Found Deceased CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *CW GUILTY* #48

[MassGuy]

I think it's important to realise that Chris's family are also victims of this terrible crime. How bewildering it must be to have your son admit to at LEAST killing his wife. They are clearly going through a grieving process, denial being a step to that. We are all fallible as humans...I am in no way defending Chris but let's ease up on his folks

No. Their son has admitted to killing his entire family. He did it.

If they don’t like it, fine. But they should keep their mouths shut when it comes to Shanann.

A mother and her two daughters are dead, but that’s not enough. Shanann is having her name dragged through the mud by these people, and has been the victim of rumors and innuendo since the beginning.

I have no doubt that these people were the source of these vile statements, and they are now simply doing it in the light of day.

I did have sympathy for them. Now I just want them to appologize and accept the truth, or just go away.

This is deplorable.

 

[Curiouslycuriousoli]

We know so very little about anything....perhaps they know more about their life and relationship than us sitting here speculating behind a keyboard... they were family, grandparents to those darling girls...they have much more right to air their feelings as we all do, and should not be run over hot coals for it..IMO

Agree that they are also victims. But they lose me a bit when they start saying Shanann was verbally abusive. Denial is one thing - even understandable to some degree. But blaming the victim is pretty low. She didn't deserve to die no matter how much you didn't care for her. They want a reason how Shanann somehow triggered their son into doing this and I think that's what is rubbing the wrong way. But it is just a tragedy for both families. I wish they would help ease the pain instead of adding to it. Gitana1 mentioned Mark Hacking earlier in the thread - the statement his family gave was the exact opposite -

Hacking family statement

"To clear up some misconceptions about Mark's confession, it was reported Mark's brothers, Lance and Scott, were the ones who told authorities Mark had killed Lori. The reality is that on July 24, Lance confronted Mark with the evidence police had gathered and urged him to reveal where Lori's body was. He and Scott met with Mark that evening, at which time Mark confessed everything to them. His attorney was notified and instructed, by Mark, to provide information regarding Lori's whereabouts to the district attorney, an act which took place the following day. From that point on, it was never a matter of whether Mark would plead guilty but when he would do it based on the processes of the legal system. Mark resolved in August that he would never let his case be tried and informed his attorney of that decision."

Not that Mark Hacking is exactly honorable, but the family showed remorse and regret and sorrow for his victim and her family.

 

[Only4Justice]

Yup -- expect more me, me, and me.

According to KMGH, the couple claimed their son changed when he married Shan’ann, alleging the couple had an abusive relationship and Shan’ann isolated Chris from his family.

“It was a very hard relationship,” Cindy Watts said. “It was a very hard relationship with her as far as I’m concerned. I couldn’t do anything right.
Chris Watts’ Parents Claim Son Was in Abusive Relationship with Wife He Admitted Murdering

This statement completely pisses me off. Easy to blame a murder victim.

 

[Tigerlily75]

It's interesting. About 2 years ago I left an abusive marriage. I'm not perfect, but I'm a basically honest and decent and kind person, and I did my best to make the marriage work despite being mistreated. After I finally left, my ex-husband launched a campaign of stalking, harassment, menacing, threats and property destruction against me. I successfully petitioned for a Civil Protection Order, which he violated within 24 hours by sending me threats, at which point they gave me a Criminal Protection Order. He was charged with 5 counts of various crimes against me, all with DV enhancers. During this time, my behavior was impeccable. I did not so much as say an angry word to defend myself. People said I had the "restraint of a saint" but in truth I was just terrified and exhausted. We had been married for a long time and friends before that, so we had lots of mutual friends and family. Occasionally one of these people would reach out to my former mother-in-law and brother-in-law and beg them to step in and try to convince my ex to stop his reign of terror against me, if not my sake for our kids. Every single time, instead of listening to these mutual friends and maybe realizing their family member's criminal behavior was a problem, they would say the EXACT SAME THING as CW's mom: "Well, you just don't know the whole story. There are things you don't know. She's not perfect either." There was no defense for my ex's criminal behavior, and they weren't willing to hold him (or themselves) accountable, and I hadn't done anything to "deserve" that level or retaliation, so all they had was vague insinuations that there were horrible things about me that people just didn't know. It's amazing to me how alike these generationally abusive families are.

Very similar story here! I had my daughter seeing a psychologist after becoming estranged from her father, and MIL would ring the psychologists office yelling and demanding to see her to tell “her side of the story”. (They psych was well versed in narcissists!). I too am a decent person. These people will never ever ever see anything as their own fault.

@gitana1 articulated these families SO well. Everything she said is 100% my ex and his mother. Anyone unfamiliar with these families just read her posts. She is spot on.

 

[NuttMegg]

We know so very little about anything....perhaps they know more about their life and relationship than us sitting here speculating behind a keyboard... they were family, grandparents to those darling girls...they have much more right to air their feelings as we all do, and should not be run over hot coals for it..IMO

It doesn't matter if we are behind a keyboard, we can see when someone supposedly in grief is unfairly attacking a victim. Suppose the mother is correct, and her relationship with sw was "hard". Why would that affect the fact that cw shut them out of knowledge about the guilty plea? Until they started publicly attacking sw it never occurred to me to call them out on anything at all. Now i can understand why cw cut them out of his life for 3 months, regarding no communication with them.

 

[MassGuy]

Very similar story here! I had my daughter seeing a psychologist after becoming estranged from her father, and MIL would ring the psychologists office yelling and demanding to see her to tell “her side of the story”. (They psych was well versed in narcissists!). I too am a decent person. These people will never ever ever see anything as their own fault.

@gitana1 articulated these families SO well. Everything she said is 100% my ex and his mother. Anyone unfamiliar with these families just read her posts. She is spot on.

She actually had these people pegged before we even heard them speak for the first time last night.

These people were exactly like the families of other FA’s that she described.

 

[mtnlites]

I think it's important to realise that Chris's family are also victims of this terrible crime. How bewildering it must be to have your son admit to at LEAST killing his wife. They are clearly going through a grieving process, denial being a step to that. We are all fallible as humans...I am in no way defending Chris but let's ease up on his folks

They may be victims but in attacking Shanann, a woman dead by their own son's hand, they've lost my sympathy at the moment.

 

[MKZoo]

I think it's important to realise that Chris's family are also victims of this terrible crime. How bewildering it must be to have your son admit to at LEAST killing his wife. They are clearly going through a grieving process, denial being a step to that. We are all fallible as humans...I am in no way defending Chris but let's ease up on his folks

I don't disagree at all that they are victims. They are victims of their own son's actions. I have had great sympathy for them all along, but they lose me entirely when they publicly insist that they (and CW) are somehow victims of Shanann's actions. It's absurd and it's plain ugly behavior. Jmo.

 

[MassGuy]

I don't disagree at all that they are victims. They are victims of their own son's actions. I have had great sympathy for them all along, but they lose me entirely when they publicly insist that they (and CW) are somehow victims of Shanann's actions. It's absurd and it's plain ugly behavior. Jmo.

It is. It’s one thing if they said these things before the plea deal.

The fact that they are bashing her in death, after their son admitted to everything, is where they are really out of bounds.

Nasty business.

 

[Thepoet]

We know so very little about anything....perhaps they know more about their life and relationship than us sitting here speculating behind a keyboard... they were family, grandparents to those darling girls...they have much more right to air their feelings as we all do, and should not be run over hot coals for it..IMO

We know all we need to know by his actions lies, his own admissions, and his pleas! He murdered four (4) human beings with premeditation. The Watts family have said nothing, NOTHING, about their grandchildren! They haven't even acknowledged Shanann was pregnant when she was killed. They've attacked Shanann and her memory to defend a son who has accepted all guilt! They are harming SW's family and friends out of selfishness and vanity. INHO!

Edited by me because my phone changed/added some words!

 

[mtnlites]

We know so very little about anything....perhaps they know more about their life and relationship than us sitting here speculating behind a keyboard... they were family, grandparents to those darling girls...they have much more right to air their feelings as we all do, and should not be run over hot coals for it..IMO

They do have a right to their feelings and to air those feelings. But when they choose to make those feelings public, however, people are going to have opinions about them and are going to talk about them. And they barely mentioned "those darling girls." The majority of their interviews consisted of insinuating that SW somehow "triggered" her husband to kill her and opining that he'd somehow been led astray by his defense team and needed parental involvement (like a child) to fix things.

 

[Curiouslycuriousoli]

I'm not in anyway defending what he did....all I am saying is that maybe they were privy to the dynamics of their relationship, therefore there could be truth in what they saying about it being a very hard relationship. I don't believe they are running Shannan down...I think they are speaking their truth. They have a right to do that...as VICTIMS also

 

[MassGuy]

I'm not in anyway defending what he did....all I am saying is that maybe they were privy to the dynamics of their relationship, therefore there could be truth in what they saying about it being a very hard relationship. I don't believe they are running Shannan down...I think they are speaking their truth. They have a right to do that...as VICTIMS also

They are still claiming that Shanann committed the murders, that is absolutely clear.

Their son has confessed. It’s done.

They have no right to bash a murder victim in public. None.

 

[NuttMegg]

I'm not in anyway defending what he did....all I am saying is that maybe they were privy to the dynamics of their relationship, therefore there could be truth in what they saying about it being a very hard relationship. I don't believe they are running Shannan down...I think they are speaking their truth. They have a right to do that...as VICTIMS also

The mother said HER OWN relationship with sw was HARD, not that between cw and sw. Why would that be justification for her son to murder sw? So what if she, as MIL had a hard relationship with sw?

 

[mtnlites]

Honestly, and I can't believe I am saying this, but I think they're being disrespectful to their son. As I said last night, accepting the plea and sparing the two families the horrors of a trial is the most decent thing he's done in recent memory. When his parents go on air basically saying that he's incapable of standing up for himself or making his own decisions so they have to do it for him, that crosses a line. And that's before you even get to the part in which the start pointing fingers at SW and accusing her of being, in their words "abusive."

 

[Gardenista]

All they had to do was say they want him to re-visit the plea deal. There was no need to smear Shanann. Vile, just absolutely vile IMO.

 

[gitana1]

BBM
Can I ask? Do we definitely know that CW doesn't/didn't want to see his family? I ask, because all I got from the interviews was that they were not allowed to see him and when they did, it was separately, via remote access and monitored by his legal team. Is this usual?

It is usual that defendants want to see their families. It is also usual that defense attorneys may advise their clients in high profile cases not to meet with or talk with family as everything is recorded and they'd be afraid the parents would ask questions like casey Anthony's did. About the crime. Which could hurt their client.

Ultimately the choice is the client's. The defense attorneys can't stop them.

The "remote access" could simply mean that certain prisoners only meet via video. Like if it's a high profile case or the defendant can't be moved because they're on suicide watch.

Having defense counsel present is unusual. But although I know some really want there to be evidence that CW is being controlled and coerced by his team into a nefarious deal, he's not, it's illogical and it's not happening.

It just indicates to me that CW doesn't want to be pressured or forced to answer questions. So he asked for a buffer.

 

[Seattle1]

I'm not in anyway defending what he did....all I am saying is that maybe they were privy to the dynamics of their relationship, therefore there could be truth in what they saying about it being a very hard relationship. I don't believe they are running Shannan down...I think they are speaking their truth. They have a right to do that...as VICTIMS also

Respectfully, that is not what was said. Mrs Watts said the relationship was hard on HER. Clearly, she does not have the ability to defend her son without disparaging her deceased DIL (strangled by her son). Mrs. Watts is not relative in this discussion, and she can't stand that. She's also disparaged the fine public defenders office charged with serving her son. Not difficult to see the pattern here. MOO

 

[k-mac]

They are still claiming that Shanann committed the murders, that is absolutely clear.

Their son has confessed. It’s done.

They have no right to bash a murder victim in public. None.

exactly

disappointing that posters here are supporting victim bashers.

that's what is happening here and you can not manipulate it to anything else.

I personally find being told to have empathy for these people offensive.

jmo

 

[scdiv]

I'm just amazed that CW's parents made the decision to make the media rounds with so little self-awareness of how they are coming off. They seem either completely tone deaf or completely unable to mask their dislike of Shanann. They are doing absolutely NOTHING to enhance or rehabilitate his image in any way. I think they are just making it worse. I would think rule number 1, even as a strategic move, would be DON'T DISPARAGE THE VICTIM. Offer condolences to Shanann's family. Say how sad you are for the loss of these four precious human beings, even if you don't understand how or why this could happen. I actually did feel a lot more sympathy for them until I saw these interviews.

Looking back, I SO wish that a reporter had innocently asked CW, "So what kind of mother is Shanann?" And since he was still in the oh oops, they are missing, maybe, or safe, somewhere, stage of his lie tour, he likely would have stammered on about how she's a great mom and awesome with the girls, and loves them so much.... and then that wouldn't quite work when he had to backtrack and say, "Oh yea, I know I was smiling talking about what a great mom she was, but she actually murdered the girls, that's why I killed her. Wearing the awesome t-shirt she bought me."