True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: The Original Watts Case - More of a Monster Than Chris Watts

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

The nightmare continues in Part 2 of this chilling story on True Crime with Kimbyr. Kimbyrleigha unpacks the shocking twists, hidden motives, and haunting details that make this case unforgettable. How could someone commit such unimaginable acts, and what drove them to target these innocent lives? With compassion and meticulous research, True Crime with Kimbyr examines the aftermath, the investigations, and the emotional toll on everyone involved. Brace yourself for revelations that will make you question how well we truly know the people around us—and the darkness that can lurk beneath the surface. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tensions at this point are running high with three murders occurring in such a short amount of time. And this was in the Ann Arbor area, which... Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes and secure a spot in the finale May 29th.

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So this makes the task force finally, you know, pay attention, and the Ann Arbor Police begin to notice a link. Like, you're noticing now? Women who are young and petite and mostly white, but again, he doesn't really discriminate. They're also primarily attacked outside their homes, and it's usually done on early Sunday mornings. This is when Watts earns the moniker, the Sunday morning slasher. But like I told you in the beginning, I like to often refer to him as the where they

fall, they stay killer because he's so callously just doesn't even bother burying his victims. He just leaves them out in the open. Where they fall, they stay. The only positive I can see from this is that the remains can be found very easily and families can get some kind of closure. There a sergeant of the Detroit Police Department. His name was James Arthur's. He contacts the task force after he learns about the homicides and he tells them about his previous encounter with Carl Watts. He specifically mentioned Watts when he was 15 years old and he was on his way to deliver the newspapers when he attacked Joan Gave. Watts is then arrested on November 15th after being found following an Ann Arbor woman at 5 a.m. But this was an entirely different situation because the

police had been monitoring him and they were in the neighborhood waiting, watching. They noticed that Watts is following a woman in her car and now this is creepy. He's following behind this woman that's walking. He's in his car. She's walking home from a bar late in night. He drives past her. Then he stops his car about a block away and he waits for her to walk closer to his car. And then he would sneak his car up in front of her again and wait until she got close.

time that she passed his car, he would wait and then drive ahead of her, stop, but she eventually realized that someone was following her. So she keeps changing her course. But then he would reverse his car and go down a different street. So this woman was absolutely terrified, which rightfully so, I would be too. She's now trying to hide from him. She's going behind trees. She's going into various like apartment building parking lots. All of a sudden, she's out of sight. but then he locates her again. But remember, the cops are watching to make sure nothing's going to go wrong. But once the woman arrives at her apartment, she ran so fast.

And this time, she managed to really get away and Watts is just left in the dust. And at that point, officers actually observed him going crazy. He was going absolutely nuts. He was like, you know, banging on things and stomping his feet and yelling. It's like he had to find her. He was frantic, just looking around for her running in different directions, and the cops were waiting at his car. So he makes his way back there, and they take him into custody.

They do it on a suspended license. They can get you. But here's the thing, and this would probably be probable cause, they find a dictionary in his car. Perhaps he was doing a little light reading while he was waiting around for women. How do you define piece of shit? I'm sure we would see Watts's picture right there in the dictionary. Carved into the cover is Rebecca is a lover.

Yes, remember Rebecca Huff? Well, this rang a bell for the officers, and then they wanted to do a more extensive search, and they found blood and wood carving tools inside. Come on! Seriously, it interferes me when police don't connect the dots. I mean, yes, they are, and maybe they were. They bring him in for an interview.

This man was super easy to talk to. he was self-spoken. He didn't seem like a man that could have carried out these crimes. But one officer says to him, I know what you've been up to. I can't prove it yet, but I will. And at that point, Watts asked for a lawyer. He's also ordered to submit a blood test. The blood test revealed no evidence linking him to the crime. So he's released. And I can't fath him having to release someone that I knew was responsible for something. heinous crimes. One investigator stated that he was sure without a shadow of a doubt that they had their man. And I like this detective because when he's in the interview room with Watts, he decides

to demonstrate on Watts how Watts did what he did. He came up behind Watts, he put him in a chokehold, and he repeatedly made the motion like he was striking him in the chest from behind. And Watts begs him to stop. He was in tears and weeping and pleading for his mama. At this time, the cops were following him everywhere. They would say hello to him on the streets. They would sit in parking lots waiting for him to come out of businesses. Wats couldn't do anything without someone handling him. So in March of 1981, he moves to Houston, Texas because he was terminated from his job and he knew he was a suspect in these crimes and that the police were on to him. The authorities in Texas were actually notified, which was a good thing, but at this point,

Watts is used to being watched by cops, and he just goes about his business like nothing happened. He gets a new job at a place called Coastal Transport Company, and it's an evening shift, which goes from 4 p.m. to midnight. He also begins to attend church. He's staying with family. Sometimes he lives out of his car. On May 26th of the same year, 1981, Watts is a permanent resident at this point. He's living in Columbus, Texas, and he's hired by a firm called the Well Tech Company, and he's working at a mechanic.

His friends and coworkers who knew him claimed that he was always kind, always courteous. He would spend time on his days off in Houston, even though it was 70 miles away. He loved to drive, and he would drive really fast, and he would get a lot of speeding to on his way to and from Houston, which is probably going to be a paper trail. Then he also gets a second job and that job is also as a mechanic, but he's working for the metro system and he's still driving his 1978 Grand Prix. Watts decided to drive around after drinking one night. So he's wasted, he's in his car driving in Houston on September 5th, 1981 and he was just looking for an attractive woman to be his next victim and he was just looking for an attractive woman to be his next victim and he's wasted.

ends up finding one. He begins to follow her as she drove towards Austin. He ends up driving more than 160 miles to keep up with her. That frightens me. I mean, what the fuck? You are just driving and someone's looking into your window and they see her a woman and you're attractive to them and they're going to follow you 160 miles. You would never know. I feel like I would know because I'd be like, what is this car doing? We've been going 100 miles. But there's going to be some more information. And I'm sure this is happening somewhere in the world to some poor woman. She's just driving in her car.

And the lunatic like this is just playing like a cat and a mouse came with her. Linda Catherine Tilly was the lady that he was chasing. And she was only 22 years old and he did confess to this. So he approached her from behind as she walked from her car to her apartment. She put up a fight. she would run but each time he would catch up to her until they were fighting outside of her pool area this is so scary to me but they end up both falling into the pool and then wats ends up drowning her holding her head under the water now he confessed to this so we know he then drove all the way back

to columbus and surprisingly tilly's death was deemed unintentional She was found fully clothed the next morning floating in the pool. Since there was no evidence of a struggle, no one heard screams, and there's no blood. They figure it's just a drowning. But remember I said there was more information about why maybe she didn't know that he was following her? Well, her blood alcohol level was more than double the legal limit for driving. So they assumed she was drunk, she stumbled, maybe trying to get her apartment, she fell in the pool, and she was disoriented and she'd drawn.

According to the medical examiner, because she was drunk, it could have accelerated her drowning. Normally it would take like four minutes to drown, but when someone's intoxicated, so this is good to know, it takes one or two minutes. And because they didn't notice any evidence of a struggle,

like cuts and scrapes, they didn't think this was suspicious. Watts had begun attending mass at a church. It was called St. Paul's Temple of God. On September 10th, he met a woman named Sheila Williams. And ultimately, they begin dating around mid-March. It's, like, fascinating to me that he can sustain these relationships with women, even if it's not long, but then he destroys other women.

Maybe that's why after sex and stuff, he has to go out and commit crimes, because maybe he's like, to sustain this relationship, I've got to get my urges out. And I'm not going to do it on her, so I've got to do it on someone. And another someone was Elizabeth Montgomery. She was 25 years old from Boston, Massachusetts. She had come to Texas a few years ago in 1979, and she just absolutely fell in love with Texas. She thought it was beautiful, and she adored living there.

And this is what she told her mother. They didn't want her to move away, but she was so happy. She was working as a model, and she was also a talented athlete, especially in long-distance track. On Saturday night, September 12th, Elizabeth and her boyfriend were at her apartment. This just, it just blows my mind. She left her apartment to walk her two dogs.

It was midnight. A neighbor does recall seeing her because he got angry that she was letting her dogs poop in like a particular part of the apartment on the grass. But then as soon as he walked back inside his house, he hears a scream for help. he heard Elizabeth yelling he's got a knife and so he runs outside and by that time he finds Elizabeth just staggering towards him she has blood all of her throat her hands and it's just streaming down her face there was nothing you can do and she passed away in his arms only two and a half miles away a woman named Susan wolf she was 21 years old she was trying to get some dessert after a party with

her best friend so she went to Safeway It's a grocery store, but the name is so ironic. She was unaware that someone else was having a craving the night. Watts was stalking her. At this point, I think tinted windows would be a great idea. She's coming out of the store, and he follows her home. He grabbed her before she could even walk 200 feet from her car. The weapon this time is a butcher knife.

Again, some argue that this wasn't Watts because this is not what he usually uses, but because of the short time frame and he's known to do that, they figure it's the same offender. Now, Susie's best friend claims that no one was actually managing the crime scene. So when she walked up to where her best friend had just died, she walked straight up to her friend. She was able to touch things on the ground. She was able to actually pick Susie up in her arms and cradle her. She's completely disturbing evidence that was left behind.

And this is one of the mistakes that are often made at crime scenes. And I covered this in another video. I will link it here. It is critical to secure the situation. This is just too much. This is why I wanted to cover this case because it's too unbelievable. I've never even heard of some of these victims. This one he confessed to.

So we know that was him. Investigators in this case were intrigued by the fact that Watts had also quit his position at Welltech. on the exact same day. At this point, he decides to increase his hours that he's working at the metro job. When I say he confessed, they know that he did the ones he said he did because he was able to provide information that only the killer would know. New year, new fatalities, the sad reality of Watts's never-ending trail of carnage and his apparently unquenchable urge to prey on innocent women continues into 1982. On January 3rd at 8 p.m. 27-year-old Phyllis Tam had just returned from a Christmas vacation in New York.

She was working as an art director for an ad firm in Houston. She went on runs every morning and January 4th was no exception. Her normal route that she would take was the Rice University campus. She would go around the campus. And she was actually spotted in that vicinity around 6 a.m. by another runner. But by 7.45, a passer-by would discover her body hanging from, from her tube top from a low hanging tree limb had about four feet from the ground.

This woman was five foot 10, and her body dangled barely two feet off the ground. She was completely dressed, there were no indications in the fight, and the medical examiner concluded her death was self-inflicted. Everyone that knew her said, no way, no way. Watts eventually admitted to this one,

so it was definitely a homicide. She did not put herself, on the branch with her tube top. Speaking of Rice University, one of their students, 25-year-old Margaret Fosse, she was 5'4, only 118 pounds. She was also found dead in January. Her husband was away at Yale Law School

while she was pursuing a degree in design. And at the time, Margaret was living with her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law's husband. It was January 16th. She was studying with a group of friends, and then they went to a bar. Around 2.30 in the morning, a friend took her back to the college parking area. She got into her own car and she drove home.

She noticed that there were some bright headlights in her rearview mirror, but since she had been drinking, she was actually thrown off the road. Two of her tires exploded, and this was Watts. He approached her window and as she rolled it down out of nowhere, he begins hitting her in the throat. He crushes her thorax. And her death was caused by exfixiation. Watts leaves and he had put her in the trunk of her own car. The very next day, her sister-in-law saw the car on the side of the road and realized it had been broken down. So she requests that the police find Margaret.

The horrific reality was uncovered during the search of her vehicle. But that was not the end of Watts. his rage that day. No. He wasn't finished yet. He continued on his route and he noticed a woman who had also broken down on the side of the road around 7 a.m. He approaches her from behind and he slit her throat. I keep wondering why no one is doing anything. He repeated the same technique with all of his rage and fury but she also survived. And on February 8th at 2.45 a.m., A guy was dozing off in his car after a night of drinking, and he witnessed Elena Samander 20 years old,

being pulled behind a garbage bin by Watts. And for some reason, this man does nothing. He just goes back to sleep. Finally, he's awakened by the sound of loud groaning, and he still does nothing. And then he hears a loud noise. like something being deposited in a metal garbage bin. At 11 a.m., the waste management employees were emptying the bin into the compressor in the back of their truck.

And when they began to compress the trash, they noticed Elena's leg. The compressor had actually fractured a portion of her body. When they pull her body out, they realized she had been gagged with a black shirt in her mouth. Watts just carries on his life as though nothing happened. He moves in with his girlfriend, Sheila, and Sheila's daughter, just a few weeks later. And I can't fathom living with someone like him and having no idea what a monster he is. A woman named Emily Lakea 14 years old left her father's house around 5 a.m. And she was going to work at a nearby restaurant and was never seen again.

And I witnessed had seen her hitchhiking on Interstate 10. And guess who is also traveling the same route at the same time the same day? Watts. But he was never linked to her disappearance, but just one week later on March 27th, a woman named Edith Lettit, a 34-year-old medical student,

was found stabbed to death while she was on a run in the Houston area on March 27th, 1981. And by the time the sun came up, she was discovered on a path with 17 wounds, to the chest. Watts then chose to attack another student two blocks away named Glenda Kirby. He still had blood on his hands. And when he tried to grasp her, he was slipping because his hands were filled with blood. He was able to somehow push her to the ground, but she was able to escape and he confessed to this later on. Then on March 31st, another 20-year-old named Mary

Castillo was discovered strangled in a Houston ditch. I told you I was going to be discussing a lot of these, and there are a few more that I want to go into, including one that he was legally charged for, and the others just kind of fell through the legal gaps. But I'll explain that later. Christine McDonald was 19. She was last seen hitchhiking home from a party on the Rice University campus. Yolanda Garcia was a 22-year-old mother of a newborn baby named Myra. She was also the wife of a man named Hector Garcia. She worked full-time at a jewelry store, and Yolanda.

Lana's husband was unable to pick her up from work one day on April 15th, so she had to take the bus. Watts rushed out behind her and attacked her as she was stepping off the bus to walk the rest of the way home. She was found face down in the front lawn of her neighbor's house. She suffered four wounds, two of which were to her heart, as well as many defense wounds. Carrie Mae Jefferson was Watts' next victim. She was a 32-year-old married with two daughters. She was just starting her night shift at a post office. And her hours were from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.

But her husband James did not approve of the slate shift. He told her not to do it. She convinced him it was safe since she had a friend Dolores drive behind her every night on her way home. On the evening of April 15th, soon after Dolores had said goodbye and driven the rest of the way home, Carrie walked to her front door and she was greeted by Watts.

He took her and began pulling her into his own car. Her husband James woke up around 5 a.m. And he didn't see Carrie Mae. So he immediately contacted the police. Then the neighbors were informed. And one of them told James that they had found her purse in the street as well as her gold wedding band on the sidewalk. Police discovered her vehicle nearby and it was full of blood. There was blood inside her trunk.

and they ended up finding her later on buried near the white oak bayou. Something I found eerie and interesting was to Wanda. Carrie Mae's daughter that was only 12 years old when her mother died later stated in an interview in 2002. All she could remember was her dad waking her up and saying that her mom never came home. All she wanted was to see her mother's body but they wouldn't allow her to see it because that would have given her closure but coincidentally to Wanda worked the same shift at the same post office where her mother used to work it's like currently working there i found that i was odd kind of reminds me of the mother daughter case that

i talked about where i thought it maybe was a self-fulfilling prophecy and she was like following in her mother's footsteps 25 year old suzanne serils was celebrating her co-worker liz's birthday and this was just a few days before her own birthday and it was on April 24th they were at a house party and had a live band and there were like 50 other people there she had this beautiful red hair and big blue eyes she was having so much fun she was drinking all night they said that she smoked a couple of joints she was a woman that men definitely found very beautiful some of the people that were at the party said that there were several men that approached her that night but at 5 a.m. the homeowner who was throwing the party noticed that she was sitting with a man

on a couch. People said that they saw her leave a little bit after that. So this was like a little after five. Now she was supposed to attend a concert the next evening and when her friends tried to call her to make sure she was going to show up, they were not able to reach her. There was no response when they went to her apartment door. She didn't show up for work the next day. She missed the concert. So they attempted to contact her again, but they were unsuccessful. At this point, one of her employees drove to her apartment and saw her car was there. So, So he looks inside, he sees her handbag with all the stuff inside just thrown everywhere. Her glasses were shattered, there were important items like her checkbook that was on the passenger

state of her car and there appeared to be some kind of scuffle inside the car. But there was no sue. So the coworker ends up filing a missing persons report because she hadn't shown up to work by May 1st. Watts ends up confessing that he choked her. drowned her and buried her. And this was the very first grave that he led to police to when he confessed. Now, this is weird, and I didn't really understand this,

but he said he drowned her in a flower pot. I guess it was filled up with water, and then her head went into the dirt and the water. I'm not sure, but she was found buried in a shallow grave next to her apartment complex. And no one saw this happening. Sherry Strait, who was a high school student when missing on the 1st of May, on the 1st of May and her remains and the car she had been driving were both discovered on the 4th of May.

32-year-old Gloria Cavalas, who was an exotic dancer, was discovered dead in a garbage bin two weeks later. Her corpse had been wrapped and discarded curtains. Michelle Madegh requested a night off from her cocktail waitressing job. This was on May 22nd. She was celebrating her birthday and Michelle was a stunning blonde. Her friend said that she resembled Farah Fawcett. What strange is that her party was at the same club that Elena, Samantha, Amanda, Amanda, had spent the last few hours of her life.

Michelle had had dinner with her dad that night, and they even talked about the homicides in the neighborhood. That's absolutely heartbreaking to me. There they are talking about this, and her father even says, he's concerned. But she says, no, I'll be okay. and she had no clue that that would be the last time she would hug her father goodbye. She'd gone to an after party, she was extremely intoxicated,

and Michelle left her friend Linda's house around 4 a.m. Watts ends up spotting her, driving, and he follows her. But when she stops the car, she sits in her car for a while. At this point, I'm thinking maybe she's sobering up, but then she attempts to walk to her apartment. Watts came up behind her, forcefully helped, her neck and she fell unconscious. He takes her key and uses it to go into her own apartment. I don't know how I knew which one it was, but he puts her into a bathtub and fills it to the brim with water. When Watts was asked why he did this, he says he wanted the evil in her soul to remain inside of her, therefore he needed to kill it. Sadly, Michelle's own mother

arrived to visit the next evening. She let herself into the apartment and she didn't see Michelle. When she reached the bathroom, her heart just sank into her stomach. This gets to me because I have a daughter, but she saw her beautiful daughter no longer alive. And Watts's appetite had not subsided.

He drove till 6 a.m. searching for yet another victim. But Watts's reign of terror was about to come to an end. The day was March 23rd. The location was Hammerley Walk apartments in Houston, Texas. Lots decided to lie in wait in the bushes of an apartment building. We don't know how long he was there. But sometime before 10.45 a.m., he finally sees a pretty girl. Her name is Lori Lister. She's walking towards her apartment on her way to her door, and he attacks her as she's walking up to the steps to her door. He puts his hands around her neck and he forces her to tell him where she lived. She didn't want to do this, but she lied about anyone being inside because he asked,

is anyone inside? She says no. But her 18-year-old roommate, Melinda Aguilar, was inside. When Watts walked in, he stumbled upon Melinda in her bathrobe. She was actually getting ready for church that morning. She yelled for Lori. Lori's outside. Lori's at the bottom of the stairs. There's no answer. Watts forces Melinda into her bedroom and begins to choke her. At this point, she pretends to pass out such a good idea, but he ties her hands behind her back and he leaves her in this room. So she stays completely silent. And then she hears the most disgusting sound. She hears Lori's body banging on each step as Watts dragged her by the hair up these cement stairs to the bed.

and then throws her in the bathtub. So you mean to tell me we're in broad daylight and no one saw this. No one saw a woman being pulled by the hair up her stairs. He carries her into the apartment and puts her in the bathtub. Then he goes back to check on Melinda and she's sitting there trying hard not to breathe. This is like a life or death and then she sees something so disgusting because you have to remember no one's really witnessed the way that he's acting in these moments. because usually they're unconscious or they're deceased, but she gets to see the way he reacts to what he's done. This man was jumping around for joy.

He's laughing. He's clapping. He's proud of what he did and he's excited. So at this point, he fills the bathtub up with water. And Melinda knew she had to do something. So this brave-ass girl, she gets up. Remember, her hands are tied by and back. she maneuvers her body to the bedroom door and locks it.

She wants to give herself a barrier. She wants to make it harder for him to get in. She then opens the sliding glass door, goes onto the balcony. And she had no choice but to jump off of the balcony from the second floor. Damn, I mean, I would do it too if I knew it was going to save my life and my friend's life. But there was a woman who was having her morning coffee on a balcony next to her. she was screaming for her to call the police. She was screaming that someone was trying to kill her roommate.

The police arrived and they just wasted their time at the door of the wrong apartment. And as he's questioning the tenants, the wrong tenants, they hear a loud noise upstairs and it's Watts kicking down the door to Melinda's bedroom. He then looks out the balcony door and he realizes that Melinda escaped. The police then see him fleeing the scene. and one of them chased after him while the other one called for backup. He runs into a dead end. And the officer pulls out his gun and Watts surrenders.

While this was happening, the woman that had been questioned the wrong apartment, she had actually gone up to find out what was happening. Nobody else was. But she was and she finds Lori in the tub. This woman is screaming that Lori is going to die. And she's just hitting Lori on the back, trying to get her to breathe, because she didn't know CPR. And miraculously, Lori survived.

Now Watts was held on a $50,000 bail and he was charged with attempted murder as well as aggravated assault and burglary. It's time to question Watts's fiancé Sheila Williams. But she's in school to be a paralegal and she refuses to talk to police. She said if they don't provide a warrant, they can't come inside and they didn't have one.

which was a big mistake. Even though it didn't take long for them to get a warrant, they came back the very next morning and by that time, Sheila had taken everything out of their home and the only thing left was trash. She didn't cooperate at all. Had the police done their due diligence and obtained the search warrant before they visited the first time, they could have found evidence linking Watts to the crimes. Detectives say they could have found anything, from clothing to keys, and instead, they lose that opportunity. Lucky for Watts, because of his fiance's connections, they were able to obtain a defense attorney that was highly regarded.

They took on his case because they thought he was a good person. They thought he was being mistreated. He seemed nice. He was a family man. He went to church. And they thought he was possibly being discriminated against. But that impression was definitely going to change. The main defense attorney, her name was Zanetta Bernie.

She didn't have any clue that Watts was a suspect in a number of gruesome murders. But when she finds out, Bernie is terrified, especially after hearing the details of the crimes. But she had a duty in her mind as a defense attorney, and she believed everyone had the right to be protected until a court of law proved that they were actually guilty. guilty. So she stays on the case. He has a woman defense attorney. Later, Bernie says that she was so fearful every single time she had to see him and that she could actually see evil in his eyes. She did her very best to set aside all of those fears and to represent him to the fullest degree. Her plan was to attempt a plea bargain in exchange for information about the crimes. Several months later in June of 1982, authorities in Texas concluded they didn't have enough evidence for a conviction.

So the plea deal was considered, but Watts needed to be psychologically evaluated once again to determine whether he understood his actions. They gave him a number of tests, one of which was another IQ test, and again he scored a 68. And under Texas law, at this time, he was considered mentally retarded. However, doctors suspected he was one, lying on the test and that he actually had an average IQ but he was faking it since he would answer most questions with, I don't know, which sounds a lot like Stephen McDaniel from my last video. You can click it at the end of this video, but the official report from doctors is as follows that there is no justification for the finding of incompetence to stand trial. In that, he has sufficient ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding. Of course, his defense countered this with their own evaluation that was the complete opposite

that Watts suffered from hallucinations. He would jolt his body around dodging things that weren't in the room and give these out of context answers to questions. And they thought he looked like he was talking to someone that wasn't there and it was it was freaky. A fact that I found important was that Watts started to cry anytime he recounted an uncle that he claimed that he claimed had been killed by his wife when Watts was just a child. His family disputed this claim, but Watts would not let up, and it's interesting to me that he would be against a woman like this. If we recall, he said that there was evil in them,

and that sex was also evil, and now his aunt was an evil woman who killed his uncle. It makes me think that he was triggered by something in his past regarding women, and he's taking out all of this anger on these victims. victims. This defense doctor reported that Watts was unable to function with others and that he was absorbed with fantasies that revolved around the struggle between good and evil. So he had this struggle against this evil that was lurking everywhere. And like I mentioned, he had internalized this anger towards female figures and he tends to characterize them as deceitful, evil, unfaithful, parasitic.

and he believed they always had evil motives and they were dangerous to get close to. So they ended up diagnosing him with paranoid schizophrenia that focused on his sensitivity to the existence of evil. And we as rational individuals cannot and do not understand how to actually get in the mindset of a delusional person. I don't know if you've heard of the recent case of the father who killed his two small children because he thought that their mother had serpent DNA and he was saving the world. It sounds just like this. Wats was right about one thing. Women can be dangerous. And in this case, a particular woman was relentless in getting Wats put away forever or to suffer death. This woman was none other than Elena Samander's mother Harriet.

She would not stop pressuring the DA to give the family answers, especially why they allowed Wats to continue the reign of terror after they had seen. expected him of so many homicides. Her persistence paid off because she was granted access to files for 40 unsolved murders, including names, addresses, birth dates, and the way in which these women died. Still, she really didn't get anywhere and she really didn't even have a chance because on July 1982, the DA's office struck a deal with Watts. The deal was Watts provides complete information and confesses to his crimes, he would then be exonerated of the murder accusations and granted immunity for the 13 murder and six assaults and would face only the burglary

charge with the intent to murder. This would carry a maximum of 60 years in prison, and he agrees. Of course he does. He confesses to 12 murders in Texas. He describes the crimes in detail. Then he gets immunity, for the crimes. However, authorities in Michigan declined to participate in this agreement and therefore the cases in Michigan remain unsolved. As you can possibly imagine, the families are outraged.

This man is pretty much getting away with murder, not once, not twice, but 12, 13 times. The family said they were completely unaware that this plea bargain even existed. And on August 9, 1982, Watts confessed to the lawyers from Texas and Michigan. This confession lasted over 28 hours. He continued to talk about that night because he left the scene

and then killed Susie Wolf the same night. That night, he even took a souvenir. But not murderabilia to look back on. No, he took it to burn it because he wanted to kill the spirit. In his words, he said that he was able to see the evil in her eyes. He couldn't even see their eyes in the dark, so I call complete bullshit. According to detectives, when they interviewed one of the sisters of a victim, she actually made a statement that I really thought about.

She said, when you're standing really close to someone, you see your own reflection in their eyes. So it was his evil, looking back at him. He said he would see evil in their eyes, and that's why he chose them. But when you get close enough to somebody and you look in their eyes, you see your own reflection. So I believe that the evil he saw was his own. Because of the plea bargain, the community was outraged and rightfully so. There were even death threats made to the judge, Douglas Shaver, and the attorneys and the Houston Police Department and Watts. So they were all advised that if they were going to be in attendance at the sentencing

hearing, they had to wear bulletproof vests and they were going to have a metal detector and bomb sniffing dogs. Before Watts' sentencing date on September 3rd of 1982, authorities started to discuss an issue that they thought could arise due to the immunity plea. And Watts only being charged with attempted murder and burglary because in Texas at the time there was a provision called the Good Time provision.

And under this law, an inmate could leave prison early for good behavior to relieve prisons from overcrowding. And I thought Texas was strict. Violent offenders had to wait 24 years before they were considered. Even though we know Watts committed these horrific murders, technically speaking and legally speaking because of his plea deal, those don't even count. So he's not a violent offender. And this was also because he didn't use a deadly weapon. He used his hands.

And therefore, he doesn't have to wait 24 years. His good time served would start now. This means he would be getting out in 2006. The judge, Douglas Shaver, promised to the authorities that he would do whatever he could to prove that Watts was violent so that he would not get out early. But he couldn't promise that the Department of Corrections would agree and not give him his credits for time served. And apparently the prosecution comes up with this brilliant idea, but not one that I'm in agreement with. I don't even agree with the plea bargain, of course, but now they've gotten themselves in a bad position with a man they may get paroled, so they're grasping at straws here. And they're trying to make a stretch

by attempting to prove that water in the bathtub is a deadly weapon. The prosecution puts a medical examiner on the stand. And they asked if, with the victim's hands, tied behind her back with a wire hanger and the tub filled up the way it was when Lori was inside. She survived. Would this be considered a deadly weapon. The defense objected to this on the grounds that this medical examiner was not qualified to answer that question, but the judge overruled it because of course he said he would do whatever it takes to prove he was violent. Is that like bias right there? I don't know. I agree because legally speaking, a deadly weapon is usually inherently dangerous, meaning in it of itself, a gun, a knife, etc. And in the Texas Penal Code, when I looked it up,

the definition of a deadly weapon is a firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purpose of inflicting death or serious bodily injury, or anything that in the manner in which it's used or intended to be used is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury. So I see what they were trying to do here. They're trying to say the manner in which Watts was using the water, because water by itself is not a deadly weapon, so to speak. I mean, it's water. We drink it. It's not like this water is going to come out and attack me. But in the way that Watts was using the water, if that would mean it qualifies as a deadly weapon. When I look at the facts, I go back and forth on this because

he choked her out. And that was his usual manner of killing, aside from stabbing. He wasn't carrying a weapon at the time. She was already unconscious when he dragged up the stairs, another very dangerous and deadly act that could have killed her. So my question, I guess, is what would have killed her? The choking, the dragging, the gag that she had in her mouth, the water. It was Watts's decision. What would he have chosen? We don't know. For all we know, he could have continued choking her and completely killed her. And then for good measure put her underwater. Therefore, the death wouldn't be drowning, but manual strangulation by hand. Because the only other victim he's ever put into a bathtub was Michelle Medea and he choked her to death

first and to wash her spirit off he put her in the tub but not to drown her he may have done the same thing here if he hadn't have run because he found out Melinda left the apartment so an argument can be made he would have turned off the water like he had before instead of filling it up as a matter of fact he believed she was dead prior to putting her in the bathtub he said that he confessed to that before this. So if we look at intent, the intent of her being put in the bathtub was not used to kill her. He admitted when he confessed that all he was doing is imitating what he had already done earlier that day with Michelle Madegh. In a very unusual ruling, though, in my personal opinion, the judge rules that Bathwater in Lister's case was considered a deadly weapon.

Watts gets 60 years in prison for attempted murder, but the judge also says he is sending a report. to the correctional facility in hopes that they would take it under advisement and at least let him serve those 60 years so he'd be close to 90 years old upon his release. But the defense objected to the deadly weapon finding and they reserved it as an issue for an appeal. There was a crazy comment by Detective Chief Paul Bunton and I want to play it for you. I said to him, Coral, I haven't got enough fingers and toes to count the amount of people you have killed. And he looked around and said there are not enough fingers and toes in this room. And there were four of us in there.

That's insane. That's how they knew that he had to have killed like 100 people. But get this. In 1987, he decides to appeal on the grounds that the bathwater should not be deemed a deadly weapon. We could have seen that coming and that it wasn't part of the deal that he had made. Not only that, he found a loophole in the law. The prosecution never notified the defense that they planned to include, a deadly weapon charge. The appeals court actually ruled in Watts favor due to the fact that the inclusion of this was pertinent in providing information to rebut this. And also to understanding what he was actually being sentenced for and therefore it was a violation of his right to habeas corpus. And the court actually ruled in his favor now.

Before you get outraged, it's Watts is right and it's within the bounds of the law. Now they reclassify him as a non-violent offender. The law is weird sometimes, but I think the original deal was disgraceful and unconscionable. But nevertheless, this mandatory release law that helps the jails not become overcrowded and Watts already accumulating three days for every day served. This made his sentence only 24 years and he was set to get out like I said in 2006. I knew nothing about good time. Oh, that was a shock to learn about a good time.

That you just wake up in the morning, you get three days taken off your sentence every day. Elena Samander's mom decides, we're gonna launch a campaign to change the law, and she actually wins. But the changes cannot be applied retroactively, only to perpetrators going forward. So nothing happens after all that work.

Nothing happens to Watts, and he's still going to get released. All the families decide we've got to be released. All the families decide, We've got to rally together and we've got to get the attention of the media and they do. Even the Associated Press. This gets passed on and the Michigan Assistant Attorney General, Donna Pendergast, decides finally to try to get him on another murder. In January 2004, this was only two years before Watts was going to be released, the Attorney General in Michigan. Mike Cox goes on the news and pleads for the public to call in and

any tips that could link Watts to murders in Michigan. Because the plea bargain only applied to the Texas cases, not the Michigan ones, and now all they needed was to link him to one murder. That's it. In January 2004, a man that you probably remember me mentioning, maybe not, Joseph Floyd was flipping through channels on the TV when something caught his eye.

It was a face that has been stuck in his mind for over 20 years. A man he saw murder a woman right in front of him. The woman was Helen Dutcher. What's unfortunate is that Foy had already come forward numerous times. He had called the DA and he had begged them at this point to look at the composite sketch that he helped create. Years ago, when police just shrugged him off, even told him to let it rest. But he wouldn't let up.

He wasn't going to let it slide this time. I've seen a black man being led into a courtroom and as soon as they walked him through the door. I just said, oh my God, that's the man that killed that woman in Ferndale. I called numerous times. Aren't you guys going to do anything about this? Aren't you guys going to do anything about this? And it was always, no, we're satisfied, no, we're satisfied. And the very last phone call I got was Mr. Foy, put it to bed. The DA finally took his account seriously, and they were able to charge Watts for premeditated first degree murder of Helen Dutcher. He was arraigned in Michigan on April 23rd, 2004.

and the trial took place November 9th the same year. Joseph Foy was the star witness. He saw everything. He even saw Watts's face as he walked slowly back to his car just after killing Helen. It was a well-lit alley and it was right next to Joseph's home. Joseph says that Watts even sat in his car for a while before leaving the scene and he was able to give a description of a tan Pontiac.

The survivors also testify to their horrific experiences. Lots later said there were as many as 40 victims, but he refused to confess to the crimes because he did not want to be called a serial killer, even though that is what he is. The judge said, I hope they put you so deep in the penitentiary that they'll have to pipe sunlight to you. On the 21st of September 2007, he died due to prostate cancer. He was 53 at the time of his death. Thank you so very much for watching.

I really appreciate it. I will see you in my next video. Bye.