GUILTY CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *CW LWOP* #63

[Herat]

BBM. When watching the CBI interviews with CW did anyone notice how many times he said: I don't know. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. This was in response to the investigators asking why he did a certain thing. It was many times. As if to say 'Oh poor me'. He just didn't know what to do even though he created a plan to kill his wife and children.

As if it would have been so much better if Take-Charge NK had been there to help him out?

 

[mrjitty]

It's eerie to watch the neighbor, NUA and her son and witness the realization. The whole case is an eerie horror show.

Yep.

It reminds me a bit of Ian Stewart who seemed amazed that the police would seriously investigate

 

[wilsodh]

When I first posted here at WS I stated that I believed the murders were very premeditated. I had to explain what I meant by "very". I meant; that the premeditation was detailed and over a period of time ( days or weeks, not hours).... [etc.]

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I lean toward second-degree for Shan'ann, followed by first degree for the girls. I think it would be out of character for someone like CW to plot the murder of his (presumably beloved) children in order to punish SW. I'm not sure why CW would be so angry with SW to punish her in that way. SW seemed earnest in her attempts to save the marriage, and there were no texts of threats or other potential motives for such an anger by CW toward her. Furthermore, it doesn't seem like CW thought through his crime at all. Anyway you slice it, all suspicion would fall on him almost immediately. While he is obviously no genius, I would think any forethought would have presented only one outcome: his getting busted. I suspect there may have been fantasies of eliminating his 'problem' with direct action, and then CW came home late and she said something to trigger a fit of anger in Chris. Maybe it was something that directly threatened his continued relationship with NK, which he wanted to preserve at all costs. Whatever it was, he choked her unconscious (doesn't take that long to do), then continued choking her until she was dead. Taking stock--and in a machine-like dissociated state--he made some even worse choices. Knowing SW would never leave her children (the 'disappearing wife' scenario), the only way he could make her disappearance seem even remotely plausible would be to have the girls disappear also, as though SW left with the girls. So he did the unthinkable.

But there is so much he didn't consider, such as leaving her cell phone & shoes behind (how dumb was that), or how and where he disposed of the bodies (obviously the cops would converge on well #319 after a single interview, or after interrogating GPS data from the truck). He didn't even give himself any time to dispose of the bodies properly: if he was thinking about the truck GPS giving away his movements, he had to know there would be risk of co-workers arriving at well 319 while he was up on a tank stuffing a body through that small hole. This murder was simply a no-way out scenario for him from the get-go. Even someone as stupid as Chris Watts must have been able to foresee these things if he had pre-planned the whole thing...!?

Dave

 

[mrjitty]

Totally agreen w. you. I hate to keep bringing up Amber F. because she was clearly an innocent in that whole situation but she's the perfect example of how an innocent AP should have been behaving (even one who knowingly crossed the line shouldn't be mad at the murder victim) . Amber F. showed the utmost deference to Laci and the fam.

I think NK displays significant amounts of genuine anger which is why I think she is 100% innocent.

I know we'd prefer to her have more empathy, but i think she is still in the super pissed off with CW phase and also somewhat in denial.

The grief etc (for herself) will come next

 

[gitana1]

She reminds me Soooo much of Casey A., it's pathetic. She knew more than she's letting on, for sure!!!

The voice - timbre and tone - the pronunciation of words and the attitude. Striking.

 

[mrjitty]

Even someone as stupid as Chris Watts must have been able to foresee these things if he had pre-planned the whole thing...!?

Dave

I do think some of these people are influenced by famous cases where for one reason or another the body is not found, so people are just "missing"

Watt's is not sophisticated, and probably had no clue that the police would deploy so much resource looking for a wife and kids who had "gone off somewhere"

 

[scandinavian girl]

Yep.

It reminds me a bit of Ian Stewart who seemed amazed that the police would seriously investigate

Yes, I have been thinking about the similarities since the porch interview and IS did target HB when she was very vulnerable. He really believed that the story of Nick and Joe would be believed.

 

[Herat]

I do think some of these people are influenced by famous cases where for one reason or another the body is not found, so people are just "missing"

Watt's is not sophisticated, and probably had no clue that the police would deploy so much resource looking for a wife and kids who had "gone off somewhere"

Or that his employer, Anadarko, would immediately supply GPS and other info about his whereabouts and report the Affair to LE so quickly.

I mean, the husband/ bf/partner is ALWAYS where LE starts in a missing woman investigation

 

[BeanieBod]

Gracious me. I have to play catch up since I needed to take a break from this horrendous case. However, I have a question or two:
1. Why did Chris have two cell phones during the interrogation?
2. During the interrogation time period, did he text NK ?
3. Has there been any date/time of Dieter barking with the police called?
Thanks.

 

[violet101]

RW doesn’t waste any time in criticizing SW...very sad

 

[escape2sc]

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I lean toward second-degree for Shan'ann, followed by first degree for the girls. I think it would be out of character for someone like CW to plot the murder of his (presumably beloved) children in order to punish SW.
Dave

SBM & BBM I am not sure why you are speculating 2nd and 1st degree murder. CW plead guilty to all charges of 1st degree murder on November 19th

 

[Ellamental]

There is another new YouTube video up. It is of the police going through his house but a different one than we have seen before.

I don't know if we can link here so I will just say to search for "video Break" Channel with the title "police interview Chris Watts after he murdered his family"

ETA

For those that have earbuds and are good of hearing, try to listen to the police when they are in the kitchen, as the Axiom camera is picking up a conversation with him and her mother!

I just watched the video mentioned in the quote, and I am so grossed out by CW. In the beginning he is standing in his kitchen with NUA and two detectives - not worried, not watching out the window, not reaching out to any of her family or friends. Well, we know why, but he didn't even remotely try to act like the grieving husband.

It just hit me (even though it's been mentioned a million times before) that her phone was at home. There's no way she has been gone all day without her phone in general - let alone with all of the work she was doing for LeVel. Also - that means if she were truly at a "playdate" but he "didn't know who with" (paraphrasing) then there should be some record of that either in text, call or messaging app. Yet, not once do we hear him ever even try to say "I've called all of her contacts in the area" or "I looked, but there isn't anything in her phone that points to where she might have went". Meanwhile, NUA and the detectives in this video are hot on CW's trail (and he remains clueless).

All of these videos of CW should be used in training on how to quickly spot a lying in a murder investigation. He has/had so many tells it's incredible.

 

[kizzykat]

LE interviewing the female Tinder hookup is now on youtube. Search CW's name and "detectives interview Tinder hookup"

 

[curiouschat]

Yeah - hardly surprising she is not supportive of SW, who she also did not personally know. I think that is largely expected.

There is one exception, where at times she sides with SW against CW's lying

But again, I think that is typically (shallow) human behaviour - to join with the victim as "woman wronged"

These are not sophisticated people.

I may very well have missed some things, but I'm not seeing her slamming Shanann so much? In the interview she seemed to be just telling police what Chris had told her about the marriage. The only thing that jumps out to me was her emphasizing that they were living well above their means, which I think some people take as an attack on Shanann, but I think it's a fair assessment of their finances.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Another YouTube has been uploaded, but I cannot link it here.

Search at YouTube" Chris Watts files: detectives interview Tinder hook-up"

It is a 29-minute interrogation video. Nothing else and no comments by the channel owner.

 

[WhatDidYouDo]

Let me preface this comment by saying that all of SW's behaviors/texts etc. were completely healthy, normal, loving, and appropriate as a human being who loved her husband. It shows she was healthy minded - bonded to her family and not willing to just give up because the last 5 weeks had been bad. She was reflective about her own behavior, open to change and completely committed to the new life she was carrying.

That being said, I think I think SW's death has a lot to do with her exposing CW for who he truly is in those last few weeks. Not meaning it was HER fault - not that at all. It's that his own twisted brain couldn't handle the truth she was laying out in those messages. That's why he ignored many of them. He's so worried about being perceived a specific way and through her messages and calls she kept exposing him. ....so he had to shut her up...because she was RIGHT and he couldn't deal with that. He somehow convinced her to put the house up and couldn't handle that it wasn't so easy for her to cave on the rest of it. He's a serious chump. No actual balls...he thought she'd just dip because he alludes to the marriage being over. He can't even tell her it is...he wants her to assume it is.

 

[Best of What's Around]

Thanks for that. Very helpful. I lean toward second-degree for Shan'ann, followed by first degree for the girls. I think it would be out of character for someone like CW to plot the murder of his (presumably beloved) children in order to punish SW. I'm not sure why CW would be so angry with SW to punish her in that way. SW seemed earnest in her attempts to save the marriage, and there were no texts of threats or other potential motives for such an anger by CW toward her. Furthermore, it doesn't seem like CW thought through his crime at all. Anyway you slice it, all suspicion would fall on him almost immediately. While he is obviously no genius, I would think any forethought would have presented only one outcome: his getting busted. I suspect there may have been fantasies of eliminating his 'problem' with direct action, and then CW came home late and she said something to trigger a fit of anger in Chris. Maybe it was something that directly threatened his continued relationship with NK, which he wanted to preserve at all costs. Whatever it was, he choked her unconscious (doesn't take that long to do), then continued choking her until she was dead. Taking stock--and in a machine-like dissociated state--he made some even worse choices. Knowing SW would never leave her children (the 'disappearing wife' scenario), the only way he could make her disappearance seem even remotely plausible would be to have the girls disappear also, as though SW left with the girls. So he did the unthinkable.

But there is so much he didn't consider, such as leaving her cell phone & shoes behind (how dumb was that), or how and where he disposed of the bodies (obviously the cops would converge on well #319 after a single interview, or after interrogating GPS data from the truck). He didn't even give himself any time to dispose of the bodies properly: if he was thinking about the truck GPS giving away his movements, he had to know there would be risk of co-workers arriving at well 319 while he was up on a tank stuffing a body through that small hole. This murder was simply a no-way out scenario for him from the get-go. Even someone as stupid as Chris Watts must have been able to foresee these things if he had pre-planned the whole thing...!?

Dave

Whether he truly planned for it or not, I cannot say. But I am inclined to believe he did by his utter lack of devastation/guilt/grief after the fact. I've seen nothing but fear of being caught so far. As for second degree for SW, I am in complete disagreement. Not only does it take minutes to strangle someone, but his/her complete lack of defensive wounds indicate he must have held her down with his body and a sheet - requiring aforethought - to manage to strangle her without any damage to himself or herself save the bruising to her neck. She had zero opportunity to defend herself in any meaningful way. MOO.

 

[Charlot123]

The doll picture to Shanann on the 9th August, the prairie flowers picture to NK the day he murdered his whole family. He definitely had a scary way of communicating what he was going to do. Why would he even send those 2 major clues? He basically showed how he would kill the girls, and where he would bury someone.

You know, plan is plan, but it might still be scary to kill one's family, even to Chris. So it was a "parahomicidal gesture", trying to smother a doll and sending a photo to his wife. As if taking one more step closer to it.

The flowers were - "poetry in his heart", I think. Doing something nice for his GF.

 

[NuttMegg]

RW doesn’t waste any time in criticizing SW...very sad

Am I the only one who can't understand a word of that?

 

[Best of What's Around]

Do not believe this has been posted yet...apologies if it has. This is a new longer version of LE at CW's house on Monday, Aug. 13th.