But she never made it, Sheree vanished. The bodies of a married couple named Kathy and Danny Freeman were found in the wreckage, but they didnt die in the fire. [*] A lawyer for Shananns family said that Chris murdered Shanann during an argument after he asked for a divorce. But none of those descriptions really explain what led him to commit murder. As author Cherlyn Cadle wrote in her book,Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders (via theDaily Mail), "After Christopher killed his family and drove away, Nikki texted him to look up the song by Metallica band called 'Battery.' Shetold The Denver Post in November of that year that she believed him when he said he was separated from his wife and finalizing divorce proceedings. In fact, he was already having an affair with a co-worker and had been chatting casually with her about how he was planning to move out of the family home into an apartment of his own. Wish I could have known her if only to thank her for her contagious enthusiasm. That night, after Shanann returned to the family home complaining of a delayed flight from Scottsdale, the couple began to argue. ", On Aug. 15, 2018, less than a week after his wife and daughters disappeared, Chris Watts failed a polygraph test. But he did give some clues following their murders: He did reveal more about his motive to Cheryln Cadle, a woman he began corresponding with while in prison. if(document.querySelector("#adunit")){ She is currently based in Pennsylvania and loves all things antiques, cilantro, and American history. }); The Generation Why Podcast Blog Updates in the Christopher Watts Case April 02, 2022 Late one night in August 2018, a 34 year old pregnant woman named Shanann Watts arrived home late from a business trip. Chris Watts, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. The Generation Why Podcast released its first episode in 2012 and pioneered the true crime genre in the podcasting world. }); You don't consider others at all, nor think about feelings. Chris spends his days in prison communicating with his many pen pals. When she realized her marriage was crumbling before her, she tried everything she could to save it. While Chris and Shanann Watts appeared to have a perfect marriage to onlookers, their relationship suddenly changed in the weeks leading up to the murders. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Heres how the case developed. His insistence that he wanted his family back and that his pregnant wife and two young girls' disappearance was tearing me apart would have been more convincing had he shown even a shred of emotion. I found this podcast just last year, and have been listening and catching up since! Once again, no one was buying the story. Like seriously! Chris Watts was not the loving father and husband that others believed him to be. The COLD team seeks to answer the question: what really happened to Sheree Warren?Hey Prime Members, you can binge all 10 episodes of COLD: The Search for Sheree ad-free on Amazon Music. They also believe Watts decision to give our reporter, Tomas Hoppough, that impromptu interview on his front porch was a textbook attempt to show homicide detectives that he was just a regular guy trying to help find his family. ga('ads.send', { Watts confessed that he poisoned Shanann with the painkiller Oxycodone, hoping to cause her to miscarry, according to The Daily Mail. eventAction: 'click_adunit' Shanann's texts with friends also revealed issues, according to Fox 31 News in Colorado. She planned to ask him what he wanted to do. She ceased contact with him and vowed not to communicate again until his family came home. According to documents released by the Weld County District Attorney's Office, Shanann had grown suspicious of her husband. Her final Instagram post was one of joy and happiness: You know what I love about waking up everydayIts a brand new day to have a fresh start, to be better than I was yesterday, To help someone feel better and happier, to make someone smile and laugh! she wrote. Yeah, Ill have pizza. Christopher Watts during his arraignment hearing at the Weld County Courthouse in Greeley, Colo., on Aug. 21, 2018. RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Associated Press. Its all going so well for Jill and Dean, until Halloween night, when Dean disappears. He was unhappy about her pregnancy, and she worried that he wouldnt be able to handle a third child. ", The Reason True Crime Fans Are Obsessed With Chris Watts. Soon after his arrest, he confessed to killing Shanann after failing a polygraph test. On Aug. 15, the day after his interview with Denver7, an ABC affiliate, Mr. Watts was arrested and accused of We didn't just start dating yesterday! media-tech companies with hubs around the world. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Thank you listeners! Fans of true crime entertainment have been obsessed with the gruesome familicide for years. That same evening Mr. Watts had been chatting with a co-worker via text message, where he revealed that the next morning that he planned to drive to one of the many oil plants owned by the oil company that they worked for. Chris Watts lies and ever-evolving story give both Flater and Nicoletti a very clear picture of who he is and why he saw murder as the best way to get what he wants. Jill is left to pick up the pieces.From Wondery and Novel, comes a new series. Just days before Christopher Watts was After three engagements, two divorces and one affair, shes beginning to worry that love is only true in fairy tales. In a disturbing prison letter obtained by The Daily Mail, Chris went into more detail about how and why he committed this heinous crime. We are one of the worlds fastest growing He avoided an honest conversation with his wife for weeks in favor of pursuing his secret affair but Shanann wasnt easily fooled, deep down she knew. eventAction: 'render' The party was for the younger brother of a girl who babysat the Watts kids, and she told investigators that they left around 3:30PM. Sadism, in not so many words, is revenge for humiliation by taking pleasure inflicting pain onto the humiliator. Phoenix, Arizona. Per People, "On July 24, Kessinger Google-searched the phrase 'Man I'm having affair with says he will leave his wife,'" which suggested that she may have known that Chris was yet to split from Shanann, and was hoping that he would leave his spouse to be with her. The bodies ofthree year old Bella and four year old Celest were discovered nearby. When her car mysteriously surfaced weeks later, hundreds of miles away in Las Vegas, no one could say how it got there.When a young mother disappears under unexplained circumstances, police always turn suspicious eyes towards the husband. She also had a boyfriend, a former cop named Cary Hartmann, who lived a sinister double life.Season three follows two suspects men who both raised suspicion for investigators. A makeshift memorial to Shanann, Bella and Celeste Watts in Frederick, Colo., in 2018. RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post, via Associated Press. He's not a monster.". Authorities initially imprisoned him in Colorado but moved him to Wisconsin for security reasons. However, other viewers reportedly suggested that, rather than a ghost, the young girl was simply the daughter of Shanann's friend, Nickole Atkinson, who alerted police when Shanann missed a doctor's appointment and failed to reply to any text messages or phone calls that morning. ", After failing the test, Chris confessed to a version of the truth, which included him alleging that he'd only murdered his wife, Shanann Watts, after she supposedly smothered their two daughters. However, McMahon claimed that she saw a darker side of Chris during the weeks they were seeing each other. September 1st, 2016. Throughout her time away, she texted friends about some of the issues going on between her and Chris. Chris had reportedly told Shanann he didnt believe that they were compatible anymore, and he had refused couples counseling. They were soon reported missing by a family friend. 2021 Wondery LLC. In 2015, Chris and Shannan had their second daughter, Celeste, and filed for bankruptcy that same year. #ChrisWatts #ShannanWatts #PsychicMedium, A post shared by Shavonda Tate (@shavondaspsychicreadings) on Dec 27, 2019 at 1:25pm PST. Watts enjoys a lonely existence in prison, where child Looking at their social media it would seem the couple were living the perfect family life, but behind closed doors, the pair were having big financial problems. In turn, he killed Shanann in a fit of rage over her actions. Michael J. Rourke, the Weld County district attorney, said Mr. Watts had smothered his daughters.. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. The four of them were constantly smiling in pictures and Shanann often wrote out long captions about how much she loved her husband and kids and how happy they were to have a new baby on the way. ga('ads.send', { window.googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotOnload', function(event) { Shanann felt Chris wasn't doing enough to confront his parents about their behavior with the children and allegedly told him to "find his b***s" so he could stand up for his family. What he was trying to do was permanently erase all traces of all four of his flesh and blood family Shanann, Niko, Bella and Celeste. He claims the crime happened after he and his wife had an emotional conversation about separating as he was having an affair with someone he worked with. Chris' seemingly calm demeanor while picking up a snack now seems particularly haunting as he'd only recently murdered and buried his family, having initially left his home around 5:30 a.m. that same day. He refused to admit to killing his own girls and insisted that he had only killed his wife in retaliation to her killing their children. Roll credits.But that would be boring, wouldnt it? At this moment in time, the motive behind the crime is unclear. If youre asking that, you probably arent. Instead, this is a love story like no other. They never would come home. While on a trip to North Carolina with her daughters to see family before her death, Shanann texted Chris about her feelings. https://wondery.app.link/generationwhy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. Hes looking at it as a cognitive exercise.. His sentence also included 48 years for the unlawful termination of Ms. Wattss pregnancy and 36 years for the disposal of the victims bodies. "I knew if I took my hands off of her, she would still keep me from Nikki [Nichol]," he wrote in one of the letters. ga('ads.send', { In hindsight, this normalcy appeared to be extremely chilling. As a way to explain away his failing result, Watts admitted to an affair. Get bonus content from Generation Why at: patreon.com/generationwhyListen ad free with Wondery+. pg.acq.push(function() { Empathy is something victims lack, and a lot of crime podcasts lack the anger towards predators. 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