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American Murder: The Family Next Door

34 replies

WiserOwl · 02/10/2020 19:13

Anybody watched this? Im watching it now.

It awful. Poor woman. Poor kids robbed of their lives.

Shannan had had a bad marriage before she met Chris Watts. His mother was horrible to her. His sister was horrible to her. His parents didnt go to the wedding because she wasnt good enough.

His mother later wrote a book which was massively inappropriate in its descriptions of Shannan.

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gubbbbbddaaaa · 02/10/2020 19:24

I watched it yesterday , I couldn't quite establish if he killed this kids before he put them in the tanks .. I so hope so but he should be hung for the fact he drove them alive for an hour before he killed them .. he had plenty of time to change his mind .. so so awful!

pincertoe · 02/10/2020 20:32

Not watched this, where is it shown?

gubbbbbddaaaa · 02/10/2020 22:04

Netflix

pincertoe · 02/10/2020 22:58

Thanks! Apparently DH started to watch it the other day but wasn't paying attention so stopped so we can watch it together

Frappuccinofan · 02/10/2020 23:18

I saw it.

I didn’t realise Shanann was so active on social media. How did he think he’d get away with this when it would be clear that something had happened to her once she lost contact with friends/the outside world? He tried to insinuate that she ran away with the girls, but didn’t realise that her friends would never buy that based on their last conversations with her.

I really like the police aspect of this tragic case. There’s videos on YouTube that delve more into the psychology of the techniques used; the police had no evidence yet manage to gain a confession by day 2 of arrest - quite amazing considering that at any point, he could have refused to continue to assist the police or could have requested a solicitor which would have thwarted the police’s methods. They just cleverly applied pressure.

Frappuccinofan · 02/10/2020 23:18

Also it was really sad to find out that right to the very end, she wanted to try to save their marriage.

shouldhavethoughtthisthrough · 02/10/2020 23:28

I watched this last night and today at work I really started to dwell on the bit where her dad has to issue a statement basically telling people to stop ripping his daughter and granddaughters lives apart and blaming them basically. Just tragic!

pincertoe · 03/10/2020 23:40

Just watched it. I sobbed when he described what happened.

I love my kids but can't imagine forgiving them if they did this. His parents were weird and he is just evil. How could you do that to your kids? Crimes of passion I get but he had a 45 minute drive to think about it. To kill those little girls like that is just awful.

Princesspond · 04/10/2020 00:00

I haven’t seen this but Bailey Sarian talked about this case as one of her posts. Not sure I want to watch after hearing it

MrsShelton · 04/10/2020 00:42

I knew about the case beforehand from other crime forums. There’s the horrific details of how the bodies were recovered all out there to read so be careful if googling. It’s very very graphic

I can’t get over his confidence taking the polygraph test!

WhatWouldYouDoWhatWouldJesusDo · 04/10/2020 00:47

This case really upset me. I think it's the fact he was seemingly a devoted dad. He cared for the kids all weekend, even settling his dauggter back down for bed at some point. Then just switched.

Snapping out of anger I can kind of get my head around. Even someone having a manic episode or to get back at an ex but this one is just too weird to comprehend. There is no logic to it.

I haven't watched all of it yet but I think his daughter interrupted him killing his wife. If that hadn't happened she might still be here.

BitOfFun · 04/10/2020 00:53

Shanann did seem to be very active on social media, curating her perfect family image. I suspect it was all to do with the MLM company (Thrive?) she was involved with. The 'business trip' for it will have been at her own expense, and although the programme doesn't dwell on it, they were having serious financial problems and facing bankruptcy.

It's a complete side issue really, but it's also one more aspect to her life that makes me feel really sad. At least her friend seemed to genuinely care about her and the girls.

WildImaginings · 04/10/2020 00:58

I watched it today, I did have some knowledge of the case beforehand, my mum (who I watched it with) didn't.

The killing of the children in particular was absolutely horrific. Driving them with their dead mothers body for an hour before killing them. Just awful.

His parents are dicks.

WildImaginings · 04/10/2020 01:02

@BitofFun Shannan was very, very heavily involved in Thrive/Le-vel and I think you're right that a lot of the social media stuff was tied into that.

Hotairoverthere · 04/10/2020 23:59

Watched it today. It’s very gripping and in the end I just couldn’t watch it any longer without absolutely bawling my eyes out. I never ever watch crime documentaries for this reason, they affect me terribly and I kind of wish I hadn’t watched it as it’s one of the most depressing things I’ve watched. I do live a sheltered life away from this however and avoid stuff like this so others probably won’t be affected as much maybe.

HOkieCOkie · 05/10/2020 13:38

@WildImaginings his parents are not dicks, he’s their son. He may be an evil bastard but he is their son. In the court they have the chance give impact statements. They are talking to him which is why they said they loved him.

AuntMasha · 05/10/2020 14:05

Hotairoverthere, it’s not jus you, despite having an interest in true crime docs, I don’t know if I can watch this as it involves the murder of children and the more I learn about Watts, the more disturbed I am that any parent could do this. I saw a headline on my newsfeed the other day related to this crime and that alone was horrifying.

WaxOnFeckOff · 07/10/2020 10:06

Apparently he has admitted that he actually went to the children's rooms and suffocated them before killing shanann but it didn't kill them. I think the younger one had bruised eyes from this. They woke up I think during or after he was killing their mum. He then drove with them and killed them in the car.

Original poster
WiserOwl · 07/10/2020 11:18

@Frappuccinofan

Also it was really sad to find out that right to the very end, she wanted to try to save their marriage.
I agree, they knew what they were doing.

Especially as he wasn't that attuned to other people. But he still felt the pressure of knowing that they KNEW.

Embarrassingly, I can see that I was a bit like Shannan, before I left my abusive x the first time. His behaviour was deplorable but I was so scared to leave that I just wanted him to ''play nice'' even though deep down, how could I ever have felt safe around him.

Anyway, it gives me a shiver. There are a lot of conspiracies on line that Nicole Kessinger was involved but I don't think so, the police would have got to the bottom of that very quickly. I think it's just misogyny, she slept with a married man so she must have............ talked him in to killing his family!!

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Original poster
WiserOwl · 07/10/2020 11:19

I think I quoted the wrong post there!

But yes, it's sad that she still wanted to try right up until about 12 hours before the end.

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Original poster
WiserOwl · 07/10/2020 11:20

[quote HOkieCOkie]@WildImaginings his parents are not dicks, he’s their son. He may be an evil bastard but he is their son. In the court they have the chance give impact statements. They are talking to him which is why they said they loved him.[/quote]
Cindy Watt's book was a disgraceful attempt to shift blame on to shannan for her own murder.

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daisychain1620 · 07/10/2020 11:29

I watched this at the weekend a d I can't stop thinking about it. He seemed like a loving father, how could he do that? It has really stayed with me☹️
It was his calm demeanor and did you hear at the end of the program that he phoned the kids school to unenrol them, put his house up for sale and phoned his gf. So matter of fact. This truly is so sad and the stuff of nightmares

Harmarsuperstar · 07/10/2020 11:34

He said he’d ‘always wanted children so they could love him’ which I found odd

Harmarsuperstar · 07/10/2020 11:35

And said he’d asked himself whether he could have saved his children’s lives. This is after he’d admitted to killing them

WildImaginings · 10/10/2020 00:26

@WiserOwl has got it in one re my comment about his parents.

Yes, he's their son. But their comments about Shannan have been absolutely appalling, total victim blaming. THAT is why I think they are dicks.

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