Chris Watts: From Chubby Introvert to Ripped Narcissist— Watts Family Murders A to Z

Say hi CeCe say hi Bells hi Belle no you got to say hi hi when Chris and I got married we moved out here after visiting fell in love with the area it's gorgeous in Colorado I'm making some Italian cookies today but this guy right here he's going to do all the dishes that's me volcanic Communications this is sty hi sty my name is Nicole and I'm calling because I'm concerned about um a friend of mine um I dropped her off at her house at two in the morning last night because we were out of

town together and we were on the way back from the airport and she's pregnant and I haven't been able to get a hold of her this morning she won't answer the door she won't answer phone calls she won't answer text messages what's her name shanan W all righty we do have a call in Nicole we'll have an officer come out that way as soon as we can well welome back to Crime a toz where we detail cases and criminals from their very beginning until well after other reporting ends since you're a human on this planet

You' very likely already heard About the Chris Watts case it's arguably one of the most covered and Fallen rotter cases of our time so we decided it's about time to give the crime a toz treatment to the case that has made so many people question how well they really know someone after learning the full details of the case we have a brand new level of disrespect for Chris Watts so sit back because while this case may start off with information you already knew it almost certainly will not end that way and before we start if

you like this video or any of our videos we always always genuinely appreciate you hitting like And subscribe and hopefully share a really quick editor's note given the Staggering volume of information related to this case it's important to mention that as usual this video is based on either official court or police documents referenced statements and other verified or reputable sources weeding out the speculations theories and unverified information let's go Shannon Katherine rusek was born on January 10th 1984 to parents Frank and Sandra rusek pronounced shin by friends and Shannon by her family she grew up

with her younger brother Frank Jr or Frankie in Aberdine North Carolina the family was small and close according to Shannon's friends and family she was a go-getter from the start when she put her mind to something she did whatever she needed to do to accomplish it she was a boss in every good sense of the word when Shannon was around 18 she married for about 6 years before it ended in divorce Shannon herself would later recall how although the relationship was painful she grew from it and eventually became stronger for it and that's who Shannon

was learning from her experiences growing and finding happiness it was during one of her particularly challenging life experiences in August of 2010 having just been in a car accident and facing the painful recovery process as well as just being diagnosed with lupus that she met Chris Watts in 2010 Shannon had a Facebook account but was not a regular poster it was on that platform that she re received a friend request from a man she didn't know he was a cousin of a friend of hers she figured and I Got A Friend friend request from Chris

on Facebook and I was like oh what the heck I'm never going to meet him except Christopher Lee Watts was born on May 16th 1985 in Spring Lake North Carolina to parents Ronnie and Cindy Watts the couple also had a daughter Chris's older sister Jamie as a child Chris loved playing sports including basketball baseball and football he also loved NASCAR racing which he'd attend with his Dad Chris was always described as quiet and easygoing someone who got along with everyone in his Pine Forest High School yearbook he's described as being into Automotive repairs and he

appeared on the Patriotic page after graduating Pine Forest Chris attended NASCAR Tech a trade school specializing in Motorsport technology careers as is often the case when it comes to attraction Chris's personality was the opposite of Shannon's while Shannon was out going and gregarious Chris was the opposite shying away from attention he didn't date throughout high school with Shannon being his first serious relationship longer than 6 months after Shannon met Chris on Facebook she fell in love with the platform it became her means to connect with family and friends both old and new she became a

prolific poster chronicling her battles her triumphs her everyday highs and lows So that her friends family and followers could intimately keep up with all that was Shannon shann in and Chris's relationship flourished after almost 2 years of dating the couple decided to move to Colorado so in 2012 Chris arrived ahead of Shannon living in the basement of a family that Shannon had briefly been the Manny for back in North Carolina Shannon joined him in a couple months and they continued staying there until their home in Colorado was finished being built the couple married on November

3rd 2012 back in North Carolina they moved into their five-bedroom home in Frederick Colorado and began planning and living out there seemingly Picture Perfect lives together Chris had already gotten a job at the local Ford dealership as a mechanic and Shannon got a job there as a salesperson as well and it didn't take long for them to start growing their family by February in the following year 2013 Shannon was pregnant with her first child Bella Marie Watts was born in December of 2013 and less than 2 years later in July 2015 they welcome his second

daughter Celeste Catherine Watts with they lovingly Called CCE 2015 was a busy year for the couple aside from CCE being born Chris landed a new job as a field coordinator at anad Darko a local oil and natural gas drilling company and Shannon was working at a call center at a children's hospital the couple was bringing in about $90,000 per year but it wasn't enough they had accumulated a significant amount of debt with over $70,000 in credit card debt student loans and medical bills par regularly a $25,000 out-of-pocket expense for neck surgery that Shannon had to

have and 2 years of regular doctor visits trying to get the girls properly diagnosed they decided they couldn't meet their monthly expenses they filed for bankruptcy that year but things would start to look up at the beginning of 2016 Shannon joined lville a multi-level marketing company selling vitamin infused patches she was a natural being the caring giving go-getter that all her friends knew her to be someone who people instantly wanted to be friends with she grew to becoming a top producer earning vacations allowances and according to Chris and a friend of hers a handsome income

she Once posted about how the company pays her a monthly automobile bonus both on Facebook and in real life shanon's friends and family could see that she was happy and by all accounts those same friends and family without exception knew Chris to be a kind quiet and loving husband and a dedicated doting father both parents adored their children and were raising them to be confident and caring well one thing led to another and 8 years later we have two kids we live in Colorado and he's the best thing that has ever happened to me shortly

after posting that video in 2018 Shannon learned that she was pregnant again she posted how she shared the moment with Chris on Facebook we did it again I like that [Music] shirt really really that's awesome so pink means that's just a test I know it just the pink is going to be girls I don't know just a chest that's awesome Chris appeared happy a gender reveal party was planned but it would never happen Shannon had been away for the weekend on a work-related trip while Chris was home with the two girls for the weekend at

about 1:48 a.m. after a flight delay an exhausted Shannon Is finally dropped off at home by her friend Nicole ainson who was also on the trip with with her later that morning friends have grown worried that they've not heard from Shannon and that she wasn't returning their calls or texts then once they learned that she was a no-show for an Obi appointment something she would never miss they're beyond concerned Nicole ainson the friend who dropped Shannon off in the wee hours of that morning drives to Shannon's house with her 16-year-old and 2-year-old Sons she becomes

even more concerned when there's no answer and she can see the shoes shanon wears every day just inside the front door and her car is still in a garage visible through the windows at the top she calls police requesting a well check they arrive within minutes hi here Nicole yes okay what's going on so my friend um we were out of town for a business trip this weekend right and I dropped her off at 2:00 this morning she's 15 weeks pregnant she wasn't feeling well and she had a doctoring this morning at 9:00 and I

told her to let me know she needed me to take her she's got two little girls and um she was very dist TR over The weekend wasn't eating normally or drinking and we kept trying to force it on her because she's pregnant M um her husband and her supposedly are separating but she didn't know this she thought they were just having issues he disclosed that to me today cuz I called him and I was like have you talked or heard from shenan since you left for work this morning cuz I can't get a hold of

her I've called I've texted her car's in the garage her shoes she wears every single day by the front door she only has one vehicle no they only have the one vehicle on his work truck okay that's what I'm asking there girl and went on a play date but they're full 4 and two she went on a plate why wouldn't she taking a car they're both in car seats police search the outside of the home the officer gets Chris on the phone and asks him if he knows where his wife and kids are he says

he doesn't but that he'll be home in about 5 minutes after a few minutes Chris arrives home SC how you doing so this is the only vehicle she would have only one she would drive okay he immediately goes into the garage and begins searching Shannon's car then he goes Into the house through the inner garage door and closes it he's in the house alone for just over a minute before opening the front door for police and Nicole then Nicole discovers Shannon's cell phone is she work yeah she works from home oh from home she works

this is her Lifeline the Stark difference between the level of concern shown by Nicole versus by Chris is clear you guys have any kind of issues marital issues or separation you are you guys filed yet or anything or just talking about no we we're going to sell the house and separation how's that going it's going civil for the most part she tell you anything about leaving moving out not moving out I mean the last time I talked to her was this morning she said she was going to take the kids to her friend's house and

she that's where she was going to be and then I've texted her today I've never heard anything but cars car's here car here unless somebody came picked her up but the people that I know nobody's heard from nobody's seen right police notice that there is no bedding on the bed it has been stripped off and bundle on the floor they find pillowcase and the top sheet in the kitchen Trash but the fitted sheet is missing other than that they don't see any signs of Foul Play Chris explains that Shannon usually likes to wash the sheets

after she slept in them after traveling to get the airport off of them one thing that's clear to everyone searching is that the house is locked up tight from the inside so there would be no way for an intruder to escape the home leaving everything locked from the inside unless they left through the garage police learn that the next door neighbor has a surveillance camera and they head over to see what he may have captured about this time detective Dave bombover the sole detective of the Frederick Police Department is called in to join the search

they hit the jackpot the camera is pointed directly in the direction of the Watts home the footage shows that the only person to come or go from the Watts home at least from the front is Chris himself while Chris begins to overe explain himself load my stuff up in my coolers my water jugs my book bag my computers some of the tools that I had from the tool box I knew I was going to have to do some pumping pumping in rubbers today what I was out so far The neighbor explains how the camera will

pick up any movement in the vicinity while an increasingly anxious Chris continues rambling about questions he has not been asked my detective just showed up um so he'll probably want to talk to you you probably like I said you might have you call at the bank and see if there's any kind of activity um cuz if there was any sort of action out there his camera I would have got it like we had we had issues the other other week when people were we stealing stuff out of like garages and stuff like that and I

have Park here I park right here yeah cuz someone I can see someone tried to Jimmy with a flathead screwdriver over there and it was just like but if any action would have happened any cars or anything left your house I would been like right in that area they should have oh it'll pick up anything coming down the street this way oh yeah Chris's level of stress at this point is visible and obvious El do being stressed about his family having disappeared is not an abnormal reaction but he didn't show that level of stress prior

to viewing the video viewing that for an innocent person should not add additional Stress after they finished watching the video Chris hightails it out of there the officer stays behind all right appreciate your time yeah problem thanks hopefully something comes up here if I you just want to go talk to him I'm going to get his info real quick no back andth and if you look he never loads his stuff in and out of the garage ever right it doesn't he doesn't look worried he looks like he's trying to cover his traps you know what

I'm saying right and if he's loading his stuff why isn't he walking back and forth but I can't see what he's doing in the back of the truck cuz he pulls into the garage he knows my camera's there no I'm just saying it's kind of odd that he pulls his truck back behind my camera well he never backs his truck into the driveway and he's right Chris was strict about never driving his truck onto the driveway out of fear of getting oil from the tires onto the Driveway you can ask them he's normally quiet we

subdue he's over here telling to telling you three times what he took out what he did what he did what he did he's very he never talks so the fact that he's over here blabbing is mouth makes me kind of suspicious 34-year-old Shannon 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old CeCe are officially considered missing Watts's official storyline is that Shannon arrived home just before 2 a.m. from her business trip he claims they had an emotional conversation before he left for work at about 5:15 a.m. no one hears from Shannon for about 7 hours until her neighbor arrives at

her home at about noon finding no one there once Chris arrives they find Shannon's phone her purse her wallet money and ID and even the children's critical medication which she never left home without her car was in the garage and still contained the girl's car seats the next day the FBI and the CBI joined the investigation while police are searching his home with police dogs Chris has agreed to be interviewed by two news stations when I got home yesterday it was like a ghost to like she wasn't here kids weren't here I have no idea

like where They went if she wasn't here like where did she go like once I got here it was like all right who can I call if she's vanished like I want her back so bad I want those kids back so bad last night I wanted I I wanted that knock on the door I wanted to see I wanted to see this kid just running running just just Barrel rush me and just give me a hug and knock me on the ground I'm hoping that somebody sees something or somebody knows something and comes forward right

now now it's got K9 units the sheriff's apartment everybody's like they're they're doing their best right now to figure out like if they can get a cent I called her three times texted her about three times just to say you know right now I don't even want to just like throw anything out there like I hope that she's somewhere safe right now and with the kids that's why last night was horrible I couldn't do it I just shanan Bella Celeste if you're out there just just come back like if somebody has her just please bring

her back I need to see everybody I need to see everybody again this house is not complete with without anybody here please bring It back from the start Chris's lack of emotions was on display for everyone to see and speculate psychologists noted that he even appeared to be smiling or even laughing at times investigators called Chris Watts to the police department that evening for questioning FBI special agent Ram coder conducts the first interview with Watts that evening agent suspicions of Watts were already heightened by his near emotionless behavior during the television interviews he granted then

as the questioning with investigators progressed there were red flags for starters he kept referring to his wife and daughters in the past tense like when he was shown a picture of his daughters it was 100° outside her what she loved those shoes she always loves those shoes and Bella she always wore some flipflops she always will she's just like she was the girlly girl but for the most part during the three plus hour interview watt sticks to this story that he and Shannon had planned to separate that she said she was going to stay with

a friend and that he had no idea where his wife and kids were he does admit that things are beginning to look worrisome what do you think Happen at first I really thought maybe she was just at somebody's house just decompressing just blown steam yeah but after today like with the onslaught of all the cars I mean all the police cars all the NES all the canine units it's making me lean the other direction about someone took her okay but there's just if someone took her it would have to have been someone she knew because

there's there's no sign of anything like being disturbed broken mhm but like that's the way I'm leaning now at first I thought for real she was just too compressing somewhere just I mean I thought she was safe even though everything in the house was left there but now it's just after the day with the news crews and everything it's just it feels more the other direction and it's freaking me out at one point AJ coder shares with Watts his perspective of how everything is looking so when I work investigations like this I have to keep

an open mind on everything okay okay and part of keeping an open mind is listening to you talk about your wife and your marriage and the day she goes missing is the day that you guys have marital Discord okay so you can understand What I'm thinking about you yeah what do you think about that I makes me sick to my stomach honestly like I know like I've talked to a few of my friends is like you know this does not good on you I'm like I know it's like people that if people knew that we

were having marital issues they're going to look at me especially with the way everything looks and it honestly just makes me sick to my stomach because this is something that I would never do ever I I know like you have to look at every every vantage point this is something I would never do to my kids or my wife at all but at this point even though the agent doesn't call it out his wife and kids are supposedly merely missing and given his claim that she said she was going to a friend's house being sick

to his stomach because he would never do this to his wife and kids when nothing has been revealed to have been done is telling the highly skilled agent uses well-proven tactics to coax watts into divulging what happened including positive reinforcement to befriend him but they're not letting him get away with anything either uh 1 p.m. I'm now on my way home to check on my family is that just cuz you're worried with based on the conversation from Nicole had the police contact you by then no okay two I ared sorry go ahead but Nicole said

she was probably going to call the cops okay all right now so it sounds like Nicole's pretty worried more worried than you well I once once she couldn't get anything out of her and nothing was going on of the house I was like all right I got to go home but it sounds like Nicole was more worried yeah because like most of like if she doesn't texted me like I understand that like sometimes that happens okay but for her not to get back to her direct sales group that was very unorthodox okay agent coder asks

Watts about any infidelity so I need to ask you about um your marriage and uh infidelity okay okay tell me about it I have never cheated on my life okay and I fully suspect she has never done that to me oh okay like she's always been a trustworthy person I've always been a trustworthy person I fully expect if we ever thought about straying another way mhm that we would tell each other before it happened I think that sounds ridiculous but He wasn't telling the truth what Watts doesn't know is that detectives are already aware that

he's having an affair early that morning they've been alerted by the head of security at Watts's job that the company had discovered email evidence of a possible Affair between watts and a coworker shortly after that the cooworker herself Nicole kessinger also came forward to police claiming that she wanted to divulge their relationship to them and share what she knew about Watts so while Watts was being interviewed police were also interviewing Nicole who will refer to as kessinger to differentiate her from Shannon's friend Nicole ainson during this first of several police interviews which took place in

a park kessinger downplayed her relationship with Chris stating that it wasn't that serious and that Watts was more into her than she was into him she claimed Watts told her that he was separated and at the end of divorce proceedings according to kessinger after The Disappearance she learned that Shannon was pregnant and that Watts had lied about it she said that if he could lie about that she wondered what else could he Lie about and worried for the missing family's safety more on kessinger in a bit meanwhile back at Chris's interview he hasn't wavered since

he insists he's tell telling the truth police ask him if he will undergo a polygraph test he agrees so at 11:00 p.m. after nearly 4 hours of questioning and no probable cause to hold him they plan to part ways for the night and have Chris return in the morning for the polygraph I want you to go home and I want you to know that I'm the guy you can talk to okay who's not going to judge you I have kids sometimes I sometimes I joke with my wife I just need two weeks alone you know

like when you told me about your four to five weeks alone I was like wow that sounds like a slice of heaven right sometimes it's a bit much okay I want to talk to you again tomorrow okay okay I want you to get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast and a good workout whatever you got to do whatever your morning routine is Chris's father has flown into Colorado to support his son Chris picks him up from the airp report the next morning and the two of them head for the police station and Chris's

polygraph Before the test begins CBI agent Tammy Lee who will be administering the test explains what he can expect there's actually only two ways you can fail a polygraph okay the first way would be if you fail to follow my instructions I'm going to give you a lot of instructions today about how to sit still how to answer questions things like that so if you fail to follow those instructions you will not pass today's test okay the second way would be if you choose to lie to me today um obviously this is about 100% truth

um even if there's you know something that you didn't tell the investigators you know since Monday I guess is when you ended the police were involved if there's something that you didn't tell them since Monday like that is totally fine like I get it you know people aren't going to remember every single detail every time they talk to someone as long as you tell me what the truth is today you will have no problem with passing okay I promise you that and obviously I mean I hope that you know if you did have something to

do with their disappearance um it would be really stupid stupid for you to come in and take a poph today right Like it it would be really dumb like you should not be here right now sitting in this chair if you had anything to do with shenan and the little girls disappearance okay okay during the Baseline testing aged Le asks Chris to deliberately tell a lie so they can see what a lie looks like for him on the detector they find that his lies are obvious so you obviously are a really bad liar has have

people told you that before like the say you tell a lie like they can tell like on your face that because we're cheing you li to the number three like I don't know if you heard me clicking but I like turned down the sensitivity because you were starting to go off the page so that is what I need to see as a polygrapher because that tells me that you know it's wrong to tell a lie um and you're actually having a significant reaction when you lie so that is awesome so thank you for being a

hor liar no that's a good thing that's a good thing we don't want to be good liar so thank you for being a horrible liar then the real questions come the test is about to begin please remain still do you know where shenan is now no Chris failed the polygraph test he didn't just fail Investigators said he scored shockingly Low Police confront Chris about the results and tell him that he needs to come clean so um it was completely clear that you were not honest during the testing and I think you already know that um

he did not pass the polygraph test okay okay so now we need to talk about what actually happened and I feel like you're probably ready to do that didn't I didn't lie to you on that holograph I promise Chris know it's time for a minute take a deep breath I I want you to take a deep breath right now we're not we're not here to play games we're not here to do any of that with you we just want to know what happened so can you start from the beginning and tell us what happened everything

that I I told you I did not lie on this polygraph I am I don't know how much I could I could tell you right now like I did not it's not even it's not even an option right now because you did not pass the polygraph so I know you were being deceptive so that's not even is an issue right now the issue right now is what happened to shenan Bella and Celeste that's the Right now this is where this is where the rubber meets the road Chris like don't let this continue any longer please

I'm not trying to make anything continue like I want them back home like but you know they're not coming back home Agent Lee calls him out for not having shed a single tear I just I just find it hard that hear you talk about is having this emotional you know conversation with shenan and you're balling and crying together and you have not shed one tear in 2 days that you've been here no not one and I help me understand that because I don't get it you're these are your baby girls and you have not shed

one tear over them not being around Chris I I lose my four-year-old in the store for 10 seconds and I start to go panic panic I have not seen any of that from you at all help me understand that I love those girls I I would never do any just because I haven't shed a tear you get yeah no that's weird is that weird don't don't look into that like I don't love my kids tell explain to me you're you're crying with your wife that you're leaving her yeah but you don't cry that you're two

little Baby girls I'm hoping they're still around some I'm hoping they're still somewhere after a few more minutes ajj coder takes a different approach but you weren't here today lying about something else so we need to talk about that okay that's your daughter I know and this is very good I I'm not proud of it I I don't think anything like that could happen I think I ever do it but I did I know keep goinging and she HED me of it I denied it I as she on her and I was so horrible for

it like she was pregnant and it was I don't want I didn't hurt her I cheated on her I her emotionally I cheated on her you're doing a good job this is the chisp that I knew would come out today this is the because he tells the truth cuz you're a truth teller when agent coder says I know he's suddenly sending a message to Watts that not only does he know about the affair but he may also know much more but Watts still holds out not backing down so Detective Lee decides to deploy a proven

strategy of offering Watts escapegoat she does it by vilifying Shannon did shanan do something To them no I don't know I'm serous I have no clue no you would have known cuz they leave the house think did shenan do something to them and then did you feel like you had to do something to shenan they were at the house when I left they were there they weren't there they didn't leave they vanished I mean I want to believe that maybe shenan did it and you felt compelled to fix this so shenan didn't look bad that's

what I that's what I want to believe but I don't know you're not telling me that so makes me think the worst like did you three of them not do anything kids not anything what did she need do though tell us Chris the strategies are starting to pay off he starts to get emotional but still will not admit anything how about this if we brought your dad in here would you please tell him what happened with Chris eager to talk to his dad agents weigh the consideration fully aware that the risk of him lawyering up

may increase once he talks with his dad they take the risk hoping that the close Bond the two of them share May instead lead to an Acknowledgement hey Chris we're going to let you have a however much time you need okay you going to leave us in there no yes [Music] this the polygraph it there any reason the one shouldn't they know I had a fair and they they know I can't complan about that anything else you want to tell me what's what's going on or what happen or anything you anything I don't want to

protect her what I don't want to protect her you don't want to protect her she heard him and lost all the bodies off or something I didn't know what [Music] else else to do Chris has confessed to the very scenario agents offered up to him and with that confession he accurately foretells his fate to his father Last time last time see the just return and while they are confident that Chris was only taking advantage of the scapegoat scenario they offered up the first order of business was to locate the bodies I don't know what to

do I know I didn't know what to do like none of this none of this made sense why would she hear my girls [Music] to Chris are they in something are they under the ground like where would you find them please don't think anything L talk my [Music] that are they all three out there Chris yes okay are they down in something are they under something in something I don't know what else to do I know did I know I didn't know what else to do I was so scared I know like my wife just

did this I just did that what do I do right there anything that I would do from There just going to be just something just insensitive and just a horrible thing you were in a tough spot what can you do right in an effort to help locate the bodies without Chris having to go to the site again agent coder asks whether a coworker could help would you prefer that when your one your C oh my God no no no I can that you you're about thinks of a good man they're gonna see this year like

what the [ __ ] did you do Chris what like why just go cost begin with well they weren't in your shoes they don't know they weren't living your life I know but still it's like people are I never like we'll just go Little Steps at a time about that I can't have anybody show you out there anybody no coworkers please okay I mean this is they're SC to for their own opinions anyways once they figure everything out anyways we'll just take a little steps tonight then how about that it was the most extreme and

passionate Chris had gotten showing far more concern and emotion and he had shown for anything up until that point including Murdering his wife and the supposed murder of his children during one of the luls in the conversation Ronnie shares with the agents a strange photo that he says Shannon posted on her Facebook page two days [Music] ago on her Facebook page like two days ago they had this like 4 orot long baby dog landay on the couch with a sheet over she yeah happen I'm thinking he claims that Bella would not have taken such a

photo ages ask Chris what he thought about it do you remember that Chris what do you think she make fun of it thought it was funny did Bella do it I don't know I don't remember with Chris breaking down at every mention of returning to the site the agents leave the father and son and return after about half an hour they escort Chris's father out to take a restroom break after which he's taken to his own interview room there he vouches for his son's character and that he'd never do anything to harm his children he

also repeatedly refers to shanan as unstable bipolar as having mood swings and generally manipulative and antagonistic toward Him and his wife can you kind of just give us a little bit of a background on their relationship and how long you had known her background information seven or eight years as far as dating and stuff I got married about 5 years ago I think it was five six years ago and as far that relationship was fine us we being my wife most of my wife had a hard time getting with her but she's personality what she

thinks she is by also she has these new swings and stuff and she just said she don't I don't realize how in stable she was who said that that's that what that's place she is she just bipolar [Music] 06 back in Chris's interrogation room agents returned with a fresh photo of the site where Chris claimed he disposed of the bodies servy 319 earlier that day while Chris was busy failing his polygraph test physical and drone searches were being conducted on the site after investigators obtained Chris's work trucks GPS data it pinpointed his location on the

morning of The Disappearance the searches revealed in photograph the missing fitted sheet from the couple's bed along with freshly moved Dirt consistent of a shallow grave presented with the photos they asked Chris to Mark the locations where he disposed each of the bodies so tamy I was just telling him wanted to show that picture yeah um and then we're going to talk a little bit about how the rest of the night's going to go um that looks familiar to you but is that it's thec survey 319 okay whereabouts the shenan and the girls how old

is this picture today that's today okay can you work it for me I think it's Bur that verion in okay and where are the girls at here in these M so which one is you one are they in the tanks can somebody who doesn't know what they're doing open those okay it's easy to open what's in the tanks it's mixture of oil and water Chris Marks the Drone photo designating the locations of each of his family members bodies s for Shannon B for Bella C for suest the reason he was so reluctant to divulge their

locations was Because he had disposed of his little girls bodies in two huge tanks of crude oil an environment where trained engineers in hazmat suits would only be able to survive for a few minutes due to the toxic fumes that they give off with the locations of the bodies now identified agents return the their attention to Chris in search of more answers his claim now is that after he told Shannon that he wanted to separate he went downstairs then after hearing noises upstairs he went back up and first noticed Bella on the baby monitor lifeless

in her bed then the monitor cycled to Cece's room and Chris saw Shannon strangling her he says that he ran to where they were through Shannon off of Cece and in a fit of rage strangle Shannon the agents never believed a story that so conveniently match the one they lobed to him to get his confession rolling it didn't match the evidence at all they were all but certain he was the culprit behind all the killings supported by the fact that he had changed details of his account at least three times between his confession to his

dad and the interrogations immediately following but he would only Acknowledge murdering Shannon not the girls is it possible that when we get these girls you know Bella Cece and shanan is it possible when we get them um that we're going to see um anything other than the cause of death being her hands okay and what I mean by that and I should be very clear is that um it it's some some of it's hard to believe that your wife did it right you can imagine that okay so is it possible that maybe she um did

one and then you got shanan so you did the shenan what she did to one of your daughters and then you had to just do it to the other okay so is there that's not not what happen Okay um is it possible that is there any other way where we might see your hands on the girl's neck no okay and you know what I mean cuz when we find their Their little bodies we're going to see the diameter of someone's hand yeah and someone's fingers right so is that that all possible we're see yours right

all right and I know it's hard and I know you're probably getting angry at my my question but we have to ask agents press Watts further regarding his reaction can I ask you another tough question you just get it all on the table when you see Shenan choking strangling Celeste and you get her off of Celeste do you think um about calling an ambulance come that's I see you in their blue and Li I've never seen something like that in my life I mean she just like way over like nothing was she wasn't moving at

all no gasp but breath so she was totally just blue so Chris doing this job for a long time no I uh I know a lot of about psychology and as far as like what people are thinking and most parents will never even want to Fathom that their kid or kid is dead even if their kids stiff blue in bed I mean stiff like been dead all night they still call an ambulance to see if someone can revive their child and they when the ambulance get gets there and they're like guys their kids been dead

all night like there's nothing we can do the parents like what are you why are you not doing something what are you talking about so that's what I that's what we're used to so I just that's why I want you to explain to me like what was going on in your head and I felt for what she was what she did it just took over I you see that that I see where you're coming from those Parents would still try and call I see where you're coming from yeah they try to appeal to this sense

of decency I just I would hate for shenan to get a bad rap if she didn't have anything to do with it you know it's not fair I know it's not fair like enough bad stuff has happened like we need to stop the bad stuff from happening so you want to tell us the truth that is the truth I want to make sure so you're good with the public knowing that shenan killed her daughters I did not hurt these girls are you okay with the public knowing that shenan yes I did not hurt these girls

CH I'm not sure do that doesn't work I don't think you meant to I don't think you meant to I didn't hurt them you didn't sa them either you know I know that I know that that makees sense either none of this makes Sense nothing like why she would be there any any of this makes sense are you sure shenan didn't catch you in oh my God no was would not concede so they hit harder Chris you can imagine that we're pretty cynical in our jobs right and tonight we've had to talk a lot about

a lot of things and don't get mad but what it looks like is that you found a new life and the only way to get that new life was to get rid of your old life and I think that you killed these girls before their mom came home and then killed SH now and that's what we're kind of left that's what we have to believe because it just doesn't make sense I mean to her point if I walked in and my kid was decapitated I call an ambulance right knowing there's no hope it just it

just doesn't make sense it just doesn't add up so either you're this monster who says I just want this young hot girlfriend so I'm going to kill everyone and hope it works out or something so I think we're very very close to the truth but not quite there Yet so if you're not that monster I'm not a monster I didn't know my babies okay so tell us what actually happened I told you what happened I know but you know we're getting later into the day we've done this a few times and we we talk then

we show you a little bit of what we're working with some evidence some facts that we know and then we we kind of get our way to the truth so okay everything absolutely TR so what's going to happen when their cause of death comes back to you the girls it's not going to okay you sure I'm 100% positive it's not going to come back to me who's he going to come back to was SP top of CC okay are you hold me to say I just want the truth is the truth and then what about

Bella Bella was laid out sprawled on her bed okay and I saw shenan on top of C ran in there okay agent asks him whether he felt sorry for what he did you feel sorry for what you did I wish I I wouldn't have lost of control and God man did that and then did that what to the Yes unconvincing remembered his response for later when Watts talks about remorse there would be no additional confessions Chris Watts was arrested Chris don't stand up for me but I'm going to have you face that wall just face

it he was fired by anad Darko that day agents were confident that wats killed his daughters and disappointed that they didn't extract a full confession but they wouldn't have to wait long within 2 weeks of being arrested Watts confessed to also killing his daughters it was part of a plea deal where prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty in exchange for his guilty plea based on the mountain evidence that would be collected after Watts's arrest a painfully detailed jailhouse confession he would make to agents a few months later and subsequent letters he'd write to

an author a clearer picture of the events surrounding the murder came into Focus bend down and hit it come on nice nice nice again go get uncle Frankie go get uncle Frankie up until August of 18 Shannon was confident that she was living a picture perfect life she had a beautiful family was a top producer at LEL and was married to the most loving caring soulmate anyone could ask for she was scheduled to go on a 5we trip to North Carolina so the girls could spend time with both her and Chris's families Chris would join

them for their last week there but would stay home for the majority of the trip since he had to work while the girls did indeed deed get to spend time with family the trip was not going well there had already been extreme friction between shanon and Chris's parents dating back to the start of their relationship and this visit was no different the tension grew to an irreconcilable level when Chris's mother serves CC ice cream with peanuts in it and according to shanon his sister laid out an actual bowl of peanuts after shanon became angry about

the peanuts and the ice cream with CA being dangerously allergic to peanuts to the point of meeting an EpiPen if exposed Shannon finally lost it she was Furious left their house as soon as she could and never went back she vented to Chris who Promised to handle it when he arrived Chris's parents were also upset and skipped going to cce's birthday party about a week later and that wasn't the first important event they skipped and they got married in 2012 did they get married in North Carolina they did mhm how was that oh we didn't

attend really mm we didn't attend because she and I just couldn't get along but the tension with her in-laws wasn't Shannon's only concern Chris was beginning to behave differently as well she tried to both text and to with him about it even growing angry but he insisted everything was fine once Chris finally joined them in North Carolina it didn't get any better he was distant and cold and everyone noticed Shannon had booked a trip to the beach for the four of them to get away and even Bella and CeCe who were normally all over Chris

uncharacteristically shot away from him as a result of him seeming so annoyed with them which he was actually fine with they were an obstacle and he genuinely was annoyed also on his first night there Shannon said she had a bad headache so Chris gave her what he told her was an over-the-counter pain reliever but was actually a Potentially lethal and highly addictive narcotic in an effort to end her pregnancy he thought that if he ended her pregnancy it would make it easier to leave her and be with kessinger she vomited most of the night and

he didn't help her hoping for his desired outcome on that same night he texted kessinger and told her he couldn't talk and could only text for the night she replied why not are you with her kessinger was fine with Chris visiting his family in North Carolina but not Shannon so for the remainder of the trip Chris had as little interaction with Shannon as he possibly could he avoided any and all intimacy and would simply leave the room whenever it became clear she wanted to be intimate Shannon shared with her good friend Addy Maloney that he

hadn't touched or kissed or really even talked to her all week she notes how they couldn't get enough of each other before the trip something was wrong and she knew it according to a friend Shannon had speculated about Chris having an affair but dismissed it telling the friend that Chris didn't have it in him which too many seen Chris for the first time on television strapping and Fit may not have seemed to be the case but the Cris wats that many Saw for the first time on National Television barely resembled the man that Shannon met

some 8 years prior 60 lb heavier as he ironically and chillingly delivered a presentation on infidelity for a speech course he was taking 2 years into their relationship among other things he discusses what relationship Enders are you have two types of deterioration you have sudden and you have gradual sudden would be an example of infidelity when somebody is not faithful to their partner the partners realize that the relationship cannot be sustained gradual would be if you met somebody at work or a new friendship has occurred and you as it goes on you see that okay

maybe this relationship has more potential than the relationship I have with my partner and that would gradually push the old relationship out and push the new relationship in according to bloomstein and Schwarz when relationship breaks up it's generally the more attractive one that leaves which I agree with somewhat and then I disagree with so the not so fit Chris of their early dating days was a far cry from the more chisel Chris whose Behavior was now baffling his wife she assumes that the Riff that she had with his parents may be causing his behavior she

texts a friend to give her a visual of what she was facing he would would eventually confirm that he was no longer interested in continuing their marriage he even bizarrely deleted his Facebook account and remember that strange photo of the covered up doll that Chris's father told agents Shannon had posted to her Facebook page well it turns out she was not the person who took the photo Chris was he sent it to her 3 days before the murder and she replied don't know what to think about this she then posted it to her Facebook page

joking about it Chris had planted the photo and his father pushed it the night before they were set to return to Colorado Chris told Shan and that he's happy with just Bella and Cece and doesn't want another baby crushed and completely confused particularly since they decided to have the baby together she tells him that she doesn't feel safe with him after what he said about the baby with Shannon devastated the trip finally comes to an end they returned to Colorado on August 7th 6 days before the Disappearance they would be home for a few days

before Shannon would have to leave for a business trip to Arizona she considered cancelling given the tension in her marriage but Chris insisted she go and promised they would talk when she got home in reality he saw it as another opportunity to spend more time with kessinger but Shannon saw it as a glitter of Hope especially since Chris agreed to go in on a romantic weekend together the following weekend and at some point since they now knew the gender of the baby shanon was now 15 weeks pregnant with they decided to name him Nico Shannon

left for her trip that Friday hopeful but it would be shortlived just one day into her trip on Saturday night she noticed a $60 credit card charge Chris just made at a restaurant it was the first and only slip up Chris had made exposing his affair to Shannon prior to that point he was able to use gift cards to pay for all their meals but he'd run out of them on this final dinner date and needed to use their joint credit card Watts met Nicole kessinger also called Micki through work at anad Darko kessinger worked

there as a contractor the two began communicating via work Email and Watts immediately tried taking their relationship to a romantic level again via email but Mickey originally rebuff his flirtations claiming it was out of respect for herself and directly referring to his wife and kids but Watts doesn't seem to take the hint he doesn't back off at all and eventually the two began seriously dating they wrote I'm so hooked on you and penned extensive love notes and [Music] letters based on the evidence they were obsessed with each other I'm having a wonderful time you mean

a lot to me and I'm glad that you're having a blast I am so out of breath so while shanon was sending Chris marital self-help and counseling books Chris was searching the internet for secluded vacation spots and went to say I love you for the first time in a new relationship and while Chris was terrible at hiding his changing feelings for Shannon he was a master at hiding his affair to cloak his Unfaithful activity Watts had his secret calculator application on his cell phone that to anyone who saw it appeared to be a normal calculator

but when he would enter a secret code into it it opened access to a concealed Storage device where he stored his messages with kessinger along with provocative photos and video of her some that he himself had taken Chris acknowledged that he was used to dating women who were more in control and dominating in their relationships but it wasn't like that with Mickey she would always ask him what he wanted it was different and he liked it he was living a double life the moment Shannon and the girls were off to North Carolina he felt an

instant sense of Freedom he spent every possible moment he could with cassinger staying at her house most nights's family was away in North Carolina they even went out in public together on M multiple occasions including going on a short vacation to the sand Dooms for the 4th of July after that trip watt stayed the night at cenger house and slept in the next morning he awoke to find several Miss calls from shanon he stepped outside to call her she was Furious he decided to go home for the rest of the day which made kessinger Angry

so after he went home kessinger showed up at his home claiming she wanted to help him create a protein diet plan it was the first time she'd been to their home And she didn't get get to go too far into it but she would 10 days later when the couple stopped there briefly after going to the museum on that visit the family dog deer led her upstairs where she got a thorough view of the life that Chris and his family enjoyed family pictures and all Chris had to console her afterward resulting in both tension then

reconciliation they returned to her house where they became intimate but it wasn't the same in fact according to Watts from that point on their intimate encounters decreased from 3 to four times per day to one or two but that was enough to sustain the obsession Watts had with kessinger and vice versa but now it was August and with Shannon scheduled to return from her Arizona business trip the next day Chris arranged to steal away with kessinger to a restaurant called The Lazy Dog telling the sitter and others that he was at a rocky game with

co-workers it was at the lazy dog that walks realized he was out of gift cards and he didn't have enough nerve to ask kessinger to pay so for the first time he used his Shannon's joint credit card to pay for their meal cassinger noticed him using a credit card And figure that he just didn't care anymore but watts would later claim that he just ran out of payment options back in Arizona Shannon was still bothered by the charge $6 seemed too high for one person's meal she took to the internet and searched Lazy Dog menu

it confirmed the cost levels she assumed then an hour after the charge alert came through Chris was still not home even though the restaurant was only 15 minutes away so by this point in addition to her being clear that Chris had fallen out of love with her she was also now certain that he was cheating on her she shared her concern with friends before flying back home to Colorado that Sunday night the day before The Disappearance Chris was wrapping up the weekend's events with the girls by taking them to a birthday party he has them

home and tucked in for bed by 7:45 p.m. a.m. that evening prior to their bedtime Chris texts a coworker telling him that he can go out to the work site survey 3:19 in the morning and that there's no need for his coworker to go ensuring you would be the only one there the cooworker replies saying that he had also planned to go To the site watt replied I can go out there though no sense in both of us going out there LOL he spends 111 minutes on a call that night with cassinger having phone according

to watts despite Chris's original claim that the murders were due to a spur of the- moment fit of rage in reality to his own acknowledgement he had been planning to kill his family for weeks he knew it as he watched them Splash around the birthday party the day before he knew it when he put them to bed just hours before thinking that's the last time I'm going to be tucking my babies in based on letters Chris Watts wrote to an author from prison on that morning prior to killing Shannon he went to each of his

daughter's rooms and used a pillow from their beds to smother them then he returned to he and Shannon's bedroom where they began arguing Chris told her that he was having an affair didn't love her and wanted to separate according to Chris shenan was first hurt then angry she said that if he left her he would never see the kid again he became angry and suddenly all the things he resented now hated about their relationship came bubbling up he strangled her as She looked back at him he thought about stopping but knew that if he did

it would prevent him from being with kassinger he didn't sustain any defensive wounds because he said she couldn't fight back Chris would write at one point that he also gave Shannon a narcotic a second time just before he killed her but would later retract that statement he described how after shannan had passed how he was unsuccessful at killing his daughters as he was wrapping his wife in a sheep Bella and CeCe had woken up came into the room and asked what was wrong with Mommy he said they were crying but that he had no desire

to comfort them he struggled to get Shannon's body down the stairs which distressed the girls even further it was why he intended to kill them first he said that he recalled being angry that they were still alive several times forcing him to have to deal with killing them a second time once he dragged shann into the truck and got her inside he told the girls to follow him out to the truck as well they did bringing their blankets and stuffed toys along with them Bella told him that they needed their car seats and he told

them that it was all Right this time still fuming and shaking with what Watts claims was years of built up anger finally released he drove for just over an hour to survey 319 once there he Smothers C she with her blanket then he makes the climb up the staircase to the tank of toxic crude oil to force her body into its 8in opening he recalls how before he dropped her into the tank he could not feel anything for her he was surprised at how easy it was to just let her go he heard the splash

as she hit the oil he returns to the truck where a terrified Bella asked her father if he's going to do the same thing to her that he did to Cece she had seen him drop her little sister into the tank he doesn't recall his answer to her but that was indeed his intention as she cried out Daddy no he smothered her with the same blanket she was the only one who put up a fight autopsy results would show that she had a large tear between her lip and gums and bit her tongue multiple times

then he forced her into the second crude oil tank being bigger than her sister Watts had to force her through the hatch she had scratch marks on her buttocks from being shoved through the unfathomably small hole he had Deliberately put them into separate tanks both to make sure they didn't get up again and to make sure they were as far away from shanon as possible then he digs a shallow grave for shanon and haphazardly tosses her into it before covering her in dirt men he said he felt my entire life lay there on that oil

sight all I could feel was now I was free to be with Nikki feelings of my love for her was overcoming me I felt no remorse I felt like I could kill anything and be justified for doing it I didn't feel any remorse for what I did I didn't feel bad for killing my entire family I really didn't feel anything my mind went to the dog did I remember to put him in the cage daddy is a hero he helps me girl up strong he helped me I'm not go to he reads me books he

ties my shoes if you're a hero FL and my daddy daddy love you after the murders Chris made a series of calls including calling his daughter's school at around 8:30 a.m. to tell them that the girls would not be attending there anymore then he he comes to his senses and asks them if they are There Chris's co-workers arrive at 8:30 a.m. and according to them he appeared completely normal even as his family was just feed away buried and floating in oil tanks my name is Nicole and I'm calling because I'm concerned about um a friend

of mine Shannon's friends and family are Beyond concerned as they become more and more alarmed Nicole ainson tries to get into the Watts home to check on shanon tripping the home's alarm system in the process Watts tells her to leave his home and stop messing with the doors they eventually tell Chris they're calling police he urges them not to and claims he's on his way home multiple times one friend Cassandra Rosenberg texts Chris in no uncertain terms that he needs to haul at home cheap on his family at some point they're done waiting on his

Nosh shows and clear lack of urgency and call the police Shannon's family also contacted police and shared their concern concerns about Chris's involvement police arrived within 10 minutes of Nicole's call Nicole then already opened the front door using the security code she was entrusted with but could only open it a few inches due to A hotel style security latch that was locked from the inside Nicole and the officer spoke with Chris and asked for permission to enter his home but instead of allowing them to kick the partially open door down past the inner lock to

potentially save his family he said he'd be home in 5 minutes once Chris arrives home his Shane and is at a friends Story begins to crumble alarm bells are going off everywhere for several of her friends who are working together to find their friend as police Chris Nicole and her son search the house for any indication of Shannon's whereabouts each life critical item they uncover sends Nicole as well as Cassandra and Shannon's mom who were on the phone with Nicole into a further panic and same for Chris but his was a different Panic he had

not factored in Nicole calling the police or Shannon's loyal concerned network of persistent friends their efforts particularly Nicole's led to the home being searched far earlier than Chris ever planned preventing him from cleaning up and disposing of the incriminating items once he got home from work once they head over to Chris's neighbor's home to view his security footage Instead of Chris scrutinizing every second of what his neighbor captured to try to spot the tiniest of clues about the whereabouts of his missing family Chris shows exactly zero interest in the video Chris recalls that he was

shocked as they watched the video footage because he thought they could see the girls walking up to the truck and him putting them in the evening passes with no news about the whereabouts of his family Chris does get a follow-up call from an officer and he tells the officer that while he has not cheated it's possible that Shannon may have at approximately 4:30 a.m. Shannon's mother Sandra rusec contacted the Frederick Police Department to report that she and her husband believed that her daughter and granddaughter's disappearance involved Foul Play and that Chris was involved she said

she felt that he was pouring oil on the bodies to dispose of them somewhere both her parents and Shannon's friend Cassandra felt that if police would track Chris's GPS from that morning they would find their family already highly suspicious of Watts police stationed an unmarked patrol car near his home 24/7 monitoring His every MO move as well as Ling any activity to or from the home on that morning following The Disappearance CBI agent Tammy Lee and FBI agent Graham coder are called in to Frederick it's also the day that police interview Shannon's friend Nicole ainson

she recalls the details of the previous day repeatedly noting that each Discovery led her to have bad thoughts about what had happened to Shannon all pointing to Chris Chris backing up his work truck to their garage at 58 in the morning and loading something up in it and that's when my mind went bad like really bad because what would he be loading up at 5:18 in the morning and shanan yells at him and he doesn't go out the garage because the garage is right below the do the girl's bedroom and it would wake them up

toward the end of the interview she shared a speculation like if it was a crime of passion I honestly think to God he strangle her only because she already has the neck issue I mean yeah I don't know what was that from she had a I don't know if it was a I don't if it started out as a Slip disc or but it was a degenerative disc and they went in and fused some stuff in her neck she's got a Scar on the front part of her neck okay Watts agrees to two television interviews

that day the timing of which allows the freshly arrived agents to gather and watch what's now referred to as the sermon on the porch right as it was being aired Bella was going to start kindergarten after watching it Agent Lee turned to agent coder and said oh sh she commented that they needed to get watts in for questioning immediately to get his story down and recorded they call him in before Chris heads to the police station for the interview he sends out a group email confirming that he will participate in fantasy football early on in

the interrogation as Watts was claiming his innocence auu coder stepped out of the room he shared that with a frequency with which Watts kept unconsciously touching and making movements toward his neck area he suspected that he may have strangled Shannon agents will not start getting to the truth until the next day many of the tactics agent Le deployed before and during Watts's polygraph test were to get into his head right now there's only one person in this room that knows what the truth is in about Five minutes there's going to be two of us so

that's the coolest part so you obviously are a really bad liar has have people told you that before like deci you tell a lie like they can tell like on your face but for polygraph tests someone is considered deceptive if they score a ne4 or below Chris Watts scored A8 with that abysmally low score agents knew that Watts had done something to his family they just needed to figure out how to get him to confess they directly confront Chris that he is lying and while throwing scenarios at him Agent Lee eventually offers up the Shannon

did something to the kid scenario the moment she said that she said that they could see the change in Chris's eyes so they stuck with it Chris himself would later acknowledge that he had not thought of blaming Shannon before that but as a parent the feasibility of that scenario was highly flawed in reality when faced with such a scenario most people would call the police and try to revive their children not kill their spouse then hide all their bodies watts would later report that the hard part of the interrogation for him was that he did

not feel any Remorse but he had to pretend like he did wat's arrest process began about 10: p.m. and they would recover shanon's body an hour later the recovery crew noted that she was curled up as if just thrown in the painstaking process of retrieving the young girls would begin the following morning Crews began arriving at about 5:00 a.m. the CBI agent in charge noted that investigators arrived with a sense of dread knowing what their mission was going to be the entire recovery process would take nearly 14 hours of methodical planning and careful execution in

an extremely dangerous environment the operation involved up to multiple representatives from each of 10 agencies and companies an anod Darko employee briefed everyone about the process he informed them that the East tank contained about 9 ft of crude oil and the West tank just under 1 and A2 they'd start with the East tank investigators opened the hatchet of one of the tanks they reveal openings so small just 8 in or 20 cm in diameter that they doubted whether the girls could even fit through them but then they found blonde hair attached to one of the

openings confirming that it was Indeed the route that the girls had traveled so the recovery process began the two 400 barrel tanks had to First be manually drain into holding tanks with the extracted oil run through metal screens to filter any possible evidence once each tank was emptied the welding crew began removing the bolts from the door that was located at the base of each tank they were then allowed to step to the side while a trooper and CBI agent wearing fully protective hazardous material gear finished removing the door then entered the pitch black tank

they could only remain in the tank for a few minutes at a time because of the toxic fumes and had to undergo an extensive decontamination ation process afterward in the East tank they located the body of CeCe still in her night gown in a diaper and covered in crude oil having been in the tank for 3 days at that point her body was badly decomposed making it problematic to handle and transport her out of the tank once CC was removed they performed the same process to retrieve Bella still in her pink pajama top she was

larger than CeCe resulting in a 5 in or 13 cm scratch on her bottom from from being forced through the tiny Opening on the same day the bodies were being retrieved investigators were conducting their second of five interviews with Watts's mistress Nicole kessinger accompanied by her dad kessinger showed up to the interview tired aloof and generally uncooperative she revealed how super cute she thought it was that Chris had kids and then one day he told me that he had two kids I was like that's pretty cool and I started telling me about his kids that

sounded like a sarcastic no I thought it was kind of cute I was like oh he's a dad it was like right around Father's Day Too everything was generally hunky dory until they ask her to hand over her phone I really want to help you guys I do I feel like um I'm this whole thing is just going to be crazy regardless of whether I give you my phone or not prior to showing up for the interview kessinger had actually deleted everyone of her and Watts's text messages calls photos and videos and even his contact

and she told watts to do the same much of that data was never able to be recovered by law enforcement and there were numerous other questionable actions regarding the mistress but We'll start with that destruction of evidence we just mentioned she claimed that she deleted it all because she was grossed out what did that cause you to do with your phone though oh what when I deleted those I was just kind of grossed out by him to be honest with you I was just like I don't know what's going on right now but you just

lied to me and I don't want to see this come over my phone anymore so I removed it so you just you already said but you removed text messages I deleted all of his stuff because he lied to me I mean that's what it was it was it was the hurt that made me delete it and then it was the lie that made me start questioning everything else he' been telling me for the last few days and that's when you decided to come forward yes okay the information was not destroyed because there was anything in

there that would be harmful to you or potentially to Chris at this point but harmful to you in particular that's not way you did it no you did it out of oh excuse my language this guy's an [ __ ] so I'm getting it rid of him and I'm getting this stuff off my phone that was like me kicking him out of my life okay and then Like I said and then realizing that he lied that was when I was like okay maybe his family is in danger and they're not coming back and they're not

staying with a friend kessinger also lied to investigators a lot and not just immaterial or subjective lies but relevant provable lies like her claim that she didn't know that Watts was married at first even though they email messages that predate their Affair clearly prove otherwise he didn't have a wedding ring on his finger and every time I talked to him he didn't tell me that he was in a relationship and that she only visited the Watts home once when she had actually been there twice she also told law enforcement that she wasn't really that into

Watts yet just 9 days prior to the murders she spent 2 hours searching the internet for terms like wedding dresses and marrying your mistress she also lied about knowing Shannon's name did he mention the children's name or his significant other's name um I didn't know his significant other's name for a while that claim didn't add up given that she had ran hours of internet searches for shanon Watts dating as far back as at least January of 2018 and possibly As early as September of 2017 if the official records are accurate either way she searched Shannon's

name months before she met Chris Watts at work and began exchanging emails and even months before she began even working at anad Darko her verified internet searches of both Chris and Shannon's names would easily have revealed both of their Facebook accounts showing that they were married with kids and what Chris's and interests were interests that kessinger would later happen to share in common with Chris like car museums drag racing and more then there was her internet search history in addition to her earlier repeated searches for Shannon's name on the day following The Disappearance kessinger also

searched can cops Trace text messages how long do phone companies keep text messages and more she deleted her search history afterward then while not indicative of any guilt 6 days after the murder she ran several searches for Amber fry the woman who was having an affair with Scott Peterson when he murdered his wife Lacy and her unborn child in 2002 she searched Amber Fry's book deal Amber Fry net worth and de people hate Amber fry also at 6:00 a.m. on The morning of the murders when watts would have been on his way to the site

to bury his wife and kids cassinger phone suspiciously pinged in Frederick the same town as the Watts home which is more than 20 minutes away from kessinger's home there was also kessinger's conveniently poor recollection while kassinger could recall her conversation with Chris when he informed her that his wife was pregnant but that it was not his he said uh she told me that she's pregnant and she told me that the kid is not mine like I legitimately thought this woman left the premises with her kids and just wanted nothing to do with him for like

24 hours however police asked her about what she and Watts talked about during their 111 minute phone call the night Shannon returned home from her trip just hours before his family was murdered she hasn't a clue I still don't remember what we talked about I like honestly like we talk about so much random stuff like it's so hard to pinpoint some of these things W would later reveal that the call was phone and that poor recollection of the 111 minute call may be a perfect example of how some of kessinger's Forgetfulness and lies could potentially

just be her trying to save face from the embarrassment of the affair completely unrelated to the murders but what baffles and concerns followers of the case is that she doesn't appear to have been investigated or even challenged so as of the making of this video there continues to be public speculation about her involvement during a press conference following Watts's sentencing hearing Weld County district attorney Mike work stated law enforcement's position on kessinger she originally came forward and and and spoke to investigators on her own volition prior to the time unfortunately that she came in and

spoke with investigators she had deleted all of the information off of her phone that had any connection between her and Chris Watts that hampered the investigation um that hampered our ability to get that electronic digital um connection between the two she was interviewed on multiple occasions I believe that for the most part she was forthcoming in the course of those investigations we don't have any reason to believe that she had any prior knowledge or involvement in The death of shanan Bella Celesta nio um I think that's the best way I can answer that speaking of

people not being of concern to law enforcement there were also other claims of Chris being unfaithful with the intense media coverage the case received people came out of the Woodworks including both a woman who claimed to have had an affair with Watts as well as a man who claimed to be Watts's former lover but police don't buy it so some of the stuff you're talking about is pretty hard to believe and we're getting to the point where we're wondering if you're wasting our time I mean is there a question or I mean I don't know

how you want me to respond to that I don't know what else you want me to these are the challenges that we have right you told us that you watch the video over and over okay so we know that you're aware of everything that's out there and all you've talked about are things that anyone else knows you haven't brought forth any information you're having sex with a guy in his car and you don't know anything about him other than what the public knows about him okay you took $60 from him you you're self- admitted booty

call And so now we're wondering if you're a hooker who maybe guy who was a murderer and maybe feels guilty about it or maybe feels like you're going to get in trouble about it I don't know what's going on with you but I don't know why you're here tonight no I'm not a hooker neither the woman nor the man's claims were proven and both were considered not credible by authorities likely on Quests for their 15 minutes of fame the funeral for the family took place in North Carolina but with Bella and Cece's bodies having been

immersed in crude oil so long they were highly flammable that meant they couldn't be cremated and they also had to be sealed in a special rap during transport so that gases wouldn't leak out their resulting larger than normal sealed coffins prevented their beloved family from being able to see them and say their final goodbyes the tension that Brew between Chris's parents and Shannon since the beginning of their relationship was not eased by her murder the statements Ronnie Watts made about Shannon being unstable during his interview with law enforcement were echoed again when he and his

wife took to the airwaves they began by defending their son and I Just want him to fight I want this plea I want him to not take this plea deal I want him to to plead not guilty to the children if he sent you didn't kill the kids why why do this plea deal I have no idea that only reason I could think of he's trying to for our family and her family not to have to go through a trial long drone out trial it has been so overwhelming and I feel like I have to

do something to to help my son to to I just I need to do something if he's not going to fight I want to fight for him he's not a sociopath he's not a psychopath but they took the opportunity to also disparage Shannon I don't think he just had the right person at his side I don't that relationship was toxic from the very beginning what happened to that kid from P Forest High School he met shenan that's what happened to him because that boy he knew what he wanted to do he went to NASCAR Technical

Institute it has been a nightmare a complete nightmare are you guys worried about some of the backlash about maybe coming out and speaking on behalf of Chris and what it might what it might do to your guys's relationship and you know speaking out like this to about a woman Who can't defend herself right now well shanan I me she was you have to get know her to be around her but that why Shannon's family the ones who actually had a right to be angry and to lash out responded to her Killer's parents in the most

admirable dignified manner imaginable they issued a statement that called the wats this remarks about shanan vicious grotesque and utterly false noting that shanon was a faithful wife and the most gentle and loving mother in the world to her children they added that their false statements however hurtful and inaccurate will never alter the truth about shanan her memory and reputation deserves to be protected and her family is fully prepared to do so on August 21st Chris Watts was charged with five counts of first-degree murder two which were special counts for children being under 12 years old

unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body with Watts pleading guilty there would be no trial prior to be sentencing caring the RAC family felt strongly that as horrifically as Watson taken Shannon and the girl's lives his life was not theirs to take Honoring Shannon's family's wishes the District Attorney's Office accepted an offer from Watts's defense where Chris would plead guilty to all charges in exchange for the da not seeking the death penalty the Watts family was given the opportunity to make a statement prior to Watts's sentencing their

attorney first spoke on their behalf to retract what they had projected in the past the prosecution in this case has in fact respected the victim Bill of Rights they took the time to explain that the information that my clients had at the time that they were interviewed was not correct they were misinformed they were searching for answers they were not intending to cause any pain to anyone and they appreciate that the prosecution answered their questions and gave them the time and the respect and the consideration so that they could tell this court and everyone in

this community that the interview content was not their message that they accept that their son has done this that they accept that he chose to plead guilty that he sought and requested their consent and agreement for a life sentence my clients indicate that they understand That a full opportunity for a confession with all of the responsibility and accountability has not occurred when they support the family and the request that that happen if not today at an appropriate time in an appropriate manner so that everyone can have peace to understand to the best of their ability

the details that they need and to have their questions answered and by giving this opportunity of a life sentence we hope that he Embraces that moment that had the death penalty been pursued there would not have been an opportunity to be accountable and to give a full confession and then parents spoke directly we will always mourn the loss of our family and in that we are united in our grief I am still struggling to understand how and why this tragedy occurred I may never be able to understand and accept it but I pray for peace

and healing for all of us now to my son Christopher I have known you since the day you were born into this world I have watched you grow from a quiet and sweet curious child who Bella reminded me so much of to a young man who worked hard in sports and later mechanics to achieve your goals you are a good friend Brother father and son you have we have loved you from the beginning and we still love you now this might be hard for some to understand how I can sit here under these circumstances and

tell you although we are heartbroken although we can't imagine what could have led us to this day but we love you maybe you can't believe it either as the Lord said in Jeremiah 331 I have loved you with an everlasting love therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you and you as your mother Chris I have always loved you and I still do I hate what has happened your father and sister and I are struggling to understand why but we will remain faithful as your family just as God remains faithful because of his unconditional love

for all for us all we love you we forgive you son and of course the rusec family shared their statements as well who dare you take the lives of my daughter Shannon Bella Celeste and Nico I trusted you to take care of them not kill them and they also trusted you you monster thought you would get away with this I don't know how the cameras do not lie you carry them out like trash of the house yes I seen the videotape you buried My my daughter Shannon and and Nico in a shallow grave and then

you put Bella and Celeste in huge containers of crude oil you heartless monster you have you have to live with this Vision every day of your life and I hope you see that every time you close your eyes at night oh I forgot you have no heart or Fe feelings or love let me tell you something I will think of them every day of my life and I love them every day of my life prison is too good for you this this is hard to say but may God have mercy on your soul I hope

you enjoy your new life it's nothing like the one you had out here love you Shannon Bella and Nico love you Pop Up and de and one other thing and Shannon says she is super excited for justice today thank you your honor Shannon's young brother's statement was read by district attorney War he has asked me to read his statement for him but he would like to stand with me if that's okay of course you went from being my brother my sister's protector one of the most loved people in my family to someone I will spend

the rest of my life trying to understand what gave you the right to put your hands on a woman let alone my best friend My beloved sister your daughters and your son why weren't they enough for you in the blink of an eye you took away my whole world the people that mattered to me the most everything in my life I loved your children they trusted you they loved you they looked up to you because you promised to keep them safe instead you turned on your family my blood is boiling as I write these last

words because they are the last you will ever hear from me I can't even think of the right words to describe the Betrayal and the hate I feel and to be honest you aren't even worth the time and effort it takes to put my pen to this paper there isn't a day that goes by that I don't cry for my family they were my whole world all I do is ask myself why why would you do this you don't deserve to be called a man what kind of person Slaughters the people that love them the

most did you really think you would get away with this did you really think that this was your best option to throw away your family like they were garbage they deserve better and you know it I hope you spend the rest rest of your life staring at the ceiling every night being haunted by what you've done shenan Bella and CeCe loved you more than anyone you were their hero how could you destroy the people who loved them the most I pray that you never have A Moment's Peace or a good night's rest in the cage

you'll spend every day of your life in a cage you are privileged to live in because my family isn't evil like you my life will never be the same because of you but at least my conscience is clear I get to live free but I can't say the same for you I haven't slept in 2 days because I've been anxiously waiting for this moment the moment I get to tell you how I feel how this has affected my family and I my family and I can finally grieve after today if anything we will come out

of this stronger today than we were before and we will continue to pray for your family sincerely Frankie Rusk my name is SRA rusak Shannon's [Music] mother I wanted to say thank you for this moment I want to take a moment to thank everyone who has prayed for our beloved family who had sent gifts cards to us from all over the world I know God will put the evil people where they need to be I also want to take the time to thank the town of Frederick um gy uh FBI the DA's office the CBI

for exceptional Work we thank Nicole um Atkinson um Shannon's neighbor Nathan and his family um to me they're are heroes they really they really are God bless um God makes no mistakes on who he puts in your life marriage is about love trust and friendship and unity our daughter Shannon loved you with all of her heart your children loved you to the moon in back Shannon's family was her world Shannon put a crown on your head but unfortunately the day that you took their life God removed that crown we loved you like a son we

trusted you your faithful wife trusted you your children adored you and they also trusted you your daughter Bella Marie sang a song proudly I don't know if you got to see it but it was Daddy you're my hero I have no idea who gave you the right to take their lives but I know God and his mighty Angels were there at that moment to bring them home to Paradise God gives us free will so not only did you take the family of four your family of four you took your own life I want the world

to know that our daughter and her children were so loved By us there will always be protected by God and His might Mighty angels I didn't want death for you because that's not my right your life is between you and God now and I pray that he has Mercy for you from Shannon's mother Bella Marie celest Katherine and nikol Le Nana thank you your honor and after both families heart-wrenching Soul revealing statements brought on by Watts's actions Chris Watts himself had a statement to be presented as well good morning your honor Mr Watts has asked

us to share this morning that he is devastated by all of this and although he understands that words are Hollow at this point he is sincerely sorry for all of this thank you prior to handing down the sentence the judge had a statement as well the evidence in this case are a senseless crime and the viciousness of the crime and equally aggravating in this Court's determination is the Despicable Act of disposing of the bodies in the manner in which they were done in this case I've been a Judicial officer now for are starting my 17th

year and I um could objectively say that this is perhaps the most uh inhumane and vicious crime that I have handled Out of the thousands of cases that I have seen and nothing less than a maximum sentence um would be appropriate and anything less than the maximum sentence would appreciate the seriousness of this offense so the court is going to sentence Mr Watts as follows watts would be sentenced to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole two concurent life sentences plus 84 years in 2020 the penalty was abolished in Colorado so if Watts

had been sentenced to death his sentence would have been commuted to life like it was for the three inmates who were on Colorado's death row at the time Nicole kessinger was fired from anad Darko following the murders not much as known about her whereabouts or life after the murders other than the fact that she moved out of her home in Colorado and that she applied for a name change in 2020 whether or not she moved out of the state is not known on the day Chris Watts pleaded guilty the rusec family filed a wrongful death

suit against him to ensure that he didn't profit from the death of their family members in case he ever decideed to write a book or sell the rights to his story while the suit Was largely symbolic and they don't expect to see much if any payment they won the case and Watts was ordered to pay the family $6 million Chris Watts was originally sent to a prison in Colorado to serve out his sentence there he was kept in protective isolation for his own security because his fellow inmates knew who he was what he had done

and had special plans for him according to Watts his presence in the prison was so triggering that they had to lock down the jail just for him to walk down the hallways he was threatened yelled at by the other inmates and told the dangerous things he could do to himself merely constantly he was certain that had they gotten to him it would most certainly have killed him he's an outcast even among criminals so out of security concerns Watts was moved to dodge Correctional Institution which is a Maximum Security Prison in wunt Wisconsin there he's able

to be in the general population and doesn't endure as much harassment he is said to be a model prisoner who doesn't ask for anything and doesn't complain in prison watt says he has immersed himself in the scripture has found God and is hoping people will forgive him he Spends most of his day in his cell but is allowed recreational time as well as 40 minutes of outdoor activities like basketball when the weather is good he says he keeps photos of his wife and children and his his cell and that he reads one of the girls

favorite books to their pictures each night a petition was circulated to have the photos removed since they are pictures of his victims but prison officials responded that the photos did not violate prison policy a portion of the earnings that Watts makes working as a custodian at Dodge goes toward paying off the restitution that he was ordered to pay watt says that he has not spoken with Micki since being incarcerated but that his attorneys tried to unsuccessfully reach out to her several times on his behalf he said that he hoped she was able to find peace

and move on with her life and that he is sorry she lost her job and had to move in prison Watts Garner a fan base very early on he began receiving a massive volume of letters from women who found him handsome regarding the heinous crime he committed they felt he was misunderstood and offered their compassion along with sexy photos he Wrote many of them back and established some pen pals and some of them even turned into visitors on February 18th 2019 about 3 months after Watts was sentenced agents Lee coder and Lead detective bombover met

with Chris Watts in prison he spoke with him for 5 hours providing new details about the background timeline and details of the murders hey Chris Chris do you remember us uh yes there how are you doing I'm okay how about you guys good I I did not expect to see this that's for sure surprise yeah well let me put some fear asight um we're not here for what you might think we might be here for so you remember um I talked to you Tammy talked to you Dave talked to you we're all Colorado um and

so the last time we talked to you was a different situation right um our investigation was open and your case was open um that's completely different now so your Cas is completely closed nothing about what we're going to talk about today is has anything to do with an open investigation so we're not here to get more charges on you or get any statements from you that are going to jam you up anymore um why we are here and as the months have passed on since everything Happened we just keep in touch with each other we

keep talking to each other and we've all separately kind of said did Chris situation seem different to you we think that your life leading up to all the things that happened uh were very interesting to us I never ever worked a case like this where someone would had ever and talking with Tammy and talking with Dave um I said you know what did you feel like when it all went down when we were there we were talking to you guys and we all kind of in our own different way and in our own different wording

said it all happened a bit too quick for us right um so we saw you last we were talking and talking and talking and then the next thing you know me and Tammy and for Dave all of a sudden some Patrol officers came in and arrested um and that was far quicker than we had hoped it would happen um and you understand why that happened and we understand why that happened but it left us with a thousand questions that we didn't get ass um and then even more importantly I think it probably left you with

a thousand things that you didn't get to talk about us I don't know if you feel that way or not but um And so that's why we're here today um we wanted to kind of talk to you a little bit more about everything he voluntarily shared how he went about murdering his family to the agents the details of which we've reflected in this video in true Chris watt's fashion some of the details he shared with agents don't add up reminding us that each of his versions of what happened that morning is worthy of the scrutiny

and mistrust of it coming from a lying cheating murderous narcissist she like kind of rolled over and then I was just like just like right there on top of her okay and then you're talking while you're on top of her okay that seems confusing to me Asians asked Watts directly whether kessinger was involved in any way there are quite a few people who would tell us and who do tell us you need to look into Nicki more Nikki iseng all the way from the extreme end of things being Nikki's the one who ordered to hit

she was there I'm in the basement yeah you know so the the extreme is she's the one who told Chris to do it she's the real problem all the way that's the extreme side and then all the way to well there were Read's text where she was infatuated She was in love she was saying out good Chris was in the sack and maybe we should look at her more and so are those people absolutely wrong about Nikki she wasn't asking you to get rid of your family are you sure okay and no part of any

of this was because she put it in your head or asked you to or I mean but even the mountain of details he disclosed during that lengthy addendum to his confession would not be his final disclosure if the details exposed during the prison visit were eye-opening what Watts later revealed for a book written by one of his early pen pals was staggering Watts began corresponding via letter phone calls and then inperson visits with an author named cherylyn cadal kadle would turn that correspondence into a book she published in 2019 titled letters from Christopher the tragic

confessions of the Watts family murders although watts is an unreliable source of an Ever evolving story like his confession to the agents at Dodge these subsequent ad missions only serve to shed an even worse light on himself the letters are how the public learned that he tried to kill his daughters before killing Shannon leading to him Having to kill him twice it's where he finally divulged that he had been planning to kill his family for weeks and it's where he painted a picture of what true evil looks like the Watts home on saratova trail in

Frederick where Chris Watts committed the murders was placed on auction in May of 2019 after Watts defaulted on his mortgage leading the bank Bank to foreclose but with multiple leans against the home which any buyer would be liable for including one for the $6 million Chris owed the ruse X as well as overdue HOA fees there were no interested buyers it remained vacant until May 2022 when the home was secretly put on the market under a fictitious address to prevent looky lose potential buyers were required to submit Bank commitment letters before viewing the home the

home sold for $600,000 buyers of the home May face challenges as a neighbor reports that the home continues to attract a lot of attention with multiple cars driving by every hour on the weekends some stopping to take photos and some even breaking in requiring the police to be called this case was brutally heart-wrenching taking a Toll on everyone even remotely affiliated with it shortly after hearing Watts's full confession at Dodge lead detective Dave bombover who originally joined the Frederick Police Department in search of a more low-key position in a smaller Community was diagnosed with PT

SD the sight of a small girl at a restaurant would trigger him to have to leave the restaurant he tried to go back to work but his flashbacks got worse he stopped sleeping began to have memory gaps and had trouble controlling his emotions his wife Lori says that it's hard to leave the house stating where do you go where you don't see little girls she said that it's dangerous to watch television or to go online if they go out she directs her husband where he shouldn't look so he can avoid seeing kids that might trigger

him don't look down that aisle there's a family she'll say don't look right look up she said I feel like if I don't catch a little girl like if I miss one that I failed him detective bombover said it's easier to just not go anywhere after a career of difficult cases culminating with the Watts case he underwent counseling and time off But ultimately he decided it was time to resign 2 days after witnessing the recovery of the bodies agent Tammy Lee broke down sobbing in a air Salon while her mother and sister helplessly looked on

she sought counseling but admits that the memory of seeing Bella removed from the tanks still Haun her she said that she can't get that image out of my head it was that vision of the girls being recovered from the oil tanks that became etched in several of the recovery workers Memories Forever many wisely underwent therapy afterward and of course the families both the rusec and Watts families suffered tremendous losses brought on by Watts's senseless killings aside from the sheer grief of losing their beloved family members the rusec family in particular have had to face slander

harassment threats on their lives social media accounts created impersonating the family and Shannon's and the rusec family's character drive through the mud the harassment became so extreme the family was forced to hire an attorney and they have fought to have cyber bullying laws changed we hope this video did Justice to Shannon Bella Celeste and niik we hope it also paid proper Respect to the morning rusek family who had every right to be front and center to complain to blame and they it not they only surface to speak truth and protect their daughter and granddaughter's honor

in a sincere and dignified manner just as Shannon appeared to carry herself they are the definition of dignity we also hope this video paid proper respect to Shannon's group of true friends who wouldn't rest until their friend and her babies were found one of the controver swirling around this case is that it's not fair to paint shanon as being Flawless with people claiming things like she posted too much or embellished or was controlling or worse and that all the blame was unfairly placed on Watts well she was not Flawless none of us are but none

of us deserve to be murdered the notoriety of this case has brought Chris Watts himself is unsettling from the unending attention he receives from scores of women worldwide to the simply stabing following this case has amassed they disturbingly afford him practically Celebrity Status is this narcissist who previously lived in relative obscurity and never had a serious relationship prior to shanon Living his best life while his loving trusting family had all their days taken away from them what do you think we can't wait to hear your thoughts about this emotionally charged case please share them in

the comments below we'll be hopping into those comments along with you as long as we can and as usual if you like how we presented this case we'd really appreciate you hitting like and share and of course subscribe so you never miss a single video [Music]