American Murder: The Family Next Door - Netflix

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Reading the bit about how they got the girls out was horrible
How they drained them and then one officer went up the top and looked inside the oil drum and said he could see what looked like a body face down at the bottom is so unsettling
The team that had to do this must have such nightmares my heart breaks for all involved not just shaman and the girls but all that worked in the case and saw and heard things that will never leave them
 
I remember hearing about this case and I do enjoy crime/murder documentaries so recently watched it and my goodness, it's stuck with me for days. As a mother, it breaks my heart. I cannot get my head around the fact he spent the weekend looking after those little girls, taking them for days out and playing with them while Shannan was away and then in an instant just killed them.
From what I've read online, the documentary left a lot out. When Chris went to North Carolina to Shannan and the girls he put drugs in her drink to induce a miscarriage! What a monster! Apparently there are a lot more in depth documentaries on youtube.
 
rachelpixiedust said:
I remember hearing about this case and I do enjoy crime/murder documentaries so recently watched it and my goodness, it's stuck with me for days. As a mother, it breaks my heart. I cannot get my head around the fact he spent the weekend looking after those little girls, taking them for days out and playing with them while Shannan was away and then in an instant just killed them.
From what I've read online, the documentary left a lot out. When Chris went to North Carolina to Shannan and the girls he put drugs in her drink to induce a miscarriage! What a monster! Apparently there are a lot more in depth documentaries on youtube.
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Wow! There was clearly big warning signs before they were murdered then. Did Shannon know that he’d tried to drug her? If I’d known I wouldn’t have been anywhere near him after that, and definitely wouldn’t have left the kids alone with him!
 
Do you know how they knew about the drugging? Surely anyone she told would’ve gone straight to the police when she went missing. How did she know he’d done it?
 
Reading the case (massive thanks to the person who posted it, I can’t find your original post to tag you).
Turns out Chris wanted to try for a baby as he wanted a son, Shanann wasn’t so keen on a third. He later said he hoped it would fix their marriage but later decided he didn’t want the baby. A friend of the couple who saw the pregnancy announcement at the time also thought Chris’ reaction to the pregnancy was weird.
 
I really don't know, I've fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole regarding the case and picked up bits of info here there and everywhere! Maybe it came from the mistress, I doubt Shannan knew? Apparently there is alot about the mistress that wasn't covered. The affair was relatively new yet she had googled Shannan's name months before so basically doing her research on him.
I can't believe how different he looked to when he married her! Signs of an affair must have been so obvious so I wonder if Shannan was in denial - his behaviour coupled with the drastic change in his appearance must have rang alarm bells?
Reminds me so much of the Scott Peterson case, there was such a good documentary on an UK crime channel about that which I'd love to rewatch.
I don't know if anyone has seen the interview with Chris' mother ? It's on youtube ... it really does shed a light on his behaviour and what he did. The woman is just something else.
 
Lunamoon22 said:
Chris told the author of letters from Christopher about the drugging. Shanann didn't had any clue about it.

He also said that he had been plotting the murders for some time.
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Yes thank you! I knew I'd read it somewhere! I believe it was in the letters he also said he did kill the girls at the house? And Bella 'woke' up after he thought he'd killed her and came in and saw her killing Shannan? I could be wrong. I've read so much over the past few days!
 
I also read somewhere that he may have drugged her before she went on the work trip which is why she said she hadn’t been feeling well. Plus her best friend said she was unwell in the bodycam footage.

I do think he killed the girls in the house as when you see the CCTV footage of him loading the pickup there’s no sign of any young children. It would be interesting to hear what the detective’s theory is as they were the closest to the case.
 
rachelpixiedust said:
I really don't know, I've fallen down a bit of a rabbit hole regarding the case and picked up bits of info here there and everywhere! Maybe it came from the mistress, I doubt Shannan knew? Apparently there is alot about the mistress that wasn't covered. The affair was relatively new yet she had googled Shannan's name months before so basically doing her research on him.
I can't believe how different he looked to when he married her! Signs of an affair must have been so obvious so I wonder if Shannan was in denial - his behaviour coupled with the drastic change in his appearance must have rang alarm bells?
Reminds me so much of the Scott Peterson case, there was such a good documentary on an UK crime channel about that which I'd love to rewatch.
I don't know if anyone has seen the interview with Chris' mother ? It's on youtube ... it really does shed a light on his behaviour and what he did. The woman is just something else.
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Yes! I've just finished listening to this and she is awful! She thinks her son has done nothing wrong whatsoever, she is completely deluded.
Even the tone she uses when he was "interrogated" as though they were doing that wrongfully when the police obviously knew from the get go that he was not being truthful about the situation.

She really thinks her son, and herself are the victims in all this!
I can't believe how annoyed she was that she had to talk to he son from being a screen because he was being held in prison after confessing to murdering his wife and three children.

She said "it was like they already knew he was guilty" because they wouldn't let them see him while in custody, ummm he CONFESSED!!


For anyone that wants to watch
 
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hnoz said:
Yes! I've just finished listening to this and she is awful! She thinks her son has done nothing wrong whatsoever, she is completely deluded.
Even the tone she uses when he was "interrogated" as though they were doing that wrongfully when the police obviously knew from the get go that he was not being truthful about the situation.

She really thinks her son, and herself are the victims in all this!



For anyone that wants to watch
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The similarities between Chris Watts and Scott Peterson are unreal, even down to their deluded families. I understand that at the end of the day he is her son, but to make out he's in the wrong & as if this has all happened to him as opposed to him being the instigator. And no matter as to how she felt about Shannan - her grandchildren though! I will never understand.
 
rachelpixiedust said:
The similarities between Chris Watts and Scott Peterson are unreal, even down to their deluded families. I understand that at the end of the day he is her son, but to make out he's in the wrong & as if this has all happened to him as opposed to him being the instigator. And no matter as to how she felt about Shannan - her grandchildren though! I will never understand.
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According to a statement by Sha'nans mom, the MIL and SIL "helped" with their engagement party and the sister offered to bring all the invitations to their family. On the night none of them turn up and Sha'nan called around the next to to ask how they were, if they were unwell etc and it turns out the sister never invited any of them!!
Also before engagement party they had already made their dislike known, Chris's mom even told shannans mom that she "didn't see it" - their relationship working, so shannan viewed them offering to help with the party as a peace offering, the MIL offered to cook the food that shannan bought and she made every single dish with gluten so shannan couldn't eat anything at her own engagement party.
Now we know why she was annoyed after seeing the nuts at her inlaws house, they clearly had a long history of gaslighting her.
And then we know they obviously never turned up to the wedding.

Sha'nan may have had her faults but her inlaws seem insane.
 
Ugh that video... The MIL actually had such venom in the way she spoke about Shanann. And she didn't seem distraught about the girls... Did she actually believe that Shanann killed them? I'm guessing this video was filmed right around the time of the arrest/trial as she doesn't understand why he's pleasing guilty for something he didn't do...

She seems just as cold and as heartless as Chris.
 
Mememememe said:
Didnt one of the girls have a nut allergy or something and mil tried to give her an ice cream with nuts (i may have made this up 😂 but I'm sure I read it somewhere )
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Yeah CeCe was allergic to tree nuts and kiwi. MIL had been given a shopping list by Shanann to ensure she bought nut free but MIL ignored it and bought ice cream with nuts in it and proceeded to offer it to other children in front of CeCe. CeCe had a tantrum, as you’d expect a 3 year old who’s been told she’s the only one who can’t have ice cream. MIL told Shanann it was a good opportunity to teach CeCe she can’t have what she wants all the time.
Basically MIL sounds like a stone cold witch
 
I watched this documentary a few nights ago and I’m still disturbed by it. Interesting to read others viewpoints and extra information not included on the programme.
One thing I thought was, during the police interview, his dad almost seemed to be coaching Chris what to say. That Shann’ann killed the girls so he killed her. I’m sure he must have just thought his son was incapable of killing his children but I thought it odd.
 
The mum seems in complete denial which I guess anyone would be. It would be interesting to see what her view is now. It seemed a completely unhealthy dynamic all round. From his relationship with his mum to Shannon’s relationship with him. Then Shannon’s relationship with his mum!

You can kind of understand the psychology behind it with him murdering Shannon (which of course is terrible in itself) but killing the children is just incomprehensible. He is just so evil I my opinion.
 
I watched this last week and then went and re-listened to the True Crime Garage podcast's episodes on the case, plus the Bailey Sarian recap. I was surprised that the doc had left out the fact that the Watts had filed for bankruptcy before and that it seems they were basically living beyond their means, likely trying to project that they had a certain lifestyle, especially for Shanann's MLM job. Also, how weird some of the things that both Chris and his mistress had been googling in the weeks before the murders. Apparently he had googled how to know if you are in love?! Which makes it seem like he is a psychopath who doesn't really have or understand emotions, just emulates them from other people.

My theory was that while Shanann and the kids were away for 6 weeks he embarked on the affair and got a taste of the "freedom" of a life without a wife and children, and decided that he wanted out of the marriage. Why he decided to go down the route he did is what I don't think anyone will ever understand. Maybe he thought it would be easy to split up but then Shanann was fighting so hard for their marriage and wasn't going to take the affair lying down. Or maybe because of the money involved in a divorce he thought it wouldn't be possible without ending up in further debt and so he decided to take matters in to his own hands. As for the girls, he claimed one of them walked in and saw Shanann on the bed, so maybe the fact that there was now an eye witness meant he decided to get rid of them all, and rather than pretending his wife had left him, he could claim that she took the girls with her. He just didn't anticipate her friend being so on the ball about Shanann's disappearance and contacting the police. Thank God for that friend for agreeing to check in with her in the morning and following her gut that something was wrong!! It meant he didn't have the time to cover his tracks.

He also only got upset when he knew he was in the tit. No remorse for killing his family, just crying because he got caught and knew he was either going to end up in jail or be given the death penalty. Whatever the "reason" he did all this, he is extremely selfish, sick and twisted, possibly a psychopath, and definitely a total narcissist (which isn't surprising, going by how his mum treats him :rolleyes:).
 
Definitely wasn’t banking on her friend turning up at the house when he hadnt had the chance to empty the bins etc (bedding from master bed was in the kitchen bin. That said, I think the police figured out pretty quickly that he was responsible. Their high tech security system meant that there was footage of Shanann arriving at the house and the only way she could have left without being detected was in his car when he went to work that day. He was an idiot to not bury her handbag etc with her as that’s a massive red flag straight away if a woman doesn’t take her bag. He really did a poor coverup job, thankfully for his poor victims who were found relatively quickly.
 
Tui said:
Watched the show last night - was already familiar with the case but still found it totally chilling. The two little girls were adorable, I didn’t realise that they were driven to the burial spot alive with their dead mother in the footwell of the rear of the car. That is just too awful. I “understand” (Doesn’t seem like the right word) why he killed his wife in the sense that there were obviously heightened emotions and marital difficulties plus an affair, but I don’t understand why he felt the need to kill the children. The fact he withdrew them from school etc suggests he just wanted to expunge Shanann and the kids from his life and basically just reset with his new girlfriend without the baggage of his old life. He definitely had some psychopathic qualities, the fact he agreed to be interviewed on television and made that plea to the camera with zero emotion whatsoever, I think at one point he even smiled and laughed casually while saying he wanted his family back. Shows a certain arrogance that he thought he might get away with it.


Yeah I wonder if the pregnancy was planned? As it was not long after the pregnancy announcement to Chris that he started acting weird and I wonder if an impending 3rd child was a factor in his plans. I was trying to figure out in the announcement video whether he was genuinely pleased or not but he is quite hard to read, definitely a wall up there.
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Apparently they had planned a 3rd a few months before she got pregnant, but ovs he shacked up with the GF (who definitely knew he killed his wife/kids)

Check out Bailey Sarian on YouTube her chris Watts video is very interesting
 
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