Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Murder dad Chris Watts cheats death penalty after murdering pregnant wife & two tot daughters

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Murder dad Chris Watts cheats death penalty after murdering pregnant wife & two tot daughters · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:06
Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace. When Christopher Watts stepped into
0:11
Speaker 1: that courtroom, he had no emotion walking towards his seat,
0:15
Speaker 1: But as soon as the judge started to speak about
0:17
Speaker 1: his plea agreement, that's when he broke down and started crying.
0:20
Speaker 1: And for all nine counts that he pleaded guilty too,
0:23
Speaker 1: he was in between cries. And now with everything that's happened,
0:27
Speaker 1: Shennan's family might be able to move forward and have
0:30
Speaker 1: some closure. You were just hearing reporting from inside the courtroom.
0:35
Speaker 1: That was Denver Seven's Tom Hoppo. You know what saved
0:39
Speaker 1: the tears, Christopher Watts, just save the tears quit in
0:45
Speaker 1: court between h guilty plea. You murdered your pregnant wife
0:52
Speaker 1: with your first boy. Okay, Nico, you murdered her, and
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Speaker 1: you murdered your two little girls, Bella and Celeste. Then
1:03
Speaker 1: to hide your crime so you could go and continue
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Speaker 1: your sex affair with a co worker, you hid their bodies,
1:10
Speaker 1: the little girl's precious bodies and crude oil containers where
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Speaker 1: you worked. And you buried your loving wife who called
1:22
Speaker 1: you her hero and a shallow grave. You escape the
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Speaker 1: death penalty only because her family showed you mercy so
1:36
Speaker 1: don't cry now. As a matter of fact, this may
1:40
Speaker 1: be a good story for you to tell over dinner
1:45
Speaker 1: with Satan and Hell, I means he grazing this as
1:49
Speaker 1: crime stories. The latest out of the Colorado courtroom. Three
1:54
Speaker 1: time killer Christopher Watts sobs through a guilt to play
2:01
Speaker 1: straight out to Ellen Kilauren Crime online dot Com investigative
2:05
Speaker 1: reporter Ellen. Start at the beginning, what happened in court? Well,
2:09
Speaker 1: we learned just late last week that Chris Watts was
2:13
Speaker 1: due for a surprise appearance in court, almost two weeks
2:17
Speaker 1: before the schedule of status hearing. We didn't know until
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Speaker 1: he showed up in court wearing a bullet proof vest
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Speaker 1: that he was ready to plead guilty to killing his
2:31
Speaker 1: pregnant wife and his two daughters, less than three months
2:34
Speaker 1: after they were killed, and after he had denied his
2:38
Speaker 1: culpability and interviews with police. To me, I thought this
2:44
Speaker 1: was a stunning and early decision. Following up on what
2:48
Speaker 1: Ellen Kilauren just said, Yes, he denied it. Who will
2:52
Speaker 1: forget his tearful plea on his back porch, begging for
2:57
Speaker 1: the kidnapper to bring home his wife and too little girls. Listen,
3:01
Speaker 1: Bella Celeste if you're out there, just just come back.
3:06
Speaker 1: Like if somebody has her, just please bring her back.
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Speaker 1: I need to see everybody. I need to see everybody again.
3:12
Speaker 1: This house is not complete without anybody here back. And
3:17
Speaker 1: it wasn't like her not to answer a phone call
3:19
Speaker 1: or attacks. And when her friend Nicole showed up at
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Speaker 1: the door, I was like, all right, something and something's up.
3:26
Speaker 1: And uh. I came home and it was like I
3:30
Speaker 1: walked into a ghost town, like everything that she wasn't here,
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Speaker 1: kids weren't here. It was like it was just they
3:36
Speaker 1: were here and then they were gone, Like nan Bella
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Speaker 1: and Celeste, if you're out there, please come home. You
3:41
Speaker 1: know what, It just makes my skin crawl to listen
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Speaker 1: to this guy begging for his wife and children to
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Speaker 1: come home when he's the one that murdered them and
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Speaker 1: put their bodies and crude oil containers and in a
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Speaker 1: shallow grave. You were hearing from Chris Watts begging for
3:56
Speaker 1: his family's return. He was talking to Denver seven as
3:59
Speaker 1: Thomas hop You know, it's it's hard for me to
4:03
Speaker 1: hear that. To doctor Brian Russell, psychologist to law your
4:06
Speaker 1: host of investigation Discoveries hit series Fatal vows doctor Bryan
4:12
Speaker 1: to hear him. He was about to break down in
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Speaker 1: his plea for their return, and now he's crying in
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Speaker 1: court as he pleads guilty to three murders four If
4:22
Speaker 1: you can the unborn baby, boy, I mean, his tears
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Speaker 1: mean nothing to me. Yeah. Absolutely. Let this be another
4:28
Speaker 1: lesson going all the way back to our discussions during
4:31
Speaker 1: the Casey Anthony case about how you know, tears, even
4:37
Speaker 1: when they're genuine, don't necessarily mean what they may appear
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Speaker 1: to me. And you know, people could be genuinely upset
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Speaker 1: about the fact that they're about to go to prison
4:46
Speaker 1: for the rest of their life and crying and playing
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Speaker 1: it off as you know they're they're upset about missing
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Speaker 1: the missing person. I actually you said if you count
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Speaker 1: the unborn baby. The only thing I love about this
5:01
Speaker 1: is I absolutely count the unborn baby. And I'm very
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Speaker 1: glad to hear that he is being he's pleading guilty
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Speaker 1: and being convicted of an additional murder for the unborn baby,
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Speaker 1: because to me, that life is no less valuable than
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Speaker 1: the lives of the three and four year old. The
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Speaker 1: only thing I don't understand about this is why he
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Speaker 1: even really wants to avoid the death penalty, and you're
5:21
Speaker 1: going to spend the rest of your life in a box.
5:22
Speaker 1: Why do you even want to stay here for another
5:25
Speaker 1: fifty years? Let me ask you about that. To Ellen
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Speaker 1: Colorum with crime online dot com, or you can find
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Speaker 1: this in every other crime and justice story. I know.
5:34
Speaker 1: He pled guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and their
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Speaker 1: two children, Bella and Celeste. Did he plead guilty to
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Speaker 1: the death of baby Nico. He pleaded guilty to all
5:46
Speaker 1: of the cons against and including the death of the
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Speaker 1: unborn child. You know, I just can't hear this enough,
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Speaker 1: listening to him begging for their re turn. Listen to this, Bella, Celeste,
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Speaker 1: if you're out there, just just come back. Like if
6:07
Speaker 1: somebody has her, just please bring her back. I need
6:11
Speaker 1: to see everybody. I need to see everybody again. This
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Speaker 1: house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring her back.
6:18
Speaker 1: And it wasn't like her not to answer a phone
6:20
Speaker 1: call or a text. And when her friend Nicole showed
6:24
Speaker 1: up at the door, I was like, all right, something,
6:26
Speaker 1: something's up. And uh. I came home and it was
6:31
Speaker 1: like I walked into a ghost town, Like everything she
6:34
Speaker 1: wasn't here. Kids, weren't here. It was like it was
6:36
Speaker 1: just they were here and then they were gone, Like
6:39
Speaker 1: nan Bell and Celeste, if you're out there, please let
6:41
Speaker 1: me come home. You aren't hearing Chris Watts begging for
6:44
Speaker 1: the return of his family, but only he knew they
6:48
Speaker 1: were all ready Dad, Kathleen Murphy, It's so there's so
6:52
Speaker 1: many layers to this. His wife had just gotten a
6:56
Speaker 1: very important job. She had to travel a lot, and
6:59
Speaker 1: part of it was keeping up the pretense of a
7:03
Speaker 1: luxurious lifestyle to do basically enlist other people to join
7:09
Speaker 1: the company. And I think that rubbed him the wrong way,
7:13
Speaker 1: that she was making it on her own. And when
7:17
Speaker 1: you looked at them from the outside looking in, they
7:20
Speaker 1: lived this perfect, beautiful life. Kathleen Murphy. When I hear
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Speaker 1: him begging for their return the same way he teared
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Speaker 1: up in corn, it just makes my skin crawl. He's lying.
7:35
Speaker 1: She's lying so horribly about his dead wife, Nancy. When
7:39
Speaker 1: I practice as a divorce attorney, I see this a
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Speaker 1: lot where people are putting out a false image, and
7:46
Speaker 1: I wish people would just realize it is okay to
7:50
Speaker 1: be broke, It is okay to be mediocre, It is
7:54
Speaker 1: okay to leave your spouse. And as I say, it
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Speaker 1: doesn't surprise me. Guilty in criminal court. He didn't want
8:01
Speaker 1: a trial. The purpose of this murder in the first
8:05
Speaker 1: place was he wanted to avoid all of this coming
8:08
Speaker 1: out in family court. He doesn't want it to come
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Speaker 1: out in criminal court either. Christopher Watts pleading guilty to
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Speaker 1: murder in court as he sobs for himself. My daddy
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Speaker 1: is a hero. He helps me go up. He helps
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Speaker 1: me good too. He leads me shoes. Yeah, my daddy, daddy,
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Speaker 1: and love you. You are hearing Chris watts four year
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Speaker 1: old daughter Bella in the backseat of the family car,
8:53
Speaker 1: singing a hero song to her dad. That was just
8:57
Speaker 1: a couple of months before he murder Bella, her sister Celeste,
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Speaker 1: his wife Shannan, who was pregnant with their first son, Nico,
9:07
Speaker 1: in the last hours. In a surprise move, Watts pleads
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Speaker 1: guilty to nine charges, including three first degree murders, the
9:19
Speaker 1: murder of his wife, his daughter Bella, his daughter Celeste,
9:23
Speaker 1: and he pleads guilty to unlawful termination of a pregnancy.
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Speaker 1: Now in exchange for this plea, he will not face
9:34
Speaker 1: the death penalty, and that is according to what Weld
9:38
Speaker 1: County District Attorney Michael Rourke tells us, Now, what do
9:42
Speaker 1: we know about why Ellen colorin crime online dot Com
9:48
Speaker 1: why the state decided to spare him the death penalty
9:52
Speaker 1: and let him plead guilty. Well, Nancy, what we know
9:56
Speaker 1: is that Channon's family was involved at some level on
10:02
Speaker 1: level with this decision. They were in court on Tuesday
10:05
Speaker 1: and they had been in conversation with the district attorney
10:10
Speaker 1: and Chris watts defense team. They are going to be
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Speaker 1: spared a murder trial, which in which Chris Watts would
10:21
Speaker 1: likely try and tell more and more and more wise
10:25
Speaker 1: and just continue the trauma of what they're experiencing. So
10:31
Speaker 1: we know that at a certain point, christ Chris Ross's
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Speaker 1: own attorneys told him, you don't have a case here,
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Speaker 1: you don't have an argument here. You're going to jail
10:42
Speaker 1: for the rest of your life, and that's the best
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Speaker 1: case scenario for you. Take a listen to what happened
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Speaker 1: inside the court room. The decision was made about four
10:49
Speaker 1: days ago. Christopher Watts showed up in court today wearing
10:52
Speaker 1: a bulletproof vest. Shenan Watts's family was also there to
10:55
Speaker 1: hear Watts plead guilty to all nine counts against him.
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Speaker 1: I think that there was a combination of relief, extraordinary
11:04
Speaker 1: sadness that we ever had to have that conversation in
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Speaker 1: the first place. And I can only say that I
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Speaker 1: hope there is a sense of closure. Everything about Chris
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Speaker 1: Watts's story, he told us in an interview in August,
11:15
Speaker 1: is all thrown out. Did you guys get into an
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Speaker 1: argument before? It wasn't. It wasn't like an argument. We
11:20
Speaker 1: had an emotional conversation. But I'll leave it at that.
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Speaker 1: But it's I just want them back. I just want
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Speaker 1: them to come back. And if if they're not safe
11:32
Speaker 1: right now, that's what's that's what's tearing me apart. You're
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Speaker 1: hearing our friend at Denver seven, Tom Hutpal, and he
11:38
Speaker 1: was reporting inside the court room describing what happened as
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Speaker 1: Chris Watts pled guilty. Closure Doctor Bryan Russell, you're not
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Speaker 1: only a lawyer, but a psychologist host of id's Fatal
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Speaker 1: Vowel series for a murder of victims family, There's no
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Speaker 1: such thing as closure. It never ends. That follows you
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Speaker 1: the rest of your life. It affects every single thing
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Speaker 1: you do from that point on. Your career decisions, where
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Speaker 1: you live, how you raise your children, everything is affected
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Speaker 1: by that crime. There is no closure. It never ends. Well,
12:16
Speaker 1: that's right. I don't really like these kinds of psychobabble
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Speaker 1: words like closure and codependent and toxic people and these
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Speaker 1: these things, But I understand what people mean when they
12:29
Speaker 1: say people do like there to be a finality, at
12:34
Speaker 1: least to the legal process. I think it's absolutely you know,
12:40
Speaker 1: it's paralyzing to people's lives. When I remember, like when
12:44
Speaker 1: Natalie Holloway went missing and the body was never found,
12:47
Speaker 1: and I felt so horrible for her mother, because I
12:51
Speaker 1: just feel like you're just in this sort of state
12:53
Speaker 1: of paralysis when there's no finality. But you're absolutely right,
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Speaker 1: Even when there's finality to the legal process and somebody
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Speaker 1: is held accountable for what they've done to your loved one,
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Speaker 1: you never get over it. It's not as if that
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Speaker 1: brings your loved one back or brings you to a
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Speaker 1: point where you're not going to think about it anymore.
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Speaker 1: You just you get on with life without the person, unfortunately,
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Speaker 1: and you try to make it as best as it
13:21
Speaker 1: can be. But you're absolutely right, you never get over it.
13:24
Speaker 1: But why no death penalty. At first I was stunned,
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Speaker 1: but then I learned the answer. Take a listen. He's
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Speaker 1: facing five life sentences for the murder of his wife
13:35
Speaker 1: and two daughters, four year old Bella and three year
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Speaker 1: old Celeste. He even pleaded guilty to unlawful termination of
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Speaker 1: a pregnancy of their ownborn son, Nico. Sandy said it very,
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Speaker 1: very poignantly to me. She said, he made the choice
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Speaker 1: to take those lives. I do not want to be
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Speaker 1: in a position of making the choice to take his
13:53
Speaker 1: Out of respect for Shenant's family, we didn't approach them
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Speaker 1: for comments. Obviously, the tragedy that sits before us today
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Speaker 1: is the law loss of four beautiful lives. And no
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Speaker 1: matter what happens today, no matter what happens at a
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Speaker 1: sentencing hearing down the road, we can't get them back.
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Speaker 1: You know, when he referred to Sandy, you're hearing the
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Speaker 1: district attorney referred to Sandy saying that he Chris Watts,
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Speaker 1: took her daughter's life. She did not want to make
14:19
Speaker 1: that same decision. That was obviously NaN's mother. Take a
14:24
Speaker 1: listen to what the Colorado District Attorney, Michael Roy tells us.
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Speaker 1: Mister Watts entered a plea of guilty to all nine
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Speaker 1: counts in the original complainant information. Those counts include murder
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Speaker 1: in the first degree after deliberation as to Nan Watts,
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Speaker 1: murder in the first degree as to Bello Watts, murder
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Speaker 1: in the first degree as to Celeste Watts, a lawful
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Speaker 1: termination of a pregnancy as it relates to Nico Watts,
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Speaker 1: and three counts of a lawful tampering with a deceased
14:52
Speaker 1: human body. There was a sentencing in agreement that calls
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Speaker 1: for the defendant to be sentenced to i'm an of
15:00
Speaker 1: corrections for the remainder of his natural life as to
15:02
Speaker 1: counts one, two, and three. All of those sentences will
15:05
Speaker 1: run consecutively to one another. There's also an agreement that
15:08
Speaker 1: whatever sentence the court imposes as to count six will
15:12
Speaker 1: also run consecutively to counts one through three. The remainder
15:16
Speaker 1: of the sentencing will be left to the discretion of
15:18
Speaker 1: the court. That sentencing will occur November nineteenth at ten
15:22
Speaker 1: o'clock in the morning. That makes a big difference. To
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Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina lawyer. If sentences run consecutively or
15:30
Speaker 1: concurrently concurrently means all at one time at the same time.
15:35
Speaker 1: Consecutive means one life sentence after the next life sentence
15:39
Speaker 1: after the next life sentence. So it's very important that
15:42
Speaker 1: this district attorney had the wherewithal to think to have
15:46
Speaker 1: the sentences run consecutively. I couldn't be happier. I could
15:51
Speaker 1: not be happier. This guy will never see the light
15:54
Speaker 1: of day. And if you look through the internet and
15:57
Speaker 1: you see the postings of Sister Joe, everybody believes that
16:02
Speaker 1: he'll probably be murdered in prison because of what he
16:05
Speaker 1: did to these beautiful children. Well, you know, some people
16:08
Speaker 1: can only hope for that. We always hear, oh, this
16:11
Speaker 1: will happen to him in prison. Sadly that hardly ever happens.
16:15
Speaker 1: I can only think of two off the top of
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Speaker 1: my head where it happened. There was um Jeffrey Dahmer
16:22
Speaker 1: who was killed behind bars, and then there was a
16:25
Speaker 1: priest and he happened to meet up with a guy
16:28
Speaker 1: he molested behind bars and he was murdered. So oh yeah,
16:33
Speaker 1: then there's murder which just happened. But those three are
16:37
Speaker 1: really the only three I can think of. There may
16:39
Speaker 1: may be more where there's quote jailhouse justice m consecutive sense. Yeah,
16:47
Speaker 1: jump in. I just want to say, everybody who's listening,
16:51
Speaker 1: when you're thinking about, you know, who would make a
16:54
Speaker 1: good district attorney, for example, in your jurisdiction, one of
16:57
Speaker 1: the things that I would love to hear more of
17:01
Speaker 1: them saying is we need legislatures across this country to
17:06
Speaker 1: get rid of concurrent sentencing. And the reason is because
17:11
Speaker 1: it's basically giving you two furs and three furs and
17:15
Speaker 1: four furs. You know, could commit three crimes, pay the
17:18
Speaker 1: price of one, you assault three people, and you get
17:22
Speaker 1: convicted of all three assaults, but then the sentences run concurrently.
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Speaker 1: So basically, you pay the price for one assault that's insane,
17:32
Speaker 1: you do the crime, you pay the price you pay.
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Speaker 1: You do three assaults, you pay for one, you pay
17:38
Speaker 1: for the second one, you pay for the third one.
17:39
Speaker 1: Is to me, the only obvious and logical way that
17:43
Speaker 1: it ought to work. Take a listen to four year
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Speaker 1: old Bella singing to her dad before he murdered her.
17:49
Speaker 1: My dad, God, ok, yeah, daddy. Mister Ren and I
18:18
Speaker 1: flew out to North Carolina about three weeks ago and
18:22
Speaker 1: spent quite a bit of time with the Russi family
18:24
Speaker 1: talking about the state of the death, of the death
18:27
Speaker 1: penalty in Colorado, the realities of the death penalty. We
18:31
Speaker 1: explained to them the extraordinary delays that currently exist in
18:36
Speaker 1: the state of Colorado as the result of, in part,
18:40
Speaker 1: the actions of our current governor. We discussed the fact
18:43
Speaker 1: that any individual by the name of Nathan Dunlap was
18:46
Speaker 1: convicted and sentenced to death in nineteen ninety six and
18:48
Speaker 1: it's still alive today. We discussed all of the possible consequences, delays, penalties,
18:56
Speaker 1: time frames, and I hope I'm saying this accurately. I
18:59
Speaker 1: know will correct me if I am wrong, But they
19:02
Speaker 1: were a very strongly in favor of a resolution in
19:06
Speaker 1: this case of the death. You are hearing the Weld
19:10
Speaker 1: County District Attorney Michael Rourke speaking about Chris Watts's guilty
19:14
Speaker 1: please he traveled. Rourke all the way to North Carolina
19:18
Speaker 1: from Colorado to speak to Shenanne's parents and brother and
19:23
Speaker 1: explained to them how long it would take to actually
19:25
Speaker 1: implement the death penalty. The family made the decision to
19:30
Speaker 1: go for life behind bars versus the death penalty. When
19:34
Speaker 1: I first heard about this play, which was a big
19:37
Speaker 1: surprise to the public, I was shocked that the state
19:41
Speaker 1: was not going forward with the death penalty in such
19:44
Speaker 1: a heinous case. Chris Watts murdered his wife Shenanne, pregnant
19:50
Speaker 1: with their first boy, Nico, and his two little daughters,
19:54
Speaker 1: Celeste and Bella. He then put the girl's bodies in
19:58
Speaker 1: crude oil containers where he worked at an oil company,
20:03
Speaker 1: and buried his wife, Shannan in a shallow grave so
20:07
Speaker 1: he could carry on his sex affair with a co worker.
20:12
Speaker 1: Then made a cheerful plea to the public about please
20:15
Speaker 1: come wh whan not impressed, then he choked up and
20:21
Speaker 1: snotted all over everybody in court, pleading guilty to the murders.
20:26
Speaker 1: Now what a juxtaposition. Listen to Channion's Facebook video she
20:32
Speaker 1: had just posted telling her daughters she was going to
20:36
Speaker 1: have a new baby. Guess what, girls, Mommy has a
20:41
Speaker 1: baby in her belly. Are you guys excited? Yes? Are
20:49
Speaker 1: you really excited? Oh my goodness. Oh I love you girl. Yeah,
21:01
Speaker 1: you got to give a baby a hug. I love you, Mella.
21:04
Speaker 1: And it just breaks my heart hearing the little children's
21:07
Speaker 1: voices laughing. Now listen to that and start contrast to
21:13
Speaker 1: Shanan telling her husband Chris, watch she's pregnant. I like
21:20
Speaker 1: that shirt. Really really, that's awesome. So pink means that's
21:36
Speaker 1: just the test. I just said, the pink is gonna
21:38
Speaker 1: be girls. I don't know, it's the test. That's awesome. Yes,
21:50
Speaker 1: guess guess when you want see what happens. That's awesome.
21:55
Speaker 1: He says he knows he's having a sex affair with
21:57
Speaker 1: his coworker right then, and talk about leaving his wife.
22:03
Speaker 1: You mean it's a girl because he already had two girls.
22:06
Speaker 1: Well we know now it was Nico, a baby boy.
22:10
Speaker 1: But comparing the differences in their reactions to a new
22:15
Speaker 1: baby on the way joining me. In addition to doctor
22:18
Speaker 1: Brian Russell from I D's Fatal Vows, Kathleen Murphy, North
22:22
Speaker 1: Carolina family lawyer Ellen Klaurin, investigative reporter with crime online
22:28
Speaker 1: dot Com, is Vincent Hill cop turned PI author of
22:32
Speaker 1: playbook to a murder. Vincon You know, almost immediately the
22:37
Speaker 1: cops smelled a rat. How did they find the bodies? Well, Mancie,
22:42
Speaker 1: I think everybody from the beginning smelled the rat. I
22:44
Speaker 1: mean he started out with we had an emotional conversation,
22:49
Speaker 1: but it's not an argument. Well, isn't an argument an
22:52
Speaker 1: emotional conversation, right, because emotions are involved. So I think
22:56
Speaker 1: that's what tipped investigators at that this guy may be involved.
23:00
Speaker 1: And to find out that he had put the bodies
23:04
Speaker 1: of his little girls in crude oil, that's just heartbreaking,
23:09
Speaker 1: even for season investigators. Nancy, I'm sure that's something they
23:13
Speaker 1: were not expecting. You know, it doesn't take long to
23:16
Speaker 1: figure out to figure it out evidence of an affair.
23:19
Speaker 1: And as every defense attorney will argue, an affair does
23:22
Speaker 1: not make you a murderer. But how many times and
23:26
Speaker 1: domestic murderers is one of the parties having an affair?
23:31
Speaker 1: To Ellen Colorin with crime online dot Com, what have
23:34
Speaker 1: we learned about Let's just say his gosh, exciting is
23:41
Speaker 1: not the right word. His very busy social life. Well, Nancy,
23:46
Speaker 1: you're right, it does appear that he was very, very busy.
23:50
Speaker 1: A law enforcement has confirmed at least one ongoing affair
23:56
Speaker 1: with the coworker that was happening at the very same
23:59
Speaker 1: time that his wife and children were murdered. But we've
24:03
Speaker 1: also heard from two other people who claims to have
24:09
Speaker 1: had a sexual affair with Chris Watts in the last
24:14
Speaker 1: the year or two before his murders, And it sounds like,
24:17
Speaker 1: if those people are telling the truth, he was having
24:19
Speaker 1: a multiple affairs at the same time. You know, Ellen
24:24
Speaker 1: colorin Investigative Reporter, he cried and snodded the whole way
24:30
Speaker 1: through his guilty play. Is it true that he never
24:35
Speaker 1: once met the eyes of Shennan's family, That is what
24:39
Speaker 1: we're hearing. And Nancy, I think that he was crying
24:42
Speaker 1: for himself. What does that say to you? To doctor
24:45
Speaker 1: Brian Russell, it's still all about him. I mean, why
24:48
Speaker 1: could he just get a divorce? Why was it all
24:52
Speaker 1: about him having a new lifestyle. Well, this is the
24:57
Speaker 1: number one reason why people end up on my show
25:01
Speaker 1: on Fatal Vows, because they're having an an affair, or
25:05
Speaker 1: they've they've had an affair, or they've get caught having
25:08
Speaker 1: an affair, and so that's always the question, you know,
25:12
Speaker 1: why didn't they just get divorced? And it actually shows,
25:16
Speaker 1: it actually compounds the lesson into just how how extreme
25:23
Speaker 1: the selfishness is at the core of the sociopath when
25:27
Speaker 1: you really think about, well, why didn't they Obviously they
25:31
Speaker 1: knew that was an option, But then what would have happened?
25:35
Speaker 1: Then he would have been divorced, he would have had
25:38
Speaker 1: three kids to support off living in another It would
25:41
Speaker 1: have had to fund two households, be paying child support.
25:46
Speaker 1: God Forbiddy would have had to have the kids maybe
25:48
Speaker 1: with him some of the time, which would have cramped
25:50
Speaker 1: his style. And so for him cleaning his slate of
25:55
Speaker 1: that family, wiping them away as if they were they were,
26:00
Speaker 1: you know, useless pieces of trash. And that's literally how
26:06
Speaker 1: he disposed of them, throwing them into oil tanks so
26:10
Speaker 1: that he could ostensibly move on with his sex affair.
26:14
Speaker 1: As you said, here was just I mean, it's hard
26:17
Speaker 1: for most of us to imagine that kind of selfishness.
26:21
Speaker 1: You know, how many times did this guy change his story?
26:24
Speaker 1: Ellen kill Lauren? First it was we had an emotional
26:28
Speaker 1: discussion and then she went missing, Where is she come home?
26:31
Speaker 1: Then it was once the bodies were found at his
26:35
Speaker 1: workplace out in an oil field, he changed his story
26:38
Speaker 1: to what his wife killed the girls after he told
26:40
Speaker 1: her he was leaving. Then he killed her in a rage.
26:45
Speaker 1: Being how often did a story change, ellenor were his
26:48
Speaker 1: stories in the sound of just a few days? He
26:54
Speaker 1: changed his story multiple times. He played the part initially
26:58
Speaker 1: and very unconvincing of a husband and father who was
27:03
Speaker 1: missing his family and begging them to come home. Within
27:07
Speaker 1: the week, he had admitted that he had killed his
27:12
Speaker 1: pregnant wife after the so called emotional conversation, and then
27:17
Speaker 1: he tried to blame her for the deaths of his
27:21
Speaker 1: little girls. He said that he saw her strangling one
27:27
Speaker 1: of the little girls while another one lay limp on
27:30
Speaker 1: a bed nearby, looking blue, and that he flew into
27:33
Speaker 1: a rage, claiming to be in the defense of his daughters.
27:37
Speaker 1: But he never called nine one one. He never did
27:40
Speaker 1: anything to defend them, because he's responsible for their deaths.
27:45
Speaker 1: Just one girls. Mommy has a baby in her belly.
27:52
Speaker 1: Are you guys excited? Yes? Are you really excited? Oh
27:59
Speaker 1: my goodness, Oh yeah, you're gonna give the baby a hut.
28:09
Speaker 1: I love you, Mella, and I can only say that
28:12
Speaker 1: I hope there is a sense of closure. I know
28:15
Speaker 1: that that will never be fully realized, because obviously, the
28:18
Speaker 1: tragedy that sits before us today is the loss of
28:22
Speaker 1: four beautiful lives. And no matter what happens today, no
28:25
Speaker 1: matter what happens at a sentence in hearing down the road,
28:28
Speaker 1: we can't get them back. Sandy said it very, very
28:33
Speaker 1: poignantly to me. She said, he made the choice to
28:38
Speaker 1: take those lives. I do not want to be in
28:40
Speaker 1: a position of making the choice to take his. And
28:42
Speaker 1: so that's about as firmly as you could have said
28:45
Speaker 1: it to me, And that was very compelling to all
28:47
Speaker 1: of us. As we were talking about how to proceed
28:50
Speaker 1: on this kise, we talked a lot about whether we
28:53
Speaker 1: would require him to come forward and give us what
28:55
Speaker 1: we believed to be a complete, accurate and truthful statement.
28:58
Speaker 1: I think all of those who were never truly believed
29:01
Speaker 1: that he would give us an accurate statement. What I
29:03
Speaker 1: can tell you most affirmatively today by what happened in
29:06
Speaker 1: the courtroom is the spotlight that he tried to shine
29:09
Speaker 1: on Nane falsely, incorrectly, and frankly, a flat outlay has
29:14
Speaker 1: been corrected. The spotlight shines directly where it belongs on him.
29:18
Speaker 1: You're hearing the Colorado District Attorney Michael Rourke speaking out
29:21
Speaker 1: about Christopher Watts's guilty plea in court. The family of
29:28
Speaker 1: those related to Shananne Watts, the friends of Chanan Watts
29:33
Speaker 1: distraught while her husband, Christopher Watts, pleads guilty and cries
29:38
Speaker 1: for himself the entire way through it, he knows. To
29:42
Speaker 1: Kathleen Murphy, North Carolina family lawyer, this is what you
29:48
Speaker 1: live and breathe family controversy. You usually not ending in murders,
29:54
Speaker 1: but this one all over an affair is so rare
29:59
Speaker 1: that one not only kills their spouse but their children too. Well.
30:02
Speaker 1: I believe that there was a trifecta of things going wrong.
30:06
Speaker 1: He's clearly a narcissist, he was clearly engaged in significant misbehavior,
30:13
Speaker 1: and then third he just didn't want to own the
30:16
Speaker 1: reality of it all coming to a head. I see
30:20
Speaker 1: this all the time, Nancy, social media all the time.
30:25
Speaker 1: I can get on my sandbox about this, but people
30:28
Speaker 1: need to get off of social media and live their
30:29
Speaker 1: real life. To Ellen Kalora and Crime Online dot Com
30:32
Speaker 1: investigative reporter, what role did finances play? Kathleen Murphy, North
30:38
Speaker 1: Carolina family lawyer said, basically, trifecta, a family problems erupted
30:43
Speaker 1: into murder. What about finances? Well, As Kathleen said, it's
30:48
Speaker 1: obvious that Chris Wats was a narciss said, and in
30:51
Speaker 1: the last couple of years of schnan Wass's life, she
30:55
Speaker 1: started to become very independent, financially independent, and financially powerful
31:00
Speaker 1: on her own. She was making around eighty thousand dollars
31:04
Speaker 1: a year, which is a very good salary for that
31:07
Speaker 1: part of Colorado, and we know that Chris Watts's salary
31:12
Speaker 1: actually declined over the years. We don't know why. So
31:16
Speaker 1: there is a point where she was surpassing her husband.
31:21
Speaker 1: I'll tell you why, because he was philandering too much
31:25
Speaker 1: and not focusing on his family and his job. He
31:28
Speaker 1: was too busy out having affairs. That's just one observation. Ellen.
31:32
Speaker 1: I think that's a very good observation, and we know
31:35
Speaker 1: that that is exactly what was going on. So Chris
31:38
Speaker 1: Watts was not providing for his family. He was only
31:42
Speaker 1: providing for himself, you know. To Vincent Hill, private investigator,
31:46
Speaker 1: former cop, author of Playbook to a Murder Now, creator
31:50
Speaker 1: of Fall of a Titan podcast, Vincent, listen to this,
31:54
Speaker 1: The district attorney says, quote, I don't know how I
31:58
Speaker 1: could have sat in Sandy, that's Shenan's mom kitchen, and
32:02
Speaker 1: asked her to commit the next twenty five years of
32:05
Speaker 1: her life to a criminal justice system without any assurance
32:11
Speaker 1: the sentence would ever actually be imposed. That's a really
32:16
Speaker 1: hard thing to tell a victim's family, a murder victims family,
32:21
Speaker 1: that yeah, you might get the death sentence, but it
32:24
Speaker 1: will probably very likely never be imposed. That's hard. Vincent Hill, Yeah,
32:31
Speaker 1: that's a hard conversation Antim Colorado that they do have
32:34
Speaker 1: a very relaxed death penalty if you will, you know,
32:38
Speaker 1: but I gotta give it to the family, to NaN's
32:42
Speaker 1: family to say, hey, we don't want the death penalty,
32:45
Speaker 1: that takes a lot of strength, even in what they lost, Nancy.
32:50
Speaker 1: That takes a lot of strength to say we're not
32:52
Speaker 1: even seeking the death penalty. We want this guy to
32:55
Speaker 1: spend the rest of his life in prison. So that's
32:57
Speaker 1: a testament to the type of people Jane's family is,
33:01
Speaker 1: you know. To Kathleen Murphy, I don't know what this means, Kathleen.
33:05
Speaker 1: I'm not a shrink. I'm just a trial lawyer and
33:07
Speaker 1: a mom. But to murder your wife, your pregnant wife,
33:12
Speaker 1: your two baby girls as just three and four, and
33:15
Speaker 1: then try to put the blame on your wife, claiming
33:20
Speaker 1: she murdered the little girls and then she saw through
33:23
Speaker 1: the nanny cams she was strangling them, and then you
33:26
Speaker 1: ran in in a rage and killed her. You know
33:30
Speaker 1: what level of deception and cruelty and evil is that
33:38
Speaker 1: that you would not only kill your wife with your
33:40
Speaker 1: bare hands and your two little children, and then try
33:44
Speaker 1: to blame her she's the bad person. Well, you're the
33:48
Speaker 1: one screwing around. Number one, Nancy, I cannot even conceive
33:51
Speaker 1: of it. I can't conceive of it. But number two,
33:55
Speaker 1: I cannot conceive of the pain her parents and her
34:00
Speaker 1: brother must have felt when that information came out of
34:05
Speaker 1: that joke's mouth. Unfathomable. Here's the very latest in the
34:10
Speaker 1: Chris Watts murder trial. Here's Denver seven Thomas Hopo. When
34:15
Speaker 1: Christopher Watts stepped into that courtroom, he had no emotion
34:19
Speaker 1: walking towards his seat, But as soon as the judge
34:22
Speaker 1: started to speak about his plea agreement, that's when he
34:25
Speaker 1: broke down and started crying. And for all nine counts
34:27
Speaker 1: that he pleaded guilty to, he was in between cries.
34:31
Speaker 1: And now, with everything that's happened, Shennan's family might be
34:34
Speaker 1: able to move forward and have some closure, move forward
34:37
Speaker 1: and have closure. I don't know about that. You know,
34:41
Speaker 1: sometimes we trial lawyers think we've seen it all and
34:45
Speaker 1: then comes along Christopher Watts. I don't know what malice
34:51
Speaker 1: was in his heart and in his mind, but I
34:54
Speaker 1: know this, it was all about him and the life
34:57
Speaker 1: he wanted to leave. His wife and little children are dead.
35:06
Speaker 1: He will serve the rest of his life behind bars,
35:08
Speaker 1: unless through some legal wrangling like in Charles Manson when
35:13
Speaker 1: the death penalty was declared unconstitutional and he got life,
35:16
Speaker 1: and then he was possibly up for parole. You never
35:19
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. My only comfort is that
35:24
Speaker 1: Nianne gave her children the happiest life possible. I'm signing off, friend,
35:32
Speaker 1: but I want you to hear the joy and little
35:36
Speaker 1: Bella's voice. Guess what, girls, Mommy has a baby in
35:40
Speaker 1: her belly. Are you guys excited? Yes? Are you really excited?
35:50
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, don't give me. Oh yeah, the baby? Huh?
36:01
Speaker 1: I love you, Mella. Nancy Grace Crime Story, signing off, goodbye, friend,