In 2018 , the world watched in horror as husband and father of two Chris Watts seemed to transform before their eye . Initially experience as a grief - stricken hubby and beginner searching for his missing family , Watts shortly became one of the most hated men in America when he confessed that he had polish off his fraught married woman Shannan and their two young daughters , Bella and Celeste .
Using surety footage from the Watts ’s Colorado home and the couple ’s own personal communication theory , Netflix ’s true - crime documentaryAmerican Murder : The Family Next Doortells the grievous tale of the Watts family . While the streaming giant packed a set of information about the tragedy into its 83 - minute run prison term — including several clip of Shanann Watts speak about Chris and her menage , which she documented on societal media — it still leaves a lot of unreciprocated interrogation . Especially about why a seemingly felicitous husband and dad would all of a sudden shoot and obliterate his entire family .
If you ’re appear to dig further into the case , and see more about the unparalleled psychology of what is usually referred to as afamily annihilatororfamily cause of death , learn on to break some fascinating facts about the Watts case that were n’t cover in Netflix ’s documentary.**Spoilers onwards . * *
1. Family annihilators generally fit into one of four basic profiles.
Family annihilatoris the term used by criminologists to describe a person who remove their own family . In 2013,The Howard Journal of Criminal Justicepublished astudyon the characteristics of kinsperson annihilators , based on a newspaper publisher examining 30 years ’ worth of newspaper archives . The field of study noted that assailant are typically male and fall into one of four categories : Self - Righteous , Disappointed , Anomic ( Socially Unstable ) , and/or Paranoid .
In addition to suit the gender part of the visibility , Chris Watts has also been show to exhibit self - righteous behaviour . According to the research , family killers who exhibit self - righteous conduct often assay to blame their spouse for both the criminal offense and any transmitted striving guide up to the murders . Watts show this when he evidence investigator that it was Shanann who killed the kids , remind him to then kill her out of fad . Watts afterward forswear this when describing the execution of his daughters by his own hands .
2. Family killers don’t usually have a criminal history.
accord to the same 2013study , family killers are unique in that most of them have no history of mental malady nor any criminal record . And most of them seem to be glad kinsperson gentleman’s gentleman ( or women ) before their crimes .
3. financial strain can Be a Major Trigger for Family KIllers.
Although family annihilators have not been studied as much as serial killers or other aggregated murderers , it still befuddled the public that a ostensibly loving father and husband could plan something so fearful .
But when equate to other menage killer , there seems to be one commonality that stands out : fiscal strain . Financial issues are considered to be the 2d most mutual motive for family orca to act , according to The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice study .
As with the case of John List , who confessed in aletterthat his 1971 family murder were due to finances , Chris Watts appears to have had money issues of his own . The Watts family filed forbankruptcyin 2015 after the couple racked up medical and credit carddebt , as well as debt attributed to department store shopping and student loans .
4. Many family annihilators choose to commit their crimes in August.
One unpaired scrap of data gleaned from all this enquiry is that family annihilators most often commit their direful criminal offense during the month of August . Why August?Professor David Wilson , director of Birmingham City University ’s Centre for Applied Criminology and one of the paper ’s author , theorizesthat it may be due to children not yet starting school , and the murderer having access . Another explanation could be parental stress after children are home for month during the summer break , which could worsen other effect like finances and marriage .
Chris Watts murdered his family in the early morning hours of August 13 , 2018 .
5. Chris Watts has spoken out from prison to express that he wants “a normal life” for his Mistress.
As more details surrounding the Watts case came to spark , the world learned that , just as Shannan had suspected , therewasanother woman in Chris ’s life-time : geologistNichol Kessinger . Kessinger sit down down with detectives after learning about the slaying and verify that she did n’t know anything about Chris ’s plans .
Since then , Watts has sit down down with Denver 7 for a nearly 5 - hour prisoninterviewto discuss his crimes and what led up to them . During the conversation , Watts talk at length about his relationship with Kessinger . When asked if he wish he could babble out to her he reply yes , “ … just to say I ’m regretful this all happened . " Watts then went on to say , “ Hopefully it ’s calmed down since … I just trust she can have normality . ”
6. Some viewers swear they saw a ghost in the footage.
The YouTube video above have a clip from the first 15 minutes of the documentary , which is captured via constabulary body cam , and many the great unwashed intend that what they ’re seeing on the screen is a spook — perhaps of one of the Watts daughters who was killed . Others , however , refutethe paranormal claim , stating that it ’s potential the girl of Nickole Atkinson , a friend of Shannan ’s and the mortal who first alerted the law to her disappearing .
