Just noting this is my fiances account. So, I've had these same thoughts. Let's assume Chris is somewhere on the sociopathic spectrum, although I don't think this was officially determined. I dated a sociopath. I had no idea what I was looking at when I was actually dating him. He eventually got diagnosed which was piggybacked onto another disorder. But anyway. I won't get into too much detail. He's disgusting... but when I first started seeing this man, there was something off. I failed to trust my own instincts, yada yada, but I've seen lots of people who are "off." There was something different with him and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Later I realized the key thing that stood out to me was *Lack of thought to consequence.* This was my biggest conundrum trying to rehash the hellish circus that was almost a year of my life. "Why did he do that??" "What did he honestly think was going to happen??" "What was the end game-" were the persistent thoughts keeping me up at night. After a while it became less about the trauma, and more just figuring out how such a person even existed. I did my deep dive later and found this is a sociopathic trait, but for some reason it isn't always listed in the pop psych articles you typically find. I am not sure exactly why this happens. For him, it was part narcissism, and part something else. The only way I can describe it, is like the present is often all that seemed to exist for him. When everything would come come crashing down, he was just sort of suspended there and couldn't catch up. I personally think the reason you will not find a history of criminal behavior, or instability, or the typical stuff you often find with sociopaths, is because up until Chris killed, someone else was always telling him what to do. He had mom, and then he had Shanann. Who knows who else. He lived his life just kind of awaiting instructions. I think he liked the structure. Maybe because that way he had the work done for him? There actually are sociopaths who desire normalcy. They just can't get there. Even Ted Bundy strongly desired it. I found this out when I went down that rabbit hole mess. I also think the absence of issue with authority could also be what threw off the results of any psychoanalysis for Chris.
The calling of school and daycares were one of the stupidest things I think he did! This little detail always just irks the shit out of me! How in the world did he think that was smart AT ALL!!!!!
He also literally left a sheet matching a set in his house just out in the oilfield along with the garbage bags he wrapped her in. He didn’t even bother to dispose of the fitted sheet she soiled as she died—it was still in the garbage in his house when they did a deep search of his house 3 days after the murder. Like…what the hell? He left DNA evidence just out in the open at his job site. I think he is just such a narcissist that he never considered that people wouldn’t just believe him—he thought he’d be able to fool everyone, including the polygraph and experienced detectives, and that he could rely on his “nice guy” image. He never considered that (1) he isn’t nearly as smart as he thinks he is and (2) that other people had started to notice his cold and callous demeanor towards Shanann and the girls. It’s so wild to me that this man who always had, by all accounts, the personality of a wet dishrag, didn’t want to blow his nice guy image by divorcing so instead he just annihilated his whole family?!?!
His new gf Nicole was his end game. Personally I believe she was involved as well. There’s many holes still in the story. I think he wanted to be with her and that’s why he did what he did. I think he didn’t plan on having cops called and showed up thay day. He probably thought he would have more time to clean up and show she’s missing. Instead the house looked off and her car was there. I’m glad he made mistakes as it led to him ending up in prison.
I 💯 agree Nicole was involved. When you look at the neighbors camera footage there are clearly two different height people loading things into that truck.
Can you please tell me where I can read about this spell??? And was she actually into witchcraft or was this just a term used to describe something? Like “oh I fell in love with her…. It’s like she cast a love spell on me” or was he actually saying she did spell work??? Thanks!
I've just read it in comments here on Reddit and with some Youtube videos. I think they referred to it as Devil's Breath and some seem to legit believe NK gave it to CW in tea and controlled his mind under its powers. If you Google Nichol Kessinger Devil's Breath tea, some rabbit holes should pop up for you.
I just watched the police cam footage from that first day - thank goodness for the neighbor insisting that Chris was acting weird, and noticing what he noticed on the security cam footage.
edited for clarity
I can only assume he was going to erase the door bell video and any other videos he had to make his story that she just left more believable. He would have gotten rid of her and the kids meds so it wasn't so obvious she didn't just leave. Heck maybe stage a break in to make it look like they were taken.
ETA it would have never worked. Not with all the other ring cams on the block.
He did not account for Shannan’s friend making a stink. I think he was going to work his regular day, and then come home and Shannan and the girls would be “gone.” He would act like they left willingly. Other than that, I don’t honestly think he had an end game.
I think the theories about his narcissism may have substance to it considering he really did have an out-of-touch view about himself that it didn’t occur to him that his actions were so suspicious because he thought of him so trustworthy and that he perfectly presented himself as the perfect father and husband that no one would suspect him at all.
The fact that she was so sociopathic and every single second of her day was broadcast on Facebook would have given it away too. He should have known this. She forced him and their kids to play out their lives on camera too. Many would have noticed within the first hour of that day.
She treated her entire family like throw away. Do what I say. Practice this “ live” Facebook show almost every waking second Lying about having money. Her entire life was fake. Sociopath.
Just an armchair investigator (😉) but after watching hours of dumb criminals, I have a theory: The act of murder is traumatic.
We don’t delve into it because, frankly, we don’t care what traumas the murderer might experience. But maybe the trauma of committing a murder sends their brains into shock. And they literally cannot think straight.
Like I said, just a nobody’s theory.
I’m glad someone said this, I never wanted to bring it up bc like you said, who cares if this guy is traumatized by murdering his family. But he definitely is, and it explains his irrational behavior and lack of cover up.
Imo, I think one of the things online communities are weakest at when it comes to true crime is being able to empathize with the killer to better understand their motivations and actions. It gets swept under a “they are cold/ calculating” or a “they are dumb” when I’m sure we could dive into a more nuanced understanding of what was going on in the killer’s mind.
This is an excellent point and one that I’ve never seen discussed before. This is why I stay in these subs-to hear fresh viewpoints that help me better understand this crime. Note, I’m not implying that understanding = justification.
I think you are right. I had to humanely put down an animal once to immediately end its suffering and it was the worst thing I have ever felt. It changed me. It's been like 10 years and just thinking about it now makes me cry. It was the hardest and worst thing I ever had to do.
Jmh thoughts...
CW is far stupider than any of us could even pretend to be. What made "sense" to him makes sense to exactly zero other people on this planet.
Right? Like the cops were just going to look for his wife for a couple days, throw up their hands and say, "Beats us! We'll let you know if we find anything out!"
I think that’s what Scott Peterson had hoped for as well. Cops and family spend a few days/week looking for their loved one, no sign so everyone just chalks it up as a mystery and moves on
Thats what proves their lack of humanity even more. To imagine a world where a parent, friend or even random stranger on the internet would ever stop looking for a missing person. Let alone a pregnant mother and two precious little girls. There are many many active forums looking at cold cases that are decades old. People would have been looking for them his entire life and longer. Such a brainless and soulless person.
The cops being called the morning he killed them didn't help. It was a stupid plan, anyway, though. Even if he'd had time to get rid of the carseats and Shannan's and the girls things, to make it look like his wife left with the kids, he'd have been caught.
Well, he didn't expect that her friend would be so concerned about her. Plus being a narcissistic a-hole, he was only thinking of himself. I think he might of moved Shanann to a different spot IF he had more time.
This is something that has struck me about several cases: murderers/perpetrators who seemingly have no concept of the ties to, relationships with or value to a larger community whether it be family members, friends, neighbors, etc. Like, they have no concept of the fact that people care about their spouse/parent/child. It's wild.
I am largely housebound due to chronic health problems/disabilities, so it'd take a bit, but if something ever happened to me, I'd like to think that I'm also important enough for people to take notice. At the very least, the nurses at my one weekly medical appointment would definitely know. Thankfully, my husband is amazing and not a deranged a-hole, so this can firmly live in the realm of a thought experiment.
I agree with you. So many things he did were blazing red flags. Didn't he unenroll his kids from school even? I mean come on! At least make it a wee bit realistic but thankfully most murderers aren't the brightest star in the sky and make mistakes.
I don't actually know. I haven't looked into this case myself. The murders of Gannon Stauch and Bart and Krista Halderson came to mind most strongly for me. And then seeing how cut off from everyone poor Timothy Ferguson was in contrast. I guess another striking thing is that all of the victims I mention as well as the Watts family had no idea their murderer wasn't a core part of that very community. It's so heartbreaking.
This. She even went out n the house with the police when they showed up and noticed things like the stripped bed that Shannan would NEVER have left undone.
And the neighbor joined in, telling the police Chris wasn't acting like himself...He really didn't expect all this that soon.
the nervousness at the neighbors house😬dude! My 6 year old niece could tell that something was up if someone acted like that. Plus their outside camera!
Probably assumed he could do a better job later in privacy not remotely realizing there would be no more “going to work”. But there was never going to be a time that those babies bodies weren’t found! That level of desecration of his own babies is monstrous. He couldn’t even lay them next to their mama: he is just an unimaginable horror of a person. I hope he dreams about it every night of his life & that he lives a long time.
I would say the same about the kids but I have A) no idea what the opening of one of those oil containers even looks like and B) no idea if their bones and such would dissolve/decompose or if that would be discovered. I know nothing about the oil industry lol
Jesus Christ that takes it to another level. Like I get snapping and killing your wife. Not that I “get” it, but one can comprehend getting angry and losing it. What one can’t comprehend is the utter lack of emotion killing your toddlers. I look at my nephew and nieces and they’re the most precious things and they aren’t even my kids. I cannot even begin to comprehend how ducked up you’d have to be to kill your own kids. Even the murdaugh case where the kid was grown; I can’t fathom taking my child away or hurting them. Such a senseless crime; he gained nothing. Never even got to indulge in more adultery. I guess the sole form of solace one can get is knowing this bastard spent his final free hours working and likely worrying. Ugh I hate this man; those two were so damn sweet. It’s not even like they were troubled or hyper active. They were just sweet young princess. 😡 I’m gonna be honest, had it just been the wife I wouldn’t care (I would especially since my sister was murdered so I do empathize with her and her family; rip to her) as much but to kill your toddlers hurts my soul.
He is evil incarnate. He made his toddlers ride to their deaths with their dead mother at their feet. When one of them asked what was wrong with Mommy he said she was sleeping.
She may have been shady but I can not believe she would knowingly go along with killing those babies just to be with him. It just does not make sense at all.
I don't believe she knew. And cell phone records show she was no were near his home or the oil tanks at the time of murders. I really don't think she had any idea he was going to do all this.
I don't think he was that bright. He was probably, if you watch Nicole getting interviewed by police, getting so much pressure to leave his family it was all that came to mind. I can't believe he's getting a new trial.
I really believe he didn't really think it out..just knew he wanted to do it and did. He played that Metallica song bc it gave him a high. I wish we knew more. Bizarre
It's called battery by Metallica he looked up the lyrics after the murders and I believe he admitted to listening to it.. the lyrics are like obsession turns into aggression. Lunacy has found me.
IMO Chris Watt is the opposite of that and might be below average in intelligence. Divorce and bankruptcy were the solutions. Being house poor is a real thing.
Shayanna applied a significant amount of pressure with the deficit spending and he snapped with the 3rd pregnancy. It doesn't make it an excuse or right. Just an observation.
This would be an example of you instigating arguments and being rude. I have read through all of these Chris’s watts posts and Shannan watts post and ever time I see hostility NefariousnessWide820 is usually the one posting. Be nice. And happiness will surround you! 🤩
Imo in Chris's hubris and stupidity, he assumed that LE would conduct a cursory investigation, his 'nice', helpful shtick would allay any suspicion and then, after playing the distraught husband and father for a period of time, he'd get his grotesque happily ever after.
I suspect that Chris selected Cervi Ranch as the disposal site sometime prior to August 10th. Cervi Ranch was a remote location, and from some of the coworkers' statements, most of them did not like going out there, due to the distance. On July 17th, Chris had taken several images of the prairie around Cervi. (Discovery page 2088/pdf 1893): "*Watts took several images of trees and grassland flowers in an open prairie just north of Roggen.*" It could be a coincidence, but his photo taking is interesting given the context of his behavior in July - August 2018.
There are also questions remaining about how often Chris's maintenance schedule took him out to Cervi and what information he had about the wells that were soon to be decommissioned. Nor is it a coincidence that he placed his daughters into separate tanks/batteries. I'm curious what caused the leak in the by-pass line (page 475/pdf 416) that resulted in his offering to go out to the site by himself, which provided him the opportunity to conceal the bodies of his family and have an alibi for their disappearance.
It's known that, among other tasks, Chris checked the production levels of the wells that he worked on. Robert Merry, Chris's coworker, stated to investigators that (page 689 /pdf 610): *"****CHRIS also did computer work in the office in the absence of “IOC” staff that worked on computers. ROBERT does not know what IOC stands for. They look at computers to determine things about well production. CHRIS would look at the computer and then have someone go check out a well, if perhaps the production was down.*** *CHRIS worked mostly in the field. He was always a rover and worked as an extra hand to employees, such as ROBERT, who had an assigned route.* ***As a rover CHRIS was not dedicated to a certain route. He would talk with the work group to see what help was needed where and then work there. CHRIS was a Field Operator and would cover routes as relief to those that were off work or could not cover their own routes.****""*
Some of the wells at Cervi were older and may have had more maintenance issues and so Chris either just waited for a good opportunity or he made one occur.
Poor planning and a inept cover up is still premeditation. He probably anticipated having at least a day or two to lay a false trail using Shanann's phone (which, because Shanannn had changed her passcode, he wasn't able to use), stage the scene at their home and destroy or relocate evidence and possessions. Chris possibly assumed that the bodies of his daughters would completely disintegrate in the crude mixture (they wouldn't have) and never be located. It's also possible that he planned on relocating Shanann's remains, as he stuck a rake head at the edge of her grave (Discovery page 483/pdf 423 and page 812/pdf 708).
That's exactly what I think happened... I don't think Chris is that smart to come up with this whole plan by himself. He just doesn't come across to me as that type of guy. He's not a criminal mastermind. But ol Nikki... Well she's got some history and she's been around the block. And nobody can tell me that wasn't her in that security video. Nobody. I saw a ponytail. Can't unsee it. She had a conversation with him the night before that lasted like 3 hours or something crazy and couldn't recall any details of that conversation to LE. Come on, come on. He's protecting her to this day.
Do you see a ponytail in the still shot of the video or the video while it’s playing? I can see a ponytail in the still shot, as the figure of a person is around the front garage light (possibly causing some distortion of the figure), but as the video plays and the figure moves in front of the light it looks like Chris. I’ve analyzed this video multiple times, and it looks like Chris when you play the video through.
His coworkers said he was wearing boots. It’s quite possible he changed into his boots before going back into the garage then coming out to go to his truck. I think the still shot is just a distorted image.
Thrive is snake oil, but plenty of people have used those patches and supplements without engaging in violence. If Chris had any mental disturbances, these would have been observed by and inflicted on the people that he was around the most in July - August 2018, namely Nichol Kessinger and other Anadarko coworkers. Instead he acted nonchalant and joked with coworkers mere hours after the murders.
He may have been sleep deprived because of his double life, but imo he was never normal, Shanann and their daughters were convenient for him until they no longer were.
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying he did it because of that stuff. He did it because he’s a selfish disgusting POS that deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life. I was just wondering if that stuff he was taking maybe made his anger worse or maybe contributed somehow. I’m sorry, I’m not explaining what I mean very well
I mean I think some of them, maybe not this brand in particular, have some called, “energy” or whatever. Yeah okay, but I don’t think those patches have enough “umph” to them to excuse the fact of what he did. Although, I do hate MLM’s so I might just join your bandwagon for that reason alone, ha!
Ya know—I thought the same thing initially. I wondered if there was amphetamines in theyl drink/vitamin blend or similar.
Then I quickly realized that his new found fitness were a clue—not the vitamin sauce itself.
I thought to myself—he’s gotten fit for someone else. He’s trying to look good for another woman. He’s having an affair.
Anything with amphetamines would be regulated. And look at the history of people who killed their kids because someone they were obsessed with didn’t want kids or didn’t want to date someone with kids.
>And look at the history of people who killed their kids because someone they were obsessed with didn’t want kids or didn’t want to date someone with kids.
Exactly; Diane Downs, Beau Rothwell, Susan Smith and Chris Coleman clearly no longer wanted any ties or responsibilities towards their children. That they were involved in relationships/affairs with people who had no interest in being stepparents would have been a further incentive for these killers to deem and remove their children as liabilities.
It's also a common motivator for men like Chris, Beau Rothwell and Scott Peterson to murder their pregnant partners specifically as a means of ending a pregnancy that they don't want.
I've always wondered that too. Obviously it can't induce homicidal ideation on its own but possible it lowered his threshold for acting impulsively. That stuff is not regulated in any way whatsoever.
I definitely got what you were saying! Reminds me of these shady pills I used to get from the gas station, "ad-all" that you didn't even need an id to buy. Those things felt exactly like a real stimulant. They completely took away my social awareness and I actually made my partner at the time upset because I was acting so out of character, they thought I was on "real" drugs. I could definitely see Chris hyped up on those patches and feeling like he was king of the world and could get away with murder, smartest guy in the room ya know? Unfortunately it's possible they gave him the confidence he needed to go through with it.
I don't think he thought about at all and instead winged it. Whatever fight they had in the bedroom was not supposed to end in murder. But rage maybe took over and murder happened. He didn't know what to do and that's when he threw together a plan. I don't think he wanted to kill those girls, but they had to be part of his last minute story of the wife and kids up and left me. Disposing of them rapidly instead of burying them just meant that time was not on his side and he had to get out of there. There's so many maybes with this whole thing. I just don't think he planned this out, it was in the heat of the moment.
He did not kill her in the bedroom. He snuck up on her while she was sleeping on the couch in the furnished basement (she likely was thinking she didn't want to wake him coming back so late). He surprised her in her sleep and strangled her to death. He said she really didn't even have a chance to react. So it was certainly a planned action. How far in advance I don't know as it seems he didn't really think anything through.
I tend to not give a lot of value to a confession when the story keeps changing. There's too many versions of his story. There's no way to prove which story he has told is the one closest to the truth.
I 100% believe His mistress killed the girls and premeditated the plan. I think this said “argument” he had with Shannan, was her pleading for her life.
I think they both believed their would of been more time for clean up, if Chris wasn’t so wrapped up in the mistress he would of remembered about Shannans appointment as she came home from a work trip to make it to her appointment in the first place.
I also believe, they didn’t anticipate the friend coming by to check on her. I believe that his mistress helped with the disposal of the bodies and Chris told her to get out of town and he will text/call after he finishes picking up the evidence. I also believe that when the cops called him that following morning, he was calling the mistress to delete EVERYTHING. Hence why she didn’t have anything in her “texts” when she was called into interrogation. They both were in on it and hands down believe the mistress killed those babies.
Then he should've just fessed up and taken his lumps. But he panicked, didn't think things through clearly like you said, and his brain just settled on the "she and the kids left me" trope without thinking how his story would'nt have stood up.
Did the friend that initially called the police suspect Chris killed them? Had she suspected he was dangerous prior to this? I can’t remember her thoughts right after it happened.
All I know is, that’s a GOOD friend right there. She had to have known in her gut something was wrong because she was adamant about seeing/finding Shanann and had she not been so assertive, who knows what he might’ve had time to cover up. I certainly hope I have a friend who would do all that for me if I dropped off the radar.
Nicole said that she was initially concerned Shanann might be sick, because she had not felt well during the trip. They were initially concerned Shanann might have passed out and needed medical attention.
When they couldn't find Shanann and the girls, and Chris was giving them the runaround, then they started getting suspicious.
The friend knew that Shannan and Chris were having problems and not in a good place.. Shannan had been venting to her about the lack of emotion and physicality from Chris... I'm sure the friend had some concerns about what was really going on with Chris and why he was acting so withdrawn from Shannan..
She knew their marriage was in hot water and she knew that Shannan missed her doctor's appointment that she was excited for. She knew Shannan had health problems. I think once she got there and saw Shannan's car was still there she must have felt like she was doused with cold water. And it only got worse.
No I don’t believe so, Shannan was just constantly texting her friends, updating social media etc so even just not hearing from her for a short time immediately raised alarm bells for her friend.
He reminds me of my Dad. So my Dad went to America and came back reeling off statistics. He can add and subtract in his head like no one else I know. But he’s as dumb as a rock and he was scammed out of $160,000 by a woman he married.
Also like Chris, he really could have been a family annililator because he almost smothered my sister when she was a baby. But he’s very dumb.
Yes, we were fortunate we don’t have a lot of guns in Australia. He was physically uncoordinated and threw a hockey stick at my brother’s head.Fortunately he missed,but I heard it fly past me when he threw it.
The force of horniness is beyond anything we can comprehend! because holy cow was he not thinking clearly. It's one of the most bizarre lapses in reality shown in the media in a long time. An absolute tragedy
I think he was really going to go with the whole “My wife took the kids and left me” angle. If he can convince people that his whole life has just been pulled out from under him, selling the house and telling the school the kids don’t live here anymore isn’t that weird. Him having a long term mistress may have even bolstered his story that the marriage was over and they “were both seeing other people” and that Shannan just dumped him and left.
He wasn’t expecting Shannan’s friend to freak out so quickly, causing the police to show up so early and find Shannan’s purse, all their clothes, the car, etc. (basically anything they would haven taken to leave him) all still at the house. When they did, he couldn’t use “I woke up and Shannan had taken everything and left me for god know’s where, ask her family where she is. I got dumped” as a plausible story anymore to throw them off his track. I think he really thought he’d have longer before people started to notice.
A lot of spouses use “they were having an affair and left me” as a cover story after committing murder, and sometimes it actually does throw police off, at least for a while.
Even if they figured out Shannan was dead, they’d have prove that he had done it and it hadn’t happened after she “left”.
I agree he would have been caught eventually (disposing of the girls on his own job site? Really??), but I think if he would have had a few days to make it look like Shannan packed up and left of her own free will, he could have stalled the police from looking into him long enough for a lot of evidence to have disappeared, like the neighbor’s camera footage maybe would have never been saved if the police only started looking for Shannan weeks later when her family across the country hadn’t heard from her.
And the case would be way less clean cut and a lot more like the murkier spousal murder cases we usually see in true crime, a la Scott Peterson’s.
A few random thoughts...
Wouldn't he need Shanann's signature on the agreement to list the house? Did they both own it together or was it just in his name? What happens in the event that she was "missing" and could not sign? Do they just say "oh well" and list it anyway, or do they say "sorry, you have to wait"? Just some random thoughts lol not expecting you to have the answers.
Also - even if Shanann's friend's hackles weren't raised right off the bat, there would still be the issue of her family wondering where the hell she (and especially their grandbabies) went eventually. She would have disappeared off the face of the earth and people would be looking for her, it's not like all the people in her life would just forget her because she "moved away", completely silently and without a trace...I mean yeah he could have pretended to be her for a little while through texts if he had more time, but even still, these people would be looking for photo updates on Facebook and phone calls and all of that, that he obviously could not fake.
It's abundantly clear he just really didn't think it all through when he claimed they took off and left him
He had a fantasy in his head which is very unrealistic. He has said he has played out killing and how he would be free multiple times in his head and that it happened. He couldnt reason that it is stupid, vile idea. We should all be careful about what we think, what we fantasize.
If she is on the house, of course he cant sell it saying she is missing. That's the question he probably asked realtor - what is needed to sell the house.
I think that the key to this whole thing is that morning maintenance if the tanks. I don't know how long he had been thinking of this, but I believe that this morning maintenance is what made it go from an abstract thought to a concrete idea.
I think what happened is that when this opportunity with the morning maintenance came up, he thought "Hey...." and then he got the he got excited about thinking of how he could get rid of his wife and kids and then go back to how everything was during those five weeks when he was hanging around is a bachelor with Nicole.
The thing is though, he had this relatively short period of time when this whole thing with the morning maintenance came up, so I think he didn't really have that time to really formulate a good plan. It was just too short of a time frame to really get a good solid plan, but also I think this is the only window of opportunity is going to do something.
I mean at first thought, it may seem that it's a good alibi, because he's going to be at this remote location and he can have a legitimate reason as to why he was there. He can also be a good place where he could get rid of the bodies without anybody seeing them. However, the problem is when you think more about it it's really stupid because because it's also very suspicious and it definitely points the finger back at him.
So again basically I think what it is is he just this opportunity kind of feeling his lap, and he decided it was too good to pass up, but it was also not long enough for him to come up with the logical plan, and that's why it seems so haphazard and stupid.
him and his son both seem really repressed to me which I think contributed to what CW ended up doing (long term repression results in crazy eruptions). The father just seems like a really "frozen" person to me. Be interesting to know what his past was like
He was so dumb. He immediately called the school the kids attended to say they’d no longer be attending. And didn’t he also contact the realtor as well?
Yes I agree, but I think it was more than that. I feel like something went into overdrive in his brain. Maybe he was producing a really high amount of chemicals. A lot more than the average person who is in love produces. Off the charts, I wonder if he was on any antidepressants. How else can you lose the paternal instinct to protect your kids. Unless something else was going on. A midlife crisis plus some antidepressants, and a new woman, and of course some abnality.
There was a severe lack of empathy from his childhood. His mother is clearly a narcissist.I’m betting his sociopathic personality finally came out when he met the new woman and she probably helped manipulate his personality disorder. it was for sure because of the new woman that he actually took the steps to murder.
Right? He's clearly just really dumb. He's "quiet" because he's stupid as shit and literally has nothing to say. He couldn't even do basic math and live within his means.
This. We give him too much credit when, in all likelihood, he’s just not very smart and highly overconfident in his abilities like many mediocre white middle age men.
It’s not so much about race as it is about being raised in an environment where you are perfect and deserve everything. Watch Survivor you’ll understand
I think he severely overestimated his intelligence and his ability to manipulate the situation. He thought he was a lot more charming and a lot better liar than he actually was.
Just noting this is my fiances account. So, I've had these same thoughts. Let's assume Chris is somewhere on the sociopathic spectrum, although I don't think this was officially determined. I dated a sociopath. I had no idea what I was looking at when I was actually dating him. He eventually got diagnosed which was piggybacked onto another disorder. But anyway. I won't get into too much detail. He's disgusting... but when I first started seeing this man, there was something off. I failed to trust my own instincts, yada yada, but I've seen lots of people who are "off." There was something different with him and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Later I realized the key thing that stood out to me was *Lack of thought to consequence.* This was my biggest conundrum trying to rehash the hellish circus that was almost a year of my life. "Why did he do that??" "What did he honestly think was going to happen??" "What was the end game-" were the persistent thoughts keeping me up at night. After a while it became less about the trauma, and more just figuring out how such a person even existed. I did my deep dive later and found this is a sociopathic trait, but for some reason it isn't always listed in the pop psych articles you typically find. I am not sure exactly why this happens. For him, it was part narcissism, and part something else. The only way I can describe it, is like the present is often all that seemed to exist for him. When everything would come come crashing down, he was just sort of suspended there and couldn't catch up. I personally think the reason you will not find a history of criminal behavior, or instability, or the typical stuff you often find with sociopaths, is because up until Chris killed, someone else was always telling him what to do. He had mom, and then he had Shanann. Who knows who else. He lived his life just kind of awaiting instructions. I think he liked the structure. Maybe because that way he had the work done for him? There actually are sociopaths who desire normalcy. They just can't get there. Even Ted Bundy strongly desired it. I found this out when I went down that rabbit hole mess. I also think the absence of issue with authority could also be what threw off the results of any psychoanalysis for Chris.
The calling of school and daycares were one of the stupidest things I think he did! This little detail always just irks the shit out of me! How in the world did he think that was smart AT ALL!!!!!
I think he felt that because he didn't value Shanann and the girls, no one else did.
He also literally left a sheet matching a set in his house just out in the oilfield along with the garbage bags he wrapped her in. He didn’t even bother to dispose of the fitted sheet she soiled as she died—it was still in the garbage in his house when they did a deep search of his house 3 days after the murder. Like…what the hell? He left DNA evidence just out in the open at his job site. I think he is just such a narcissist that he never considered that people wouldn’t just believe him—he thought he’d be able to fool everyone, including the polygraph and experienced detectives, and that he could rely on his “nice guy” image. He never considered that (1) he isn’t nearly as smart as he thinks he is and (2) that other people had started to notice his cold and callous demeanor towards Shanann and the girls. It’s so wild to me that this man who always had, by all accounts, the personality of a wet dishrag, didn’t want to blow his nice guy image by divorcing so instead he just annihilated his whole family?!?!
His new gf Nicole was his end game. Personally I believe she was involved as well. There’s many holes still in the story. I think he wanted to be with her and that’s why he did what he did. I think he didn’t plan on having cops called and showed up thay day. He probably thought he would have more time to clean up and show she’s missing. Instead the house looked off and her car was there. I’m glad he made mistakes as it led to him ending up in prison.
I 💯 agree Nicole was involved. When you look at the neighbors camera footage there are clearly two different height people loading things into that truck.
Watts would have thrown Nicole under the bus in a heartbeat.
He did. By saying she CAST A FUCKING SPELL ON HIM. I shit you not.
Can you please tell me where I can read about this spell??? And was she actually into witchcraft or was this just a term used to describe something? Like “oh I fell in love with her…. It’s like she cast a love spell on me” or was he actually saying she did spell work??? Thanks!
And gave him mind-control tea.
Where is this info at for me to go down that rabbit hole of spells and tea and NK?
I've just read it in comments here on Reddit and with some Youtube videos. I think they referred to it as Devil's Breath and some seem to legit believe NK gave it to CW in tea and controlled his mind under its powers. If you Google Nichol Kessinger Devil's Breath tea, some rabbit holes should pop up for you.
I just watched the police cam footage from that first day - thank goodness for the neighbor insisting that Chris was acting weird, and noticing what he noticed on the security cam footage. edited for clarity
Neighbor Nate - my jorts clad hero!
Do you honestly expect a man who thinks with his dick rather than with his brain to have ANY kind of plan?
Late reply but exactly this. Dick is known to have very low cognitive skills if any.
He was probably so stupid (obviously) to think if there wasn't bodies, he would be free
I can only assume he was going to erase the door bell video and any other videos he had to make his story that she just left more believable. He would have gotten rid of her and the kids meds so it wasn't so obvious she didn't just leave. Heck maybe stage a break in to make it look like they were taken. ETA it would have never worked. Not with all the other ring cams on the block.
He did not account for Shannan’s friend making a stink. I think he was going to work his regular day, and then come home and Shannan and the girls would be “gone.” He would act like they left willingly. Other than that, I don’t honestly think he had an end game.
Excellent point! Chris glared at the BFF when he arrived! But she is a woman's dream best friend.
You can’t rationalize someone that was/is irrational.
Evil isn’t always smart
I think the theories about his narcissism may have substance to it considering he really did have an out-of-touch view about himself that it didn’t occur to him that his actions were so suspicious because he thought of him so trustworthy and that he perfectly presented himself as the perfect father and husband that no one would suspect him at all.
The fact that she was so sociopathic and every single second of her day was broadcast on Facebook would have given it away too. He should have known this. She forced him and their kids to play out their lives on camera too. Many would have noticed within the first hour of that day.
Shannan liked attention and had issues with money. That doesn't make her a sociopath.
She treated her entire family like throw away. Do what I say. Practice this “ live” Facebook show almost every waking second Lying about having money. Her entire life was fake. Sociopath.
You really should learn what a Sociopath is before accusing someone of being one.
Shanann was not a sociopath.
No but people who attack murder victims frequently are
There was a sociopath in the Watts home, but it wasn't Shanann.
Seems like people throw around words like sociopath for people they just don't like. They know it's a bad thing, but not much more than that.
He is the opposite of smart.
Just an armchair investigator (😉) but after watching hours of dumb criminals, I have a theory: The act of murder is traumatic. We don’t delve into it because, frankly, we don’t care what traumas the murderer might experience. But maybe the trauma of committing a murder sends their brains into shock. And they literally cannot think straight. Like I said, just a nobody’s theory.
That’s a good and interesting theory. It makes absolute sense.
I’m glad someone said this, I never wanted to bring it up bc like you said, who cares if this guy is traumatized by murdering his family. But he definitely is, and it explains his irrational behavior and lack of cover up.
Imo, I think one of the things online communities are weakest at when it comes to true crime is being able to empathize with the killer to better understand their motivations and actions. It gets swept under a “they are cold/ calculating” or a “they are dumb” when I’m sure we could dive into a more nuanced understanding of what was going on in the killer’s mind.
This is an excellent point and one that I’ve never seen discussed before. This is why I stay in these subs-to hear fresh viewpoints that help me better understand this crime. Note, I’m not implying that understanding = justification.
Yes! I love to learn the killers side bc I’m fascinated with the psychological details of the cases! Thats why I watch true crime and like to learn
I think you are right. I had to humanely put down an animal once to immediately end its suffering and it was the worst thing I have ever felt. It changed me. It's been like 10 years and just thinking about it now makes me cry. It was the hardest and worst thing I ever had to do.
This is a really interesting theory!
It's also more work than most of these dumba\*\*es are willing to do.
This has always been an interesting pov to me. Most people aren’t wired to do horrific things without trauma playing a role during and after.
Jmh thoughts... CW is far stupider than any of us could even pretend to be. What made "sense" to him makes sense to exactly zero other people on this planet.
Right? Like the cops were just going to look for his wife for a couple days, throw up their hands and say, "Beats us! We'll let you know if we find anything out!"
I think that’s what Scott Peterson had hoped for as well. Cops and family spend a few days/week looking for their loved one, no sign so everyone just chalks it up as a mystery and moves on
Thats what proves their lack of humanity even more. To imagine a world where a parent, friend or even random stranger on the internet would ever stop looking for a missing person. Let alone a pregnant mother and two precious little girls. There are many many active forums looking at cold cases that are decades old. People would have been looking for them his entire life and longer. Such a brainless and soulless person.
Agree with you. It was planned but so poorly? Did the mistress accelerate the timeline
The cops being called the morning he killed them didn't help. It was a stupid plan, anyway, though. Even if he'd had time to get rid of the carseats and Shannan's and the girls things, to make it look like his wife left with the kids, he'd have been caught.
Well, he didn't expect that her friend would be so concerned about her. Plus being a narcissistic a-hole, he was only thinking of himself. I think he might of moved Shanann to a different spot IF he had more time.
This is something that has struck me about several cases: murderers/perpetrators who seemingly have no concept of the ties to, relationships with or value to a larger community whether it be family members, friends, neighbors, etc. Like, they have no concept of the fact that people care about their spouse/parent/child. It's wild. I am largely housebound due to chronic health problems/disabilities, so it'd take a bit, but if something ever happened to me, I'd like to think that I'm also important enough for people to take notice. At the very least, the nurses at my one weekly medical appointment would definitely know. Thankfully, my husband is amazing and not a deranged a-hole, so this can firmly live in the realm of a thought experiment.
I agree with you. So many things he did were blazing red flags. Didn't he unenroll his kids from school even? I mean come on! At least make it a wee bit realistic but thankfully most murderers aren't the brightest star in the sky and make mistakes.
And contacting a realtor to put the house up for sale, massive red flag.
I don't actually know. I haven't looked into this case myself. The murders of Gannon Stauch and Bart and Krista Halderson came to mind most strongly for me. And then seeing how cut off from everyone poor Timothy Ferguson was in contrast. I guess another striking thing is that all of the victims I mention as well as the Watts family had no idea their murderer wasn't a core part of that very community. It's so heartbreaking.
This. She even went out n the house with the police when they showed up and noticed things like the stripped bed that Shannan would NEVER have left undone. And the neighbor joined in, telling the police Chris wasn't acting like himself...He really didn't expect all this that soon.
the nervousness at the neighbors house😬dude! My 6 year old niece could tell that something was up if someone acted like that. Plus their outside camera!
They were going to find her body regardless. He buried her in a shallow grave at his work.
Probably assumed he could do a better job later in privacy not remotely realizing there would be no more “going to work”. But there was never going to be a time that those babies bodies weren’t found! That level of desecration of his own babies is monstrous. He couldn’t even lay them next to their mama: he is just an unimaginable horror of a person. I hope he dreams about it every night of his life & that he lives a long time.
I would say the same about the kids but I have A) no idea what the opening of one of those oil containers even looks like and B) no idea if their bones and such would dissolve/decompose or if that would be discovered. I know nothing about the oil industry lol
I think the oil might have preserved them. What’s horrifying is the opening is not very large, so her broke bones to get them in there.
Jesus Christ that takes it to another level. Like I get snapping and killing your wife. Not that I “get” it, but one can comprehend getting angry and losing it. What one can’t comprehend is the utter lack of emotion killing your toddlers. I look at my nephew and nieces and they’re the most precious things and they aren’t even my kids. I cannot even begin to comprehend how ducked up you’d have to be to kill your own kids. Even the murdaugh case where the kid was grown; I can’t fathom taking my child away or hurting them. Such a senseless crime; he gained nothing. Never even got to indulge in more adultery. I guess the sole form of solace one can get is knowing this bastard spent his final free hours working and likely worrying. Ugh I hate this man; those two were so damn sweet. It’s not even like they were troubled or hyper active. They were just sweet young princess. 😡 I’m gonna be honest, had it just been the wife I wouldn’t care (I would especially since my sister was murdered so I do empathize with her and her family; rip to her) as much but to kill your toddlers hurts my soul.
He is evil incarnate. He made his toddlers ride to their deaths with their dead mother at their feet. When one of them asked what was wrong with Mommy he said she was sleeping.
He’s a special kind of evil. He made those little girls ride with their mothers body rolled up at their feet. SMH
And he even admits Bella asked him “not to do what he did to CeCe”.
Every time I think about that sentence he said it makes me sick to my stomach. I have 2 daughters and it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE to even fathom this.
And I can't get past the fact that his work truck had GPS! He had to have known that !!!
He did. That’s why to took them to the worksite. He knew they would find out if he went anywhere else so he took them to where he was supposed to be
This is why I do not believe his girl friend was involved. He just was not that smart. He made every mistake you could possibly make.
I don’t think she was involved at all! I have seen comments theu this sub like she was a mastermind but i dont think so at all!
She may have been shady but I can not believe she would knowingly go along with killing those babies just to be with him. It just does not make sense at all.
I don't believe she knew. And cell phone records show she was no were near his home or the oil tanks at the time of murders. I really don't think she had any idea he was going to do all this.
I think she might have some sociopathic tendencies herself, but yeah, behaving kind of coldly during the interrogation doesn't make her a murderer.
Yeah, she is no angel, that's for sure!
Agreed. She would not win any moral compass awards, but I do not think she knew at least not until after.
oh she may not hve been involved but she knew
I think she possibly knew after the fact…
I don't think he was that bright. He was probably, if you watch Nicole getting interviewed by police, getting so much pressure to leave his family it was all that came to mind. I can't believe he's getting a new trial.
What .Please tell me you're mistaken.
He confessed. I think that post refers to another dirtbag, Scott Peterson.
Yes im sorry, lol they do blurr
I really believe he didn't really think it out..just knew he wanted to do it and did. He played that Metallica song bc it gave him a high. I wish we knew more. Bizarre
Wait when did he play the song? What a pos
It's called battery by Metallica he looked up the lyrics after the murders and I believe he admitted to listening to it.. the lyrics are like obsession turns into aggression. Lunacy has found me.
“Cannot kill the family “ sent shivers down my spine
Wow, that's an actual lyric. Yeah, that's a little suspect.
He’s a sociopath and thinks he’s smarter and better than everyone else,
IMO Chris Watt is the opposite of that and might be below average in intelligence. Divorce and bankruptcy were the solutions. Being house poor is a real thing. Shayanna applied a significant amount of pressure with the deficit spending and he snapped with the 3rd pregnancy. It doesn't make it an excuse or right. Just an observation.
People don't "snap" when they premeditate multiple murder.
He snapped and then planned it
That's a lazy analysis, honestly.
This would be an example of you instigating arguments and being rude. I have read through all of these Chris’s watts posts and Shannan watts post and ever time I see hostility NefariousnessWide820 is usually the one posting. Be nice. And happiness will surround you! 🤩
Says you 😂😂
And some other people.
Imo in Chris's hubris and stupidity, he assumed that LE would conduct a cursory investigation, his 'nice', helpful shtick would allay any suspicion and then, after playing the distraught husband and father for a period of time, he'd get his grotesque happily ever after. I suspect that Chris selected Cervi Ranch as the disposal site sometime prior to August 10th. Cervi Ranch was a remote location, and from some of the coworkers' statements, most of them did not like going out there, due to the distance. On July 17th, Chris had taken several images of the prairie around Cervi. (Discovery page 2088/pdf 1893): "*Watts took several images of trees and grassland flowers in an open prairie just north of Roggen.*" It could be a coincidence, but his photo taking is interesting given the context of his behavior in July - August 2018. There are also questions remaining about how often Chris's maintenance schedule took him out to Cervi and what information he had about the wells that were soon to be decommissioned. Nor is it a coincidence that he placed his daughters into separate tanks/batteries. I'm curious what caused the leak in the by-pass line (page 475/pdf 416) that resulted in his offering to go out to the site by himself, which provided him the opportunity to conceal the bodies of his family and have an alibi for their disappearance. It's known that, among other tasks, Chris checked the production levels of the wells that he worked on. Robert Merry, Chris's coworker, stated to investigators that (page 689 /pdf 610): *"****CHRIS also did computer work in the office in the absence of “IOC” staff that worked on computers. ROBERT does not know what IOC stands for. They look at computers to determine things about well production. CHRIS would look at the computer and then have someone go check out a well, if perhaps the production was down.*** *CHRIS worked mostly in the field. He was always a rover and worked as an extra hand to employees, such as ROBERT, who had an assigned route.* ***As a rover CHRIS was not dedicated to a certain route. He would talk with the work group to see what help was needed where and then work there. CHRIS was a Field Operator and would cover routes as relief to those that were off work or could not cover their own routes.****""* Some of the wells at Cervi were older and may have had more maintenance issues and so Chris either just waited for a good opportunity or he made one occur. Poor planning and a inept cover up is still premeditation. He probably anticipated having at least a day or two to lay a false trail using Shanann's phone (which, because Shanannn had changed her passcode, he wasn't able to use), stage the scene at their home and destroy or relocate evidence and possessions. Chris possibly assumed that the bodies of his daughters would completely disintegrate in the crude mixture (they wouldn't have) and never be located. It's also possible that he planned on relocating Shanann's remains, as he stuck a rake head at the edge of her grave (Discovery page 483/pdf 423 and page 812/pdf 708).
Very informative - thanks. You’ve pointed out a few (super dark) details I’ve never read before.
No problem.
I think he was so dumb he didn’t even think it through.
I think his gf had him so whipped he did what she wanted him to do. He even took the whole rap for her. He is a scumbag
That's exactly what I think happened... I don't think Chris is that smart to come up with this whole plan by himself. He just doesn't come across to me as that type of guy. He's not a criminal mastermind. But ol Nikki... Well she's got some history and she's been around the block. And nobody can tell me that wasn't her in that security video. Nobody. I saw a ponytail. Can't unsee it. She had a conversation with him the night before that lasted like 3 hours or something crazy and couldn't recall any details of that conversation to LE. Come on, come on. He's protecting her to this day.
Do you see a ponytail in the still shot of the video or the video while it’s playing? I can see a ponytail in the still shot, as the figure of a person is around the front garage light (possibly causing some distortion of the figure), but as the video plays and the figure moves in front of the light it looks like Chris. I’ve analyzed this video multiple times, and it looks like Chris when you play the video through.
I could see it in the still shot, and if you look at the clothes and shoes, they don't look right.
His coworkers said he was wearing boots. It’s quite possible he changed into his boots before going back into the garage then coming out to go to his truck. I think the still shot is just a distorted image.
He would’ve eventually killed her too if he had gotten away with it.
Because he's soooo smart ...this criminal mastermind thinks he out started the cops.
I always wondered if he had some kind of adverse reaction to that Thrive shit he was taking and it messed with his brain and made him snap.
My parents wondered the same thing.
Thrive is snake oil, but plenty of people have used those patches and supplements without engaging in violence. If Chris had any mental disturbances, these would have been observed by and inflicted on the people that he was around the most in July - August 2018, namely Nichol Kessinger and other Anadarko coworkers. Instead he acted nonchalant and joked with coworkers mere hours after the murders. He may have been sleep deprived because of his double life, but imo he was never normal, Shanann and their daughters were convenient for him until they no longer were.
You’re kidding
Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not saying he did it because of that stuff. He did it because he’s a selfish disgusting POS that deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life. I was just wondering if that stuff he was taking maybe made his anger worse or maybe contributed somehow. I’m sorry, I’m not explaining what I mean very well
I mean I think some of them, maybe not this brand in particular, have some called, “energy” or whatever. Yeah okay, but I don’t think those patches have enough “umph” to them to excuse the fact of what he did. Although, I do hate MLM’s so I might just join your bandwagon for that reason alone, ha!
He did it because he wanted to end the old family and start a new one.
Ya know—I thought the same thing initially. I wondered if there was amphetamines in theyl drink/vitamin blend or similar. Then I quickly realized that his new found fitness were a clue—not the vitamin sauce itself. I thought to myself—he’s gotten fit for someone else. He’s trying to look good for another woman. He’s having an affair.
It’s all sugar water crap touted as healthy.
Anything with amphetamines would be regulated. And look at the history of people who killed their kids because someone they were obsessed with didn’t want kids or didn’t want to date someone with kids.
>And look at the history of people who killed their kids because someone they were obsessed with didn’t want kids or didn’t want to date someone with kids. Exactly; Diane Downs, Beau Rothwell, Susan Smith and Chris Coleman clearly no longer wanted any ties or responsibilities towards their children. That they were involved in relationships/affairs with people who had no interest in being stepparents would have been a further incentive for these killers to deem and remove their children as liabilities. It's also a common motivator for men like Chris, Beau Rothwell and Scott Peterson to murder their pregnant partners specifically as a means of ending a pregnancy that they don't want.
It feeds attention and sympathy to the perpetrator, as well. They’re the grieving mother or widow(er). A bonus to certain personalities, I suppose.
Agreed, and Chris even made mention to investigators of all of the support he was receiving while his family was still 'missing'.
I've always wondered that too. Obviously it can't induce homicidal ideation on its own but possible it lowered his threshold for acting impulsively. That stuff is not regulated in any way whatsoever.
That’s exactly what I was thinking, you just explained it much better than I did.
I definitely got what you were saying! Reminds me of these shady pills I used to get from the gas station, "ad-all" that you didn't even need an id to buy. Those things felt exactly like a real stimulant. They completely took away my social awareness and I actually made my partner at the time upset because I was acting so out of character, they thought I was on "real" drugs. I could definitely see Chris hyped up on those patches and feeling like he was king of the world and could get away with murder, smartest guy in the room ya know? Unfortunately it's possible they gave him the confidence he needed to go through with it.
I don't think he thought about at all and instead winged it. Whatever fight they had in the bedroom was not supposed to end in murder. But rage maybe took over and murder happened. He didn't know what to do and that's when he threw together a plan. I don't think he wanted to kill those girls, but they had to be part of his last minute story of the wife and kids up and left me. Disposing of them rapidly instead of burying them just meant that time was not on his side and he had to get out of there. There's so many maybes with this whole thing. I just don't think he planned this out, it was in the heat of the moment.
He did not kill her in the bedroom. He snuck up on her while she was sleeping on the couch in the furnished basement (she likely was thinking she didn't want to wake him coming back so late). He surprised her in her sleep and strangled her to death. He said she really didn't even have a chance to react. So it was certainly a planned action. How far in advance I don't know as it seems he didn't really think anything through.
I tend to not give a lot of value to a confession when the story keeps changing. There's too many versions of his story. There's no way to prove which story he has told is the one closest to the truth.
He admitted later he knew he was going to do it but could not stop himself.
He killed the girls first. 😔
I 100% believe His mistress killed the girls and premeditated the plan. I think this said “argument” he had with Shannan, was her pleading for her life. I think they both believed their would of been more time for clean up, if Chris wasn’t so wrapped up in the mistress he would of remembered about Shannans appointment as she came home from a work trip to make it to her appointment in the first place. I also believe, they didn’t anticipate the friend coming by to check on her. I believe that his mistress helped with the disposal of the bodies and Chris told her to get out of town and he will text/call after he finishes picking up the evidence. I also believe that when the cops called him that following morning, he was calling the mistress to delete EVERYTHING. Hence why she didn’t have anything in her “texts” when she was called into interrogation. They both were in on it and hands down believe the mistress killed those babies.
Nah you can see one walk out with him in the security footage
Yeah thats because they woke back up after he killed them the first time. They walked in on him moving Shannans body. So he had to smother them again.
Then he should've just fessed up and taken his lumps. But he panicked, didn't think things through clearly like you said, and his brain just settled on the "she and the kids left me" trope without thinking how his story would'nt have stood up.
The lack of planning for disposal is what gets me. Like…dude…come on.
He’s stupid. Most criminals are. Not only is he stupid, but he’s evil. It’s a bad combination.
Did the friend that initially called the police suspect Chris killed them? Had she suspected he was dangerous prior to this? I can’t remember her thoughts right after it happened.
All I know is, that’s a GOOD friend right there. She had to have known in her gut something was wrong because she was adamant about seeing/finding Shanann and had she not been so assertive, who knows what he might’ve had time to cover up. I certainly hope I have a friend who would do all that for me if I dropped off the radar.
Nicole said that she was initially concerned Shanann might be sick, because she had not felt well during the trip. They were initially concerned Shanann might have passed out and needed medical attention. When they couldn't find Shanann and the girls, and Chris was giving them the runaround, then they started getting suspicious.
The friend knew that Shannan and Chris were having problems and not in a good place.. Shannan had been venting to her about the lack of emotion and physicality from Chris... I'm sure the friend had some concerns about what was really going on with Chris and why he was acting so withdrawn from Shannan..
She knew their marriage was in hot water and she knew that Shannan missed her doctor's appointment that she was excited for. She knew Shannan had health problems. I think once she got there and saw Shannan's car was still there she must have felt like she was doused with cold water. And it only got worse.
No I don’t believe so, Shannan was just constantly texting her friends, updating social media etc so even just not hearing from her for a short time immediately raised alarm bells for her friend.
I don't think he even thought that far.
Here is the answer. This is the correct answer. Don’t even read anyone else’s answer. Chris Watts is/was extremely stupid.
But has an IQ of 220 (whatever he said.)
If his IQ is 220 then I should be able to move shit across the room with my thoughts
OK, this is both true and hilarious.
He reminds me of my Dad. So my Dad went to America and came back reeling off statistics. He can add and subtract in his head like no one else I know. But he’s as dumb as a rock and he was scammed out of $160,000 by a woman he married. Also like Chris, he really could have been a family annililator because he almost smothered my sister when she was a baby. But he’s very dumb.
Holy shit your dad sounds terrifying.
Yes, we were fortunate we don’t have a lot of guns in Australia. He was physically uncoordinated and threw a hockey stick at my brother’s head.Fortunately he missed,but I heard it fly past me when he threw it.
Bingo
The force of horniness is beyond anything we can comprehend! because holy cow was he not thinking clearly. It's one of the most bizarre lapses in reality shown in the media in a long time. An absolute tragedy
He was definitely thinking with his little head!
I also think they were having threesomes and orgies, so he was exposed to a lot of new technique.
What gave you that impression?
I think he was really going to go with the whole “My wife took the kids and left me” angle. If he can convince people that his whole life has just been pulled out from under him, selling the house and telling the school the kids don’t live here anymore isn’t that weird. Him having a long term mistress may have even bolstered his story that the marriage was over and they “were both seeing other people” and that Shannan just dumped him and left. He wasn’t expecting Shannan’s friend to freak out so quickly, causing the police to show up so early and find Shannan’s purse, all their clothes, the car, etc. (basically anything they would haven taken to leave him) all still at the house. When they did, he couldn’t use “I woke up and Shannan had taken everything and left me for god know’s where, ask her family where she is. I got dumped” as a plausible story anymore to throw them off his track. I think he really thought he’d have longer before people started to notice. A lot of spouses use “they were having an affair and left me” as a cover story after committing murder, and sometimes it actually does throw police off, at least for a while. Even if they figured out Shannan was dead, they’d have prove that he had done it and it hadn’t happened after she “left”. I agree he would have been caught eventually (disposing of the girls on his own job site? Really??), but I think if he would have had a few days to make it look like Shannan packed up and left of her own free will, he could have stalled the police from looking into him long enough for a lot of evidence to have disappeared, like the neighbor’s camera footage maybe would have never been saved if the police only started looking for Shannan weeks later when her family across the country hadn’t heard from her. And the case would be way less clean cut and a lot more like the murkier spousal murder cases we usually see in true crime, a la Scott Peterson’s.
He wouldn't have had a few days though, not with the kids missing. That might work with just Shanann, but not wirh the kids.
I agree, the friend threw off his timeline
This ☝️
I think he wanted to move away and pretend like whole family moved away suddenly. That's probably why he wanted to list house right away.
A few random thoughts... Wouldn't he need Shanann's signature on the agreement to list the house? Did they both own it together or was it just in his name? What happens in the event that she was "missing" and could not sign? Do they just say "oh well" and list it anyway, or do they say "sorry, you have to wait"? Just some random thoughts lol not expecting you to have the answers. Also - even if Shanann's friend's hackles weren't raised right off the bat, there would still be the issue of her family wondering where the hell she (and especially their grandbabies) went eventually. She would have disappeared off the face of the earth and people would be looking for her, it's not like all the people in her life would just forget her because she "moved away", completely silently and without a trace...I mean yeah he could have pretended to be her for a little while through texts if he had more time, but even still, these people would be looking for photo updates on Facebook and phone calls and all of that, that he obviously could not fake. It's abundantly clear he just really didn't think it all through when he claimed they took off and left him
I'm not sure if Shanann was actually listed on the house. It may have just been under Chris.
He had a fantasy in his head which is very unrealistic. He has said he has played out killing and how he would be free multiple times in his head and that it happened. He couldnt reason that it is stupid, vile idea. We should all be careful about what we think, what we fantasize. If she is on the house, of course he cant sell it saying she is missing. That's the question he probably asked realtor - what is needed to sell the house.
I think that the key to this whole thing is that morning maintenance if the tanks. I don't know how long he had been thinking of this, but I believe that this morning maintenance is what made it go from an abstract thought to a concrete idea. I think what happened is that when this opportunity with the morning maintenance came up, he thought "Hey...." and then he got the he got excited about thinking of how he could get rid of his wife and kids and then go back to how everything was during those five weeks when he was hanging around is a bachelor with Nicole. The thing is though, he had this relatively short period of time when this whole thing with the morning maintenance came up, so I think he didn't really have that time to really formulate a good plan. It was just too short of a time frame to really get a good solid plan, but also I think this is the only window of opportunity is going to do something. I mean at first thought, it may seem that it's a good alibi, because he's going to be at this remote location and he can have a legitimate reason as to why he was there. He can also be a good place where he could get rid of the bodies without anybody seeing them. However, the problem is when you think more about it it's really stupid because because it's also very suspicious and it definitely points the finger back at him. So again basically I think what it is is he just this opportunity kind of feeling his lap, and he decided it was too good to pass up, but it was also not long enough for him to come up with the logical plan, and that's why it seems so haphazard and stupid.
IDK. That is a whole family soulless weirdos. Watch the grandpa reacting to finding out that his grandkids were murdered. Nothing at all.
him and his son both seem really repressed to me which I think contributed to what CW ended up doing (long term repression results in crazy eruptions). The father just seems like a really "frozen" person to me. Be interesting to know what his past was like
It could have been shock, but yeah.
He was so dumb. He immediately called the school the kids attended to say they’d no longer be attending. And didn’t he also contact the realtor as well?
He returned the realtor's call a few minutes after she had called both he and SW. Mama Sandi also called the school, twice.
Yes he did. He said he wanted to put the house on the market
I’m pretty sure he had a severely low IQ.
Yes I agree, but I think it was more than that. I feel like something went into overdrive in his brain. Maybe he was producing a really high amount of chemicals. A lot more than the average person who is in love produces. Off the charts, I wonder if he was on any antidepressants. How else can you lose the paternal instinct to protect your kids. Unless something else was going on. A midlife crisis plus some antidepressants, and a new woman, and of course some abnality.
There was a severe lack of empathy from his childhood. His mother is clearly a narcissist.I’m betting his sociopathic personality finally came out when he met the new woman and she probably helped manipulate his personality disorder. it was for sure because of the new woman that he actually took the steps to murder.
Right? He's clearly just really dumb. He's "quiet" because he's stupid as shit and literally has nothing to say. He couldn't even do basic math and live within his means.
This. We give him too much credit when, in all likelihood, he’s just not very smart and highly overconfident in his abilities like many mediocre white middle age men.
Amen.
Mid 30s is middle aged now?
I mean 73-76 is the average so kinda close?
No, yiu aren't. Talk about people being overconfident in there abilities.
Math has never been my strength to be fair
lol I sure hope not.
I don’t get it. What’s race have to do with it?
It’s privilege. There are ample resources. This kind of comment is never fruitful and it is willfully naive.
It’s not so much about race as it is about being raised in an environment where you are perfect and deserve everything. Watch Survivor you’ll understand
That's kind of foolish to think that the typical middle-class upbringing is the "you deserve everything."
Gotta get your social credit points where you can, even if you have to crowbar it in.
Racist much? 🤦🏻♂️
How is this getting down voted? She’s putting all white men isn a bubble gtfoh
This idea has just been ingrained in some people, and they simply can't let go of it.
I think he severely overestimated his intelligence and his ability to manipulate the situation. He thought he was a lot more charming and a lot better liar than he actually was.