GUILTY CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *CW LWOP* #60

[The Farm]

I believe that Shanann would have taken 10,000 from her 401k to help pay off debt, and I also think she put the majority of the money down on the new house from the sale of the old one. I suspect there was little contribution from him at that time. I also think he may have been impulsive in his spending habits and Shanann took much of the burden.
It's pretty clear that they lived beyond their means, but Shanann had the where-with-all and the skills to turn things around where as Chris was just not capable of it, or anything else for that matter. I don't think he would have made the decision to kill them without having someone in place to depend on. I think she was the main motivator, financial problems or not. Imo

I thought I read that Shannan handled all the finances and that the money came out of SW 401k because only SW would be able to extract the money? In the docs?

 

[riolove77]

I believe that Shanann would have taken 10,000 from her 401k to help pay off debt, and I also think she put the majority of the money down on the new house from the sale of the old one. I suspect there was little contribution from him at that time. I also think he may have been impulsive in his spending habits and Shanann took much of the burden.
It's pretty clear that they lived beyond their means, but Shanann had the where-with-all and the skills to turn things around where as Chris was just not capable of it, or anything else for that matter. I don't think he would have made the decision to kill them without having someone in place to depend on. I think she was the main motivator, financial problems or not. Imo

Agreed. People seem to forget she built her own house when she was 25 and then later sold it. I bought my first home at 21 and sold it at 25, so I get how it goes. It's tough. And she didn't seem to have money issues until after all that. She also had been known to clip coupons, work places to get discounts, and shop at consignment stores (per her entry on Bella's baby blog). If she was spending a little on herself to get a mani, that was money on HER.

It was HIM who was spending money on a mistress; how many entries did we see in his Google searches for various bars and restaurants?! The camping? The sand dunes? Not sure how she got the reputation for being the spender. The was literally buying prepaid gift cards online to hide his spending from his wife. I don't recall her ever doing anything shady like that with THEIR money.

ETA the jewelry too. can't forget the jewelry.

 

[PiertotumLocomotor]

Exactly what I was going to say. He ran up and back down, hid the smaller items, but going through the kitchen to grab the purse and attempt to hide it somewhere would've taken too long. They were waiting at the door to be let in.

When I first read this, I thought it was pretty bizarre. Wouldn't it seem so obvious to the police officer and NUA that CW was trying to get ahead of them and hide things/make sure everything looked as it should? Under what guise might he have used to justify his actions? I can't think of a decent excuse to get out from under the officer's sight without looking suspicious.

However we are talking about CW here...someone who thought he was so smart that he was smiling in his TV interviews. Yup, CW, you sure had us fooled you sneaky sly one!

 

[scdiv]

I may be remembering wrong, but I think NA's son said CW ran through the house before he opened the front door to let them in.

He didn't have a lot of time, but maybe enough to shove some stuff in the couch, etc.

Moo

Yes, good memory! Discovery Report Page 1410:
Nick said Officer Coonrod arrived and walked around the house looking for a way inside and also shouted inside through the partially opened front door. When Watts arrived he (Watts) entered the garage through the main door, opened the door to Shanann’s car, and then walked into the house alone. Nick said Watts ran around the entire house before opening the front door to let them all in.

Now notice how CW complained to NK how NUA was running all over his house. Also weird how CW was the one to call attention to the fact that the blankets were missing. What did he do with those?

Discovery Report Page 543:
-NICHOL said during a phone conversation on Monday August 12, 2018 with CHRIS he was talking about NICKOLE ATKINSON and her son coming to his home and finding SHANANN, BELLA and CELESTE missing and then calling the police. During this conversation CHRIS said he arrived home and ATKINSON came into his home and was running all over the house and up and down the stairs. During this conversation CHRIS said blankets were missing from his kids rooms. NICHOL asked if ATKINSON’s could have taken the blankets and CHRIS responded he believed that SHANANN had taken the blankets.

 

[wyldcynic]

One thing that was interesting to me, not that it necessarily has significance, is that in some of the videos where CW was interacting with his kids, he seemed to have natural protective instincts. Saying, "Cece, sit down so you don't fall." Gently lowering them so they didn't hurt themselves climbing off his back. SW playing games with a matchbox car that Dieter would chase, and CW quickly moving to block it so it wouldn't run into CeCe. Putting them into car seats and strapping them into booster seats. How does one go about all these seemingly natural and instinctive precautions to protect your children from harm, and then be able to take their last breaths from them? It is so hard to reconcile what causes that kind of inhumanity inside of someone.

I struggle with that as well. What jumped out at me while reading discovery was how SW complimented CW on the nice job he did with the girls' hair for the birthday party. Just hours before he smothers them, he spends the time and effort to put their hair up in sweet little ponytails. Who does that? If he went into it knowing he was going to kill his kids that night, I would expect him to be completely checked out. Going through the motions of attending a party you said you would go to is one thing, but doing their hair seems a bit extra...I don't know. It puzzles my brain.

 

[Mellowmelly]

I just don't think so. I really think he just got up, rolled over, and surprised the hell out of her. I dont think he took his hands off her neck until she was gone.

Do you think she would have woken up or is it possible she stayed asleep, unaware of what was happening to her ?

 

[riolove77]

I struggle with that as well. What jumped out at me while reading discovery was how SW complimented CW on the nice job he did with the girls' hair for the birthday party. Just hours before he smothers them, he spends the time and effort to put their hair up in sweet little ponytails. Who does that? If he went into it knowing he was going to kill his kids that night, I would expect him to be completely checked out. Going through the motions of attending a party you said you would go to is one thing, but doing their hair seems a bit extra...I don't know. It puzzles my brain.

And she thanked him for watching his own children while she traveled for work to learn and make money for them. Literally five or six hours before he strangled her and smothered them....unreal.

 

[riolove77]

Do you think she would have woken up or is it possible she stayed asleep, unaware of what was happening to her ?

100% she woke up and knew. It was most certainly a very horrific death.

 

[MsBetsy]

I think all of us are incredibly curious as to what was going on inside his head.

We’ll never have these answers.

I would think interviewing and evaluating him would be a psychologists dream. I hope someone gets him to open up and digs down deep onto his past. It would take years but I hope they are able to get some useful information.

 

[Tortoise]

I think even if he didn’t kill the girls first, he was definitely planning it before SW got home. Somewhere in the docs it says he called or text his work Colleague to say that he would go out to the oil field first thing in the morning and that there was no point then both going out there. This was way before SW was due home, if I’m correct.

Yes and it was after he told Shanann he would be at Bella's first day of school in the morning. So he knew at 5pm Sunday that he wouldn't be going to school with Bella because Bella wouldn't be going to school.

MOO

 

[TxMother67]

I struggle with that as well. What jumped out at me while reading discovery was how SW complimented CW on the nice job he did with the girls' hair for the birthday party. Just hours before he smothers them, he spends the time and effort to put their hair up in sweet little ponytails. Who does that? If he went into it knowing he was going to kill his kids that night, I would expect him to be completely checked out. Going through the motions of attending a party you said you would go to is one thing, but doing their hair seems a bit extra...I don't know. It puzzles my brain.

And he looked completely checked out in the pic of him taken at the party. His eyes looked vacant. The only thing that rings a bell is that it was not about the girls as much as it was about him and what everyone at the party would think of him. That's why he went through the effort. Wasn't he worried about a friend of Shannan's and her opinion of him after Shannan had gone "missing"?

 

[Jennifer17]

Do you think she would have woken up or is it possible she stayed asleep, unaware of what was happening to her ?

She would have woken IMO

 

[MsBetsy]

100% she woke up and knew. It was most certainly a very horrific death.

Yes, there is no way she could have not woken up and not been aware. It is a natural response to fight and struggle to breath. Up to four minutes of complete terror.

 

[MassGuy]

Yes, there is no way she could have not woken up and not been aware. It is a natural response to fight and struggle to breath. Up to four minutes of complete terror.

Yeah. She would have certainly woken up. Fortunately, she would have lost consciousness within as little as 10 seconds.

Still terrifying and horrible, but it wouldn’t have been a minutes long experience of terror.

 

[Mellowmelly]

100% she woke up and knew. It was most certainly a very horrific death.

so she would have woken and seen his face leaning over her, I can’t imagine the shock and betrayal she must’ve felt.

 

[Jupiter05]

That matches with a narcissist I think. Many project this aura of confidence but inside they're actually deeply insecure and constantly need praise and validation. They can't handle any criticism or being seen as less than. It panics them.

Most of us are familiar though with the narcissist who becomes enraged easily, displays a constant and marked lack of empathy and bras about themselves a lot. I don't see any of those traits with CW.

I think he, like other family annihilators, might be a unique combination of psych defects.

Maybe throw some dissociative disorder in there as well for seasoning

 

[MsBetsy]

And he looked completely checked out in the pic of him taken at the party. His eyes looked vacant. The only thing that rings a bell is that it was not about the girls as much as it was about him and what everyone at the party would think of him. Wasn't he worried about a friend of Shannan's and her opinion of him after Shannan had gone "missing"?

He was worried about what everyone thought of him. He said it to several people. When he finally confessed to killing Shanann he was worried about what LE thought of him. Throughout the whole thing his only concern was that people would think he wasn't a good guy.

 

[pocketaccent]

so she would have woken and seen his face leaning over her, I can’t imagine the shock and betrayal she must’ve felt.

A million thoughts passed through her. He is killing me..His past cruel behavior suddenly and finally made sense to her.. thoughts of Bella..CeCe..Nico..Dad..Mom...Frankie...

 

[Jupiter05]

I’m not sure about this. I think his cheating coincided with the physical changes he went through.

My guess, and it is just a guess, is that he had a newfound sense of confidence after his weight loss. I think that around this time, he would have begun his Tinder hookups.

I agree.

 

[The Farm]

so she would have woken and seen his face leaning over her, I can’t imagine the shock and betrayal she must’ve felt.

Not if he strangled her from behind and in 10m seconds she might not have even seen him.
I want to think it was so fast she did not have a chance to know what was happening,,,,,remember there were no defensive marks or wounds.