It's been nearly two weeks since the public first heard of Chris Watts. That's when the Colorado husband initially spoke to the media pleading for the return of his missing pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters. Many trusted this seemingly distraught man, but after Shanann's body was found in a shallow grave with Bella and Celeste's bodies nearby just days later, public opinion began to sway. And when news broke that Watts admitted to killing his wife and unborn child — but was blaming his 4- and 3-year-old's murders on Shanann, many stopped believing anything he had to say. Now that Watts has been formally charged with first-degree murder, a criminologist is speaking out with her opinion on the exact moment she knew he was lying about it all.
Although Watts has yet to be convicted, Dr. Denise Mowder believes he is guilty of murdering his pregnant wife and their two little girls.
Mowder, a former prosecutor and associate professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver, has worked with countless victims of family violence during her career. She told ABC 15 that although Watts seemed like the perfect partner and loving father, his actions aren't necessarily surprising.
According to Mowder, in case studies of dads committing similar slayings, the motive typically comes down to rage. "Most were done — 60 percent were done — by rage, the other 10 percent they don't know the cause, and the other 30 percent were spousal revenge," she said.
"I'm pretty surprised he didn't kill himself, too. Oftentimes, it goes in a pattern," Mowder said.
Although Mowder added that she doesn't know if it comes down to rage in this case, she does have a theory for the exact reason Watts allegedly killed his family. "I think he had a vision of another life with this other woman — carefree, no responsibilities," she said. "Two children and another on the way, that's a big responsibility."
Mowder believes Watts' original plan was to blame an intruder before he flipped and had to scramble.
For Mowder, the fact that Watts went on camera, pleading for his wife and girls' safe return, proves that he was trying to set up a story where someone else did it. This would make him the victim and give him the freedom to start a fresh life with another woman.
"This whole facade he put on right after they started looking for them — that was very odd, and it makes me wonder if he wasn't trying to find an out to be with the girlfriend," Mowder said. "Somebody else did it. I'm the poor grieving father."
However, when it was revealed that Watts was having an affair with his coworker, he changed his story. This was huge for Mowder.
"I think he thought he would just keep it up and it'd be a who-done-it," said Mowder. "Because where he put them, he had to think it through that no one would ever find them."
But when court documents revealed that Watts wasn't the doting husband he claimed to be and was actually having an affair with someone else, Watts started blaming his wife. Based on her experience with domestic violence, this was a major red flag for Mowder.
Watts' new story was that he saw his wife strangling the girls over the baby monitor -- and that's exactly what sealed his guilt in Mowder's mind.
"When he said she was the one strangling the children, I knew right then he was the one who strangled the children because he can give all the details of what he said she did because he was doing it himself," she said. "It's going to be hard on the family to hear the lies. And there's some secrets there, I'm afraid. It's going to be hard for the jury. It's going to be hard for the public to really understand because there is no understanding it."
That actually makes a lot of sense considering the timeline and the crucial details Watts claims he "saw."
Before Shanann's murder, she had been out of town on a business trip. According to Watts' latest story, they had a conversation about separating after she returned, and he only killed her "in a fit of rage" after seeing her then murder their two daughters over their baby monitor. However, according to charges read during Watts's arraignment, detectives don't believe Shanann and the girls died around the same time.
Instead, it's believed that Shanann was killed on August 13 but her girls were killed sometime between August 12 and 13. Considering that Shanann was confirmed out of town until 2 a.m August 13, according to Fox 30, the girls could have been murdered up to 24 hours before their mom was even home.
This means it wouldn't have been possible for Watts to see those chilling details of how his babies died — unless he was the one doing it to them.
