Episode 24: Welcome to Pushing Up Lilies, I’m your host Julie Mattson. Today we continue with our series on ‘Men Who Kill Their Wives’, looking at the murders of the Watts Family, in Frederick, Colorado.
This seemingly, picture-perfect family, unraveled to the worst act imaginable, when Chris Watts murdered his pregnant wife Shanann and their two little daughters, Bella Marie and Celeste Cathryn.
Listen in to hear the story of Chris, Shanann, Bella, Cece and unborn Nico…
SHOWNOTES:
• Stranglers often blame someone else for their rage and violence and abuse, and I know when I did sexual assault exams, there were a lot of the sexual assault victims that had been strangled prior to being assaulted. I can remember when I first started doing SANE exams, we really didn’t focus a lot on that, and then we realized how very little pressure it took to cut off someone’s oxygen supply to the brain by strangling them. It’s used a lot in domestic violence situations, it is one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence because you can actually cause someone to go unconscious within seconds, and within minutes they can actually die. And the sad thing is, a lot of people who have been strangled don’t actually report it because they don’t think of it as being quite as violent, as being struck or being hit by someone, and so they don’t think that it’s that big of deal. But I can remember when our sexual assault victims would come in, they would have fingerprints on their neck, and you could actually see how much pressure was put on them, the perpetrator. Roughly, about 10% of domestic valence victims are strangled. (06:25)
• So there is a difference between choking and strangulation, strangulation is when someone actually exerts pressure. But anyway, I just wanted to cover the difference because I think a lot of people are a little confused about choking and strangulation and exactly what the differences are. Back to Shanann and Chris, they spent five weeks apart, he told her that the marriage was over, she told him that he would never see the girls again, and I always like to go back into people’s past and see what kind of childhood they had, and there’s not a lot of information on Chris’ childhood. His dad was supposedly addicted to cocaine, his parents did not attend their wedding because his mother couldn’t get along with Shanann and didn’t like the way that she treated him. And then going back, looking into the things that were brought out during the trial, and I love how you can go back into people’s computers and phones. And even when things have been deleted and see searches and text messages and those types of things, because Chris would Google romance advice and dating tips, and this is when he was married to Shanann. He Googled when to say I love you for the first time in a new relationship, and he actually searched for secluded vacation spots, and of course, those are places that he could take his girlfriend at the time, no one would see him, and no one would know that he was married. (10:00)
• And this happens a lot, there aren’t a lot of apps where you can conceal things, and so also it came up that there was a man who reported that he had had a 10-month-long relationship with Chris, and that man’s parents actually came forward and said that Chris had given him money for lip injections. So there is also the possibility that he was seeing more than just Nicole Kessinger while he was married. Nicole Kessinger actually volunteered everything she knew to investigators and had a feeling that Chris was lying to her about where his family was, of course, now lives a quiet life under the radar. I think there’s some rumors that she still communicates with Chris… Actually, in November of 2018, he was sentenced to five life sentences. He did plead guilty, he is to serve three consecutively and the other two concurrently, of course, no possibility of parole. He’ll be in prison for the rest of his life. So He’s reportedly kept on lock down for 23 hours a day. He’s also turned to religion and actually communicates to his family members and several other people, supposedly sends racy letters to other women, one of which has actually put those together and compile the book called Letters from Christopher. (13:03)
• And a lot of people, maybe they want to start over and start a new life with this new person and no restrictions, no obligations. But it’s really sad, and then, you know, they have to somewhat lose their mind at some point to think that they’re not gonna be suspected and that they’re actually gonna get away with it. But I think we’re all happy knowing that he’s in prison for the rest of his life. We’ve all seen pictures of him, he just looks evil, and I like to go back and look at people’s mug shots because a lot of people who’ve committed these crimes, they just look evil and completely unemotional in their mug shot, and I don’t understand. But again, if you get a chance, visit the museum of death in New Orleans, Louisiana, I don’t think any of Chris Watts has letters are there yet, but I feel like maybe at some point they will be. I think, goodness, we don’t have to worry about him anymore. (18:21)
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