GUILTY CO - Shanann Watts (34), Celeste"Cece" (3) and Bella (4), Frederick, 13 Aug 2018 *CW LWOP* #70

[pinkie60]

I didn’t read it that way, maybe because our 4 kids are all a year apart and by #3 and #4 there was not much of an announcement, lol. Yes he definitely did say he doesn’t like being videoed, but throughout the five hour interview he repeatedly said I could still be with my wife, I could still be with my kids, he never said that I would’ve had a divorce, he said he was marriage was good prior to NK. I think those things were a nuisance but I don’t think they caused rage. Just like in prison where he seems quite content, he said he was ok with her running the show, he did not feel belittled.

Then his obsession with NK was the tipping point. I thought of another diagnosis. Split personality

 

[Tortoise]

I think the agents did their job very well and I don't believe they were "promoting" his damaging lies.

IMHO, the main goal of the interview was to clear Shanann's name and get Chris to admit that he killed the toddlers, and how he did it.

Sure CW told many self-serving lies in the interview, but that's because he's a liar and even if a psychiatrist had interviewed him and evaluated him, he'd still be telling lies.

Probably the only way anyone could get the whole truth out of CW would be to waterboard him or use other techniques of torture, which are not allowed.

The agents did the next best thing and I'm sure the R family are relieved that CW admitted to murdering those poor little girls and that Shanann was completely innocent.

IMO they had to deal with a monster and to get him to talk they had to stroke his ego and get him comfortable or he would have clammed up.

Most people know that CW had pre-planned the murders and that he's lying about snapping and killing his family in a fit of rage.

I think LE and the agents did a very good job of nailing Chris Watts. It must have been awful for them to sit and listen to his monstrous lies, whilst pretending to empathize with him. But they got one of the most important facts out of him, and that is his admission to murdering the toddlers and clearing Shanann's name once and for all.

moo

I understand I'm in the minority with my view, but I firmly believe they created this whole fiasco of Chris blaming Shanann for killing the girls. If it wasn't for them it wouldn't have been necessary to clear Shanann's name. He admitted that and they admitted that too.

They had him nailed anyway, with their bodies being at his work site and all the evidence, which was overwhelming. IMO.

His guilty plea came because they had the evidence against him. IMO. Not because they had enticed this first version out of him which he knew wouldn't fly at trial, but because he knew they had the evidence.

They got him to talk, they got him to lie, but there is no way he would have walked on these charges. I see their suggestion that Shanann did it as being something they then felt they had to reverse, but they knew he had already signed a guilty plea on all the murders without coercion. So it was a situation they created.

So now we know the girls were awake and met their deaths in the most horrifying way imaginable. But with his additional lies now he is still abusing Shanann's family. Lies are abuse. They are still victimized by him when he falsely claims she caused his murderous rage.

And that's my last word on this because I see most everyone here is pleased with the outcome, thinks it was ultimately helpful, even though it is acknowledged by many that he is still lying, and I have no wish to provoke discord through sharing a different opinion, which has already been labelled disrespectful today. So I thank you for your reply and I shall leave it at that.

 

[mtnlites]

Then his obsession with NK was the tipping point. I thought of another diagnosis. Split personality

It made me think of just flat out compartmentalizing. While SW and the kids were gone, he was able to play bachelor with NK. Then he got to go to NC and play "father and husband." He didn't let either one of his lives bleed over into the other and didn't have to until his family returned. At that point, he couldn't compartmentalize anymore. He had to make a choice.

 

[PommyMommy]

Chris Watts reveals his distraught dad developed a 'cocaine' addiction after he wed wife Shanann | Daily Mail Online
Chris Watts opened up about his childhood and the strained relationship between his parents and wife Shanann while speaking with authorities from prison last month.

[...]

He told investigators that his parents, Cindy and Ronnie Watts, encouraged him argue he was a victim of emotional and mental abuse when the case went to trial, though it is unclear if they still believed their son’s claim that it was Shanann who killed daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, at that time.

And Watts also revealed that his parents had their own struggles as well, noting that his father was at one point addicted to a ‘white powdery substance.’

That substance was 'possibly cocaine' according to the report, and Watts said it did not bother him as much as he imagined it might at the time.

[...]
'His mother initially believed his father was having an affair because he couldn’t account for missing money,' the report goes on state.

[...]

Watts admitted that his parents and Shanann were never close, and acknowledged that Shanann’s belief that her mother-in-law thought she was not ‘good enough’ to marry her son was likely accurate.

He also confirmed much of the information that was laid out in a hand-written declaration that Shanann’s mother had submitted to investigators and texts sent by his late wife.

[...]

The tension between Shanann and her in-laws reached a boiling point while she was in North Carolina for four weeks without Chris, who was working and enjoying time with his mistress back in Colorado.

[...]

CW: 'They should've swallowed whatever they needed to and came to Cece's Birthday Party and called her and shouldn't have blocked all social media contact with them. I don't care what they do with us, just as long as they love and respect the kids. l'm not use to not having a relationship with my dad. I should've just called him before it got to this point where it got in my head I didn't and that's my fault.'

There was a different version of events however from what one Watts' friends told investigators.

He said that Cindy called him crying after her fight with Shanann and that Watts told him not to worry because he was done with Shanann.

That friend also said that Watts and his mother were 'sweet hearted people.'

 

[DaisyKenny]

I think the agents did their job very well and I don't believe they were "promoting" his damaging lies.

IMHO, the main goal of the interview was to clear Shanann's name and get Chris to admit that he killed the toddlers, and how he did it.

Sure CW told many self-serving lies in the interview, but that's because he's a liar and even if a psychiatrist had interviewed him and evaluated him, he'd still be telling lies.

Probably the only way anyone could get the whole truth out of CW would be to waterboard him or use other techniques of torture, which are not allowed.

The agents did the next best thing and I'm sure the R family are relieved that CW admitted to murdering those poor little girls and that Shanann was completely innocent.

IMO they had to deal with a monster and to get him to talk they had to stroke his ego and get him comfortable or he would have clammed up.

Most people know that CW had pre-planned the murders and that he's lying about snapping and killing his family in a fit of rage.

I think LE and the agents did a very good job of nailing Chris Watts. It must have been awful for them to sit and listen to his monstrous lies, whilst pretending to empathize with him. But they got one of the most important facts out of him, and that is his admission to murdering the toddlers and clearing Shanann's name once and for all.

moo

I just wish they hadn't commiserated with him, basically coaxing him into saying he was forced to participate in those facebook/thrive videos and how he couldn't be himself around SW.
CW never even hinted at that being the cause of his so-called rage, so I thought it was totally unnecessary.

 

[Safeguard]

I understand I'm in the minority with my view, but I firmly believe they created this whole fiasco of Chris blaming Shanann for killing the girls. If it wasn't for them it wouldn't have been necessary to clear Shanann's name. He admitted that and they admitted that too.

They had him nailed anyway, with their bodies being at his work site and all the evidence, which was overwhelming. IMO.

His guilty plea came because they had the evidence against him. IMO. Not because they had enticed this first version out of him which he knew wouldn't fly at trial, but because he knew they had the evidence.

They got him to talk, they got him to lie, but there is no way he would have walked on these charges. I see their suggestion that Shanann did it as being something they then felt they had to reverse, but they knew he had already signed a guilty plea on all the murders without coercion. So it was a situation they created.

So now we know the girls were awake and met their deaths in the most horrifying way imaginable. But with his additional lies now he is still abusing Shanann's family. Lies are abuse. They are still victimized by him when he falsely claims she caused his murderous rage.

And that's my last word on this because I see most everyone here is pleased with the outcome, thinks it was ultimately helpful, even though it is acknowledged by many that he is still lying, and I have no wish to provoke discord through sharing a different opinion, which has already been labelled disrespectful today. So I thank you for your reply and I shall leave it at that.

It's true that it was distasteful to say the least, how they got CW to talk, but that seemed the most expedited route to take with this particular killer and TIME was of the essence. Those little bodies were decomping in those oil tanks! Not to mention S and N... They needed him to tell them where to find them. Fast.

 

[nwmouse]

I just wish they hadn't commiserated with him, basically coaxing him into saying he was forced to participate in those facebook/thrive videos and how he couldn't be himself around SW.
CW never even hinted at that being the cause of his so-called rage, so I thought it was totally unnecessary.

I think LE did whatever they could to get CW to trip himself up, so they had to pretend to empathize with him.

Its a common technique used by interrogators to induce a confession, and get reasons as to what motivated the killer into committing murder.
You can see it in numerous interrogation tapes in true crime documentaries.

Usually killers love to talk about themselves and begin to drop hints of resentment about their victim/s when they get "validation" from the person interviewing them. (They are not usually silent like Patrick Frazee).

Most are like Chris Watts -- they talk, and as they talk they dig deeper holes for themselves and get caught in their own web of lies.

CW was a foolish, disorganized killer and poor strategist. I believe, as most do, that he had pre-planned the murders.

He underestimated LE and over-estimated his own, stupid self.
If his IQ is 139+ then I believe the moon landings were "faked"!!

moo

 

[nwmouse]

In a way I see it similar to the crime that Jake Patterson committed. The kidnapping of Jayme Closs, and the murder of her parents, seemed to be very well thought out. It doesn't appear that he really had plans for JC once she was back at his house, however. The initial crime was planned down to the way he shaved his head and removed his license plate. I think it was the initial murder/kidnapping that excited him. Likewise, I think with CW the part that he was focused on was their deaths. His "plan", if he had one, may have been long-sighted. The short-sightedness of it, however, didn't seem to have a lot of thought put into it. ie. He could see himself moving on with his life, experimenting with NK and living the bachelorhood without any pesky kids or ex wife around, yet he didn't have a good plan for where to hide their bodies, what to tell people about their disappearances, etc. In both crimes I think fantasy played a big part, but the mundane details outside of the fantasies didn't figure in.

That's a good thing in the long run. Both of these men's lack of attention to detail is what enabled justice to be served rather quickly.

Absolutely.

JP was a good short-term planner but a very poor long-term strategist in terms of thinking about various scenarios that could occur once he had murdered JC's parents and kidnapped her.

Planning and strategy are two very different things.

Both he and Watts (and many psychos) are lousy long-term strategists. They certainly wouldn't be good chess players although allegedly, Chris Watts liked to play chess.

Watts probably got check-mated after the 3rd move and failed to read Sun Tzu's Art Of War.

moo

 

[BradB]

I question if he really woke up that day and had plans to murder her and the kids. Of course he is a liar. Most criminals and bad people lie. Their relationship was in a bad state towards the end but I will go out on the limb and predict Chris wanted her to get an abortion with the new baby and she said no so he took care of it himself.

 

[kaykay543]

I understand I'm in the minority with my view, but I firmly believe they created this whole fiasco of Chris blaming Shanann for killing the girls. If it wasn't for them it wouldn't have been necessary to clear Shanann's name. He admitted that and they admitted that too.

They had him nailed anyway, with their bodies being at his work site and all the evidence, which was overwhelming. IMO.

His guilty plea came because they had the evidence against him. IMO. Not because they had enticed this first version out of him which he knew wouldn't fly at trial, but because he knew they had the evidence.

They got him to talk, they got him to lie, but there is no way he would have walked on these charges. I see their suggestion that Shanann did it as being something they then felt they had to reverse, but they knew he had already signed a guilty plea on all the murders without coercion. So it was a situation they created.

So now we know the girls were awake and met their deaths in the most horrifying way imaginable. But with his additional lies now he is still abusing Shanann's family. Lies are abuse. They are still victimized by him when he falsely claims she caused his murderous rage.

And that's my last word on this because I see most everyone here is pleased with the outcome, thinks it was ultimately helpful, even though it is acknowledged by many that he is still lying, and I have no wish to provoke discord through sharing a different opinion, which has already been labelled disrespectful today. So I thank you for your reply and I shall leave it at that.

I totally understand what you are saying. I also know how hard it can be to have a minority opinion on a forum.

IMO they should have pushed him more and called him out when he was telling obvious lies. I feel we may have gotten a more truthful statement. CW is weak and I think he would have crumbled and been more honest. CW does respect authority figures.

I have watched other FBI interviews where they don’t pussy foot around a murderer. Once he admitted what he did to the girls; I feel they should have been at least a little tougher on him.

 

[nwmouse]

I question if he really woke up that day and had plans to murder her and the kids. Of course he is a liar. Most criminals and bad people lie. Their relationship was in a bad state towards the end but I will go out on the limb and predict Chris wanted her to get an abortion with the new baby and she said no so he took care of it himself.

I don't believe "abortion" was ever entertained by CW.

He found a new squeeze in NK, decided that Shanann wasn't as exciting as NK and wanted to eliminate her and his toddlers so he could ride off into the sunset with NK in his new Audi Q7.

I think its as simple as that.
He day-dreamed of life without his wife and children and all the cool adventures he could have with NK, who he was obsessed with. He would also need money for his new adventurous life.

He decided he didn't want to pay alimony or child support, and that it would be easier on his finances and reputation if "nasty" Shanann just "disappeared" with his kids. He could get sympathy and a new life.

moo

 

[BradB]

Would it be as simple as saying if NK wasnt involved, this murder would have been prevented?

 

[MassGuy]

I question if he really woke up that day and had plans to murder her and the kids. Of course he is a liar. Most criminals and bad people lie. Their relationship was in a bad state towards the end but I will go out on the limb and predict Chris wanted her to get an abortion with the new baby and she said no so he took care of it himself.

An abortion wouldn’t have solved his problems, not in his eyes. I don’t think it would have made any difference.

He couldn’t have a new life with his mistress, unless he killed them all.

 

[tmar]

Yep. I bet he feels betrayed. Poor guy. Double crossed.

Great.
How many innocent people did this jerk betray with these evil actions.
Hope he continually is betrayed by inmates, officers, so called friends for the rest of his pathetic life.
MOO.

 

[MassGuy]

Would it be as simple as saying if NK wasnt involved, this murder would have been prevented?

I think she certainly was a trigger, and the timing of all of this was not a coincidence.

He killed his family to be with her, so yes, if she wasn’t in the picture, this crime would not have happened when it happened.

There very well might have been another woman down the road though, and all bets would be off then.

 

[ChiCubs2016]

I agree he definitely took something from the car. Funny how he can remember what he packed for his lunch that day but everything else is hazy.

His timeline at the house is way off which Coder alludes to but never pushes it. I wish he had pushed him on that. There is just no way all of that happened in 3 hours.

Imo he was thinking of blowing up that whole work site so that no one would ever find the bodies. He was never going to kill him self.

This is exactly what I thought when he talked about the gas can. He was either go to blow up the place or burn their bodies. No way he was going g to commit suicide.

 

[ChiCubs2016]

I could not listen to the whole thing. I understand the investigators being nice in an attempt to get more information but when one apologized to CW when he fake cried about Bella I had enough and could not listen any further. So I did not get too far. Maybe I will try again another day.

 

[Best of What's Around]

I have a question - it is probably not important. He says in the interview that when he parked (and we don't know if he later moved his truck, but when his coworkers got there - I believe it was far from the tanks and closer to where he buried SW b/c one coworker noticed it was odd that it was far from the leak he was looking at - which I assume was in the vicinity of the tanks), he first took SW out and put here out on the site - I'm guessing not far from the truck. Then he did what he did with the girls - so he took the risk of walking a further way with each daughter to the tanks twice when someone could have driven up? Or am I misremembering how close SW was buried to the tanks - I thought it was an opposite side of the rectangle that is the dirt paved area around the tanks. I am assuming he never moved the truck and simply parked close to where he buried SW - as dragging her far would have left marks in the paved dirt.

A small part of me still wonders if he pre-dug her grave. Doubtful, but I assume they would have checked if he could done all he did with all the texting he was also doing during the time frame he had. It would have been too risky to do it during non work hours, and I guess he did not know he would be going there until Friday - and he did not work until Monday morning. Still, I wonder if the DA's office had yet gotten to the point of an experiment to see how long it takes one person to dig that much in that particular location at that time of year. They may have been waiting for summer again since they presumably would have a long time until trial.

 

[MassGuy]

I could not listen to the whole thing. I understand the investigators being nice in an attempt to get more information but when one apologized to CW when he fake cried about Bella I had enough and could not listen any further. So I did not get too far. Maybe I will try again another day.

This was the strategy that they came up with, likely with the help of FBI profilers.

Their goal was to get the most out of the interview, and the most out of PF; they felt that was the way to do it.

It doesn’t bother me in the slightest, but I can see how it would bother other people.

It doesn’t mean that the strategy was wrong though, or unnecessary.

 

[Thinker Belle]

I found it extremely odd that in his prison interview, CW expressed relief that nothing adverse happened to CeCe during the nut incident, considering that he murdered her not long after that happened.