The Perfect Family
The Watts were the perfect family. Chris and Shanann had been married for several years and had two beautiful daughters: Bella and Celeste. Not only that, but they were expecting another baby soon, as Shanann was 15 weeks pregnant with a boy they would name Nico.
Shanann was a stay-at-home mom and took her of Bella and Cece full time, but she still found time to make some money on the side. She worked as a saleswoman from home and was very active on social media for this reason.
Everything's Fine
According to family and friends, everything seemed to be fine in the Watts household. Five-year-old Bella and two-year-old Cece were super excited to have a baby brother, and Shanann and Chris couldn't wait to become parents again.
In fact, Shanann's friends always noticed the fact that she was very devoted to Chris and loved him more than anything. She was truly happy and had everything she ever wanted. But how Chris really felt was a different story...
A Structured Life
Shanann lived a very structured life. She and the girls followed a strict schedule every day, and they never missed an appointment. This is why her friend Nicole thought it strange that Shanann wasn't answering her messages on August 13, 2018.
Not only that, but Shanann was always connected on social media. She was constantly in touch with her friends and colleagues, so the fact that she wasn't answering was very odd.
Something's Wrong
Nicole was also supposed to go with Shanann to an OB-GYN visit that day, but Shanann didn't show up. She just knew something was wrong, so she immediately drove to Shanann's house.
There, she found Shanann's car parked on the driveway and Bella and Cece's car seats strapped to the car, but there was no sign of any of them. So, Nicole called Chris, who was at work.
Calling The Police
Nicole called Chris to ask him where Shanann and the girls were. He told her that she shouldn't worry because they were on a playdate, but Nicole was not convinced at all. She knew Shanann's car was in the driveway, so she felt that Chris was hiding something.
Thankfully, she decided to call the police and report Shanann missing. The police quickly arrived to her home and contacted Chris to be let into the house. A few minutes later, Chris arrived and opened the door for the cops - and that's when things got even stranger.
Suspicious
Inside, the police found Shanann's purse and cellphone and the girls' medicine, which they would need if they were to leave the house voluntarily. Then, the police asked Chris about the last time he saw his wife.
He told them that Shanann had arrived home from a business trip at around 2:00 am and that they had had an argument that morning at around 5:00am before he went to work because he told her he wanted to end the marriage. This was a huge red flag for police - but that's not all.
Conflicting Statements
When another detective talked to Chris, he seemed to change some details of his story. First, he said that he and Shanann had had an argument at 5:00 am, but then he said it happened at 4:00 am.
This might seem like a small, insignificant detail, but it is not. Detectives know that when people are making up stories on the spot, they usually forget what they said and change their stories multiple times. It was clear that something was off about Chris.
The Interviews
That same day, news of the disappearance of a woman and her two small daughters spread all over town. Soon, cameras were showing up at the Watts home, asking Chris for interviews.
Chris agreed and gave three separate interviews about the disappearance of his wife and children, which turned out to be a very incriminating move for him. In these interviews, it was clear that he was nervous and hiding something.
No Emotion
But the most shocking part about the interviews was that Chris showed no emotion whatsoever. His beloved pregnant wife and two little girls were gone, and yet he was calm and did not shed a single tear.
He spoke in a monotone, slightly nervous voice and looked straight to the camera, telling Shanann to "come home". His attitude made viewers feel weird; why was this man not sad about the disappearance of his family?
Smiling
Body language experts say that when our facial expressions contradict what we are saying, it is probably because we are lying. For example, if someone is smiling while telling a sad story, they may be making it up.
And that's what made detectives suspect Chris even more after these TV interviews. He was smiling as he was describing how lonely he was and how much he missed his daughters, when someone would normally be crying or looking serious. They knew they had to get Chris to the station for a polygraph test.
Cheating
As the investigation was progressing, the police uncovered that Chris Watts was having an affair with a coworker named Nicole Kissinger. Text messages showed that the two were getting very serious and that Chris wanted to leave Shanann.
This gave him a motive to get rid of his family: did he want to start over with his lover and have his wife and kids out of the picture? The police needed to find out.
The Polygraph Test
Polygraph tests are not 100% accurate, but they can give detectives a general idea about whether someone is being truthful or not. Chris was asked to take one, and he agreed.
He was charming and polite to everyone and seemed pretty confident when answering all the questions, but the polygraph luckily picked up on the truth: he was not being honest.
Confessing?
The detectives told Chris that he had failed the polygraph test and that they knew he was lying. After hours of interrogation, he finally broke down and confessed. However, what he said was completely unexpected.
He admitted to killing Shanann, but not the girls. According to him, he heard commotion upstairs and found his wife had killed his two daughters, so he fell into a rage and strangled her.
Lying Again
The police did not believe this for one second. Shanann seemed sweet, loving, and caring, while Chris had been acting shady the whole time and was clearly hiding something. Not only that, but he had been having an affair!
After pressing him more, he finally came clean about everything and put an end to all the lies, and the story he told was absolutely horrifying.
The Murders
That morning of August 13, everything seemed to be normal in the Watts home, but Chris had already made up his mind: he was going to kill his family to start a new life with Nicole, his lover.
He walked up to Shanann and, without saying a word, started strangling her. Shanann did not fight, and just looked heartbroken and disappointed, staring straight into his eyes until she passed away.
The Girls
The girls heard commotion coming from their parents room, so they went upstairs. Upon seeing their mother's dead body, they asked Chris what was wrong with her. He told them that "mommy doesn't feel good.
He put Shanann's body in his car and covered it in garbage bags and told Bella and Cece that they were going on a trip. He put them in his car and started driving.
The Unspeakable
He drove the girls to an oil field that belong to the company he worked for. After driving for 40 minutes, he stopped the car and turned to the girls in the back seat, who were confused and scared.
Then, he did the unthinkable: he first smothered Bella, who was five years old, while Cece, who was two years old, was watching. Right after that, he turned to Cece, whose last words were: Daddy, don't do this.
Getting Rid Of Them
Chris then proceeded to bury Shanann's body in the field. Once that was done, he took the bodies of his little girls and shoved them in oil tanks.
He then drove back home and went to sleep. It is unclear how he was planning on acting in the following days. What was he going to say when people noticed they were missing? He clearly did not have anything thought out, because when Shanann was reported missing the morning after her murder, he didn't have much to say.
The Sentence
News of this horrific crime spread like wildfire, and Chris' face was on every newspaper and TV show imaginable. People could not believe how someone could do this to his own family.
He pleaded guilty to all charges as part of a plea deal to avoid the death penalty. He received five life sentences to be served consecutively without the possibility of parole.
The Aftermath
Sadly, the media attention that the case received also attracted a lot of people towards Chris. Because he might be considered 'handsome' to some people, he started receiving love letters in prison.
He gets regular visits from his female admirers in prison, plus tons of letters. Not only that, but he now claims he is a changed man because he found God. Many people believe that he is not serving his sentence properly and that he should be in isolation to think about what he did. What do you think?