GUILTY CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *CW LWOP* #72

[gitana1]

Reading this makes me realise just how difficult it must’ve been for the three of them when they met CW again back in February. Tammy Lee, Graham Coder and Dave Baumhover are consummate professionals. I bet they felt like reaching across the table and wiping the smirk off his face as he spouted his carp about being a spiritual mentor.
Hard to believe that Tuesday will be one year since he so callously took the lives of his beautiful family. I’d say I hope he is in agony as he thinks of them, but we all know he cares only about himself.

I argued with people who felt LE wasn't just doing their job to get information. Some thought they were too nice to the guy. That baffled me. They knew exactly what to do to get info.

I talked about how this case likely obsesses and haunts them but they were professionals and knew how act to get the data they sought.

Little did I know how much this case had destroyed them.

Yes, and you can't predict what will affect you and how you will be affected.

Those investigators have paid a heavy price for doing an excellent job, IMO.

RIP Shannan, Celeste, Bella, and Nico.

The ripple effects of what that monster did extend so far out past Shanann's family and friends. What horror. Those poor people had to pretend to be buddies with the monster and they're experiencing mental health issues and for one, job loss as a result of this case. And it could be lifelong.

Jesus.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Detective Dave Baumhover hasn’t returned to work a year after working on the Watts case. His post-traumatic stress disorder is so severe he struggles to leave his home.

“It’s like when you’re a kid and you go on the wrong carnival ride and all you want to do is get off,” Baumhover told The Denver Post’s Elise Schmelzer for a retrospective on the heavy toll the Watts murders had on investigators. “But you can’t. You have no choice until the ride shuts off.”

Schmelzer chronicled the pain and suffering shared by those who spent their days beginning last August sifting through the lives of Shanann Watts and her daughters, Bella and Celeste, only to recover the children’s bodies from an oil tank in Weld County and Shanann from a nearby shallow grave.

Investigators listened to the killer, Shanann’s husband and the girls’ father, confess to the brutal murders. They looked at crime scene photos and watched videos of the family. Colorado Bureau of Investigation agent Tammy Lee said she felt as if she knew the girls from watching videos of them and looking at photos posted on social media. She struggled immensely after the case was closed. Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke still has nightmares from the case.

This was only the impact of one unusually tragic case with a particularly haunting monster at the helm. We could see how the burden of this work would build and build and build.
Editorial: Give aid to those in law enforcement who serve us in our darkest hours – Boulder Daily Camera

 

[margarita25]

Very emotional here after reading these least few pages.

The one year anniversary, reading that article (thanks for linking above)....

...Shanann Watts, Christopher Watts murders: Law enforcement grapples with trauma, PTSD one year later

I can’t find any words right now except to say that there is deep sadness and tears. There’s so much I want to say but can’t get words out..

Shanann, CeCe, Bella and Nico are not forgotten.

——

 

[gitana1]

Very emotional here after reading these least few pages.

The one year anniversary, reading that article (thanks for linking above)....

...Shanann Watts, Christopher Watts murders: Law enforcement grapples with trauma, PTSD one year later

I can’t find any words right now except to say that there is deep sadness and tears. There’s so much I want to say but can’t get words out..

Shanann, CeCe, Bella and Nico are not forgotten.

——

It seems impossible for everyone to move on from something so horrific and avoidable.

Those kids were healthy and happy and he had no reason to murder his entire family.

 

[compass]

So many affected by the horrors of this, but also I think we can all agree affected by the beautiful heart of Shanann. I don’t know if I have worded this to express the way I feel but hope you all know what I mean because you feel the same way.. Group Hug

 

[Jessthinkin]

Baumhover’s flashbacks started soon after returning from Wisconsin, where he interviewed Christopher Watts in prison and learned the exact horrific manner of how he murdered his wife and children.

During the prison interview, Watts revealed how he killed Shanann and put her body on the floor in the back seat of his truck. How he then put the girls in the back seat, their feet dangling above their pregnant mother’s body during the entire ride to the rural oil site. He explained how he smothered the girls individually, how 4-year-old Bella had to watch her little sister die.

Baumhover went to Wisconsin because he needed to know what happened. He thought knowing would give him closure.

And it did, he said, but the answers came at a price.

The night after the confession, Baumhover lay on his hotel room bed. Anxious calls and texts from his wife lit up his phone. But Baumhover couldn’t answer. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t understand how such horror was possible and how Watts could coldly detail it step by step. It seemed surreal.

His first morning back at home in Frederick, Baumhover broke down sobbing at his kitchen table. He didn’t know how he was going to tell Shanann’s parents. He knew it would destroy them. It was the first time his wife, Lori, had seen him cry.
Shanann Watts, Christopher Watts murders: Law enforcement grapples with trauma, PTSD one year later
<modsnip >

Wow, that is horrible. This was even harder on LE involved than I imagined.

 

[Jessthinkin]

He deserves to be tormented by his thoughts.. (and of course, I personally detest seeing him pictured in a Steelers jersey). I hate even seeing his name in print. He is nothing, a coward, sub-human. Enough already about him.

May those beautiful girls, Bella and Celeste, and lovely Shanann now rest in a better place.

Killer Dad Chris Watts Is 'Tormented By His Past' in Prison, Says Source

I agree, but I think he's lying about being tormented. He probably just thinks that's how he should feel...

 

[margarita25]

What boggles my mind and baffles me is why did he have to kill those little girls?” Rourke said. “Did he think they would rat him out? Did they become a nuisance? No words that come out of his mouth will ever answer that for me. I hope his life is miserable.””

Christopher Watts confession details murders of Shanann Watts, daughters
March 7, 2019

——

I just can’t get over this article:

Shanann Watts, Christopher Watts murders: Law enforcement grapples with trauma, PTSD one year later

 

[BrownRice]

This continues to be so sad. I thought of them this week knowing it was the anniversary. Like the article mentioned, the videos of Shanann and the girls made us feel like we knew them and they were part of our lives.

I feel sadness for all of these ended lives. This trial was traumatic enough not having to see the crime photos and other evidence. I can’t imagine what LE I’d going thru.

 

[NuttMegg]

I agree, but I think he's lying about being tormented. He probably just thinks that's how he should feel...

That is so true, IMO. It was clear in the confession audios that he was adopting the tone and phrases of the detectives/agents. Wow, so amusing that Shanann had made great pizza!!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A source familiar with Watts tells PEOPLE that he has finally taken responsibility for his actions. “He has nothing to do but think,” says the source. “He thinks about what he did every day. He is tormented by his past and the mistakes he made.”

The source tells PEOPLE that Watts has a long road ahead of him. “He’s left alone with his thoughts for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every day. Birthdays. Holidays. Special occasions. He’s there in jail, in his cell, thinking about what happened. He’s in his own private hell.”
Killer Dad Chris Watts Is 'Tormented By His Past' in Prison, Says Source

Watts has since blamed the affair -- and, in so many words, Kessinger -- with putting him under a spell of sorts.

In July, a woman named Anna -- who speaks regularly with Watts in prison -- appeared in an episode of HLN's Lies, Crimes & Video, saying that, "Chris feels that if the affair would have never happened and [Nicole Kessinger] would have never came into his life, that the murders would never have happened.

"He thinks that she had this strong control over him, that he describes like a ‘leash’ that he wasn’t able to get off of or get away from," she continued, "and he thinks that that has played a role in what happened."

(Of course, to a lot of people who hear this, it sounds like he's more or less trying to pass the blame.)
Chris Watts 'Tormented' By Murders, Says Source

 

[WhatDidYouDo]

I don't think he's even saying he's tormented....that's someone else's words (mom?). He said things like "I read them a book" which completely glosses over the fact that they're dead by his hand.

I agree, but I think he's lying about being tormented. He probably just thinks that's how he should feel...

 

[WhatDidYouDo]

Something that bothers me when reporters report on the Feb confession, they always quote him as saying Shannan said he'd never see the kids again and then he strangled her. When you listen to it - he clearly (in my head) says that she said that at some other date and time - not that morning. Admittedly, he's mumbling and double speaking but I'm pretty dern sure he eludes to that happening some other time besides the morning of....

 

[NuttMegg]

Something that bothers me when reporters report on the Feb confession, they always quote him as saying Shannan said he'd never see the kids again and then he strangled her. When you listen to it - he clearly (in my head) says that she said that at some other date and time - not that morning. Admittedly, he's mumbling and double speaking but I'm pretty dern sure he eludes to that happening some other time besides the morning of....

I thought it was clear that he referred to an earlier date, per his own account. Problem is that the Rzucek's own lawyer said, on TV on the Dr. Phil show, that her saying (that early morning of the 13th) that he would never see the kids again contributed to CW's loss of control that night. Paraphrased. There were also many differences in what was said by CW in that Feb interview, re how LE summarized it. Same with some of the previous discovery summaries of co-worker interviews. So much misinformation in the media, as a result.

 

[WhatDidYouDo]

....which contributes to the terrible things said to the Ruzcek's because people out there actually believe Shannan contributed to her own murder

 

[PommyMommy]

A source familiar with Watts tells PEOPLE that he has finally taken responsibility for his actions. “He has nothing to do but think,” says the source. “He thinks about what he did every day. He is tormented by his past and the mistakes he made.”

The source tells PEOPLE that Watts has a long road ahead of him. “He’s left alone with his thoughts for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Every day. Birthdays. Holidays. Special occasions. He’s there in jail, in his cell, thinking about what happened. He’s in his own private hell.”
Killer Dad Chris Watts Is 'Tormented By His Past' in Prison, Says Source

Watts has since blamed the affair -- and, in so many words, Kessinger -- with putting him under a spell of sorts.

In July, a woman named Anna -- who speaks regularly with Watts in prison -- appeared in an episode of HLN's Lies, Crimes & Video, saying that, "Chris feels that if the affair would have never happened and [Nicole Kessinger] would have never came into his life, that the murders would never have happened.

"He thinks that she had this strong control over him, that he describes like a ‘leash’ that he wasn’t able to get off of or get away from," she continued, "and he thinks that that has played a role in what happened."

(Of course, to a lot of people who hear this, it sounds like he's more or less trying to pass the blame.)
Chris Watts 'Tormented' By Murders, Says Source

Well, I hope he is tormented. At least he's breathing which is more than he deserves. Does he think he's the only one who is tormented? Give me a freaking break.

And, whose fault is it that he CHOSE to have an affair with NK? Good God, I should know better than to read PEOPLE. What a load of crap. MOO

....which contributes to the terrible things said to the Ruzcek's because people out there actually believe Shannan contributed to her own murder

Well, those people are idiots. MOO

 

[NuttMegg]

Apparently a religiously themed book being written by some lady who has been corresponding with CW. But Scott Reisch says it could be a hoax.

 

[Blondiexoxo]

This case drew me to Join WS. I’d been a lurker for many years but I just couldn’t get this one off my mind. It got me right in the stomach, I thought about it day and night for a long time.
Was it worth it CW?
Wiping out your beautiful family in hopes of starting a fresh one with NK, only to end up behind bars with no chance of even touching NK again never mind having kids with her? Didn’t you realise when you took the lives of your own flesh and blood you sacrificed your right to continue living among society?
There was to be no ‘new life’ or future with your mistress because you were always going to get caught out!
Your future now is contained within that prison, you will never be free again and those lovely children and Shanann are still shining, together, in heaven. None of your evil actions will ever stop that woman from shining! Her girls and Nico should have grown up and got married had children of their own yet it was stolen by their own father.
A year on my heart still hurts for Shanann, Bella, Cece and Nico. They will never be forgotten. CW should be forgotten and left to rot in his cell. For the rest of his sad days.

 

[PommyMommy]

This case drew me to Join WS. I’d been a lurker for many years but I just couldn’t get this one off my mind. It got me right in the stomach, I thought about it day and night for a long time.
Was it worth it CW?
Wiping out your beautiful family in hopes of starting a fresh one with NK, only to end up behind bars with no chance of even touching NK again never mind having kids with her? Didn’t you realise when you took the lives of your own flesh and blood you sacrificed your right to continue living among society?
There was to be no ‘new life’ or future with your mistress because you were always going to get caught out!
Your future now is contained within that prison, you will never be free again and those lovely children and Shanann are still shining, together, in heaven. None of your evil actions will ever stop that woman from shining! Her girls and Nico should have grown up and got married had children of their own yet it was stolen by their own father.
A year on my heart still hurts for Shanann, Bella, Cece and Nico. They will never be forgotten. CW should be forgotten and left to rot in his cell. For the rest of his sad days.

A like just isn't enough for this post, Blondie. Sending you a virtual hug.

 

[kakadu]

This continues to be so sad. I thought of them this week knowing it was the anniversary. Like the article mentioned, the videos of Shanann and the girls made us feel like we knew them and they were part of our lives.

I feel sadness for all of these ended lives. This trial was traumatic enough not having to see the crime photos and other evidence. I can’t imagine what LE I’d going thru.

I feel exactly the same. I always hesitate to watch the videos and photos of beautiful Shannan and the adorable kids. It is painful and feels like an old wound opens again, which is not yet completely closed.