CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *Arrest* #8

[Jennifer17]

If he was hopeless and devastated about his overall life situation, he would have killed himself too. Like many family annihilators do.

The fact that he didn't says a lot about his motivations.

But he wanted the single life, girlfriends and all. He was talking about selling the house on the second day that they were missing. Moving on when he should have been anxious for their welfare.

 

[cattlekate]

Yes, Colorado is considered a 50/50 parenting time state, if the parents live close enough to make it workable. However, the courts also have to let a parent move away if done in the initial parental orders, and then the court will have to determine which parent should have primary custody based upon the children's best interest.

IMO, in this case, SW could very well move back to NC, and the Court would let her take the kids with her, and there would be very little that CW could do about it. Plus, he probably didn't have the money for a big custody fight.

So I think he knew she could take the kids and he would see them rarely, and he would have to pay child support, and without her income he couldn't keep the house.

His world--this facade of the perfect family--was about to come crashing down.

Colorado would’ve probably let SW move, with the three kids, to NC if she had no steady Colorado income, was unable to get a local reasonable job that had a salary which could cover partial child care, and she petitioned that her parents would watch the kids for free while she went out and found some kind of job in NC.

Colorado day care for a K child (before and after plus kindergarten expense) and full time day care for a 3 year old and infant would easily reach 3500 per month.

The Colorado court’s might’ve allowed CW to quit his well-paying job and get a lower-paying one in NC, but who knows? The divorce would’ve happened in Colorado at his current high salary. Man, what a messy divorce this would’ve been. I do not think they could’ve even have afforded a divorce!

 

[DAdvocate]

If he was hopeless and devastated about his overall life situation, he would have killed himself too. Like many family annihilators do.

The fact that he didn't says a lot about his motivations.

And, he may have planned to do just that, but backed out.

 

[DAdvocate]

Are you serious right now that someone is implying this for real????? Chelly you are a saint. I don't even want to type what I think about this because I will be kicked out. Again so happy for the IGNORE BUTTON. Seriously what is wrong with people.

I believe it is something he may have thought.

 

[Jinkasaurus]

But he wanted the single life, girlfriends and all. He was talking about selling the house on the second day that they were missing. Moving on when he should have been anxious for their welfare.

Did you see my post earlier that said

dead family = happy life for CW

My point is the fact that he did not kill himself means that his motivation was not an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness and despair over his financial and other problems.

Rather, his motivation was to move on to a new, happy life with his hot bod. No more fat dad bod. He hid his family because he wanted no one to know they are dead. Dead, hidden family allows him to go on to have his new life. (in his mind)

 

[Jennifer17]

I believe it is something he may have thought.

I wonder if you have some insight to what he thought when he was conducting an extra marital affair and lied to LE about it?

 

[Deleted member 229213]

He didn't seem to be in rage mode during the interviews.

IMHO I think he has been very calm about the whole thing except for the fact that he can not contain his happiness and his pride about what he has done, its almost if hes gloating. He probably was very calm about it all, unaffected, it probably felt good to him, easy even. Ted Bundy vibes from him, Scott Peterson vibes for sure...unaffected...cool calm collected, accept they both had one thing CW does not have, intelligence and in addition, a whole lot of charm. I don't think CW gives AF about what he did. I would venture to say that if we had a video of the murders there was probably no rage involved. I would not be surprised at all if those girls were dead when SW got home and he calmly said that he killed them and now I have to kill you and then did the deed. Hence the quasi "emotional conversation" he claimed they have. He is a psychopath.

 

[Gingerbread7]

Can someone please post a link to the picture of the covered doll on the pillow? Who took that picture? When was it taken? Where? Why post that kind of picture, it is completely out of character from the other pictures. It is odd. And if SW took that picture? Well, there you go...the defense will go here.

 

[DAdvocate]

I wonder if you have some insight to what he thought when he was conducting an extra marital affair and lied to LE about it?

He made the decision after the events in the house that he was going to go with the missing family story. He knew he would be blamed if he called 911 after the deaths that night, but of course chose the worst option by going with the missing family story. He likely knew that admitting an affair right away would point to him even more. He couldn't admit that, he had to keep lying. It was a bad choice. He should have called 911 after the events in the house. But he didn't.

 

[Jennifer17]

He made the decision after the events in the house that he was going to go with the missing family story. He knew he would be blamed if he called 911 after the deaths that night, but of course chose the worst option by going with the missing family story. He likely knew that admitting an affair right away would point to him even more. He couldn't admit that, he had to keep lying. It was a bad choice. He should have called 911 after the events in the house. But he didn't.

No he didn't call 911 and he did not try to revive his children. He is a proven liar. Why anyone would believe anything he says is beyond my comprehension.

 

[MerryB]

He’d wrap Shannan in a sheet but not the kids? Nothing about this case is consistent!

SW wouldn't fit in a trash bag like the little girls did.

 

[cottonweaver]

Colorado would’ve probably let SW move, with the three kids, to NC if she had no steady Colorado income, was unable to get a local reasonable job that had a salary which could cover partial child care, and she petitioned that her parents would watch the kids for free while she went out and found some kind of job in NC.

Colorado day care for a K child (before and after plus kindergarten expense) and full time day care for a 3 year old and infant would easily reach 3500 per month.

The Colorado court’s might’ve allowed CW to quit his well-paying job and get a lower-paying one in NC, but who knows? The divorce would’ve happened in Colorado at his current high salary. Man, what a messy divorce this would’ve been. I do not think they could’ve even have afforded a divorce!

Thanks for this great info you keep posting for us all.

So could this connect to the FB post that posters have said that SW made whilst she was in NC,before her return - the post showing a house for sale in NC? Apparently she posted it twice. ( this was on an early thread)

Would Thrive qualify as a"local reasonable job that had a salary which could cover" that childcare costs when everything about their set-up is so opaque?
Do we all think that SW was earning 3.5k a month from Thrive ( to cover Celeste) ?
Maybe Grandpa would have done some chid care, he seems great with the kids & IDK if he's still working like Grandma.


plus more importantly, in your post:

"I do not think they could’ve even have afforded a divorce!" Wow That's our motive right there then.

 

[Deleted member 229213]

Can someone please post a link to the picture of the covered doll on the pillow? Who took that picture? When was it taken? Where? Why post that kind of picture, it is completely out of character from the other pictures. It is odd. And if SW took that picture? Well, there you go...the dense will go here.

No one really knows who took the photo only that SW posted it and I am not sure what the caption said verbatim, something about should I be worried or is this an indication of what is to come...It is beyond weird...

 

[Jinkasaurus]

I wonder if you have some insight to what he thought when he was conducting an extra marital affair and lied to LE about it?

He was in deep CYA mode at that point. The thing he doesn't want anyone to know is that he wanted his family dead. Having a mistress shows that he wanted something other than his family, so he needs to hide that info as long as possible.

That's why I say this is a very simple crime. If you just go with the idea that he wanted his family dead so he could have a happy life, everything we know so far fits that exactly.

He knows that wanting his family dead so he could have a nice life is completely horrific and so far he has done everything in his power to cover up that core motivation, and I believe he will continue to deny it forever.

 

[Herat]

SW wouldn't fit in a trash bag like the little girls did.

Oh, my heart hurt to read that *tears*

 

[gitana1]

I’m sorry people are commenting on parenting style based on one fbook video. Really? Why are we blaming the victim here. We have no idea what her parenting style was and a a video that is several
Minutes isn’t going to tell us that.

Agreed!! But I can tell she adored those babies. The photos - several - where they are just snuggling into her body, those show everything we need to know about her love for them.

By all accounts of every last person who knew her she was an exemplary mother. And she didn't kill her babies.

 

[Tricia]

Why are you so intent on building a case for the defense. I admit that before this case I hadn't posted since September of last year, but when I was active here last, this was considered a victim-friendly forum. Has that changed?

The difference now is we have a defendant who is telling his story about what happened. He has not been found guilty so since he is the only witness and he says Shanann killed their two children then we have to allow discussion on whether this is true or not. If a member wishes to believe Chris Watts is telling the truth then we must respectfully let that person express their opinion as long as it is within TOS.

Please alert if you see a post that violates our terms of service. It is not a violation of our TOS if someone expresses that she/he believes Shanann murdered her children. Until we have a guilty verdict or until Chris Watts changes his story we will allow discussion on this topic.

Thanks,
Tricia

 

[Chelly]

At the outset, When they were looking for them LE specified they were put into oil tanks to cover up the smell of decomposition. I surmise they got that comment directly from him

Oh yeah. He admitted to dumping his dead children, whom he murdered, into oil tanks. HOWEVER, He never said he put them there to keep them "warm" as you alleged in your post upthread. Let's keep it honest.

 

[smucklecrumble]

I don5 believe that CW snapped. According to the affidavit he left the house at 5.27am. This is the only time that is consistently mentioned as when he left. Plus we know for sure that it was that time because of the neighbors camera caught it.

We know for sure Shanann was dropped off at 1.48am because NA said and again the neighbors camera caught it.

I’m just unconvinced that in those 3 hours and 39 mins he witnessed his wife kill his daughter and snapped and killed her. But was calm enough to ‘load his tools’ into his truck and head to work.

I suffer from panic attacks and feel the effects of having had a bad one for hours after. CW committed murder, saw his children killed, and supposedly snapped but was so unaffected he was able to go to work.

Who is buying the poop he is trying to sell?

 

[MerryB]

Excellent post and I’m sort of on the same page as you. However, that house was a super-appreciating asset. At some time between 2015 and 2018, they could’ve sold the place, paid down debt, and moved into an apartment with a decent credit score. 2014 valuation 376k. 2015 valuation 444k. 2016 valuation 444k. 2017 valuation 485k. 2018 valuation 485k.

I was shopping for houses in northern Colorado, Frederick/Firestone/Erie on up north to Fort Collins in 2016 -2017. Prices just kept rising with people bidding up. Based on my experience, their house would’ve been bid up to over 500k in 2017, 2018.

I see no financial strategy with not paying HOA dues, since Colorado is a superlien state. They had the ability to regroup after the BK and sell the darn place and either downsize, rent a house, or rent an apartment. All of this would’ve salvaged and rebuilt their credit score.

If they were unable to reaffirm their mortgage debt at the time of their Ch 7 bankruptcy, they would lose the house. This can take a surprisingly long time to actually happen. Yes, with their name(s) on the deed they still would be able to sell, but remember any profit would be minus whatever they owed on the house.
I don't know definitively that they were unable to reaffirm their mortgage debt; however, logic leads me to believe with less than $900 in their bank accounts at the time of their filing, a $3,000/mo mortgage (plus any monthly payments they were behind on) just wasn't going to be paid.
This would explain the unpaid HOA dues as well.