Chris Watts: Inside the Mind of a Family Annihilator and the Depth of Betrayal

In this episode of the Compendium, Chris Watts stands at the center of a chilling American Murder that captivated the world in 2018. We’ll find out how the Watt Family Murders Unfolded, from Shanann Watts’ life in Frederick, Colorado, to the appalling truths behind a Family Annihilator. Throughout our investigation, one question looms: Why Did Chris Watts Kill His Family? 

We give you just the Compendium, but if you want more, here are our resources:

1. American Murder: The Family Next Door [2020] - by Jenny Popplewell
2. Chris Watts Body Cam Footage - by Colorado Bureau of Investigation
3. Letters from Christopher - by Cheryln Cadle
4. Chris Watts Interrogation Video - by Colorado Bureau of Investigation

Host & Show Info

• Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
• About: Kyle and Adam are more than just your hosts, they’re your close friends sharing intriguing stories from tales from the darker corners of true crime, the annals of your forgotten history books, and the who's who of incredible people.
• Intro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin

Community & Calls to Action

• ⭐ Review & follow on: Spotify & Apple Podcasts
• 📸 Follow us on Instagram: @theCompendiumPodcast
• 🌐 Visit us at: TheCompendiumPodcast.com
• ❤️ Early access episodes: Patreon

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Chapters

• 0:00 Sneak Peak
• 0:59 Welcome to The Compendium
• 3:27 Topic of the Week
• 1:08:28 Outro

Transcript

[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: She then asked Chris if he's willing to do a polygraph and Chris is like, yes, of course.

[00:00:06] She says, before we start, we first need to establish an emotional baseline for your responses. Basically, she's going to ask him a bunch of questions and he's supposed to like deliberately lie when he responds. 

[00:00:15] They go through the exercise and then she says, wow, I have to say, you're actually a really bad liar. This tells me that you actually know that it's wrong to lie. So thank you for being a terrible liar.

[00:00:25] She then says the coolest thing is that only one of us knows the truth, but in about two minutes. There's going to be two of us. 

[00:00:32] Wow, that's an interesting way of phrasing it. [00:01:00]

[00:01:00] Welcome to The Compendium, an assembly of fascinating things, a weekly variety podcast that gives you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering. 

[00:01:10] Adam Cox: We explore stories from the darker corners of true crime, the hidden gems of history, and the jaw dropping deeds of extraordinary people.

[00:01:17] Kyle Risi: I'm Kyle Reacy, your Ringmaster for this episode. 

[00:01:19] Adam Cox: And I'm Adam Cox, your figure skater for this week. 

[00:01:23] Kyle Risi: Oh, you got your little leotard on this week. 

[00:01:26] Adam Cox: Yeah, I don't know if a circus does have an ice rink, but, 

[00:01:28] Kyle Risi: I think again, you can have the circus or lay on ice. 

[00:01:31] Adam Cox: The circus, ah, yeah, that's me.

[00:01:33] Kyle Risi: Actually, speaking of the figure skating dancers, I really want to do an episode on Tanya Harding. Ah, that would be a good one. Who played her in the movie, was it? 

[00:01:42] Adam Cox: Margot Robbie. Ah, she is beautiful. I can't even remember what that was about. 

[00:01:46] Kyle Risi: Oh, okay. I'm definitely doing it 

[00:01:47] Adam Cox: then. I did see that Margot Robbie was getting hated on because she's pregnant and people were like, Oh, she's let herself go.

[00:01:53] Kyle Risi: Oh, gender dynamics at play. People are horrible to women. God's sake, God forbid she has a [00:02:00] baby and has a family. 

[00:02:00] Adam Cox: Yeah, she looked good. She was a pregnant woman in a just a, like a swimsuit. 

[00:02:04] Kyle Risi: And Oh, hang on. You mean she was pregnant during Tonya Harding, the recording of that? 

[00:02:07] Adam Cox: Oh, no, no, no. Just recently, I think she's expecting another child.

[00:02:11] Kyle Risi: Who is she married to? A man. A man. Just a man. It's not important. 

[00:02:17] Before we dive in, a quick heads up for all you lovely freaks out there. Remember that signing up to our Patreon gives you early access to next week's episode an entire seven days for anyone else and it's completely free of charge and if you want even more you can become a certified freak for a small monthly subscription that unlocks all of our unreleased episodes up to six weeks earlier.

[00:02:38] It is the best way to support the compendium and keeps us growing. 

[00:02:42] Adam Cox: And while you're at it, don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast app and leave us a review. Your support really does help us reach more people who, like you, love a good tale of the unexpected.

[00:02:52] Kyle Risi: And actually, we've had loads of new reviews this week. It'd be really a pleasant surprise to read. You guys are so lovely to [00:03:00] us. 

[00:03:00] Adam Cox: Yeah. Why? If you 

[00:03:01] Kyle Risi: meet us You won't be saying that. 

[00:03:03] Adam Cox: There was a couple where they were listening. I think they ended up like laughing in public. So that was really nice. They felt silly for laughing in public, but I think they enjoyed the episode. 

[00:03:12] Kyle Risi: They said you should really put a warning on this episode because it's not a good look to be laughing out loud on the Metro. What was that episode for? Was it the Oh, it was the 96th Academy Award Oscars, the worst Oscars in history.

[00:03:24] Adam Cox: Yeah. I think that was a funny one. 

[00:03:26] Kyle Risi: The comments are just amazing. But all right, freaks, enough of the housekeeping. Let's buckle up and get today's show started. 

[00:03:32] Because, Adam, today we're diving into an assembly of tragedy a family should never have to endure. 

[00:03:39] Adam Cox: Oh no, not another tragedy story. What other tragedies have we done? There's been a few, Kyle.

[00:03:44] Oh God, like what? Am I milking the tragedy? 

[00:03:48] Yeah, they're mainly coming from you. I like to keep them upbeat, light hearted, and you 

[00:03:54] Kyle Risi: Well, when I do the Tonya Harding episode, that will be a bit light hearted. Actually, no, doesn't she like break someone's legs. Yeah, maybe. That'll be another [00:04:00] tragedy. Anyway, Adam. 

[00:04:02] Today's story is actually about a family that made headlines back in 2018. It grabbed the attention not just because of how awful it was, but also due to the sheer amount of exposure that the Watts family at the centre of the story had online. 

[00:04:17] The mum of the household was a woman called Shannon Watts. She was pretty much an MLM marketer for a wellness company selling various Thrive products in her hometown of Frederick in Colorado. And being online was a huge part of her success as a sales rep. It gave her visibility, credibility, it made her feel relatable and trustworthy to the people that were interested in her Thrive products.

[00:04:39] The image that she presented was that of a devoted mother to her daughter Cece, who was three, her other daughter Bella, who was four, and a loving wife to Chris, her handsome kind of Chad like husband. And to the world, they seem to be like the perfect family. They were happy, successful, living the American dream. Their business was thriving. Their products were a [00:05:00] constant feature in the story that they told to the world. 

[00:05:03] the lives we present online often don't match reality behind closed doors. The truth was that in spite of their perceived success and this idyllic happiness, The Watts family was drowning in debt, living far beyond their means, and on top of this, their marriage was falling apart.

[00:05:20] On Friday, August the 10th, Shannon left home for a work convention in Arizona with her friend and co worker, Nicole Atkinson. During their trip, she confided in Nicole about her ongoing marital struggles with Chris, something that she had done like many, many times before.

[00:05:36] Nicole, of course, she listened as usual. She comforted her and she reassured her that everything would be okay. But despite her independence and determination as a young businesswoman selling Thrive products, Shannon said to Nicole that she just could not imagine a life without Chris or the family that they'd built and was terrified of the idea of a separation.

[00:05:59] Eventually their [00:06:00] trip came to an end and so later than expected at 1 45 a. m. Nicole pulled up outside Shannon's house, they said their goodbyes, they promised to talk again in the morning and Nicole watched as Shannon grabbed her suitcase from the boot and made her way up to the front door. 

[00:06:15] A few hours later Nicole expected to hear from her as planned, but nothing. No texts, no calls. As the morning turned into the afternoon and still no word, Nicole called Shannon's husband Chris. He was already at work and had told her that earlier that morning, he asked Shanann for a divorce. And after a long conversation, she told him she was taking the kids to stay with a friend.

[00:06:39] But something felt off to Nicole. She was standing outside of the house and things didn't seem right from her vantage point and so she urged Chris to come home. What followed would be a desperate search, not just for Shanann, but also for their two young children, leading to a devastating outcome.

[00:06:58] So today, Adam, I'm going [00:07:00] to be telling you the heartbreaking story of the Watts family. Have you heard of the story before? 

[00:07:05] Adam Cox: I don't think I have, although there's a few things you said there that may have triggered something in my memory.

[00:07:10] I don't know if I'm just getting confused with another story. So I, yeah, I really don't know what's at play here, but is it the husband? I don't know. The way you introduced him makes me a little bit suspicious. 

[00:07:20] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So the thing is, for many listeners, this is a story that they already know really well, but of course, it's not. In classic Compendium fashion, you, dear Adam, are none the wiser. I've been living under a rock. 

[00:07:32] You've been living under a rock? Where have you been? And honestly, this is going to be tough, not just because Shannon has gone missing, but because at the heart of the story, there are two very young children.

[00:07:42] So consider this kind of your heads up to our listeners, if this is a story you'd rather not hear, I completely understand. I promise I will not be offended. Fair warning. This is a deeply troubling episode. 

[00:07:54] And The story kind of sort of exploded like in 2018. And since then, there've been countless documentaries [00:08:00] about it. Probably the most well known documentary is called The Family Next Door. And since its release, it's been like the most watched Netflix documentary on their platform. 

[00:08:09] And what I think pulled so many people into this case wasn't the tragedy itself. Of course, that was like a massive part of it, but it was also the sheer amount of footage available online because the Watts family documented a lot of their lives, right? So intently that internet sleuths had an overwhelming amount of material to dissect along the awful details of this case.

[00:08:27] But beyond that, the case also unfolded in an era where like surveillance cameras, like ring doorbells and CCTV were just everywhere. Yeah. It was also like standard practice for police officers to wear body cameras. So when the investigation began, so much of this was actually caught on film.

[00:08:42] And honestly, this isn't a story that drew out over weeks and months, because of the recorded evidence in this case, police were actually able to solve this case in less than 72 hours. 

[00:08:53] Adam Cox: Pretty quick. That's, that's really quick. 

[00:08:55] Kyle Risi: Either quick or. What happened was [00:09:00] just so glaringly obvious.

[00:09:01] Adam Cox: Oh, yeah, fair enough. 

[00:09:03] Kyle Risi: So, there is a lot to be said for living in a world, really, where pretty much our everyday lives are captured on camera. 

[00:09:09] Adam Cox: Yeah, I can't remember what they say on how many times you're captured on CCTV, but it is A lot, isn't it, in terms of you walking around?

[00:09:15] Kyle Risi: Well, like in a day. Yeah. Shit, yeah. You gotta think, like, how often do we get people on our neighbourhood group saying, Oh, I've had, like, some yobs around my house. Has anyone got, a ring doorbell that they can provide some footage on? That's just, commonplace now. Just everyone seems to have them. And, it helps as well. People post, footage of people getting up to mischief outside their houses all the time. Crazy. Anyway, Adam. Adam. was excited about today's episode, but it's probably not appropriate to say that considering how grim this episode is going to be. So instead, should we just get into it?

[00:09:47] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's a, that's a warning. But I think I'm ready for this. 

[00:09:50] Kyle Risi: So Adam, when Nicole dropped Shanann off home at 1. 45am on August the 13th, Footage from their video doorbell confirmed that Shanann made it safely [00:10:00] inside through the front door. Nicole saw as much. 

[00:10:03] But the next morning, when she called several times and got no answer, she didn't immediately panic. It never kind of crossed her mind that Shanann didn't make it inside, but ignoring calls, that just wasn't like Shanann. And Nicole knew that she had a really important doctor's appointment that morning. One Nicole had even offered to drive her too, so the silence just didn't make sense in this context. 

[00:10:25] So around noon, now really concerned, Nicole decides to drive over to the house and she notices that Shanann's car is still in the garage. She can hear their dog barking in the house, but there was no movement from Shanann, Chris, or the girls. 

[00:10:38] When Nicole peeks through the entry window, she can see Shanann's shoes on the floor by the door. 

[00:10:43] Adam Cox: So it suggests that She's still at home. 

[00:10:45] Kyle Risi: She's still at home. Ordinarily, to anyone else, this would be like no big deal. She's just wearing different shoes that day. But Nicole says these were the shoes that Shanann always wore. 

[00:10:54] So she tries the door. It's locked. In fact, it's locked from the inside, which means that if someone tried to leave the house, they would have [00:11:00] to have left through a different exit. 

[00:11:01] It crosses Nicole's mind that maybe Shanann had some kind of medical emergency going on. Maybe she'd fallen down the stairs. Shanann was also diabetic, which could mean that she might have passed out. She just doesn't know for sure, but something definitely feels off.

[00:11:14] Would you get that same kind of instinct that something might be up? 

[00:11:17] Adam Cox: I guess if Shanann and her typical, ways that she goes about life. It would seem, and this was really unusual, then maybe, but for me, at the moment, it doesn't seem that off. 

[00:11:27] Kyle Risi: Oh, interesting, interesting. Okay, fine. So Nicole decides that she's going to call Shanann's husband, Chris, who left for work around 5am that morning. He agrees to come home, but he's over an hour away. If Shanann is having a medical emergency, then waiting that long might be too late. 

[00:11:43] So Nicole decides to call the police. She's kind of like stuck in this uneasy space, like she doesn't want to do nothing, but also she doesn't want to overreact and look crazy. So like she is kind of like, what should I do? But This is quite urgent, my spidey senses are kind of tingling, [00:12:00] etc. So I do feel for her. 

[00:12:02] But since Chris is so far away, the police end up arriving first. They're reluctant to force their way into the house without his permission. There is like a digital pinlock on the garage door. Nicole knows this code, but it's not working, which means the only way in is through the electronic fob on Chris's keys. 

[00:12:19] While they wait, Nicole tells the police that Shannon had been kind of upset all weekend while they were away. And before the trip, she and Chris had been arguing. She doesn't seriously think that this has got anything to do with it, but she's just trying to get all the information out there just in case it's kind of useful.

[00:12:35] Chris finally arrives and immediately he gets out the car, he walks straight over to the officers, he shakes a hand and then he clicks the fob of the garage door. 

[00:12:42] First thing he does is he goes and checks Shannon's car. He opens the back seat, he takes a quick look and then he moves into the internal garage door to unlock the front door to let everyone in.

[00:12:52] It takes him 1 minute 17 seconds to do this, which is a long time for such a short distance. So we don't actually [00:13:00] know why he took this long. 

[00:13:01] And the police, no one was like following what he's done, he's just walked into the house, which I guess seems normal. And how has Chris behaved at this point? Is he like, concerned? Or is he like, oh, I saw her, or this morning, or last night, everything was fine? 

[00:13:14] He seems just regular, like, he doesn't know what's up yet. Obviously, all he knows is that she's not in the house. And of course, he's acted pretty promptly, right? He's opened up the garage door, he's gone through and he's gone around to let the cops in. 

[00:13:27] Kyle Risi: When he opens the front door, the police ask if they can look around. Chris is like, sure. He signs some papers, which permits them to search. And he's like, just search wherever, I don't care.

[00:13:35] Inside the house, they find the dog. He's fine. He's just like wondering what the fuck's going on. There's no sign of Shanann or the girls, Bella or Cece. 

[00:13:42] It doesn't seem like there's been a break in or anything. Nothing seems to be missing. And as they walk through the house, they're just chatting casually to Chris. They're trying to piece together what's going on. And while this is happening, Chris is on his phone. He's scrolling through, probably texting people to see if they know where Shanann is. The officer asks where he thinks she [00:14:00] might be and he's like, I thought maybe she went to a friend's house or something, but her car's in the garage and all her stuff is here, so I don't really know.

[00:14:07] Then on the kitchen counter, they spot Shanann's purse. Inside is a wallet, her credit cards, her keys, everything. Even if someone had picked her up from the house, she wouldn't have left without those things. Do you know what I mean? 

[00:14:19] They do spot a suitcase at the bottom of the stairs, so the police are kind of like wandering, And it's not clear if this is a suitcase she had when she got home from the night before. 

[00:14:28] Adam Cox: Or if she was packing, or preparing to pack. 

[00:14:31] Kyle Risi: Exactly, I think the assumption is that she got home really late. She's not exactly going to unpack, and that was what their suitcase was. It was definitely the suitcase that they saw her coming home with in the ring doorbell.

[00:14:42] Then Chris finds Shanann's cell phone between the sofa cushions, and it's off. And by the way, this isn't some kind of like intense police search, right? It's not like, this is the police, hands up! It's nothing like that. They're just casually walking around, they're talking to Chris, they're trying to work out just what's happened.

[00:14:56] Nicole though, she's definitely worried. You can kind of [00:15:00] see her kind of struggling to stay calm. And we know all of this because the police are wearing these body cam kind of footage cameras. They're capturing literally everything. 

[00:15:07] I'll leave some kind of links in the show notes, which I definitely recommend you watch. You might get. a few little insights and clues about what might be going on here. 

[00:15:16] So while they're Chris goes into their bedroom. When he comes out, he's holding Shanann's wedding ring and he says he found it on the nightstand, which kind of reading between the lines is like a symbol that Shanann has left him. 

[00:15:26] So the officers ask if they notice that anything else is missing from the house. He has a little look and he's like, yeah, our bedsheet on our bed seems to be missing and so does the kid's blankies from their bed, but everything else seems to be here.

[00:15:39] Adam Cox: The bedsheet? That's a really weird thing to take. It is, isn't it? Very strange. Especially if it was the one that was on the bed. If, you needed something, you'd take a clean one from the closet, right? 

[00:15:47] Kyle Risi: Yeah, but why would you take that and not your purse and your shoes? Yeah. 

[00:15:52] Chris gets Shanann's phone.

[00:15:54] He turns it on, which is strange in itself. It's not like the battery is dead. It's just off. Like, who turns off the phone these [00:16:00] days? Chris tries to unlock it, but suddenly there's like a six digit passcode. And that wasn't there before. And he doesn't know what it is.

[00:16:06] Nicole though, she does know what it is. So she unlocks the phone and immediately a flood of missed calls and texts kind of start popping up. It's kind of Messages from Nicole and other friends because of course Nicole had been calling other people trying to figure out what was going on and in return of course they were texting and calling her as well.

[00:16:22] They see a text from Chris sent at 7 40 a. m that morning and it says if you take the kids somewhere please let me know where they're at. 

[00:16:31] Chris then tells police that they've had a difficult conversation that morning, they discussed the separation, it was very emotional and so to the police, this looks like she just needed some space, maybe she left to stay with a friend, but with all of her stuff still in the house, they're just not sure what's going on. 

[00:16:46] Adam Cox: It does not make sense. Anyone that's gonna go stay with a friend, they're gonna take their phone, their wallet, their car. Yeah, so how, unless she's getting picked up, but even still there'd be obvious signs that she's packed. Exactly. Like, [00:17:00] stuff. I took leave, so I don't know if I buy Chris at this point. 

[00:17:04] Kyle Risi: Interesting. Very interesting. So, well basically the police start going around the neighborhood asking if anyone has seen or heard anything. They're hoping that some of the neighbors might have some security cameras or something that could help. And that's a smart move because this is a really densely packed suburban area, right? All the houses are new constructions. They're like 4, 000 square feet each.

[00:17:24] So they're absolutely massive, but they're also really crammed really close together. So even though you've got this massive space inside your house, your neighbor is like barely 10 yards from your property line.

[00:17:34] The neighbor immediately to the left of the Watson's house has already noticed the commotion from earlier, and he's already started scrubbing through his ring doorbell footage and he tells police to come and have a look. 

[00:17:43] Now the Watts also had a doorbell camera but because you can like sort of adjust the detection range theirs only triggers when someone is like 10 feet from the door. So the only footage it captures was Shannon walking up to the front door the night before. There is no footage of anyone leaving through it [00:18:00] because they usually left through the garage door.

[00:18:02] Adam Cox: And that's not covered by any of the CCTV or doorbell. 

[00:18:06] Kyle Risi: Exactly. But the neighbor's doorbell had a much wider angle and it was capturing part of the entrance to the Watt's garage. So if anyone did leave through the garage. It would have definitely been recorded. 

[00:18:18] Adam Cox: So, they're going to go knock on that neighbour's door, right?

[00:18:20] Kyle Risi: Well, he's already scrubbed through it, right? So he has something. Oh, okay. The police and Chris, they go over to check the footage. They see at 5. 17am that morning, Chris backs his truck into the garage, he loads something into it and then drives off. And of course the police are like, uh, what exactly were you loading? And Chris explains that it was his tools, basically, and that he never leaves his tools in the truck overnight, just in case they get stolen. 

[00:18:45] So he says that it's easier for him to back his truck up, load everything in at once, instead of wasting energy and time walking up and down the driveway. So police are like, yep, that's fine, that makes sense. 

[00:18:54] Adam Cox: It makes sense, but still suspicious. 

[00:18:57] Kyle Risi: Still suspicious. They haven't seen the rest of the footage [00:19:00] yet. So the rest of the footage from that morning shows no other movement in or out of the Watters house through that garage door. until Nicole shows up around about noon.

[00:19:09] So if Shanann did leave on her own, the only other possibility is that she went out through the back entrance. And so to them, that must be the explanation. 

[00:19:17] Adam Cox: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.

[00:19:18] Kyle Risi: So as a potential clue, this ends up going nowhere. Nicole and Chris, they keep calling as many friends as they can. They're trying to piece things together. They're brainstorming, reaching out to kind of different people, just doing whatever they can think of. Because right now Shanann and the girls, they're missing. So Adam, what do you think's going on? 

[00:19:34] Adam Cox: Well, Obviously, Nicole was right to be suspicious now, um, but, I don't know, it's just, I don't know how she could just up and disappear without being caught or on some kind of CCTV. If she's leaving out the back of the house, would she not have to, somehow walk around the garden to the front to, leave the house? Or is there, like, a, back gate exit or something. 

[00:19:55] Kyle Risi: Sure the only thing I think of is that if she did leave out the back entrance and she came around the side [00:20:00] where her front door was that wouldn't have captured her because of course it's only got a 10 meter range. This is I guess why they might be looking at other neighbors up and down the street to see if maybe they'd seen her walking past or if anyone's recorded her getting into someone else's car because they picked her up etc. So right now they just don't have that information. 

[00:20:17] So let me tell you a bit about Shanann. Shanann was born in New Jersey in 1984, but she spends most of her childhood in North Carolina with her mom, her dad, and little brother Frankie. They're all super, super close. A lot of people think this next detail is really sweet, but because of the relationship I have with my sister, I think it's fucking creepy.

[00:20:34] In fact, it made me actually vomit in my mouth a little bit. 

[00:20:37] Apparently, Frankie says that Shanann took him from his 

[00:20:41] Adam Cox: Well, what's wrong with that? That's a sweet thing to do, but I know if you look at it, oh, it's incest. 

[00:20:46] Kyle Risi: I'm not thinking of incest at all. That's not where my mind was. I just think about my sister and I think about me being her date to a prom. I'm like, no, thank you. 

[00:20:55] Adam Cox: But maybe it's, I think it's, it's supposed to be sweet and genuine, I think.

[00:20:59] Kyle Risi: Well, he [00:21:00] describes her as like incredibly determined. He once said that she had success in her eyes and nothing was going to stand in her way of her following her dreams. She's the hardest working person I've ever known, which. Okay, I guess that is a really sweet thing to say about your sister.

[00:21:15] If you don't come from the recent household, then yeah, you'll have a different opinion of your own sister. Like, do you remember the Barney the Dinosaur song growing up? It went something like, I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, 

[00:21:33] do you remember that song? 

[00:21:34] Adam Cox: Yes, I just wanted you to see if you would sing the whole song.

[00:21:37] Kyle Risi: I thought you would take over, you know? Well, me and my sister, we had our own version. Do you want to hear it? Go on then. I hate you. Of course. You hate me. We're one unhappy family. With a great big punch and a kick from me to you. Well, you say you hate me too. 

[00:21:59] Adam Cox: I'm pretty sure [00:22:00] Bart and Lisa Simpsons sang that to each other. Oh, maybe that's where we got it from. Yeah, it feels like that's from the Simpsons. 

[00:22:05] Kyle Risi: I mean, it could have been. I don't know. But I see, you a lot of great influences in my life, Adam. Adam. 

[00:22:11] Adam Cox: You and your sister didn't get along.

[00:22:12] We get it. 

[00:22:13] Kyle Risi: We get it, Kyle.

[00:22:15] My point is, I really struggle when siblings talk about each other really fondly, let alone going to your senior prom with your sister. I don't know, maybe that's just me. 

[00:22:23] Adam Cox: Your sister might be listening to this. 

[00:22:25] Kyle Risi: Do you want to say a little something?

[00:22:26] I hope she is listening to this. I really do. I hate, I still hate you after all these years. Harsh. Overall though, like they're a really tight knit family. 

[00:22:35] They don't really come from a lot of money, but maybe that's kind of part of what makes Shannon so determined to build her own success in her life.

[00:22:42] And the thing is though, by the age of 25, she saves enough money to build her own house, which I mean, that is truly incredible. 

[00:22:48] So she meets a guy called Leonard King and at 18 they get married. People say that her determined nature being the total opposite of Leonard is part of why things don't really work out in their marriage.

[00:22:58] Eventually they divorce in 2009 [00:23:00] and he later tells police that Shannon just pulled herself into her work and basically just shut him out. After like, obviously trying some therapy and things like that, that didn't work so, so much. In the end, the only option for them was divorce.

[00:23:11] Eventually though, and presumably to help her move on, one of Shanann's friends connects her with a guy she thinks that she will like on Facebook, and his name is Chris Watts. But it's still pretty soon after a divorce, so she doesn't really act on the friend request at all.

[00:23:27] It was also that weird time in Facebook history where kind of you could poke people, remember that? That was like an actual feature. Yeah, it was. What was the point of that? I have no idea. You get like a notification that says Shanann has poked you. Poke her back. And then for some reason, that was just a thing.

[00:23:42] Adam Cox: I wonder if it was like mimicking what MSN Messenger used to do at the time. Do you remember when you were on that? With the nudges. And the nudge and it would shake your whole screen. You're like, I'm ignoring you for a reason. Stop nudging me. 

[00:23:53] Kyle Risi: Possibly. Who knows? Who knows? But basically there's probably a lot of poking going on between them . 

[00:23:58] Eventually Shanann does [00:24:00] accept his friend request but there's like a lot of reluctance on her part because she's just been diagnosed with lupus. Do you know what lupus is? No. Basically it's an autoimmune disease that causes like a lot of inflammation in the joints.

[00:24:11] You're always really tired, you're always in a lot of pain but even though this is going on Chris kind of sticks with her and in the end she ends up loving him even more just for staying with her throughout her worst. 

[00:24:22] And it's actually this unconditional love that actually fits Chris's personality like to a tee.

[00:24:27] Chris is like a year younger than Shanann. He is also from North Carolina and he's a super chill kid growing up. He has an older sister who's about seven years older than him who keeps him in line. He's really great at school but he's also really shy and really passive which means that he doesn't really date a lot in high school. 

[00:24:43] He's incredibly good looking now but back then and into his early kind of adulthood he's carrying a little bit of extra weight but you can tell he's got, good genes, under that inch of insulation. He's got good jawbones, he's got good muscles, he tans really well, he's a chad. He's a [00:25:00] chad, Adam! 

[00:25:00] Adam Cox: Alright, but potential suspect, so let's not be too nice. 

[00:25:03] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's true, actually. Read it in, kyle.

[00:25:06] Chris is super into NASCAR mechanics and anything car related. So after graduating, he earns a scholarship to a technical school with the dreams of working for NASCAR and a college he's super dedicated. And while all his mates are like off partying, he just kind of stays behind. He's not really comfortable in big crowds or anything like that. Like I said, he's really passive. 

[00:25:24] Eventually he does graduate. But he doesn't actually have the grades that he needs to land a job with NASCAR, so that kind of dream doesn't pan out for him. Still, he does really well for himself. He moves out, he saves a bunch of money, and overall, he's just a really responsible guy.

[00:25:39] When he meets Shanann she's really the first person he's seriously dated and after about a year after meeting he proposes, and it's actually a really, really sweet moment. He brings both of the families together on the beach, he proposes right there in front of everyone, And eventually they get married in November 2012.

[00:25:54] So after this, Chris and Shannon, they move to Frederick, Colorado in 2013, which is where [00:26:00] they are now. They already had some friends out there. Frederick is just east of Boulder, which a little side note, is actually where John Bonnet lived. Oh, really? Hmm. 

[00:26:08] And Adam, it is just gorgeous. They've got these stunning views of the Rocky Mountains. It's really outdoorsy kind of place. Tons of people are out walking, hiking, riding bikes all the time. It's basically like the Bondi Beach of Inland America.

[00:26:20] They start building this huge house in the suburbs, like it's 4, 000 square feet. It's just huge. Chris gets a job as an operator for an oil and gas company, and Shannon works from home for a children's hospital call center.

[00:26:31] Once they're settled, they start thinking about having a family, but because Shanann has lupus, they know that this is actually going to be really, really difficult for them because there's like a higher risk of miscarriage and other pregnancy kind of complications. So they had to kind of accept the possibility that they might never actually have any biological kids of their own.

[00:26:49] But then. On December the 17th, 2013, they welcome Bella Watts into the family and not long after that, on July the 17th, 2015, [00:27:00] she is joined by her little sister, Celeste, who they call Cece for short. Isn't that cute? It's shortly after Cece is born that Shanann begins working for this multi level marketing company called Lavelle, who sells like a variety of health supplements and weight loss patches, under the brand name Thrive. Have you heard of them before? And 

[00:27:18] I mean, this is subjective, but it's pretty much a pyramid scheme. It's different in that unlike other MLM schemes, you don't have to buy like a ton of inventory up front. So You don't have to be out of pocket from the very start. 

[00:27:30] So the company actually really invests in showing you how to succeed, which I guess is a responsible kind of pyramid scheme in a way. the main emphasis on their training is guiding you through building a network on Facebook to sell and recruit, which increases kind of your potential earnings down the line. 

[00:27:45] And she figures this all out really, really quickly. And she's super active on Facebook. And honestly, Adam, she's awesome at it.

[00:27:51] She's got this whole kind of spiel going on, which basically uses Facebook like LinkedIn, but in a way that feels more personal, relatable, and intimate. Most of her [00:28:00] posts are about her family, her beautiful surroundings, and her success, all while featuring these Thrive products, both to sell and attract new recruits to become kind of brand promoters.

[00:28:10] And she also uses kind of Chris as social proof, like he starts using the Thrive Weight Loss patches. So he loses a ton of weight by that one inch of body fat just emerges into this absolute Chad. Like he's always doing push ups and he's doing like kind of bench press kind of challenges.

[00:28:26] He looks great. 

[00:28:26] Adam Cox: You bet, an inch of body fat. That feels that's not a lot to kind of 

[00:28:30] Kyle Risi: Um, I may be exaggerating. Basically, he's chiseled now. 

[00:28:33] Adam Cox: Okay, fine. Interesting, and you might, go there, but why is her career important to her disappearance? 

[00:28:40] Kyle Risi: I think it's because of how online she is, and the fact that there's so much footage available online once she goes missing is kind of like a lot for Internet Sleuths to mull over, there's just a lot of clues, the theme of this is that there's just so much, surveillance around them.

[00:28:58] There are all the [00:29:00] videos that she's posted online. There is all the body cam footage from the police officers. There is the police interviews. There's the media getting involved. There's the posters. There's the text messages that they have as well. That's all just so very public. 

[00:29:12] Adam Cox: And is this one of the reasons then that the police were able to solve this within 72 hours because there was just so much evidence online and everywhere else that they could draw on.

[00:29:22] Kyle Risi: I would definitely say that it definitely played a part. Now, I'm not telling you about her job because there's a clue there. I'm telling you about her job so that you can relate and empathize with the fact that this woman's gone missing. I'm trying to build a human connection here. 

[00:29:35] Adam Cox: I wondered if there was something with, yeah, this was gonna lead to a clue.

[00:29:39] That was kind of why I was, wondering. 

[00:29:41] Kyle Risi: Are you just saying I just wasted one of those slides? No, that's not it at all. 

[00:29:44] Adam Cox: was just curious if this was a, if there was a, not, not pointing to this, but sorry, carry on. 

[00:29:50] Kyle Risi: Thank you. Basically through her job, she gets to go on all sorts of work trips, right? Training seminars, conventions, like the whole deal.

[00:29:59] And that's exactly where she [00:30:00] was the weekend before she disappeared. So there you go. There's the segue into why that was important. But now she's missing and the girls are missing too. And that morning Chris has asked her for a divorce.

[00:30:10] So where the fuck is she? 

[00:30:12] So after Nicole alerts the police, they go into full investigation mode. They start gathering any information that might be important. Shanann and the girls heights, their weights, any scars, marks or tattoos. Officers then start going door to door handing out flyers, speaking to any neighbours.

[00:30:26] They even set up stop points in the street, talking to any drivers passing through. Like the whole community is just deeply concerned that this young mother is missing and so is her two kids. 

[00:30:36] Adam Cox: Yeah, and in really weird circumstances, because it doesn't seem like she's left by her own accord.

[00:30:42] Kyle Risi: No, her stuff is in the house. That is the point, right? 

[00:30:45] Adam Cox: And of course, two young children. People are going to be very concerned about their disappearance. 

[00:30:49] Kyle Risi: Exactly. By the next day, the news has reached the attention of the media. Reporters start showing up at the house. Meanwhile, the police bring canine sniffer dogs in to see if they can pick up a sense of Shanann and the [00:31:00] girls inside.

[00:31:01] Chris of course he is super concerned but he's also really cooperative and at this point he actually gives an interview on his front porch basically pleading for the girl's return. He talks about how he can't eat or sleep until they come back safe and the reporters ask him Did you guys get into an argument before she disappeared?

[00:31:18] And Chris is like, I wouldn't call it an argument, but we did have an emotional conversation. I'll just leave it at that. Listen, I just want them back. 

[00:31:27] And it comes across as genuine. He's a very passive reserve guy. So the fact that he's speaking this much is really out of character for him anyway. But of course, considering the circumstances, he understands this is exactly what he needs to do, right?

[00:31:39] Adam Cox: Well, yeah, absolutely. 

[00:31:41] Kyle Risi: But for police, there's just nothing else to go on. The only thing that they have, which doesn't quite add up, is that the doorbell footage shows Shanann went into the house, but she did not leave through the garage or the front door. All they see Is Chris leaving for work that morning? But that is literally [00:32:00] it

[00:32:01] Adam Cox: considering all they have is Chris going in and out of the house, there's gotta be more to it than that. And you mentioned about his, his walk around the house, which was like a minute or something like that.

[00:32:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah, a minute and 17 seconds to go from the garage to the front door. 

[00:32:14] Adam Cox: Was he doing something? I don't know. There's just more to him. I've got a question mark over him. I don't trust him, regardless of how, passive or nice or chilled he is. 

[00:32:23] Kyle Risi: Sure. Well, the reality is, Adam, like You're quite a perceptive kind of guy, and if you're picking up on this this early on, then so are the police. So of course they have nothing else to go on. They've got to go where the most obvious lead will take them, right? 

[00:32:38] And right now, the only person who has proven to last seen Shanann and the girls is Chris. 

[00:32:45] Adam Cox: Yeah, don't they say like there's a statistic that it's usually the men in a relationship that's gonna be bumping off a woman?

[00:32:52] Kyle Risi: What about the statistic for lesbian relationships? 

[00:32:55] Adam Cox: I don't know. 

[00:32:55] Kyle Risi: It's normally the woman then, I guess. Yeah, I guess so. You 

[00:32:58] Adam Cox: have the option. But I think in terms of [00:33:00] domestic violence and things like that, it's, it's nine times out of ten, it's always the man that's responsible. 

[00:33:05] Kyle Risi: Someone that you know, basically.

[00:33:07] So Adam, this is a great time for us to take a quick break, and when we get back, it's going to be less than 24 hours before this case is solved. 

[00:33:16] Okay, Adam. We're back 

[00:33:17] Adam Cox: It's still Chris. 

[00:33:18] Kyle Risi: It's still Chris. Well as you'd expect they invite Chris in for some questioning Which is pretty standard right to rule out partners early on in an investigation like this Especially since he is the last known person to have seen them.

[00:33:30] In the interview, he tells them that in the early hours of the morning, he felt 2am. He was already asleep because of course he had to get up really early in the morning for work. At 4am, he gets up, he gets ready for work, and then he gets back into bed and he has this conversation with Shanann about their marriage.

[00:33:47] Which is perfect timing at 4. 15 in the morning, right? 

[00:33:49] Adam Cox: After getting two hours of sleep. That makes no sense, but okay. 

[00:33:53] Kyle Risi: And this isn't really a surprise to Shannon, because in the weeks and months leading up to this point, they'd been having some real difficult [00:34:00] issues in their marriage. Chris says that he realised after Shanann and the girls went to spend six weeks visiting family in North Carolina over the summer that that's when he realised that he didn't actually want to be with her anymore.

[00:34:10] Adam Cox: That's a really long time as well to be away from your children. 

[00:34:13] Kyle Risi: It is quite a long time and I mean in America they do summer for quite a long time as well. Chris doesn't go with them because of course he has to work but he does fly out for the last week And that's when it really sank in for Shanann that Chris was going to end things.

[00:34:25] So when they get back to Colorado, he kind of wanted to tell her face to face, but she had to leave for this trip to Arizona. So he decided to wait till the Monday so he could do it face to face. 

[00:34:35] He says that after he told her that morning There was a lot of emotions, but they agreed, and then he went to work. Shanann said that she was taking the girls to visit a friend, and at 7. 40am, while Chris was at work, he sent her a text saying, if you do take the kids somewhere, please let me know where they're at.

[00:34:53] A few hours later, He gets a call from Nicole telling him to come home, and that's all he knows.

[00:34:58] And he says to the police, like, with [00:35:00] all the police activity and the media coverage, he thought that she would have seen this by now and then come home. But when they ask him what he thinks happened, he says that maybe, maybe someone took her. And if they did, it would have to be someone who knew her, because there was no signs of a break in.

[00:35:15] Which I think is a fair statement, right? 

[00:35:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, that would make sense. 

[00:35:18] Kyle Risi: Then they say to him, It sounds like Nicole was more concerned than you were. And that is a big statement to make, right? Something that you would expect him to perhaps push back on. Like, no, no, I am worried. But instead he says, well, if Shanann doesn't get back to me, that's fine. We often kind of leave each other on unread. But Shanann would never do that to Nicole or any other friend. Which is why Nicole was more concerned.

[00:35:42] Adam Cox: Okay. 

[00:35:43] Kyle Risi: They keep talking, the detectives ask him loads more questions about Shanann, her job, her friends, and obviously their relationship. And eventually, they hand Chris a picture of his family. Just like a normal picture, right, the detective wants to see his reaction.

[00:35:55] He takes a photo, and instead of showing any emotion, he just starts [00:36:00] describing them, like listing their physical attributes. He's like, Celeste is blonde, she's got Hazel eyes, etc. She's the youngest of the family. There's no emotional response, no cracking in his voice. There's no hesitation, right? 

[00:36:12] Adam Cox: But why describing them? Because clearly the police can see. 

[00:36:15] Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly. That's the thing. The natural response would be, oh my god, my babies. Yeah. I want them back. 

[00:36:21] Adam Cox: Or like a memory of them or something like that. It just seems quite, clinical. 

[00:36:26] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's it. He does share a couple memories about them, but It's exactly as you described. It's quite clinical. There's very little emotion in how he's describing them. And at this point, the police know something's up, right? 

[00:36:38] A normal reaction of seeing a photo of your missing family would definitely trigger some kind of emotional response. Instead, he just rambles on for minutes about what's going on. What they're like as people and the detectives, they just sit and they listen in a way, kind of like a teacher does when they know you're full of shit, they just sit back in their chair. 

[00:36:54] They let the long silences happen. Right. And in between their questions, they just stare at him. [00:37:00] And he just kind of struggles to kind of like fill those silences. Like, and he ends up just rambling quite a lot. 

[00:37:05] Then the detectives ask him when we find who took them. Yeah. What should we do with him? And this is a behavior provoking question, like it's designed to gauge his reaction.

[00:37:15] An innocent person would usually give like a draconian response, something like they should get the harshest sentence possible. 

[00:37:21] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[00:37:22] Kyle Risi: But a guilty person will give an equivocating response, which means they will fragmentize and divert from the question to avoid responding to it directly.

[00:37:30] So Chris says they're gonna come home safe, right when they find this guy. So instant deflection there, the detective is like, when we find this guy, they are coming home. When they do, what should we do to them? And Chris hesitates and goes life in prison. 

[00:37:46] The detective says, what if they've hurt them? And Chris says, the death penalty then? But I'm not even sure that's an option in Colorado. Is it? What he doesn't know is that at this point in history, it actually is. 

[00:37:59] The [00:38:00] detective then says, I want to keep talking about things that might make you feel uncomfortable. Like, you've been very open to me about the real difficult conversation that you had with Shannon the morning she disappeared. He's like, a lot of people would say, you don't need to know about any of that, just find my kids. But you've been really willing to answer these questions and I really appreciate that. But now I need to ask you something about your marriage and infidelity. 

[00:38:21] and Chris responds, I would never cheat on my wife. I would never do that. And then he rambles on for like minutes as to why that was the truth. 

[00:38:28] Justifying like who he was as a person, how his friends kind of see him, how his family sees him. He's extremely loyal and things like that. And the detective again, just sits back, listens. They have these long silences and in the end they just say, okay, He then asked Chris if he's willing to do a polygraph and Chris is like, yes, of course.

[00:38:47] So he agrees to come in the next day at 11 o'clock. And when he arrives, the woman administering the polygraph is super sweet and she's super reassuring. She doesn't seem like she's part of the investigation team at all. She comes across [00:39:00] as someone external. As if she's just kind of like hired to conduct the test.

[00:39:03] Adam Cox: Just doing her job sort of thing. 

[00:39:04] Kyle Risi: Just doing the job, which is by design, like she's dressed really casually. She's wearing like a black and white striped top too. And she puts him at ease. She thoroughly explains how polygraphs work. She's reassuring him. Like there's nothing to be nervous about. She tells him like she's done tons of these before.

[00:39:21] And that if he had nothing to do with Shannon's disappearance, then there was nothing for him to worry about and that they will find out the truth today. And she repeats this line like three or four times, like in a really calming, reassuring tone throughout like their 30 minute conversation. 

[00:39:36] Adam Cox: And is that a tactic because if he has something to do with it, that's going to make him feel, slightly on edge or anxious?

[00:39:44] Kyle Risi: You're on the money. It's 100 percent intentional. If he's innocent, it acts as a psychological reassurance. But if he's guilty, it adds psychological pressure, something that can amplify the reading in the machines. 

[00:39:56] Adam Cox: I imagine it kind of like brings any kind of tension or anxiety to the [00:40:00] surface. So he's probably doing his best if he is guilty to go, don't think of this, don't think of this, whatever, trying to keep himself calm to try and, I don't know, fool the test. Yeah. But by that kind of reassurance, that's probably going to make you feel on edge. 

[00:40:14] Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly. And like, when she says this, It is in a really reassuring kind of jokey tone, she says, if you have something to do with this disappearance, and she sort of laughs at this moment, and then she says, it would be really dumb for you to come into the session today. And he's like, and he agrees, and he's like, yep, yeah, of course, of course, I'm here because I'm innocent, etc.

[00:40:33] Then she says, before we start, we first need to establish an emotional baseline for your responses. Basically, she's going to ask him a bunch of questions where they both 100 percent know the answer to. And he's supposed to like deliberately lie when he responds, and I think they have him like write down a number and then she asks, did you write down this number or that number? And he has to lie, but she already knows the number that is written down, right?

[00:40:54] They go through the exercise and then she says, wow, I have to say, you're actually a really bad [00:41:00] liar. And again, saying this is really intentional, right? She explains when you answer these control questions, the ones that you lied on really registered really high up on the chart as a lie.

[00:41:10] So you actually did a really great job. This tells me that you actually know that it's wrong to lie. So thank you for being a terrible liar. So clever. I loved watching this interrogation video. 

[00:41:21] Adam Cox: Do they do this to every person they 

[00:41:24] Kyle Risi: Yeah, they employ all these tactics and that's what makes this case so fascinating because they have all this interrogation videos and there's like six hours of it.

[00:41:31] You could just get lost in it. They explain all these different kind of techniques that they use in order to kind of like reassure them or make them feel in a certain way. A good example is when they're interrogating or interviewing him. They walk in, Chris is sitting near the door.

[00:41:46] The detective comes around and sits against the wall. But before they start the questioning, he says, I just want to rearrange the room a little bit. The detective gets up. He asked Chris to sit in the corner of the room and then the detective sits in front of him and [00:42:00] the door. So basically it creates like a barrier between the door, which kind of breaks down his confidence and sense of security knowing that the only way out of this room is 

[00:42:09] Adam Cox: through the detective. 

[00:42:10] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So they employ all these different things, even the way that he's sitting and the way that he asks questions, these long silences, they're all designed to do something very specific. 

[00:42:19] Adam Cox: It's kind of fascinating, really. 

[00:42:20] Kyle Risi: Unbelievably fascinating.

[00:42:22] So this polygraph woman, she then says, Great. You're a terrible liar and I thank you for that. 

[00:42:28] Chris is like, ha ha, great. And he's like kind of sweating from his temple. Right. She then says the coolest thing about this right now is that only one of us knows the truth, but in about two minutes. There's going to be two of us. And she's like, Okay, you ready? And he's like, Yep. 

[00:42:44] Wow, that's an interesting way of phrasing it. 

[00:42:48] She goes, Do you understand that I will only ask you questions about what we've discussed? He goes, Yes. 

[00:42:54] Regarding Shanann's disappearance, do you intend to answer all the questions truthfully? [00:43:00] Yes. 

[00:43:00] Is your name Christopher? Yes. 

[00:43:02] Before 2018, did you ever lose your temper with someone that you cared about? No. 

[00:43:07] Did you physically cause Shanann's disappearance? No. 

[00:43:10] Were you born in 1985? Yes. 

[00:43:14] Before 2018, did you ever say anything out of anger to someone you loved? No.

[00:43:20] Are you lying about the last time you saw Hannan? No. 

[00:43:24] Are you currently in the state of Colorado? Yes. 

[00:43:27] Before 2018, did you ever want to hurt someone to get even with them? No. 

[00:43:33] Do you know where Shanan is now? No. 

[00:43:36] In that moment, her chirpy tone is gone. She says, this portion of the test is now complete. Please take the instrument out of operation.

[00:43:44] I'll be right back. 

[00:43:45] God. 

[00:43:46] Kyle Risi: Fuck! 

[00:43:47] She's changed. She is changed. That whole thing. Was completely orchestrated and very intentional from her demeanour, the way she was dressed, the way she made him feel relaxed, the 30 minute conversation, [00:44:00] everything she said was scripted to the letter and it was just incredible.

[00:44:05] And I think when you are watching this footage, you don't realise that until this moment here where she goes, the test is now complete. 

[00:44:13] Adam Cox: And I wonder what kind of training you go through to do that. It must have been quite intense training to come across in this way. And what I also quite liked about it was the questions, because I'm guessing he is the one that's guilty here, They switch between ones which are definitely yes and no, so that, I don't know, fool or trick his brain a little bit.

[00:44:32] Kyle Risi: It's interesting, they do explain that. So basically what it does is those filler questions like, are you in the state of Colorado? They are to kind of like, from the previous question, to almost reset you. It's like a palate cleanser. Like a palate cleanser course between kind of main courses. Yeah.

[00:44:47] So it kind of does that. And also they also know the answer to those questions as well. So they're also always registering that baseline again. Okay. How does this compare to the baseline? We know that his name is Chris. 

[00:44:57] Adam Cox: Goes back to baseline. Next question. Oh, it [00:45:00] spikes up. He's lying. Yeah. 

[00:45:02] Kyle Risi: Fascinating stuff.

[00:45:03] So she comes back in with a detective. Point blank, they say to him, it is completely clear that you've not been honest during this test. You did not pass the polygraph and now we need to talk about what actually happened and I feel like you're probably ready to do that. Of course, Chris is like, I promise I'm not lying.

[00:45:19] He's clearly freaking out now, right? 

[00:45:21] The detective just looks at him and says, Chris, stop. Just stop. Just take a deep breath for me. 

[00:45:25] Here's the thing, the polygraph test only confirmed what the police already knew, because while they were questioning Chris putting him through this polygraph, they'd already taken a trip out to the oil field where he was working that day, just to cover all their bases.

[00:45:38] The area that he was working in that morning was just completely barren. It's a flat, empty field in the middle of nowhere, all that's there are these just two giant oil silos and that is where they spotted the fitted sheet missing from their bed.

[00:45:53] When they investigate further they discover Shannon's body buried in a shallow grave, but the kids are not there. 

[00:45:59] So back in the [00:46:00] interrogation room, they tell Chris that the jig is up and that he needs to start talking, but he's just denying, denying, denying. Finally, he's really emotional.

[00:46:09] He just says, can I just talk to my dad, please? And the police are just not getting anywhere. So in the end, they just agree. His dad comes into the room. Of course, this has all been recorded. Chris is really upset. And through his tears, he whispers that Shanann had smothered the kids that morning and that he'd killed her in a fit of rage and his dad is like, No, what are you talking about? His dad has no idea how to process what he's just heard. And then eventually the police come back in, they watch the entire recording and they discuss what Chris has just said.

[00:46:39] And they look him in the eye and they say, are you comfortable with the public knowing what Shanann did to your girls? And he says, yes, because that's what happened. And they need to know the truth.

[00:46:49] Adam Cox: I don't buy that. I don't think. 

[00:46:52] Kyle Risi: wasn't the only one who gave a statement to police that day. While he was being interviewed, a work colleague of his contacted [00:47:00] them. Her name was Nikki Kissinger and she explained that she met Chris at work in June, so 8 weeks prior, and that they had been in a romantic relationship ever since.

[00:47:10] Really? Yep. Remember when Shannon and the kids went to North Carolina over the summer for that 6 week period? Well Chris didn't go. Really? By that point, he had already lost a tonne of weight using Shanann's weight loss patches. He was working out more. He had never really gotten any female attention growing up.

[00:47:27] Shanann was like his first ever girlfriend and then they obviously got married. He's now a good looking guy. He starts feeling good about himself and Nikki was very interested in him. So she decided to pursue him. 

[00:47:37] Adam Cox: I did think that was weird that he would go almost a whole summer not seeing his kids. I just, that just doesn't sit right with me. 

[00:47:44] Kyle Risi: I mean, if you have to work, you have to work. 

[00:47:46] Adam Cox: Yeah, but to go for five weeks, you would have broken it up. You would have done something different. 

[00:47:50] Kyle Risi: Exactly. And so when Shanann went to North Carolina with the kids, this relationship between him and Nicky just blossomed. Nicky said that she had no idea that he was married because he wasn't wearing a wedding ring. [00:48:00] She knew he had kids, but he told her that they were in the process of a separation. 

[00:48:04] She had also been to their house a few times, and of course the family wasn't there. So she just trusted that he was telling the truth.

[00:48:10] But when she started seeing in the news and hearing what was going on from her other colleagues, she was like, what the fuck? 

[00:48:16] So I guess during those five weeks, he wasn't feeling it was Shanann. And on top of their marital issues, They were already dealing with a lot of financial problems as well. They were already 70, 000 in debt, not counting their mortgage, which was like 3, 000 a month. Shanann's Lexus was costing them like 600 a month and the kids new school was 25, 000 a year.

[00:48:39] They just didn't have enough money coming in. And at the time their HOA was suing them for back dues. They even filed for bankruptcy in 2015. So they were just spending way more than they were making. 

[00:48:50] And so before Nikki came along, Chris and Shanann were probably feeling that pressure, but then when Nikki entered the picture, it was like bingo, instant new family, right? They start making [00:49:00] plans for the future, talking about formalising his separation by filing for divorce.

[00:49:04] They even discuss having kids together. He says, I've always wanted a boy. I only have two girls, And Nikki's like, I'll give you your first boy. 

[00:49:12] Adam Cox: Well, one, you can't guarantee that. And two, that's just a bit weird. And also really insensitive to having two daughters. Yes, you can wish to have a son, I'm sure. But I don't know, he seems very quick to move on. 

[00:49:23] Kyle Risi: Let me tell you why that's crap. Because here's a real kicker. On May the 28th that year, Shanann surprises Chris with the news that she's actually pregnant. At that point he is super excited to remember he hadn't met Nikki at this point, right? He won't meet her till the month later 

[00:49:38] But also that baby was going to be a boy and they were planning on naming him Niko So that means that when Chris murdered Shanann, she was already four months pregnant. 

[00:49:47] Adam Cox: Really? So he was willing to 

[00:49:50] Kyle Risi: Not willing, he did.

[00:49:51] What the heck. So when Chris tells Nikki that he's always wanted a boy, What he was really saying was that he didn't want a boy, or any baby, with [00:50:00] Shanann. And Of course he doesn't tell Nicki that Shanann is pregnant, because A, that would prove that they weren't actually separated And B There's a good chance that Nick could probably run for the hills, right? So he spends the next five weeks with Nicky.

[00:50:11] He flies out to North Carolina in their final week. And the night he arrives, Shanann has like an awful headache. So he gives her 80 milligrams of oxycodone and makes her believe that it's Tylenol. He knows that oxycodone can cause a miscarriage. So he's hoping that will happen. Shannan spends the rest of the night throwing up and Chris does nothing to help her. 

[00:50:33] Luckily, the baby is fine, and I don't know if this is fortunate or unfortunate, but Chris is still now stuck with a problem. So now he's determined to kind of work out what his next move is.

[00:50:43] And my point there is that if the baby did miscarry, would he then go off and just file for divorce? But Shannan is still pregnant, will Niki want to stay with him? Because he's got a young baby and also proves that he's been lying over the last few months. 

[00:50:57] Adam Cox: Yeah. Okay. I guess his plan A has not [00:51:00] worked and he's going to be resorted to do something more extreme. 

[00:51:03] Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly. Of course things don't get any better when he gets back to Colorado. Now he's terrified that Shanann's pregnancy would get back to Nikki. So to cover this up he ends up deleting his Facebook so she wouldn't find out and at this point he starts plotting how he's going to kill Shanann so he could have access to his new life. What a bastard. 

[00:51:21] Like, bro, it's called divorce. 

[00:51:23] Adam Cox: Yeah, I don't understand. It's so 

[00:51:25] Kyle Risi: selfish. Like I said, I guess a divorce would mess up his relationship with Nikki, right?

[00:51:29] Because Shanann would still be pregnant. 

[00:51:31] Adam Cox: So, what about that? You've got a family, and do you not care about the mother of your children? Regardless, you might not be in love with her, but they, they need a mother. 

[00:51:39] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So when they get back from Colorado, Shanann feels him pulling away even more. The biggest clue is that she plans on having a gender reveal party, but Chris is so upset that they have to actually cancel it in the end.

[00:51:51] And so the night before she leaves for Arizona, she writes him a letter telling him how much she loves him and how she wants to fix their marriage.

[00:51:59] Later, [00:52:00] that letter would be found in the trash with some pages missing, so I guess that makes it clear that he'd already made his mind up. 

[00:52:06] Adam Cox: Mmm, don't throw that in the trash, but I guess he's hiding evidence there. 

[00:52:10] Kyle Risi: I don't know if he's necessarily hiding evidence, the fact that the pages are missing, sure, but the fact that he's throwing it into the trash kind of says a lot about how he's feeling about her.

[00:52:18] Adam Cox: Yeah, but then If, what he's saying that she had tried to strangle the kids, or did strangle the kids, I just don't see a mum ever doing that. No, I don't. Not, not. I mean it happens. It happens. But I don't see it in this case. This sounds, that letter proves that she was kind of in a loving place, wanted a family and everything.

[00:52:36] I don't think she would flip like that. 

[00:52:38] Kyle Risi: Mm hmm. While she's away in Arizona, she grows even more suspicious that there might be another woman because on the Saturday, Chris hires a babysitter, something that he's never done before. That night, he takes Nikki to a bar. He pays for dinner using a credit card.

[00:52:51] Before, he'd always use gift cards from work in order to cover up their dates because he knows that won't appear on actual statements. 

[00:52:58] Shanann checks the statements. [00:53:00] She notices two things. First, he was supposed to be at home with the kids. And second, he spent way more. So this leads to kind of like a heated exchange of a text, and this is what Shanann was confiding in Nicole about during their trip. So Nicole knew how bad things had gotten. 

[00:53:16] Adam Cox: So Nicole knew that Chanel had suspicions that he was cheating. Mm hmm. Yeah, 100%. And that's why the police were asking if he'd ever, well, as bad as infidelity. 

[00:53:26] Kyle Risi: Yeah, for sure. That's one of the first things that she told the police when they arrived at the house, right? They'd been fighting over the weekend. Mm. And I guess maybe it didn't matter to him that he was getting sloppy because he knew that he was going to kill Shanann in a couple of days. 

[00:53:37] So, in the interrogation room, Chris confesses he claims that, that morning, Shanann, unable to imagine a life without him, decided to kill their kids. He says that he walks in, he saw what she was doing, and then he killed her in a fit of rage. He then tells police that the world needed to know what she did.

[00:53:54] Adam Cox: That also doesn't quite make sense because Throughout this he's been quite cool calm and collected [00:54:00] and quite, willing to be helpful to the police But if he knew that his wife had just killed his children He would be distraught. Sure. And he hasn't let on about that whatsoever 

[00:54:11] Kyle Risi: 100 percent yeah 100 percent Adam, of course, this is all bullshit.

[00:54:16] And now I'm going to tell you what actually happened on the morning of August the 14th 

[00:54:19] But I have to warn you this is going to be really difficult to hear. 

[00:54:22] This is actually from Chris's eventual confession That's pieced together when a journalist started writing to him in prison.

[00:54:28] Chris basically says that he woke up at 4 a. m He went into each of the girls rooms and he smothered them to death That's Bella and Cece who were four and three years old at the time 

[00:54:39] He then goes back into the main bedroom and he strangled Shanann. While she was dead on the bed, Bella walked into the room. Chris doesn't know what to do. He thought that she was dead. So he puts her back in her room. 

[00:54:51] He pulls the truck up into the garage. He wraps Shanann in their bedsheet and loads her into the back seat of the truck. He goes upstairs to get Bella and to [00:55:00] get Cece's body.

[00:55:01] He discovers that Cece is also alive. So he loads them both in the back seat, meaning that they have to sit on, or between, or next to their dead mother. Oh my god. 

[00:55:12] Bella says, Daddy, I can't get into the car because my car seat is in Mummy's car. He says it's fine, just get in. 

[00:55:18] He then drives them to the work site, which is an hour drive away. He says he doesn't know why he went there, he was just in autopilot. He says all he remembers is being very angry that the girls were alive because they weren't supposed to be.

[00:55:31] So there's no remorse, there's no guilt, there's nothing there. He's just angry that they're alive. 

[00:55:37] Has he just flipped? What's happened to him?

[00:55:39] When they arrived he says that he killed Cece first by placing her blankie over her face and he smothered her. 

[00:55:45] He then turned to Bella who asked, what's happened to Cece? Because of course she's just seen it all, right? He then began to do the same to her but apparently she screamed.

[00:55:55] She was like, Daddy, no. But according to the evidence it's clear that she fought him back. [00:56:00] In the end. He couldn't smother her so he strangled her to death.

[00:56:03] He buries Shanann in the fitted sheet in a shallow grave he digs. After that, he puts the girls into separate oil tanker silos in the middle of this field. Adam, they're massive. They're like maybe four stories tall. So he has to climb up a ladder with each of them just to reach the top.

[00:56:19] And when he gets there, there's a hatch that's just eight and a half inches wide. He then forces each of his daughter's bodies Into those tiny openings one by one.

[00:56:29] Officers were then sent to the site to recover Bella and Cece and Adam. It is a whole operation their bodies had sunk to the bottom of each one of these tanks and because it's crude oil it starts to kind of corrode your flesh really really quickly so they have to drain the entire silo before they can even see the little girls inside there.

[00:56:47] Adam Cox: I don't know what to say, it's just, it's horrible. 

[00:56:50] Kyle Risi: The coroner and the detectives, they find hair around the eight and a half inch hatch, which indicates that he had to force them through that opening, something that was corroborated by the [00:57:00] bruising on their tiny bodies.

[00:57:02] They also find oil residue in their lungs, which means that both of them were still alive when they were dumped into those tanks, Adam.

[00:57:08] They were just three and four years old. It's just incredibly graphic and really intense that after all of this is done, the officers that were involved, they were sent off on leave because of the PTSD that they had suffered. 

[00:57:22] Adam Cox: I'm not surprised. I mean, I thought he was a piece of shit, but this is something else.

[00:57:28] Kyle Risi: What is so gross is that throughout all of this Chris just manages to maintain this air of calm and clear headedness Even when the police show up, when he's being interviewed by the press, when he's being interrogated, even when he's taking the polygraph test, right? He doesn't seem to show any concern at all. You must be some kind of monster to be able to maintain that degree of calmness knowing what you did.

[00:57:50] Adam Cox: I wonder if he's, I don't know, has he always been like this? I'm trying to think, has he always been deep down just not quite right or something just flipped in him? 

[00:57:57] Kyle Risi: Completely the opposite, Adam. He's [00:58:00] always been really calm, collected, really passive, really responsible, really caring, really gentle. It's just completely alien.

[00:58:07] It's not who he is as a person. Obviously, he's done this. So, It's always been in him, but yeah, there's a question of, did he, did he snap? 

[00:58:16] Adam Cox: Where did this come from? 

[00:58:18] Kyle Risi: After doing this, he calls the girls school to tell them that they'll be unrolling. He contacts a realtor to put the house up for sale. And throughout all of this, he is constantly texting Nikki. In fact, on his way home from the oil field, his Spotify playlist history shows that he played Metallica. then searched for the lyrics on Google and sent those lyrics to Nicky via text. The song was Battery, which included the line, Cannot kill the family.

[00:58:44] Sick fuck. 

[00:58:46] Adam Cox: Why would he send that? 

[00:58:48] Kyle Risi: It's obviously a song that resonated with them both during their time together. I don't think it's got anything to do with the fact that it contained those lyrics or that he was sending a message saying that he'd done what he did. Nikki, I do not believe she had anything to [00:59:00] do with this, but it's sick that he was listening to Metallica on the way home.

[00:59:05] Adam Cox: I mean, there's nothing about what he did that makes sense. But the thought that he went to unroll his kids to save money, I just, I can't with this guy. 

[00:59:14] Kyle Risi: I just don't know how he thought he was even going to get away with this. He must be the dumbest criminal we've ever covered to think that he could even try and get away with this.

[00:59:22] Adam Cox: Tell me that he gets the death sentence or something, like he must get a punishment. 

[00:59:27] Kyle Risi: He is arrested on August the 15th, and he never left the police station after failing that polygraph.

[00:59:32] In the state of Colorado, murder carries an automatic life sentence and the DA initially they did try to pursue the death penalty but Shannon's family just pleaded against it. At his sentencing, Frankie read the following statement.

[00:59:44] We beg the district attorney to spare your life because we believe no one has a right to take another life, even someone like you. 

[00:59:52] Shannon's mother said, I didn't want the death penalty because that's not my right. Your life is between you and your God. 

[00:59:59] [01:00:00] And he sits and he has to listen to all these witness statements at the end of this kind of this hearing.

[01:00:06] And. Yeah, there's very little emotional response that he gives. There is some, but there should have been way more. He should have broken down, listening to the impact that he'd had on the lives that were left behind. It was heartbreaking. 

[01:00:20] On November the 6th, 2018, Chris pleaded guilty to all nine counts, which were first degree murder for Shanann, Bella, and Cece, the unlawful termination of a pregnancy, which is baby Nico, and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

[01:00:34] By pleading guilty, of course he avoids a trial, so his sentencing was set for November the 19th, 2018, when the judge handed down this sentence and said the following. 

[01:00:44] This is, perhaps, the most inhumane, vicious crime I have encountered in the thousands of cases I have handled. Anything less than the maximum sentence would diminish the gravity of this offence. Deputies, I respectfully ask you to take the defendant [01:01:00] into custody so he may serve the rest of his life in the Department of Corrections. 

[01:01:04] And there is no possibility of parole for him ever, Adam. He will never be a free man again. 

[01:01:08] Adam Cox: Good. He doesn't deserve parole. Whatsoever. 

[01:01:10] Kyle Risi: Of course, in prison, there is serious safety concerns because honestly, who wouldn't want to mess this guy up, right? Like a lot can be overlooked in prison, but killing or abusing kids is a surefire way of getting yourself shanked, right? So they move him to a prison in Wisconsin and he is on lockdown for 23 hours a day.

[01:01:26] He only gets one hour out of his cell to shower and to exercise. And that is it. And that will be it for the rest of his life. 

[01:01:32] Over the years since this happened, he began corresponding with a journalist and author named, Sherilyn Cadel. He basically agreed to exchange letters with her and eventually she ends up writing a book called Letters from Christopher which reveals a lot more information about what he did, like how we try to make Shanann miscarry on their first night in North Carolina. And also how he smothered the girls before he actually strangled Shanann. 

[01:01:55] Which is really strange to me, you would think like you would kill Shanann first. I'm not, [01:02:00] this is not a playbook about how to commit murder. But you would think that you would at least kill Shanann first because God forbid if she woke up and she saw you smothering the kids, his life is over. There's no accounting for a mother's rage in that instance. Do you know what I mean? 

[01:02:15] Adam Cox: Yeah. 

[01:02:15] Kyle Risi: We also learned that he chose not to bury the girls with Shannan because he hated her so much that he chose to keep them separate.

[01:02:22] It is important to note that he will not make any money from this book, as mandated by the judge during his sentencing. But, he does say that every day, he hears Bella saying, Daddy, no. 

[01:02:33] Which, I think is exactly what he deserves. He deserves to live with that every single day. 

[01:02:38] Adam Cox: know, I don't know. It's odd that he'd want to like, reveal that to a journalist. I just, I don't know. He just, he needs to be forgotten about. 

[01:02:45] Kyle Risi: I think he does, yeah. The thing is though, Shanann, Bella, Cece and Nico, they were all buried under Shanann's maiden name in North Carolina, which I think is appropriate.

[01:02:52] As for Nikki, of course, she doesn't stay with Chris. I don't think there was any time for their relationship to even take off, [01:03:00] which makes the question, like, in Chris's mind, was all of this really worth it? 

[01:03:04] Adam Cox: Just get a divorce. If you're that unhappy. Yeah. Just getting a divorce. 

[01:03:08] Kyle Risi: There are rumours where people speculate that maybe she was more involved than she was actually letting on, but I honestly don't think that that is the case, especially since she was the one who came forward, right?

[01:03:17] You could argue that she realised that he wasn't going to get away with it at some point down the line, so she turns on him, but honestly I just think that's speculation. I mean, it's a five week relationship, you are still in that stage where you're trying to impress your partner, borderlining, borderline making it seem like you've never farted in your whole life.

[01:03:33] Let alone bringing up the idea of killing your entire family. So I don't buy that at all. 

[01:03:39] What I did find interesting though, is that there is like a profile category for people like Chris Watts that are called family annihilators. And what's even more fascinating is that in these cases, they tend to follow a very distinct pattern.

[01:03:51] The perpetrators always are typically white men in their 30s. They often commit their crimes in August, when the kids aren't in school, [01:04:00] it happens on a Sunday. So granted, in this case, obviously it was the early hours of Monday morning, but still it's almost never spontaneous, it's always premeditated, morbidly, Chris Watts fits this profile perfectly. 

[01:04:14] Adam Cox: That's weird that there's a pattern with this, that there's enough people out there that have committed this crime, that there is a pattern, wow. 

[01:04:22] Kyle Risi: Yeah. And to be honest, if it wasn't for Nicole, who knows how far he would have gotten in covering this up.

[01:04:28] I don't think he expected to be caught so fast. He probably assumed that he could go back home that night, cover up his tracks a bit, plant some seeds, make it look like Shannon had just run off. Who knows? But thanks to Nicole and their friendship, that fucker was busted in less than 72 hours. 

[01:04:43] Adam Cox: Yeah, good. The police did the right job and Nicole was spot on to be off. I mean, she clearly knew Shanann way better than I did. He did, or anyone else did. Yeah, 

[01:04:53] Kyle Risi: for sure. Now listen, I don't normally believe in signs from the universe, but when the neighbor invites police over to [01:05:00] review the footage from the Ring doorbell, he accesses the footage through his TV by speaking to his remote, right?

[01:05:06] So it's just regular TV broadcasting, and then he will say like, uh, access doorbell footage or whatever. 

[01:05:12] But for some reason, the feed keeps switching back to live TV, like showing commercials or whatever's broadcasting on the telly at the time. 

[01:05:20] On two separate occasions, when that happens, you briefly cut to a 3D kind of rendering of a foetus in a heart shaped womb.

[01:05:28] And another time, there's a skull floating in kind of dark water, which kind of sort of looks like oil. And you see all of this on the body cam footage. 

[01:05:36] It's a small minor detail that you might miss. But those are two things that really kind of almost give a clue as to what's happened, right? 

[01:05:45] Adam Cox: That's weird, isn't it?

[01:05:46] Kyle Risi: So bizarre and I watched that this morning and I was like, damn, it's true. Really bizarre. 

[01:05:51] Definitely watch the documentary on Netflix called American Murder, The Family Next Door. Like I said, it's the most watched documentary in recent years. [01:06:00] Also read the Letters from Christopher by Cheryl Cattle.

[01:06:03] There's a lot of extra detail kind of in those books that weren't in the original kind of storytelling.

[01:06:08] Adam Cox: I don't know if I'd want to personally. 

[01:06:10] Kyle Risi: Yeah. No, I mean, if you are really interested in criminology and you want to understand the psychology behind and why he, he did these types of things. I think there's nothing wrong with having a morbid kind of intrigue around these types of things. That's why true crime is so popular, right? 

[01:06:25] Adam Cox: I guess from a, yeah. A study in perspective. Exactly. 

[01:06:29] Kyle Risi: And that's exactly why I said, just bear in mind, he's not going to be getting any of the proceeds for this. Sherilyn Cattle is a respected journalist, right? So it just helps with kind of in that sphere of things with us trying to understand why as a human race, people would do these sorts of things. 

[01:06:45] Adam Cox: I think, yeah, that's, that's the point, covering this story is looking at that side of things. Yeah. Because it is such an awful, awful story. Yeah. I just, yeah, I, I, for, I think, 99 percent of people, [01:07:00] they just can't understand this. 

[01:07:01] Kyle Risi: For sure. And Adam, that was the tragic story of the Watts family murders. 

[01:07:06] Adam Cox: That was, yeah. Yeah, I wasn't prepared for that. 

[01:07:09] Kyle Risi: No, I did say it was going to be difficult. Maybe I should have give you a warning, give you the option to opt out. And if you say yes, I just do the whole podcast episode with Keith. 

[01:07:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, you'd just be talking to yourself. 

[01:07:19] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I mean, probably the one of the most morbid episodes we've ever done. Maybe I will do something a little bit by heart next week. Maybe Tanya Harding. 

[01:07:28] She broke someone's kneecaps. 

[01:07:30] Adam Cox: Yeah, that's 

[01:07:30] Kyle Risi: fine. Okay, that's fine. That's within the remit. So should we run the outro for this week? 

[01:07:35] Adam Cox: Let's do it.

[01:07:37] Kyle Risi: And that brings us to the end of another episode of the compendium and assembly of fascinating things.

[01:07:42] Adam Cox: Do us a favor and follow us on either Apple or Spotify. 

[01:07:45] Kyle Risi: If you want even more, then you can join our certified freaks tier to unlock our entire archive and delve into exclusive content and get sneak peeks of what's coming up next. We'd love you to be part of our growing community.

[01:07:55] Adam Cox: We drop new episodes every Tuesday. 

[01:07:58] Kyle Risi: And until then, remember, even the [01:08:00] darkest suburban dreams can cast a chilling shadow. See you next time. 

[01:08:04] Adam Cox: See ya.