Fewer cases in recent times have been so ingrained in our nation's collective conscience than the story of the Watts Family Far off from the work of the textbook serial killer, the following crimes testify that no one is immune to the inter determinism of human nature no matter how ordinary the background or how favorable the current circumstances. The existence of crime is an uncontrolled part of life. And we tend as a society to demand all the specifics and details anytime something tragic or shocking happens, no matter how far removed the event may be from our personal experience of the world. Not only is it endlessly fascinating to probe the human condition, but perhaps in some ways learning all there is to know about a certain crime makes us feel like we're building a fortress of information that will help prevent anything of the sort from happening to us or those we care about. The enthrallment of this case was was unparagoned to others like it mainly due to the unprecedented amount of video footage that was released to the public domain. We as the viewer were able to watch each and every sequence of events unfold cognate to a virtual reality crime simulator, only this was a real-life occurrence with real people and real consequences. The concern, doubt, anguish, fear passion and burden was all genuine. The distinctive and various emotions at our raid were far more gripping and engrossing to its viewing audience than any oscar-worthy production could ever hope to be. The unraveling mystery was without limit and we were only drawn in further by the foreknowledge of this story's tragic conclusion making us both appalled and beguiled simultaneously. The drama began shortly after the Frederick Police Department received a call from Nicole Atkinson the best friend of Shanann Watts. She had arranged to drive Shanann into town that same day for a pregnancy checkup but there was no answer when she knocked at the door, nor any response to her text messages or phone calls. After noticing her shoes were still at the front door, she became concerned and called 911 Nicole? Yes. What's going on? So, my friend, we were out of town for a business trip this weekend, right and I dropped her off at two o'clock this morning She's 15 weeks pregnant She wasn't feeling well And she had a doctor's appointment this morning at 9:00 And I told her to let me know if she needed me to take her. She's got two little girls. I called, I texted, her car's in the garage, her shoes she wears every single day are by the front door How you doing? You seen your neighbors today? No? Okay. What's Chris's phone number? Chris's phone number is... Hey Chris, Officer Coonrod, Frederick Police Department. Pretty good. So, do you have any idea where your wife is? Right. Well, my concern is her car's here they're saying she is diabetic. I don't want her... ...she's upstairs and can't respond... Okay About how far out are you? Okay. Alright, he said like five minutes. It's not a sure sign of guilty conduct, yet the fact that Chris made the officer wait for his return would have most likely alerted some minor suspicion. In normal circumstances a husband receiving a call from the police saying they were concerned about the safety of their pregnant wife and children in most cases would have given them permission to immediately kick the door down. It's a truly somber awareness to know that the man stepping out of the car had only a very short time ago dumped his infant daughter's bodies into an oil tank and buried his pregnant wife in a shallow grave. So this is the only vehicle she would have? The familiar routine for anyone checking for someone's presence inside a house, whether it be an emergency or otherwise, is to immediately call out to them for instantaneous reassurance. Chris remains silent but instead feels the need to examine his wife's car before subtly sneaking through the internal garage door. He then disappears for one minute and seven seconds before letting the neighbors and police officer inside. Only Chris will know what he carried out during that time period but it's safe to assume that his curious behavior was not going unnoticed made evident by the unsettled gaze of Nicole as he opens the door. Do you mind if I come in, Chris? There were multiple key moments captured from inside the house which may not have been noticed immediately by the officer but would have no doubt been gathered by forensics upon further investigation. The most overt peculiarity was Chris's interaction with his phone. The guise of his thumb movement would have given the impression he was texting someone which would have seemed very peculiar as the normal response would be to frantically call people rather than text, given the circumstances. Hindsight gives us a clearer picture of Chris's introversion which is that he was most likely using his phone to avoid eye contact and progressive dialogue with the officer. What time do you leave today? What time did I Ieave there? No, here. Oh, usually between 5:30, 6:00. Was Shanann here then? Yes. Does she usually watch the kids? Or do you have daycare watch them? No, she usually watches the kids, if they're not at school. You guys have any kind of issues? Marital issues or...? You are? How's that going? Civil for the most part? Or...? Additionally, we are presented with the subtle cues of Chris's forethought cover story being that his wife simply ran off with the kids after a breakdown in the marriage. The rest of Chris's conduct could be analyzed and dissected in various ways and it would be easy to pick at certain oddities in body language and link them with signs of guilt. Yet without the hindsight we have now, his behavior could just as easily be linked with an innocent man who is understandably concerned and frantic over the disappearance of his family. His very conservant neighbor however had the perceptual advantage of knowing Chris on a semi-personal level and could analyze his kinesics in a far more accurate manner than the police officer. You just wanna go talk to him? I'm gonna get his info real quick... Does he? And that's pretty recently? This was just after the moment he had shown both Chris and the officer his surveillance footage of that same morning capturing only Chris leaving the house after loading multiple unidentified things into his truck. Although not fully incriminating, as Shanann and the kids could have left through the back entrance, this was an extremely detrimental piece of evidence and would have no doubt been extolled by forensics and made Chris an immediate prime suspect. The following day, Chris for some bizarre reason agreed to be interviewed by two separate news stations, where he came across as extremely unimpassioned and detached from the alarming nature of the situation. Like when I got home yesterday, it was like it ghost town, like she wasn't here, kids weren't here. I have no idea like where they went. Right now it's, got K9 units, the Sheriff's Department everybody is like there, they're doing the best right now to figure out like if they can get a scent. If she wasn't here like Where did she go? Like once I got here? It was like alright, who can I call? I called her three times texted her about three times just to say you know What's going on? Like if she's vanished like I want her back so bad, I want those kids back so bad. Right now I don't even want to just like throw anything out there like I hope that she's somewhere safe right now, and with the kids. Last night... I wanted, I wanted that knock on the door I wanted to see those kids run in... just barrel rush me Just give me a hug and knock me on the ground. That's why last night was just horrible. I couldn't do it. that... I just... I'm hoping that somebody sees something or somebody knows something and comes forward. Shanann, Bella, Celeste if you're out there just, just come back. Like if somebody has her just Please bring her back. I need to see everybody. I need to see everybody again. This house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring them back. This could have been construed as Shock Trauma, where a person will turn numb and retreat into themselves as a means of escape yet the viewers watching this live from home were probably thinking what we as the retrospective audience already know. He was called in for questioning four hours later. Alright, let's do this. So, this, 1:48 AM... You know what, let me switch chairs. because, when they come knocking... One of the oldest and most commonly used techniques is for the interrogator to sit between the door and the suspect. This is for the purpose of heightening the feelings of isolation and dependence. It's an indirect subliminal message letting Chris know that the only way out of that room is through the detective. It's an excellent tool for stripping away confidence. Thus increasing the telling signs and body language when information is fabricated. 4:00 AM, that's when my alarm goes off for work. I get dressed, brush my teeth, everything I do upstairs. Okay About 4:15, that's when I Get back, to slide right into bed next to her and start having a conversation with her about having the house up for sale and talking about Something like actually going proceeding with the separation. Okay. And obviously it gets pretty emotional like we're talking about like we felt this disconnection was there, like falling out of love and trying to stay together for the kids' sake, but realizing that doing like our homework, that's not... Most of the time that's not going to work. Yeah. So that's when I got home. I open the garage door and went inside the house and looked everywhere Shanann, Bella, Celeste nowhere to be found Shanann's wedding ring's on the nightstand, her phone's still on the couch, her purse is still there, medicine for the kids still there, the car, the car seats still there, and there's no sign of them anywhere. Okay Was just hoping that... I left all the lights on in the house I was hoping that I'd get a knock on a door. Well, yeah. But nothing happened. What do you think happened? At first I really thought maybe she was just at somebody's house. Just decompressing. Just blowing off steam. Yeah, but after today like with the onslaught of all the cars I mean all the police cars, all the news, all the k-9 unit's It's making me lean the other direction about someone took her. Okay. If someone took her it would have to have been someone she knew Because there's there's no sign of anything like being disturbed or broken But like that's the way I'm leaning now at first I thought for real she's just decompressing somewhere I mean, I thought she was safe even though everything in the house is left there. But now it's just, after today with the news crews and everything it just it feels more the other direction and it's freaking me out. On that night I told her... I woke up that morning, early that morning, and I told her like the disconnection It's there like it's not going away like the connection we had in the beginning It's not there anymore. Click. I don't feel like the love we have. Is there anymore. Okay. It's just like, I don't feel like I mean if we stay together for the kids, I'm not sure if that's going to work. Like bringing us... Yes. Okay, like having another baby to bring into this relationship. Do you think this is going to work? With us being together, or separation I think it's going to be the best possible route for us That's when like all the crying and everything preceded it was very hard to just to talk about that, but I needed to do it face-to-face. I needed like, I needed to see her face like while I did it I couldn't just text... phone... whatever I needed to be face to face, and be able to see her and know that She was going to be at least reciprocating back to me. Oh. What did she say? she said that it was, I mean it was she wants she wanted to kind of work on it, but If that's the way I was feeling then she respects that. Okay. 1:00 p.m. I'm now on my way home to .check on my family Is this cause you're worried, based on the conversation with Nicole? Yep. Had the police contacted you by then? No. Okay. Once we couldn't get anything out of her and nothing was going on at the house... I was like alright I gotta go home. The sharp and sudden change of angle from baseline questioning to direct confrontation would normally make an innocent person refute or at least challenge the statement. There would also be a brief pause as they would need time to process the allegation due to its perplexity. A guilty individual would already be in a defensive state of mind and would normally respond in a hastily modis: Instead of refuting the remark they would accept it, but try and explain its actuality in a defensive manner. But it sounds like Nicole was more worried Yeah, because like... if she doesn't text me like I understand that, sometimes it happens, but for her not to get back to her Direct sale group. That was very unorthodox. Okay. So then they're there at home Police officer's there And then what So as we go through the house, Did you immediately go through the house? Like I open the garage door I just, I just go into the house. I'm looking like I just go in the garage door and I'm looking Is the police officer saying "Hey, let me talk to you for a minute"? No. Okay. What's the vibe like? Go up there shake his hand. I'm like opening the garage door at the same time Okay, and then I go through and then they're waiting at the front door I go and open that up and then they come in Oh so they didn't come in the garage door with you? Well, they they were in the garage, but they didn't come in the way I did. All right, so then everybody goes in I think it was at... four o'clock, that's when, uh because... because the neighbor The officer and I went over to the neighbor's house to see if he saw anything Whose idea was that? I think it was the officer's. He just went over there. And then that's when the neighbor called back over to show him, he had some stuff from the other night to show him like, whatever he had that put motion on it. 4:00 PM, police check neighbors security footage and questioned them as well. Okay. Have we talked about that? Is that where we're at? Anything else about that? No, I mean it just shows Nicole dropping her off but her not walking up, and it shows me loading my truck up, about the time that I told you I left. Yeah. What do you think about that? Makes me sick to my stomach honestly, like I know like I talked to a few of my friends like, you know This does not look good on you. I'm like, I know It's like people that if people knew that we were having marital issues They're gonna look at me Especially with what everything looks it. Honestly just makes me sick to my stomach because this is something that I would never do Ever I know like you have to look at every, every vantage point. This is something I would never do to my kids or my wife ... at all. This is what is known as "The Pause Technique". After the suspect answers a question, the interrogator will remain silent while maintaining eye contact This physical demeanor gives off the subtle cue that he expects more information to be divulged and may already know more than the suspect Realizes a deceptive person will usually drop their eyes change posture or break the silence I'm not sure like what I could do to like, to make people believe that, just because if they they knew we were having marital discord, they would automatically look at me But there's no way I would harm anybody in my family ...at all. And I know we were having marital discord, and we had that conversation that morning and then She goes, and we have no idea where she is, or the kids I promise you that no, I had nothing to do with any of that A truthful individual will normally respond to this question with a question Such as, "why are you asking me that" or "what's going on here"? they will often protest the aggressive nature of the inquisition or give a short and forceful response to Cause I am a very trustworthy person, and the people that do know me they know how I'm a calm person. I am NOT an argumentative person I am a person who is Never going to be abusive or physical and any kind of relationship. I would never harm my kids. I would never harm my wife. You can talk to any of my friends, any of her friends They know me, they know I'm a low-key guy That's quiet I'm not about confrontation. I'm not about anything that elevates to that level. I mean, like if someone yelled at me, screams at me I just take it, and just try to get it by the wayside and get it back to where it's cool It's a cool conversation to where like none of that gets to that height and I am NOT that person I've never been that person Okay Okay Let's take a little break. I'm going to come back in here. Cause I have a lot more questions for you How you feeling? Celeste She's rampage. She's always the one that's gung-ho, she's always the one that's just like She's all, she's either go or sleep She's always fun growling. She's she's always been she's a tiger Bella, she's the calm, the mothering one. She's the one that's always, "You okay? You okay? Fine? Okay!" She's just the sweetest little girl, she's the one that favors me more, Celeste was the one that favors Shanann more I remember when they wore that dress... she just wore that dress not too long ago Button the back of it so I could get her pajamas on Bella loves those spaghetti strap dresses, she likes long dresses
The neighbor's the real MVP here.
Didn't they pretty much know he was guilty from the start?
I wish this channel uploaded more often, it's always fascinating.
ed: Just realized they released a new video a couple days ago, sweet!
This channel is one of the best! Too bad he uploads once in a blue moon.
Part 2
Part 3
His body language in his house says it all. This guy made Scott Peterson look smart.
This guys channel is the shit... Very interesting crazies
This guys youtube channel is phenomenal. His recent video dunking on the trash that is Casey Anthony is great as well. Glad to see his stuff get posted here, his insights are something most true crime fans don't come across without looking to hard.
JCS is a fantastic channel for anyone who enjoys true crime, he lets the case play out on its own while analyzing certain aspects of the interrogation/video footage that is available it shows the complexity that the interrogators manuever to get a conviction. Really neat channel.