Chris Watts: Discovering Chris Watts: The Series

In Cold Blood

Preface

We all have preconceived ideas of how a monster should look–grotesque, hideously deformed, a crazed madman–not a shy, mild-mannered, handsome, and polite gent; a perfect husband and father.

I guess it’s safe to say that most people will have heard of the Watts case. No doubt, most of you watched the story unfold on the news, open-mouthed, in total shock.

Christopher Lee (Chris) Watts, the dashing, seemingly genteel, affable man who murdered his entire family in a calculated attack that shocked the entire world.

Shanann Watts, his pregnant, incredibly beautiful wife whose life was snuffed out because her doting husband decided he wanted a fresh start.

Bella Marie and Celeste Cathryn (CeCe) Watts, adorable sisters who worshipped their father, the very man who suffocated them both in cold blood using their comfort blankets against them. He then concealed their tiny bodies in huge oil tanks filled with toxic crude oil.

Nico Lee Watts, Chris and Shanann’s unborn son.

What could push a loving father to brutally murder his family? Surely there was some mistake?

So what did happen?

During this series we will look at the facts, the police investigation, the evidence, hear Chris Watts’ explanation and his reasoning. We will try to make some sense of what occurred during the early hours of August 13th 2018. Fact only, according to evidence and footage, but not necessarily a factual account of what really happened—only Chris knows that at this stage.

We will endeavour to present to you all aspects of the case, right from the initial investigation and how it unfolded, to the first and subsequent confessions all transcribed word for word (where possible) from actual video and audio footage obtained from the FBI’s Discovery Files.

But first, let us tell you a little bit about ourselves.

I’m Netta Newbound, a bestselling author and, although true crime has been my passion since I was a youngster, writing psychological thriller fiction has, until now, been the voice of my fascination. I am incredibly excited to embark on this journey with you all.

Like a lot of people, I have been obsessed with this case since the story first broke back in 2018. Although the details, footage, and discovery files are all over the internet, I realised there is very little in-depth information available in chronological order and I jumped at the chance to work on this book when it was suggested at the beginning of the year. My prime objective is to make it easy for anyone unfamiliar with the case to access and read the details as it unfolded.

I want to stress that if you have already read the discovery files, then this book is probably not for you.

My name is Marcus Brown and I am best known for writing in the crime, horror, and supernatural genre.

In Cold Blood is my first foray into true life crime and, like Netta, I became interested in this case as it hit news outlets worldwide.

I've always had the wildest of imaginations, but nothing could prepare me for the horrors written about in this book. No character I’ve ever created could come close to the monster that is Chris Watts, but his wicked nature does not make the story any less heart-breaking or fascinating.

Marcus and I have worked together for a few years now, mainly in a publishing capacity, but in 2019 we joined forces and wrote Avaline Saddlebags—the first in a psychological fiction thriller series.

Combining our joint obsession with this case, we studied the files together, often into the small hours.

While collating the evidence for this book, we noted that there are vast differences of opinion within the true-crime community regarding this story:

Those opposed to looking at the case at all, feeling Chris has confessed and is serving time, so case closed.

Those who are protective of the Rzucek’s and Watts’ families, and rightly so, feeling that the murders, the case and subsequent media speculations and coverage have put them through enough.

And those, us included, who feel there are just too many unanswered questions to allow this case to be put to bed.

We will remain sensitive to both the Rzucek and Watts families throughout this series. The last thing we want to do is to cause them any more sorrow. We cannot begin to imagine their pain. Out of respect, we have chosen to omit any interviews with the family members. Where we mention them will be in summary only.

Before we go any further, maybe we need to look at what the experts say usually happens in cases like this…

What is the definition of Familicide?

Familicide is often associated with the term Family Annihilator and means the killing of multiple family members. It is most often used to describe cases where a parent, usually the father, kills his wife and children and then himself. Case studies have found there is usually a pattern that occurs leading up to most cases of Familicide.

Studies show that the perpetrator is usually a white male in their thirties or forties.

At 33-years old, Chris falls into this age group.

They generally have no criminal record.

Chris had no criminal record.

Typically, the perpetrator is likely to suffer from a cluster ‘b’ personality disorder (characterised by dramatic, overly emotional or unpredictable thinking or behaviour. They include antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, histrionic personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder.)

Chris hasn’t been diagnosed with a personality disorder as far as we know, but we will look at this in more detail further on.

Abuse is normally present prior to the final murderous attack.

As far as we are aware, Chris didn’t abuse Shanann or the children prior to the murders.

Sexual assaults generally take place and typically include choking and/or strangulation.

We have no evidence of Chris ever assaulting anyone, sexually or otherwise, prior to the murders.

Typical Characteristics include:

The perpetrator usually dominates the family relationship.

The opposite appears to be true in this case.

They take a patriarchal perspective where they believe men hold primary power over women.

This doesn’t seem to fit with what we know about Chris.

They have suffered abandonment and abuse or violence during their childhood.

Once again, there doesn’t appear to be any evidence of this.

They demonstrate poor coping skills.

This could be the case. Chris allowed Shanann to make all the major decisions in their life leading up to the murders. He admitted he couldn’t be trusted with their finances and seemed happy to take a back seat. However, he didn’t have anger issues or lash out at anybody as far as we know. He wasn’t dependent on alcohol or drugs.

Have a poor employment history.

Again, this doesn’t fit. Chris had a good employment history.

History of drug and alcohol abuse.

There is no evidence of Chris abusing drugs or alcohol.

Motive:

Generally, the motive fits into one of four categories.

Immortality – typically caused by financial or lifestyle stresses. Often the perpetrator in this category will suffer from a mental illness such as depression. Feeling he is unable to provide for his family he kills them in an attempt to immortalise them. In his own mind, he is protecting them.

Control – this is usually when there has been a threat of some kind, for example, if the wife has threatened to leave and take the children. This causes the perpetrator to commit a final act of control (if I can’t have them, then no-one can).

Suicide – in this category, as a warped desire to protect his family, the perpetrator kills his spouse and children before killing himself, because he believes they can’t go on without him.

Revenge – usually connected to sexual jealousy—infidelity on the part of the spouse. The perpetrator is likely to kill the children and then commit suicide, but he does not kill the spouse. Vengeance is the motive, and his aim is for her to blame herself for the rest of her life. The ultimate act of revenge.

Chris’s motives don’t appear to fall into any of the above categories. He did suggest that he contemplated suicide briefly but changed his mind.

So, what could force a loving father to wipe out his entire family? The question on most people’s lips once they hear about this case is why? What could cause this shy, meek and humble man to turn on his pregnant wife and two adorable daughters?

Could it be possible that he just snapped? Unlikely, as he’s since admitted he’d been planning it for a while. So, what caused him to commit the most unspeakable of crimes?

The majority of specialists who have studied this case feel Chris was undoubtedly suffering from some kind of personality disorder. Now, personality disorders are complex, and a person can display traits of more than one disorder. Chris certainly seems to show some traits and characteristics of a few of the different disorders. Here is a little information about some of them…

Psychopathy - (Antisocial Personality Disorder)

There was undoubtedly a darker side to Chris which seemingly went un-noticed and experts think that maybe his super-charm was a sign of Psychopathy—a mental disorder in which an individual manifests amoral and antisocial behaviour, shows a lack of ability to love or establish meaningful personal relationships, expresses extreme egocentricity, and demonstrates a failure to learn from experience and other behaviours associated with the condition.

Not all psychopaths are criminals and not all killers are psychopaths, but if a psychopath commits a murder, it is more often than not meticulously planned out.

Psychopaths will gain intimate access to people because they are experts at building relationships and mimicking emotions. A person with Psychopathy would have been born with the condition—it would be in his genetic make-up.

Does this sound like it could be describing Chris? It’s possible, I suppose. But he doesn’t display many of the traits associated with this condition. He does not have a criminal record. He doesn’t have trouble controlling his temper. We’re on the fence with this one, but we don’t claim to be psychologists.

Sociopathy – Sociopathy shares many traits with Psychopathy, but Sociopathy is apparently a learned condition, usually caused by trauma in a person’s childhood. Although there appears to be no clinical difference between the two conditions, sometimes experts may try to differentiate the two by the severity of the symptoms. A Sociopath usually commits minor offences and doesn’t cause serious harm, whereas a Psychopath is often more violent.

Maybe Chris’s helpful, calm, passive nature was actually a lack of emotion and disinterest? But although some people are exceptional liars, would it be possible for him to have lived a lie day in and day out for his entire marriage? Or did Shanann know the truth? Could she have chosen to put on a front, a show for her family, friends and the rest of the world? Is that likely?

Covert Narcissism - (A sub-type of Narcissism)

Most people think of a narcissist as quite the opposite of what we know about Chris. Narcissism is a personality trait that involves self-interest, a sense of entitlement, and vanity. People who suffer with this condition have a lack of empathy, feelings of superiority, and a need for admiration and attention. However, Covert Narcissism is a term used to describe a person who has narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) but does not display the grandiose sense of self-importance that psychologists associate with the condition. They may appear shy or modest and appear to lack self-confidence.

Now, this is the personality disorder that, to us, seems to fit Chris the most. But to understand whether he could be a Covert Narcissist or not, we would need to study his behaviour in more depth. (Please let us stress that this is by no means a diagnosis of any kind).

Those who knew Chris spoke highly of him. Nobody ever witnessed him lose his temper, in fact everybody describes him as calm, cool, and dependable—an all-round good guy. So, as we’ve already questioned, is it possible for a person to display a fake personality at all times? Was he trying to trick everybody into believing he was everything he pretended to be? Apparently so, according to the experts. By all accounts, a Covert Narcissist can become an expert at doing and saying exactly what’s expected of them. They are generally caring and sensitive on the surface and will appear to idolise their partner, putting them on a pedestal, allowing them to think they hold all the power. This behaviour is established in the idealisation phase. In fact, a Covert Narcissist describes the first stages of a romantic relationship as magical, mind-blowing, incredible. The emotional high can be compared with taking a potent cocktail of drugs and can last weeks, even months. Partners of the Covert Narcissist have reported feeling blessed for finding their soulmate and can’t believe their luck. Love bombing is a phrase describing this stage in which the narcissistic person may shower their partner with praise, intense sex, lavish holidays, promises of a wonderful future together, and he will treat her as though he worships the ground she walks on.

People have suggested Chris was henpecked—that Shanann was controlling and bossy. She’d reportedly said he couldn’t hang a picture without her approval. In fact, it was a long-running joke between them. But if you give somebody absolute control and power, of course, they will appear bossy to anybody watching on.

But Chris adored his wife and family, didn’t he?

It certainly appeared to be the case, but a covert narcissist isn’t capable of love, not the way we know it anyway—they’re incapable of loving anyone. So, that said, he couldn’t have loved his daughters if this is true, unless you can count the way you would love a favourite tool or a trophy. The girls certainly elevated his status—because of them he wasn’t just the perfect husband but also the perfect father. Having children would have given his ego a huge boost.

Eventually the relationship of a Covert Narcissist will relax into a more comfortable rhythm. Their sex-life could continue with the same intensity or it might peter out. He may begin to devalue her (this is called the devaluation phase). This usually happens via putdowns, withdrawing emotional and physical intimacy as well as affection. He could go missing for long periods of time and will probably blame his partner for everything. Although he feels rage, it is often masked and will manifest in other ways—passive aggression, jealousy, physical violence. However, the rage will only be evident during this devaluation phase.

A covert narcissist will only leave his partner when he has found her replacement, which is where NK comes in. Chris admitted the murders would have never happened if he hadn’t met NK. He fell for her hook, line and sinker. But how was he going to get out of the situation unscathed—his reputation intact? He wouldn’t want the world to see him as someone who would leave his pregnant wife and daughters for another woman. If indeed he is a Covert Narcissist, other people’s perception of him would be what matters the most. He would feel he’d worked far too hard to allow his mask to slip. But being forced to stay in the situation with a family he no longer cared for would have caused intense contempt and resentment. They were the reason he couldn’t be with NK full time. He would have viewed his family as the very people holding him back.

We know Shanann felt hurt, confused, and terrified by Chris’s vague, dismissive behaviour. She wouldn’t have wanted to confide in her family for fear that they would hold it against Chris, so even though he was distant and cold towards her she would have protected him. She would’ve hoped it was just a phase he was going through and that she would have the old Chris back in no time.

But it had gone too far for that. In fact, in the time they spent together in North Carolina, the week before the murders, he told her he didn’t think he loved her anymore and that he didn’t want the baby. What would he have gained by telling her this? He knew there was no way she’d have an abortion. But, with NK now in his life, he no longer cared about maintaining his act with Shanann, he was totally invested in his new life.

So what do you think? This personality disorder seems the most likely fit out of them all. It certainly seems plausible and makes sense why he didn’t leave to start a new life with NK. But we’ll probably never get the full truth unless Chris decides to confess all and there’s probably little chance of that ever happening.

It’s even possible Chris had traits of several disorders? Dr Phil suggested Chris was a Malignant Narcissist (a combination of Sociopathy or Psychopathy combined with Narcissism).

Or maybe he has none of the above personality disorders at all. Maybe it was a mixture of Thrive patches and the herbal drink NK supposedly gave him for weeks. Or was it like he said, he just snapped?

Regardless of the reason, Chris has vowed to take the truth to the grave. Could this be because he’s ashamed of what will be found? In which case, what could possibly be worse than what the world already thinks about him?

Or is keeping schtum a way for him to retain some vestige of control?

Introduction

It stunned the world when Chris Watts, the seemingly mild-mannered husband and father had brutally murdered his own family. And, ever since, there has been a continued interest, resulting in numerous books, films, and television documentaries released on the subject. Digging deeper, it is easy to understand why the specifics of this case have caused such furore.

The absence of a trial caused many people, who followed the case from the very beginning, to feel cheated. The plea deal created more questions than it answered, and it never equated into sufficient justice for Shanann and the children.

During this series, our aim is to use the Discovery files, body cam footage and the police audio and video tapes to present to you only facts about the case. To do this, we will show you evidence gathered from the actual documents compiled from official sources.

Whether you’re new to the case, or just didn’t have the time to study the Discovery files for yourself, then this book is for you.

We will not fixate on the murders at this stage, or what happened before that fateful Monday morning. Out of respect to the parents, we won’t show pictures of Shanann, or dwell on her media presence.

Step by step, we will trawl through the police body cam footage and the interviews.

PLEASE NOTE: During the transcripts there are a lot of filler words used… um… like… etc. We considered cleaning these up and removing most them but maybe their excessive use could tell their own story if analysed, so, for this reason, we decided to leave them in. It is often the non-verbal utterances and mannerisms that paint the real picture.

Before we begin, for those of you who are new to the case, here is a brief outline of facts and events leading up to the murders.

Christopher Lee Watts was born in North Carolina on 16 th May 1985 to Cindy and Ronnie Watts. He had one older sister, Jamie Watts. Anadarko Petroleum employed Chris as an Oil Field Coordinator.

Shan'ann Cathryn Watts (Nee Rzucek) was born in Aberdeen, North Carolina, on 10 th January 1984 to Sandra (Sandi) and Frank Rzucek. She had one younger brother, Frankie. It appears Shan’ann preferred to spell her name without the apostrophe, which is the spelling we have chosen to use throughout. Shanann was an independent sales rep for Le-Vel, a multi-level marketing company.

The couple met in North Carolina in 2010 and married on 3 rd November 2012. They moved to Frederick, North Colorado in 2013 and bought a five bedroomed property in Saratoga Trail.

Their eldest daughter, Bella Marie Watts, was born 17 th December 2013.

Their youngest daughter, Celeste Cathryn (Cece) Watts, was born 17 th July 2015.

Chris and Shanann first had money troubles and declared bankruptcy in 2015. They were $70,000 in debt at the time of the murders.

29 th May 2018 – Shanann posted a video on her Facebook page of the moment she informed her husband, at the same time as announcing to the world, that she was pregnant with her third child. Chris seemed surprised at the news. Although an introvert, he was used to Shanann posting all aspects of their lives on social media, and he often appeared uncomfortable about it. However, on this occasion, his expression relayed how displeased he was by news most husbands and fathers would be thrilled by. The baby, who they planned to name Nico Lee Watts, was due on 31 st January 2019.

5 th June 2018 – Chris Watts (CW) and Nichol Kessinger (NK) shared the very first recorded correspondence in the form of a work email. Their relationship soon progressed to more than just colleagues—they exchanged phone numbers, and met up for a drink socially. This led to a full-blown affair, which they’ve both since admitted to.

Nichol Kessinger (NK) was born in Colorado on 3 rd July 1988 and had graduated from Colorado State University in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. She was on a temporary contract with Anadarko. The Discovery files show that Nichol had googled Shanann Watts in September 2017, nine months before she’d met Chris. Could this have been a typo as has been suggested? The lead detective thinks not.

22 nd to 25 th June – Chris and Shanann flew to San Diego for a Thrive meeting. Shanann was a promoter of Thrive products, a lifestyle range of products by Le-Vel.

27 th June – Shanann and the girls left for North Carolina to spend six weeks with both sets of grandparents. Chris stayed at home—now behaving as a single man would. He made use of that freedom and saw NK every day. Even at that early stage of Chris’s affair, Shanann was aware something about his behaviour was off, although she couldn’t put her finger on what was causing it.

4 th July – Chris and NK argued when Chris left for home after missing several phone calls from Shanann. NK stated she would always be second best. Afterwards, NK visited Chris’s house at Saratoga Trail, Frederick for the first time supposedly to install a healthy-eating app on his phone.

8 th July – Shanann and the girls were invited to Chris’s parent’s home, and one of the girls’ cousins was given ice cream containing nuts. CeCe had a nut allergy. This kicks off a family row. Shanann accused the Watts’ of putting her daughter’s life at risk.

14 th July – NK visited Chris’s house for the second time, and something upset her. Later on in his confession interview, Chris stated he had to ‘talk her down from a ledge’. Had she discovered Shanann was pregnant with his third child? Or, seeing all the family photos, had the situation finally dawned on NK that Chris was actually a doting husband and father? Was the reality too much for her to bear? Whatever happened, this had a knock-on effect for Chris. Could this have been the catalyst of his decision to get rid of his family?

18 th July – NK sends several nude photographs to Chris’s phone. He hides them in a fake calculator app.

24 th July – NK googled ‘Man I'm having affair with says he will leave his wife’.

28 th July – NK and Chris went on a trip to The Great Sand Dune Park–this was where they supposedly fell in love.

30 th July – NK received several ‘love letters’ from Chris.

31 st July – Chris left for North Carolina to spend the last week of the holiday with Shanann and the girls. There was a definite divide between the couple during this week, and Shanann told friends she had concerns for the future of her marriage.

4 th August – Shanann told friends Chris appeared cold towards her. Meanwhile, NK searched for wedding dresses on the internet.

7 th August – The family travelled home together.

8 th August – Chris returned to work. For some reason, later that day, he deleted his Facebook account.

9 th August – Shanann told friends that the last five weeks had been hard. She said she missed Chris’s affection. Afterwards, Chris and Shanann had a good talk. She was hopeful they could resolve things.

10 th August – Shanann went to Arizona on a business trip with Nickole Atkinson (her close friend and Thrive colleague), leaving Chris at home with the children. On Friday afternoon, Chris arranged to attend CERVI 319 (an oil field) early Monday morning to repair an oil leak.

11 th August – Chris and NK went to dinner at a Lazy Dog restaurant (the second Lazy Dog restaurant they visited that day. Apparently, the menu was different). He left the children with a babysitter.

12 th August – Chris took the girls to a birthday party during the day. That night Chris and NK had a one-hundred-and-eleven-minute phone call.

Shanann sent a draft of a letter she wrote for Chris to one of her friends. It told of Chris’s coldness and indifference towards her.

13 th August – At 1:48 am, Shanann returned home and, over the course of the next few hours, she and the girls were murdered. Although the full details are still sketchy, Chris confessed to taking them to the oil fields where he buried Shanann and Nico in a shallow grave and put each of the girls in separate oil tanks.

What was Chris planning to do afterwards? He undoubtedly had a plan and thought he had time on his side, but he hadn’t banked on Shanann’s close friend, Nickole Atkinson, alerting the police when she couldn’t locate Shanann and the girls the next morning, which, in turn, prompted a Welfare Check.

So that’s where we will begin.

Chapter One

Nickole Atkinson’s 911 call

13

th

August 2018

‘Weld County Communications, this is Stacey.’

‘Hi, Stacey, my name’s Nickole and I’m calling because I’m concerned about, um, a friend of mine. Um, I dropped her off at her house at two in the morning last night, because we were out of town together. She’s pregnant, and I haven’t been able to get a hold of her this morning, and I’ve gone to her house and her car’s there, and stuff like that, but she won’t answer the door. She won’t answer phone calls, she won’t answer text messages, and I’m just really, really concerned. She had a doctor’s appointment this morning and she didn’t go to it. I don’t know what to do. I’ve called him (Chris) and talked to him and he said that she went on a play date with her other two daughters but… like, if she went on a play date, they’re both in car seats—why wouldn’t she take her car?’

‘Perfectly understandable, do you happen to know her address, Nickole?’

‘2825 Saratoga Trail, in Frederick. And then I said, ‘Chris, could you just come home and check she’s okay because the shoes she wears every single day are right inside the door’. And he was like, ‘yeah, I’ll be there in thirty minutes’, well, that was forty-five minutes ago. And I called him and asked him again, ‘can you please come home’, and he was, ‘I’m forty-five minutes out.’

‘Okay, Nickole, I’ll ring that call in, I’ll just need you… if you could… please repeat her address to me so I can make sure I have it entered correctly.’

‘2825 Saratoga. It’s S.A.R.A.T.O.G.A-TR. Last thing stands for trail.’

Operator asks for Nickole’s phone number, which she provides.

‘Okay, Nickole, tell me exactly what happened.’

‘So, um, we were out of town for work and we flew in last night. Our flight got delayed and I dropped her off at her house at two in the morning. She’s fifteen weeks pregnant and she wasn’t feeling well over the weekend and she was very, like, distraught and out of sorts because her and her husband are having issues. So, because she wasn’t, like, eating or drinking and stuff like that. So, this morning I was like, let me know if you need me to take you to your doctor’s appointment because you’re not feeling well, and I have called and text. I’ve come to her house—she’s not answering the door, she’s not responding to text messages, phone calls, her other friends have reached out to her—none of us can get her to respond to us. Um, they have two little girls, three and four, there’s no movement in the house whatsoever, and he said she didn’t take them to day care and was gonna go on a play date, but they’re both in car seats and her car keys are there and her car’s in the garage.’

‘What’s her name?’

‘Shanann Watts. It’s S.H.A.N.A.N.N Watts – W.A.T.T.S.’

‘Do you know her date of birth or how old she might be?’

‘Oh, if you wouldn’t have asked me that I would know it, um.’

‘If you just know an approximate age.’

‘Early thirties.’

‘Bear with me here, one moment. When was the last time that you heard from her?’

‘When I dropped her off at the house. I watched and made sure she got in the house. That was at 2:00 am. It was actually one-fifty-five. I live literally five, ten minutes from her.’

‘And her vehicle is… is it parked in the garage?’

‘Yes. It’s a white Lexus.’

‘Okay.’

‘And I probably… because I was concerned, I don’t wanna get the doctor’s office in trouble, but I went to the doctor’s office and I said, I know you can’t give me details, but can you just tell me if she showed up at her appointment this morning? And the lady was like, no, she did not.’

‘Okay. Is that unusual behaviour for her to not show up to a doctor’s appointment?’

‘No. No. No. She, I mean, this pregnancy, she was so excited and then she got blindsided from her husband that he wanted to separate a week ago.’

‘And her husband’s name is Chris?’

‘Yes. His name is Chris Watts.’

‘And he told you that, um, she went on a play date today with…’

‘The girls, um, yeah, she told me last night when we were driving home that the morning’s gonna suck because I have to take the girls to day care tomorrow. And I made the statement, well, you could keep them home with you and she was like, ‘no, that would be more exhausting’. She was like, ‘I have to take them because I have a doctor’s appointment at nine’.’

‘Bear with me here one moment—I’m just typing this information in the call here.’

‘And I’m not trying to cause more problems between them. I just wanna know she’s okay.’

‘Okay. What’s her phone number?’

‘Give me one second and I’ll look it up for you.’

Nickole provided the number.

‘And Chris told you that he was on his way?’

‘Um, yes. I just talked to him—well, I talked to him earlier. One of our other friends did via text because I was going to the doctor’s office. And she said he would be here in about thirty minutes and that was at 1:08 pm. And then I called him and said, ‘Chris, I’m at your house. I’m not trying to cause drama or anything, I just need to know your wife’s okay’. I was like, ‘where are you?’ and he was like, ‘I’m on I-70, I’m about half hour, forty-five minutes out’. And I just said, ‘okay’, and I hung up and called you guys because… I mean… I’m just worried.’

‘Okay, Nickole, what kind of vehicle are you in right now?’

‘I’m in a white Dodge Dart.’

‘Okay. Alrighty, we do have a call in, Nickole. We’ll have an officer come out that way as soon as we can. Um, I would just advise you, you know, to not make entry into the house or anything like that, until the officers can get there. In the meantime, if you hear from her, just give us a call back and let us know. Okay?’

‘Okay.’

‘Alright, you’re welcome. Thank you.’

‘Bye bye.’

Transcript of the original 911 call.

Chapter Two

The Welfare Check

Footage from Officer Scott Coonrod’s Bodycam.

13

th

August 2018

Officer Coonrod arrived at the Watts’ house at 2825 Saratoga Trail, Frederick, Colorado, where he met Nickole Atkinson and her son, Nicholas, to perform a Welfare Check for her friend, Shanann Watts and Shanann’s two daughters, Bella and Celeste.

‘Nickole?’ the officer asked, shaking the woman’s hand.

‘Yes.’

‘So, what’s going on?’

‘So, my friend, erm, we were out of town for a business trip this weekend, and I dropped her off at two o’clock this morning. She’s fifteen weeks pregnant. She wasn’t feeling well, and she had a doctor’s appointment this morning at nine and I told her to let me know if she needed me to take her, she’s got two little girls. She was very distraught over the weekend, she wasn’t eating normally or drinking and we were trying to force it on her because she’s pregnant. Her husband and her supposedly are separating, but she didn’t know that. She thought they were having issues. He just told that to me today. I called him and I was like, ‘have you called or heard from Shanann since you left for work this morning? Because I can’t get a hold of her—I’ve called, I’ve texted, her car’s in the garage, her shoes she wears every single day are by the front door’.’

‘She only has one vehicle?’

‘No, she only has the one vehicle and he has a truck.’

‘Okay, that’s what I’m asking.’ The officer climbed the steps and checked the front door. It opened a few inches. He called through the open door, but, apart from the yapping of the family dog, there was no sound from within.

Nickole explained the vehicle still had the children’s car seats inside. She had attempted to enter the front door as she had the pin code, but it had a latch preventing her from opening it fully. Nickole said she had called Shanann’s husband, Christopher Watts, and requested he come home and check on his wife. She informed the officer Shanann was diabetic but was not known to have seizures or black outs.

The officer checked the windows and the back door. All were locked. He explained he couldn’t break in without seeing something of concern. He would need Chris’s permission to enter the property.

Nickole said she didn’t think Chris was coming. She’d called him several times and he kept giving her different arrival times. She gave Officer Coonrod Chris’s phone number.

The officer called Chris himself and asked for the garage door code. Chris stated it was faulty and didn’t work from the outside, but he was only about five minutes away.

Soon after, Chris arrived home. He strode confidently up to the officer, shook his hand, and introduced himself, before opening the garage door and rushing inside.

‘So, this is the only vehicle she would have?’ Coonrod said.

‘It’s the only one she would drive.’ Chris checked Shanann’s Lexus, reaching inside. He appeared to pick something up from the foot well. Then he ran through the internal door into the house.

The neighbour, Nate, came over and said he’d checked his CCTV camera and had seen a white car dropping Shanann off during the early hours. Nickole informed him the car was hers as she’d dropped Shanann off from the airport. Nate said there were no other vehicles picked up on the camera apart from Chris’s truck backing into the garage at around 5:30 am. He offered for the officer to view the footage.

A few minutes later, Chris opened the front door, giving permission for them to enter.

‘Have you checked upstairs? She’s not there?’ Coonrod asked Chris. ‘I just want to make sure she’s not passed out somewhere.’

Between them, they searched through the immaculately presented property. It was empty and, apart from the unmade beds, there didn’t appear to be a thing out of place.

Chris let the dog out of his cage in the basement before he continued searching the house. He confirmed nothing appeared to be missing apart from the girl’s blankets.

After a few minutes of searching, Nick, Nickole’s son, found Shanann's phone between the cushions of the sofa. Chris didn’t know what the password was, but Nickole said (after speaking to Shanann’s mother on the phone) it was the due date of their unborn son. She was right. Chris gave the officer consent to look at the phone. No calls had been made that morning. Chris continually switched his attention between Shanann’s phone and his own, distractedly answering questions about Shanann.

Nickole, pacing backwards and forwards, was clearly worried.

Officer Coonrod asked Chris when he had last seen Shanann.

He calmly explained Shanann’s flight had been delayed and so she hadn’t arrived home until around 2:00 am. By that time, he was asleep. The last time he saw her was before he left for work at 5:30 am.

‘You told me she went on a playdate with the girls,’ Nickole interrupted.

Chris nodded his head. ‘That’s what she told me. She left to go to a friend’s house with the kids. That’s why they weren’t at school.’

Chris received a phone call from Shanann’s mother. His voice was breathy and nervous and he also began pacing backwards and forwards. Afterwards, he returned to the same position as before, head down, scanning the phones in front of him.

‘What time do you work?’ Officer Coonrod asked.

‘I usually get to work around six-thirty ‘til around three-thirty, four o’clock.’

‘Do you usually work nights or days?’

‘Days.’

‘What time did you leave today?’

‘What time did I leave there or here?’

‘Here.’

‘Around five-thirty, six.’

‘Was Shanann here then?’

‘Yes.’

‘Does she usually watch the kids or do you have day care watch them, or…?’

Chris swayed from foot to foot. ‘No, she usually watches the kids when they’re not at school.’ He returned his attention to the phone.

‘Could they be at the pool?’ Nickole suggested.

‘The pool?’ Chris considered this.

‘Is there a rec centre around here somewhere?’ the officer asked.

Chris shrugged. ‘There’s a pool right down there.’

‘Are you guys having any kind of issues? Marital issues, or…?’ The officer asked.

Chris turned and lowered his voice slightly. ‘We’re going through a separation.’

‘You are? You guys filed yet, or anything? Or just talking about it?’

‘No. We’re going to sell the house before the separation.’

‘And how’s that going? Civil, for the most part?’ the officer asked.

‘Yeah, civil.’ Chris laughed awkwardly.

‘Did your wife go to that swimming pool often?’

‘That just depends. On a hot day like this I’d say no.’ Chris continued reading his phone, pacing again. ‘It says here that at 5:27 am the overhead garage door was left open and never shut.’

‘What time did you leave?’ Nickole asked.

‘About that time. When I pulled away and shut the door, it never shut. Was it shut when you got here?’ he asked Nickole.

‘Yes.’

‘The sensor was tripping out, which has happened before because I had to replace it two weeks ago. It says the basement door was left open at five twenty-six.’ He went on to say the front door sensor was triggered at 1:48 am when Shanann arrived home and then at 12:10 pm.

‘Are you able to pull up the video of the twelve-ten?’ the officer asked.

Chris turned, pointing to Nickole. ‘At twelve-ten that was Nicki.’

Nickole confirmed that had been her arriving and opening the front door.

‘Yeah, it was beeping at me out in the field.’ Chris turned, put down his phone, and headed into the master-bedroom. Soon after, he emerged holding Shanann's wedding ring, saying he found it on the nightstand. He seemed surprised and said she only took it off to dye her hair usually. Once again, he paced back and forth then reached for his phone.

‘Does she do her work from a laptop, or…?’ Officer Coonrod asked.

‘Her phone.’

‘What about your bank account?’ Nickole asked.

‘I don’t have the log-in details.’

‘Is it not a joint account?’ the officer asked.

‘It’s a joint account, but she controls it. She doesn’t let me do the finances because I was pretty horrible back in the day so she just handles all that. I have the app on my phone, but I don’t have her log-in.’

‘What days does she work?’

‘Every day. Always.’ His face altered when he said this, as though disapproving.

‘What was the name of the company again?’

‘Le-Vel.’

‘Where are they based out of?’

‘Memphis. But they don’t have, like, an office.’

‘Does she have somebody that she reports to, though?’

‘She has her leaders but they’re both in the North-East part of the country,’ Chris said.

Nickole provided the officer with the contact details of Shanann’s team leader.

‘And there was no note or anything by the wedding ring?’ the officer asked Chris, as he stepped into the master bedroom.

‘Nope.’

‘Any of her clothes, anything like that missing?’

Chris headed into the walk-in-wardrobe muttering something.

‘It didn’t look like she went through and packed up a bag or anything?’ The officer followed.

‘It’s kinda hard to tell if she took a little bit, it’d be easy to tell if she took a lot, but it’s kinda hard to tell.’

‘She tell you anything about leaving—moving out?’

‘Not moving out... I mean, last time I talked to her was this morning. She said she was gonna take the kids to a friend’s house, and that’s where she was gonna be. And then, I’ve texted her today and never heard anything. But the car’s here, the car seats are here. Unless somebody came and picked her up. But, the people that I know, nobody’s seen her.’ Chris continually swayed from foot to foot.

‘It’s definitely an odd one,’ the officer said, heading back to the bedroom.

‘I don’t know what I can do right now. Should I drive around the normal route she would be?’

‘Where does she normally go to?’

Shanann’s mum called Chris’s phone. He told her he was still speaking to the officer and hung up. He asked the officer once again if he thought he should drive around looking for her.

‘Probably not, because you don’t know what car she’s in or where she’s at. Obviously you’re not gonna see her car.’

‘So what should I do? Just wait for her here?’

‘Er, I’ve got my detective coming, just because this is kind of an odd situation. See if we can try to get her pin-pointed down with a friend or something. He may have you call the bank.’

What are your thoughts so far? Chris Watts definitely seemed on edge, but the officer probably suspected nothing more than a husband and father, worried sick about his missing family. Of course, in hindsight, we know exactly why he was worried. But did the police act appropriately? Did they follow correct procedure? How many people traipsed through the crime scene during those first crucial hours, contaminating it?

While waiting for the detective to arrive, Officer Coonrod and Chris headed next door to see what the neighbour’s CCTV camera had picked up.

Chapter Three

Nate’s CCTV Footage

Footage from Officer Coonrod’s body cam.

13

th

August 2018

Next door, Officer Coonrod entered Nate’s house with Chris, Nick (Nickole’s son), and Nate (the neighbour).

Nate began flicking through the CCTV footage on his TV screen to show them what his camera had captured.

Almost immediately, Chris began babbling about what he’d loaded into his truck that morning.

‘Is this on, continually recording?’ the officer asked.

‘Yep,’ Nate replied.

‘Is it motion or…?’

((Crosstalk))

‘… Okay, it’s motion.’

‘Any motion event that happens… but I get cars drive in from this street, from this street.’ Nate pointed in two different directions. ‘And this is him at five-seventeen.’

Chris tore his eyes away from his phone to watch the footage of him reversing his truck into his garage. ‘I usually park out there on the side. I just wanted to get everything brung in. It’s easier than running everything out there with all the tools I had to bring in.’ He turned away and then returned his gaze to the screen, placing his arms up over his head. His body language became increasingly agitated as he watched the screen. After a few moments of silence, he turned to the officer. ‘What are we gonna do after this?’

‘Um, my detective just showed up, um, so he’ll probably wanna talk to you. He’ll probably… like I said, he might have you call up the bank and see if there’s any kind of activity, um.’

‘… ‘cause if there’s any kind of action out there, I woulda got it,’ Nate said

((Crosstalk))

‘Because this camera’s er… We had issues the other week when people were caught stealing stuff out of garages and stuff like that, and I had parked my truck…’ Chris waffled.

((Crosstalk))

‘I have your car right here.’ Nate attempted to bring the attention back to the screen.

‘Yeah. And I parked my truck over here so I could see if someone tried to jimmy it with a flat head screwdriver.’

‘But any action woulda happened, if any cars or anything left your house...’ Nate continued.

‘Yeah, right in that area,’ Chris pointed to the small triangular area where his truck was.

‘Oh, it can pick up anything coming down the street this way,’ the officer asked.

((Crosstalk))

Nate nodded. ‘Oh, yeah.’

‘Okay.’ Chris returned his gaze to focus on his phone.

‘Watch, I’ll show you.’ Nate chose a different recording and pointed out the camera picking up a passing car from further up the street.

‘He’s next door,’ Officer Coonrod said, talking about the detective.

‘Can we go?’ Chris asked, hopping from foot to foot.

The officer declined.

Nate continued pointing out what he would have seen if Shanann had been home.

Oddly, in-between recordings, an advert began playing for the TV show, An American Horror Story. It showed an hourglass with a foetus inside. The foetus suddenly exploded.

Chris paled and turned to the officer. ‘She’s pregnant as well.’

‘How far along?’

‘Fourteen, fifteen weeks. That’s why her friend said it was low blood sugar…’

‘I’ve got her friend leaving just before two in the morning.’ Nate still scrolled through the recordings. ‘Did you go check if anything was missing round your house?’

Chris told him the girls’ blankies were all he could tell were missing.

‘I can see she dropped her off at one in the morning,’ Nate said.

‘Ah, she’s… my doorbell said one-forty-eight.’

Nate found the footage of Shanann arriving home. Although it didn’t show Shanann getting from the car because of the ten second delay on the camera, it did show Nickole driving away.

‘It didn’t pick her up going into the house though?’ the officer said.

‘It didn’t.’ Nate shook his head. ‘And I usually pick him up when he comes walking through here. I pick him up so it doesn’t show her walking into the house.’ He reiterates that between Shanann arriving home and Chris backing up his truck just after five, no other vehicles passed the property.’

‘And my Vivint said at five-twenty-seven my garage door was left open. But that could’ve been the sensor, says it was shut during the day. I think, when Nicky’s, um…’ He paused and clicked his fingers twice. ‘… son, he tried to move the door around—he said they were trying to get into the garage door.’

‘Right,’ the officer said.

‘And he might’ve broken the laser there, because my alarm started going off.’

‘I know. He said the front door he tried going in, but it had the lock up, so that set it off,’ the officer said.

‘The remote on the outside doesn’t work anymore—it got wet.’

((Crosstalk))

‘Alright. Appreciate your time,’ Officer Coonrod said to Nate.

Chris also turned to Nate and shook his hand. ‘Thanks.’

‘Hopefully something comes up, dude.’

As though he couldn’t wait to get away, Chris rushed to the front door and turned to check where the officer was.

Officer Coonrod hung back. ‘Do you just wanna go talk to him? I’m just gonna get his info real quick.’ He gestured towards Nate.

Chris left.

‘He’s not acting right at all,’ Nate whispered.

‘No?’

‘Rocking back and forth.’ Nate imitated Chris’s movements before heading back to the TV screen. ‘He never takes his stuff in and out of the garage, ever.’

‘Right.’

‘And that doesn’t look like he came from back there—he came from down the street.’ Nate once again pointed to the screen. ‘The other thing that doesn’t make sense is why would he pull past that part? You can see him pull past.’ Nate pointed at the screen again.

‘Are you able to record this?’

Nate said he would need to call the security company to get a copy. ‘Watch him get out. He walks back and forth a couple of times. To be completely honest with you, my wife and I were kinda wondering when she was on vacation if something happened, ‘cause I’ve heard them full out screaming at each other at the top of their lungs, and he gets crazy.’

‘Does he? And that’s pretty recently?’

‘Yeah. We were asking if she went and visited people because she wanted to get away from the situation.’

‘Do you have your ID on you?’

Nate headed into the kitchen and returned with his ID just as Nick walked back in. While the officer took down Nate’s details, Nate and Nick discussed Chris’s behaviour and the fact he had backed his truck into the garage and that Chris kept saying what he was putting in the truck over and over.

They both agreed Chris had been behaving strangely.

Nate’s attention was still on the screen. ‘It just seems kinda odd to me, why would he pull the truck up?’

‘Yeah, I’ve never seen him pull it back,’ Nick said.

‘I’ve never seen him… if he loads his stuff, he normally just walks back and forth, ‘cause I get him on camera walking…’

‘What does he usually load up?’ Officer Coonrod asked.

Nate shook his head. ‘All he usually has is a lunchbox and a book bag, looks like a computer, and usually a water jug—that’s it. But the fact he was in here explaining to you over and over and over.’

‘A little odd?’

‘He doesn’t look worried. He looks like he’s tryin’ to cover his tracks. Do you hear what I’m saying?’ Nate said.

‘Right.’

‘If he’s loading his stuff, why isn’t he walking back and forth? But I can’t see what he’s doing in the back of the truck because he’s pulled into the garage. And he knows my camera’s there.’

‘Any other neighbours have cameras around here you know of?’

‘I’m sure a bunch of them do, but not that I know of.’

‘Okay.’

‘You could look around?’ Nick suggested.

‘Yeah, I’ll do a search here in a minute.’

‘All these parts kept coming up missing so, when we moved in here, I put this in,’ Nate said. ‘And, like he said, someone was breaking into it—he said someone was breaking into his toolbox on his truck, so I told him he could park his truck out there in case they saw something.’

Nickole entered.

Nate pointed at the screen once again. ‘Don’t you think it’s…? Look at this, though.’

‘I know, I know,’ Nickole said.

((Crosstalk))

‘I’m just saying that it’s kinda odd that he pulls his truck back behind my camera. The truck’s in the garage right now. He never backs his truck into the garage.’

‘That’s what her friend Christina was saying, he never backs his truck up,’ Nickole said. ‘He carries his stuff out from the house.’

‘I have him on camera doing that,’ Nate said.

‘The other thing that was odd is, while she was gone, he kept parking his truck and her car over here, and I used to see him walk…’

‘Did he take the car out of the garage?’ Nickole asked.

‘Oh, the car was parked over there for a long time,’ Nate confirmed. ‘Like, a couple of days.’

‘Was this, this past weekend?’ Officer Coonrod asked.

‘Erm, no.’

‘I thought it was kinda odd he never parked in front of here, or in here. He said someone broke into his truck, yet he parked over here. Hey, he’s acting so suspicious. He’s normally… you can ask them, he’s normally quiet, more subdued. He’s over here telling you three times what he took out, what he did, what he did, what he did. He never talks. So the fact that he’s over here blabbing his mouth makes me kind of suspicious.’

‘Yeah, but, I mean, put yourself in his situation, you know, anyone’s gonna be nervous and won’t know what to do, um…’ the officer said.

‘I agree, but I’m just saying, the way he told you three times what he brought with him. Why is he telling you exactly what he brought with him instead of saying, oh, they didn’t see anybody out here—he didn’t see anybody doing anything? Do you know what I’m saying? Why is he so worried about you knowing what he’s carrying out? That’s all I’m saying.’

So, it seems Nate was suspicious of Chris from the start. It’s a shame the police didn’t listen to him and treat the house as a crime scene there and then.

Chapter Four

The Search Resumes

13

th

August 2018

In this chapter, Detective Baumhover had arrived at the Watts’ address. As the first detective on the scene, he was immediately suspicious. But, with it being a Welfare Check, there wasn’t anything official he could do other than take mental notes—you could see his mind ticking over. Once again, the footage was taken from Officer Coonrod’s body cam.

Inside the house, Detective Baumhover asked where the phone was found.

Chris took him straight upstairs to the family room and showed him Shanann’s phone.

‘Do you have any current pictures of her?’

Chris walked into the bedroom and pointed to a framed family photograph.

‘Is this recent?’

‘That was last year.’

Officer Coonrod began taking photographs of the scene. He is seen in the bathroom mirrors examining everything closely, including the sink, with a torch.

Nickole and Nick are still present in the house, as are Chris and now the detective. They are all searching separately.

Detective Baumhover asks why the bathroom door from Celeste’s room is locked and if Chris has a key for it.

Chris unlocked the door and, laughing, explains the girls wake up and play in the bathroom.

‘So you normally keep it locked?’ the detective asked.

‘Yeah, because they will go in there and be in the soap, last time we had Vaseline everywhere, you know. And that was not fun.’

‘So, does she normally make the beds? The kids’ beds?’

‘No.’

‘Does this all look normal to you? Does it look like they left in a rush or…?’

‘Normal. They’ll get up and go get her. We don’t wake up ‘til they wake up.’

‘Okay. Thank you.’

Officer Coonrod received a call from Shanann’s mother, Sandy, asking him to check the GPS on Chris’s truck. She explained she was suspicious of Chris’s behaviour and the conflicting stories he’d told and she strongly believed he had something to do with their disappearance.

The officer told to her they were working on all that. He tried to reassure her they were doing all they could to find Shanann and the girls.

While he was still on the phone, Nickole alerted him that she’d discovered Shanann’s purse in the office. She told the officer Shanann’s medication was still in there. The officer took photographs of the purse and contents.

Standing in the same room, Chris was clearly aware the phone call was about him and he could possibly hear what was being said. He stood with his head bowed, arms folded, swaying from side to side.

The officer hung up the phone and turned to Chris. ‘Did you tell your mother-in-law that she went to her friend’s this—today?’

Chris, hugging himself, nodded. ‘Mm-hm.’

‘Yep? Who was—what friend?’

‘I just said she’d gone to her friend’s house because that’s all I knew.’

‘Who was she supposed to go to?’

‘That’s all I… that’s all she told me. That she was going to a friend’s house and she would take the kids.’

‘When did she tell you that?’

‘This morning, when we were talking. Around five o’clock.’

Chris turned and left the room.

Officer Coonrod approached Nickole. ‘What were you guys saying about red on the stairwell?’

Nickole’s reply was muffled.

‘I couldn’t see what he was talking about,’ the officer said, walking towards the staircase.

Nickole pointed to the stairs, telling him there was a red spot.

‘No. Well, I looked pretty thoroughly everywhere and I’m not…’ He inspected the area and took a photograph. ‘Yeah, nah, it looks like a piece of wax or something, it’s not blood. I don’t see any signs of a struggle—nothing’s broken.’

‘What I don’t understand is, like, her phone is her life.’

‘Right. And her purse, and her wallet. I mean I get the whole thing.’

Nickole goes on to point out the door being locked and Shanann’s shoes being left behind.

Detective Baumhover and Chris reappeared.

‘Is this the stuff she had last night?’ the detective asked.

Both Chris and Nickole confirmed it was Shanann’s suitcase.

‘What’s this?’ he asked indicating something on the floor.

‘Ah, it’s just some Anadarko stuff,’ Chris said.

‘Is that your stuff?’

Chris confirmed the pile of clothing was indeed his and he was going to give it away as they no longer fit.

‘Okay. Well, just call if you hear anything from her. Otherwise I’m gonna start putting together a case for a missing persons.’

Nickole asked how long it will take.

‘I’m gonna run some things down using her phone and let’s see if we can’t find somebody. Um, if nobody has heard anything at all, then it should go a little quicker.’

Nickole asked about searching for her.

‘You can do that now. I mean, there’s no reason… I mean, as far as, like, walking through fields and stuff…’

‘No, I mean, like, hospitals.’

((Crosstalk))

‘You can do that now. If you want to start that, there’s no reason you couldn’t do that right now.’

‘Okay.’

‘Absolutely. The other things I’m gonna do is get a little more detail from her friends, things like that, but, I mean, if you wanna call hospitals, hotels even, to see if she’s checked in anywhere. Alright? I’ll start with the friends’ list. Call the friends that either one of you know about.’

Chris shrugged. ‘I’ve called everybody that I know.’

‘What about bank accounts?’ Officer Coonrod asked. ‘Checking into that? Do we need account numbers or anything? Or, have him call…?’

‘Yeah, find a…’ the detective paused. ‘That’s why I was asking about the credit cards if there’s any missing, but... There’s none of yours missing,