American Murder: The Family Next Door - Netflix

I’ve been listening to the Watts Tapes podcast and it features these interviews. Read an article posted on here about the PTSD the officers have suffered - apparently by the time they went to interview him in jail they had developed PTSD and were hoping the interview would offer them some closure ☹ So they defo were just acting pally, he’s actually made them ill
Absolutely awful for them, when I think of how horrified we all feel, people on this thread who have said they cant stop thinking about it, have cried, feel sick, it just makes you realise even more how awful it was for them being right at the front of it all. I’m so grateful that they did their jobs and I hope they can move past this as best they can.
 
I said earlier in this thread that I had followed this case from the beginning and now having watched the Netflix documentary it is back in the forefront of my mind.
There are two things that make me think the murders premeditated.
I don’t think the program mentioned he called his boss the night before to say which field he would be working at the following day. The boss said this was highly unusual.
The other is Watts phoning the school to say the children wouldn’t be returning.
 
I said earlier in this thread that I had followed this case from the beginning and now having watched the Netflix documentary it is back in the forefront of my mind.
There are two things that make me think the murders premeditated.
I don’t think the program mentioned he called his boss the night before to say which field he would be working at the following day. The boss said this was highly unusual.
The other is Watts phoning the school to say the children wouldn’t be returning.

Yes, 100% premeditated. He didn't flip - he planned this. Didn't he admit that in the letters that even the day before when out with his daughters he new what he'd do to them?
 
Yes, 100% premeditated. He didn't flip - he planned this. Didn't he admit that in the letters that even the day before when out with his daughters he new what he'd do to them?
I didn’t know that. Are the letters in one of the posts that have been linked?
 
I didn’t know that. Are the letters in one of the posts that have been linked?

They're letters from Chris Watts to Cheryln Cadle and they're in a book called 'Letters From Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders'. I've not read it but I've seen snippets. I believe this is where he admitted he'd drugged Shannan to cause a miscarriage and that he'd actually killed the girls at home, not at the burial site. Not sure how much is true though.
 
He obviously wasn’t very smart if he’d planned it because he was extremely sloppy. I mean why would you cancel their places in the school if you were trying to make out Shanann had ran away with them. Surely you’d be hoping for their safe return.

The previous poster was right about the fact he was full of resentment. He obviously never loved those girls because if he had he would have never done what he did to them. The fact that he didn’t even lay them to rest together just shows what little regard he had for them.
 
I honestly don't believe the mistress was involved or that she knew what he was planning. Its been said that she had been googling Shanann a year a before but police confirmed that this was a mistake and she had been googling her during the time they her and CW was romantically involved. I mean, as a woman, who wouldn't want to find out more info about your boyfriends wife? I know she seemed sketchy and her police interviews didn't seem genuine but I truly believe she did not have a clue what was about to go down. Emails sent between them showed that she acknowledged the kids and she said to him that one day she just wants a simple life like he has IE a family, kids and a loving home. I think he got caught up in the idea of starting fresh with a new woman and just wanted to wipe his family out so he could start a new life. He makes me sick! It's not acceptable in any way but I totally understand or get how a husband will want to murder this wife.. OK. But HIS KIDS?? His innocent girls who adored him and called him their hero? It's totally unforgivable and shame on him for putting a FLING that prob wouldnt even last 6 months above those precious, beautiful, loving happy girls. I have the image of them in my mind now as I write this and I feel physically sick. I wish I could get my hands on him!!!
I don’t know, I can’t help but find his mistress suspicious. I especially found it weird that she was googling Amy Frey’s net worth! (Amy Frey was a mistress of someone who also killed his wife, she wrote a book I believe) ..If she was that shocked and devastated as she portrayed in interviews why was she googling such things so early on after it happening and wondering how much money she could make from the situation 🥴 Suppose it doesn’t mean she was involved though.

She also deleted all traces of contact between them off her phone and had googled something along the lines of can police get deleted messages back. Strange! Also after he killed them and they were logged as ‘missing’ there were long calls between them on phone records. Who knows what they were discussing 🤷🏻‍♀️
 
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I don’t know, I can’t help but find his mistress suspicious. I especially found it weird that she was googling Amy Frey’s net worth! (Amy Frey was a mistress of someone who also killed his wife, she wrote a book I believe) ..If she was that shocked and devastated as she portrayed in interviews why was she googling such things so early on after it happening and wondering how much money she could make from the situation 🥴 Suppose it doesn’t mean she was involved though.
It was amber frey (Scott Peterson case- equally as chilling). But yes NK didn’t act like you’d expect. She was far more concerned for herself. Yes she does cry during the interviews but most of the time it’s hard to believe the interviews are about a woman and her babies being murdered - she turns it around to herself all the time
 
It’s absolutely horrendous that he thought he could box clever thinking he would get off with it, he could of just gone peacefully no need what so ever to kill his family. I knew bits of the story I remember something about him being romantically linked to a man as well. The whole thing is just upsetting. I watched Athlete A also that was just shocking.
 
It was amber frey (Scott Peterson case- equally as chilling). But yes NK didn’t act like you’d expect. She was far more concerned for herself. Yes she does cry during the interviews but most of the time it’s hard to believe the interviews are about a woman and her babies being murdered - she turns it around to herself all the time
I’m not 100% sure but didn’t she say in interviews she only deleted messages because they had broken up? She said she had found out his wife was pregnant and that he had been lying to her? Yet she had been googling her before this so as if she wouldn’t of known she was pregnant when his wife put everything out in the open. Also if they were over it doesn’t explain why she was having long conversations with him after he killed them and they were ‘missing’. It doesn’t add up to me. I’ve seen a YouTube video which tries to say there was a second person leaving the house that morning after they were killed too and suspect it was her. Who knows though!

It was amber frey (Scott Peterson case- equally as chilling). But yes NK didn’t act like you’d expect. She was far more concerned for herself. Yes she does cry during the interviews but most of the time it’s hard to believe the interviews are about a woman and her babies being murdered - she turns it around to herself all the time
Amber Frey.. my mistake! 🤦🏻‍♀️ X
 
I’m not 100% sure but didn’t she say in interviews she only deleted messages because they had broken up? She said she had found out his wife was pregnant and that he had been lying to her? Yet she had been googling her before this so as if she wouldn’t of known she was pregnant when his wife put everything out in the open. Also if they were over it doesn’t explain why she was having long conversations with him after he killed them and they were ‘missing’. It doesn’t add up to me. I’ve seen a YouTube video which tries to say there was a second person leaving the house that morning after they were killed too and suspect it was her. Who knows though!


Amber Frey.. my mistake! 🤦🏻‍♀️ X
A neighbour seen a truck very like the girlfriend's near their house and her phone pinged quite close to the house even though she lives 45mins away! All very suspicious.
 
I study criminology and have always been interested in different cases similar but for some reason this case just baffles me and I keep thinking about it. I think it’s because he just comes across so ‘normal’ and it just doesn’t seem logical. It really does show as well not to believe these social media characters people play because anyone who saw their life would think they were perfect and Chris looks so happy. It may also sound sick but I don’t know how else to describe it but there is just so many diff scenarios or ways he could’ve got away with getting rid of his wife if he was that adamant of wanting her gone and none of them would ever involve having to hurt his little girls. I just can’t make sense of it. It makes me think even though he is clearly sick and evil maybe he was just not that clever. I just can’t understand the reasons or motive.
 
If it was premeditated then he did an awf job of trying to make it look like she ran off with the girls. The wedding ring is understandable, she could've taken it off in a rage to show that it was over. But the phone and handbag, and calling the school? Big mistakes.
Although I'm glad he slipped up since it sped up the process of charging him and finding them!
 
What he did was just horrific and heartbreaking. And an eye opener too into what’s behind a full-on ‘happy families!’ social media presence.

Like @Jennytea I just don’t get it - he had no previous regarding violence or abuse, there doesn’t appear to be a lifetime of trauma preceding the events, and no ‘real’ motive - not that anything could ever justify his actions, but doing that just to go out with a new girlfriend?? It’s very hard to fathom.
 
Just finished watching this, wow. What a piece of tit he is. A horrible, cold, evil man. The two officers interviewing him were excellent, especially the woman. The psychological tactics they used were interesting. I don't think Nichol was involved. You could see Chris was shitting himself while at the neighbors watching the security cam footage. I feel so sad for Shanann's family. It is such an awful story. I don't know why Chris didn't just leave her and file for divorce. He is a psycho.
 
If it was premeditated then he did an awf job of trying to make it look like she ran off with the girls. The wedding ring is understandable, she could've taken it off in a rage to show that it was over. But the phone and handbag, and calling the school? Big mistakes.
Although I'm glad he slipped up since it sped up the process of charging him and finding them!
I don’t think he was counting on Shananns friend so being on the ball that day. I think he was expecting to get home later and be able to clear up after himself before anyone noticed her missing.

I don’t like the girlfriend but I don’t think she had anything to do with the killings, I think the police would have been very hot on tracing her movements that day and would have had no hesitation in arresting her if they had even a scrap of evidence. Just my thoughts on it
 
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