D. Sentent with the subject line of health insurance is some bullshit. Hey, Dan and Lindsay and the rest of the bad magic crew. Didn't think I'd have more input to give so soon after the addiction suck, but here I am. My name is Dayton D.

When I live in Georgia now, I was raised in Alabama. I was born with a very rare virus that at the time of my birth affected roughly 1 in 50 to 60,000 people. And the specific strain I have is even more rare being one in every one to 2 million people at time. Oh my gosh. For a second there, I pause because I just, I understand what you, I understand what you wrote. but I thought at first you meant that it affected roughly somewhere between 1 in 50 and 1 in 60,000 people. I'm like, that is quite the variance. No, 1 in 50,000 to 60,000 people.

I have RRP or recurrent respiratory palomatosis, a variant of HPV, the mother virus of herpes. Don't worry, I can't pass it to anyone. This email is safe to touch. I've had to get treatments for this since I was eight months old. when my grandfather noticed my breathing sounded extremely labored while in my crib. I was rushed to the hospital immediately and treated. My airway was the size of a coffee straw from the gross of my esophagus and base of my lungs. Also have a scar on my neck from a few papillomas being removed very early on.

Now, back then, insurance was easy to get since I was a baby, and it stayed easy until I turned 18. From then on, I started to notice the price increases in my OOP, right, out-of-pocket cost, little by little. with insurance my operations cost me around 150 bucks back then. Without insurance, it was around 15,000 per operation. As the years have gone by, the number has only gone up on both ends. But luckily, a medication was invented to help reduce my RRP, with insurance each dose of this medication costs around $100 out of pocket. But without it, without insurance, it's around $10,000 for a single 16-ounce bag of medication.

No table, no anesthesia, no tools, just a needle, a feeding line, the bag, in a very comfy chair for about 30 minutes. I don't say anything to say boo-hoo for me, paying $100 with insurance. I say all this to bring awareness of the fact that RRP can absolutely kill people by suffocation, and the options I've told you are the only two current treatments. Without insurance, only the top 1% can afford either,

and that's not fair. Death by RRP is very slow and horribly painful. You very slowly lose the ability to take deep breaths till it's labored wheezing, then you slowly suffocate and die. It's a horror show. I hate that the out-of-pocket cost of these without insurance is almost completely unobtainable for the common man. It's unfair and I truly appreciate you giving this problem some light so that change may come quicker even to a small degree.

Anyway, sorry for the lengthy email. Keep doing what you all do. Three out of five stars. Hail Nimrod. Hail Lucifina. Praise be a good boy, Bojangles. Glory to be to Triple M. Keep on sucking hard and fast. Don't ever forget to spit before he suck, Dayton, D. Dayton, thanks for sharing this example and just further humanizing this issue. $10,000 a bag. Where the fuck do they come up with these numbers? I mean, yeah, research and development can, of course, be expensive,

but the cost just rarely feel justified. Man, there's so much to health care. And I forgot to mention in the sock, the Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company. Mark Cuban, mostly known for being the owner of the Dallas Mavericks. I'm not sure if he is right now,

or if he sold it. Anyway, long-time owner of them. He built a new company that does not get talked about enough, where they cut out the pharmacy middleman, and negotiate directly with manufacturers to get the cheapest price. They're very transparent.

They show you exactly how much you'll pay for them to keep their business running, how much it'll cost to repair and ship your prescription. Medications can be way cheaper through them. MCC, PDC can offer massive savings. For example, a cancer drug retailing for over $2,000 can cost less than $30 through cost plus, which proves that this shit doesn't need to be as expensive as it is.

Not sure if they have what you need, Dayton, but they might. You can go to cost. plusdrugs.com to contact them. You'll need a prescription from a doctor or a nurse practitioner, which you'll save a ton going through them rather than your local pharmacy, which again just illustrates how fucked up all this is.

Thank you again, Dayton, for sharing how terrible the traditional system is right now and it needs to be fixed, and it can be fixed as websites like Cuban's website illustrate. But greed, you know, greed, greed, greed, money, money, money. Now for another important message from another Minnesota.

Feels important, rightfully angry, thoughtful sucker Matt R. Sending a message with the subject line of apologies. If this is too much, it is not. And Mike wrote, note, I post this on the Minnesota subreddit, but really wanted to share with you as you have been pivotal

in changing my view on humanity. Again, I'm just embarrassed. I need to rant. This last ice incident has put me over the edge. And again, this was several weeks ago from when you're hearing this when it comes out. It's taken a few days for me to put it into words. I live in rural Minnesota,

and most people around me wouldn't care if it happened four more times, as long as Trump says it's okay, so here I am. This will be my only long post I've ever done. I've been Republican ever since I can remember, which is embarrassing to even say now. I was at Dick in high school, an early college that would debate until I was blue in the face, until it finally hit me that hate does nothing. Now I find myself in the middle on every issue, telling people to think for themselves and not to, you know, do what they're told to think. And that's upsetting people. Don't tread on me is meaning more and more to me. Watching U.S. citizens scared to leave their homes. My sister

lives six blocks from where the murder took place. And they literally got a text saying to clear the roads. This is fucking America. This shit should not be happening here. We used to be better than this. So what the fuck happened? I'll have this discussion with friends. I'll show them the video and they'll agree, holy shit, that's really bad. That's murder. But then the next

day, well, I don't know anymore because Christy Nome said, our leaders are lined us. And they don't even try to hide it anymore because they know they don't have to. Are we that brainwashed? Is this country so lost we can't decide good and evil for ourselves? This is far beyond party lines.

This is people's livelihood. This is our country throwing our well-being aside to figure out which politicians think they have the biggest dick. I'm sure I have friends and family who would ridicule me for this, but I'm done. I'm embarrassed of what this country's doing. I'm embarrassed of what we're becoming. You can find me in your local well-regulated militia. Rest in peace, Alex Pretty.

Rest easy. Godspeed. Mike, first off, good for you for training with the militia. You are the type of guy we need in militias. I love seeing the Black Panthers out in Minneapolis right now being like fucking enough. And how sad that militias might actually be important soon. That the time to find out if the don't tread on me crowd was ever serious might actually happen. Where is that crowd, by the way?

They seem to have turned into the tread on me fucking harder, daddy crowd. Man, we need to stop thinking in terms of left versus right and in terms of good versus evil. And we can figure that out for ourselves. We know what is evil. like, I don't know, being close fucking pito buddies with Epstein. To use Epstein as an example, if Trump and Clinton raped anyone on an island or anywhere else, I would want them both to fucking die.

I wouldn't give Clinton a pass because he, I don't know, he and I align on more social issues. Also, don't be ashamed to have been a Republican or to be a Republican. It is not your fault at most, not all, but most of your party leaders have just started to bend over and let Trump fuck him in the ass however and whenever he wants to and as hard as he wants to. that's their pathetic choice.

And I hope they fucking pay for that in a real way someday. Also, I feel bad for a lot of lifelong Republicans who maybe chose their party based on at least to perceive states versus federal rights, i.e. local versus centralized control issue or support for a robust military that leads to peace through strength approach, the strict but fair due process constitutional immigration policies, smaller government, fiscal responsibility, i.e. a balanced budget, et cetera, et cetera. unfortunately today's maga infected republican party does not stand in action for any of that they say they do but if a fucking talk is cheap you know now it's all about federal power it's about more government spending federal government spent roughly 220 billion more in the first hundred days of trump's second term compared to the same period in 2024 under biden trump overruled state governors constantly constantly stepping on state's power he campaigned on ending wars being a peacekeeper that hasn't fucking worked out in ukule in ukule Crane has it. He's fucking with Venezuela now. Denmark's Greenland. Despite the rhetoric, fighting continues to this day in Gaza. Despite claims to draining the swamp and fighting corruption, Trump has increased his wealth by over $3 billion since his second term began through a variety of very swampy, questionable, possibly, if not certainly illegal, definitely corrupt means too much to go into, but he fucking is the swamp. And then there's all the Epstein mentions.

So many and horribly disturbing. Fucking shit that would be anything. any other president would be crucified for left or right. And yet the maga fucking cult just nods and goes, well, what do you do? Fucking fake news. It just doesn't stop, right? The griff don't quit. He reminds us he is a petty, immoral, mean-spirited cunt every time he opens his fucking orange mouth.

But we don't have to keep supporting clowns. If collectively we stop trusting parties to think for us, think for ourselves, get more involved, it's not that fucking heart. I used to think that didn't matter. I used to think that no matter who you picked, was always going to be more of the same. But fuck me. Fuck me for being lazy.

Fuck me for being naive. I'm pissed too, Mike, because I have been part of the problem. My apathy is part of why we are here. Unless we all want shit to get even worse, we all need to get woke in the best possible way in the actual meaning of the word. We need to educate ourselves, wake up, not trust any of these motherfuckers at quick glance,

but also accept that there are good politicians out there who do want to help us. They might not ever be perfect, but they are at least not full-blown fucking evil. like the current pedophile in chief. So go find them, right? Thanks, Mike. You're not alone.

A lot of us are angry. We're embarrassed. We're ashamed. And that is a very good thing because shame, anger, rage. It can be a powerful fucking motivator for action and change. And we fucking need it desperately more than a lot of people want to admit right now. Good on you, dude. And Hail Nimrod.

Now one more. Something sweet from Mrs. Loveless, who is not without love. Sweet Cindy Loveless wrote. Hey, Suckmaster. I just wanted to write in so you know how much I love your content from Time Suck to Suck to my husband actually introduced me to Time Suck

when we first got together almost six years ago and honestly I didn't get it but he loved it so I was good and submitted. Actually bought him tickets to your show in Indianapolis March 23rd.

He absolutely loved it. I sat there stoned out of my mind and lost, giggling when others did so. No one knew I was high. Side note, I was raised up very strict household where all drugs or anything illegal was frowned upon.

But my husband's a heathen. Gave me an edible before the show 100 milligrams. That's a lot if you don't use very often. I was so high. I barely remember our three-day weekend. Anyway, after your show, I recovered from the edible. I gave time, suck, another shot, asked a lot of questions, and I love it.

I did learn the hard way not to let my phone auto-connect to my car, though. My husband and I are going on an extended vacation this month for our two-year wedding anniversary, getting loose to fina tattoos. It's always did. I'm planning on seeing you at another show. Hopefully one day at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp, if I can get my husband to submit.

Would you mind telling James, happy anniversary, you heathen. Thanks for introducing me to the cult. Please remind you I will not submit. Love you. All the great things you do, three and a half stars wouldn't change the thing, Cindy. Thank you, Cindy. I hope I see you down the road one of these days.

At camp, on a cruise, at a show, if and when I tour again with stand-up. Not sure what I'll be doing this next decade. A lot of possibilities floating around my brain. A brain that never shuts up, leaves me alone. James, that's awesome that you're both. getting Lucifina tattoos, but do not think that you have her branded now and that you own her. Cindy's not your property outside of possible moments here and there, where she wants you to take

over and fucking own that pussy. I'm not sure how kinky you two are. I don't know what kind of BDSM Dom sub-suit you might be into. I don't know. I haven't watched you guys fuck yet. What? Why did I say yet? Seriously though, keep having fun you two. Hey, Lucifina, keep being curious. And happy anniversary, you heathens. Well, be sure and rate and reviewed time suck if you haven't already. Please don't kill your entire family this week, just so you can go fuck somebody new. You probably won't get away with it. And you know what?

It's just, even if you do get away with it, it's rude. It's very rude. Get a divorce attorney. Ease up on the supplement patches and keep on sucking. And magic productions. And now for one more definitely true Thrive Fact. Did you know that if you wear 100 Thrive, D&A rebuild patches, Every day for a hundred days straight.

You'll turn into a unicorn who will live for a thousand years before turn into a space ghost able to summon black holes and bend them to your formless immortal will. Maybe not thrive when you're dying!