Chris Watts Unmasked Pt.1 - Sex, Secrets and Lies: How Watts Betrayed Wife Before Killings
episodePreviously titled “Chris Watts Unmasked - Sex, Secrets and Lies: How Watts Betrayed Wife Before Killings” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 3, 2026
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How did the Watts family go from 'perfect' social media posts to a tragic crime?
Crime Desk, arresting podcasts. My daddy is a hero. He helps me grow up strong.
Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you're out there, just come back. If somebody has her, just please bring her back. I need to see everybody. I need to see everybody again. This house is not complete without anybody here.
Father and husband to triple murder suspect. Arrested overnight, Chris Watts is accused of killing his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters.
The 33-year-old never confesses to killing all three, instead creates a lie about Shanann murdering the girls. But prosecutors say his motive was a fresh start. He'd already begun an affair with a co-worker, Nicole Kessinger.
He did not pass the polygraph test. Okay, so now we need to talk about what actually happened. I feel like you're probably ready to do that.
I didn't lie to you on that polygraph, I promise. Chris, I know. We are following breaking news in the Christopher Watts murder case. Watts is accused of killing his pregnant wife and their two young daughters. Today, he pleaded guilty to murder. This is perhaps the most inhumane murder and vicious crime that I have handled out of the thousands of cases that I have seen. And nothing less than a maximum sentence would be appropriate.
Chris and Shanann Watts appeared to have everything. A nice home, two little girls who adored them, a baby boy on the way, and a collection of happy times that were shared routinely on social media. Some who knew the Frederick, Colorado couple intimately knew the Watts family story was more nuanced. Shanann felt distance from Chris in the last months of her life. Her heart ached as she sensed him losing interest in her. She suspected Chris was cheating, but he denied having an affair. The mom and her daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste, went to North Carolina for a six-week family visit in the summer of 2018. Chris, who worked at an oil company, only joined them in the final week.
Shanann was tormented throughout that trip at the thought of her marriage possibly falling apart.
What were Chris Watts's initial public statements and lies after his family's disappearance?
Chris, however, appeared to be having the time of his life, but in secret. He spent those weeks of freedom cozying up to Nicole Kessinger, a new flame who worked at his company. In photos from that time, the pair appeared blissful on a weekend camping trip. Nicole also modeled a bikini for Chris in the doorway of a bathroom. It was a taste of a different life that Chris Watts seemingly longed for. Chris and Shanann's marriage might have ended in divorce, but instead he chose to end the lives of his wife and two helpless children who showered him with love and admiration. "'My daddy is a hero,' a smiling Bella Watts sang from her car seat in a video her mother had posted." The incomprehensible actions of Chris Watts remain an endless source of debate for followers of this case some eight years later.
He initially said that there was no way he would ever hurt anyone in his family. He then tried to claim that Shanann had killed the children in a fit of rage, causing him to kill her in retaliation. But those were lies. We now know the truth is that he strangled Shanann, who was pregnant at the time, at their home in the early morning hours of August 13th. He threw her corpse in his truck and took the girls for a ride early that morning. He dumped Shanann's corpse in an open field at an Anadarko petroleum facility nearby, a site owned by his company. The girls, Watts told police, were smothered one by one at the site and thrown into oil tanks. A search team had the devastating chore of recovering their charred, tiny corpses from the giant cylinders.
Chris Watts pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder in November 2018. He was 33 years old. We're revisiting the Watts case with a special trial USA series as we approach the eighth anniversary of the murders next month. I'll be discussing Watts with reporters from the crime desk, and we'll listen to new interviews with sources connected to the case. In this episode, we'll focus on Watts' extramarital romantic pursuits in the lead up to his horrendous crimes.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
How did the Watts family go from 'perfect' social media posts to a tragic crime?
0:02–2:27
2
What were Chris Watts's initial public statements and lies after his family's disappearance?
2:27–21:36
3
How did Kayla Brantley and reporters frame the focus of this episode on Watts's secret romantic life?
21:36–29:43
4
What did Amanda McMahon say about meeting Chris Watts on Tinder and their first encounter?
29:43–47:47