American murder: The family next door

[thebeachismyhappyplace2]

Netflix documentary based on true story - has anyone watched it? (look away now if you haven’t yet seen it)

I watch a lot of documentaries about killers/psychopaths etc but this one has really shocked and disturbed me!!

What I don’t understand is he didn’t appear to be a domestic abuser or display mental problems. Ok so he became obsessed with other woman and wanted to leave his old life behind him. (But let’s face it this happens everyday around the world!)

So why didn’t he just get divorced? How could someone do that to their kids too!

@Nikori

It's well known that his parents didn't like Shanann, so not a huge surprise that they are happy to portray her as controlling and difficult and him as some kind of victim. I'm fascinated by true crime, but with books, podcasts and documentaries, there is always an angle or a story they are trying to tell, which often isn't the exact truth if you check the evidence and police reports.

True, there are many angles.

Ultimately, this man, the children's father, strangled/suffocated those two little girls to death to save his own skin. This was after doing the same to his wife. What kind of monster does this? For whatever reason?

Me? I would die for my kids, any day of the week.

Just watched that YouTube link posted further down. Really interesting about his mistress.

I had read people believed she was way more involved that she made out. I think the police should investigate her more.

@Indoctro

No it wasn't written by his mother, some author but has input from both sides of families and friends of both of them.

Talks a lot about childhood. He had a pretty settled childhood. He was quite shy and a good student

She didn't have such a good childhood and her father isn't painted very well in the book, he was quite absent in her childhood and she looked for a father figures from other men related to her school. She was very insecure as a child who appeared unhappy.

But again you don't know how much truth is any of it really.

I think he should of got the death penalty

Apologies. I had read somewhere that his mum had written a book and was totally victim blaming. Failing that I've imagined it

There is quite a number of books on the murder.
I would say though the slant of this book does kinda paint not the best picture of her, comes across as very controlling.

Maybe justifies a divorce for sure.

Why he didn't just do that , why he had to flipping kill her is just so unbelievable. Not to mention the poor innocent kids. Just get a divorce for goodness sakes

It was definitely premeditated. I listened to the Crime Junkie podcast on this and on the day before the murders he took his daughters to a pool party where he texted a work colleague to offer to travel to a specific oil field on Monday morning. It was very remote and no one enjoyed going there, he volunteered to go so he knew he would be alone. The colleague said he had never texted him before, he thought it was weird but didn't say anything. Then hours later he murdered Shannan and drove her body and the girls to the very same oil field that he had made sure would be isolated. He did not just "snap" and kill his wife, it was planned and methodical.

DayswithaY - that’s really interesting. Going on that information, I would agree with you it was premeditated which just makes it even more horrific!
On the day of the murders, when Shannon’s friend was concerned for her welfare and phoned the police, I wonder whether she also phoned Shannon’s husband Chris to ask if he knew of her whereabouts - because When he arrived at the house that afternoon I don’t think he looked that shocked that the police were already there

I got the impression that the friend had managed to contact him to ask after Shannan.

I also find it hard to get my head around what he thought the outcome would be and whether he thought people would just move on from their disappearance. It makes more sense for it to have been impulsive but the evidence suggests it was very much planned. Up until the point they were missed...

My feeling is that he absolutely thought he was smart enough to get away with it. I think he really believed he would pass the polygraph test. It's actually quite embarrassing because it seemed absolutely obvious to the police and those around him that he was guilty from the first day.

He strikes me as a typical narcissist in that respect. He thinks he is so much smarter than those around him.

I think he was also fixated with the idea of presenting himself as a good guy and I think this is one reason why he didn't file for divorce. While I see Shanann came across as controlling in her videos, I just saw a woman who was frustrated with a husband who wasn't pulling his weight. I feel he probably thought he could play the role of good husband and father, but ultimately his own selfishness won out.

I suspect he really enjoys the attention he is getting from women writing to him in prison, so probably has no qualms about embellishing facts to keep them on the hook.

Test messages have been published. He was told by another friend that they were calling the police. He asked them not to. I tried to post the pictures but it says that photos must be at least 90 pixels wide and high and I don't know how to make them so! If you Google 'Chris Watts text messages' you'll see them.

I just cannot get over these murders.

It’s “interesting” (inappropriate description, I know) that so much of the police investigation was recorded on camera, and the psychological interview techniques the police used to rapidly gain his confession. Typically the public only sees a such high level of detail of the police investigation within crime dramas, but here is a real crime.

I think CW comes across as unintelligent more than anything. Hard to reconcile that he has a high IQ.

I don’t think his mistress played a part, I think some people just want to blame his actions on women - as if there had to be an evil female behind this. If anything, the only woman partially responsible is his mother. She hated Shanann and never thought she was good enough for her son, and definitely egged on his growing dislike of his wife. She didn’t play a part in the murders but she indirectly contributed by how she raised such a man - she has narcissistic traits herself and he can do no wrong in her eyes.

Also why didn't he just divorce her like any normal human being.

They were at risk of bankruptcy. By killing them I assume he thought he'd have a 'fresh start' with no kids or ex wife to pay for.

That female detective was superb. The hand rubbing him on the back when she came back in, all the banter over the polygraph etc.

My understanding is they took the death penalty off the table if he confessed so there didn't need to be a full trial where all the awful details of what happened to Shannan and the girls.l would have to be made public.