After Chris Watts's pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters were reported missing on August 13, friends and family rallied behind what they believed was a loving family man and victim, going through the unthinkable. In the days that followed, however, Shanann's body as well as the bodies of 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste were found and Chris was charged with their murders. But this revelation wasn't just a shock to their families. It also blew the minds of close friends who supported him, especially the family who invited him to stay with them before learning that he was possibly lying.
After his family went "missing," Chris didn't stay in their empty house alone. Instead, Nick and Amanda Thayer graciously opened up their home to him.
"They were family. They spent Thanksgivings with us and 4th of Julys and all the holidays," Amanda Thayer told KUSA. That's why Amanda and her husband, Nick, didn't think twice about inviting Chris to stay with them while officials searched for 15-week-pregnant Shanann and their little girls.
Chris slept in the bedroom near the Thayer's 5-year-old daughter, Emily, and this detail now haunts them.
Chris stayed in a bedroom across the hall from their little girl. and Emily told her parents that she saw "Mr. Chris" the next morning because their doors were next to each other.
The next day, Chris was arrested and eventually charged with first-degree murder as well as unlawful termination of a pregnancy. “Had we had any inclination that we thought he was involved, at all, no way would I have let him in my house with my wife and kid,” Nick said.
Now knowing that the man who allegedly killed Emily's best friends spent the night so close to her is something that the Thayer parents are still coping with. “It’s just a haunting memory at this point,” Nick said.
Emily originally had plans to have a sleepover with Bella and Celeste that weekend, and instead spent the night next to their alleged murderer.
“I just looked at, while I was giving her a bath this morning and taking her to school, I just kept looking at her like, how do I tell you that your best friend’s gone?” Nick said.
"God, our daughter just loved them so much," Amanda added.
Nick and Emily were also taking care of Shanann's beloved dog -- the last thing her family has of her.
After the news broke, Nick said that Shanann's mom called to see if they had Shanann's dog, Deeter. "She wanted our word that we were going to take good care of him because Deeter is the last thing they have — and they want, they want to take him home," Nick said.
He also profusely apologized to her for taking in the man who allegedly killed her child and grandchildren. "'I’m so sorry, like, we didn’t know. We thought we were doing the right thing,'” he recalled saying. To which, he says a family member responded, “We get it. We don’t hold it against you.”
Now, the Thayers need to world to know that they are sorry for originally defending the man they once considered family.
"I'm so sorry. We didn't know. We thought we were doing the right thing," Nick said. "It's all we can do is say we're sorry that we defended him on social media. We really had no idea that he was capable of doing something like we've … I hate it. I hate all of this."
According to Amanda, Shanann had only jokingly mentioned suspicions of Chris having an affair.
"They were always hugging, holding hands, or kissing. They had the perfect family," Amanda said. "Honestly, she wasn’t worried. But you know when your husband doesn’t answer his text messages, as a woman, your thought process just goes to the wrong things. It was never a serious concern of hers."
Shanann, however, may have been right to be suspicious. According to an affidavit, Chris was having an affair with a coworker before the murders.
Since his original interview, Nick hasn't spoken to the media again and posted a statement on Facebook.
Please know that Amanda and I have not done any interviews about Shanann since Thursday after news broke and will not be doing ANY more at all! … I know [reporters] are using what we said on Thursday and are editing what we said to make their article more enticing," he wrote. "The only reason we agreed to speak in the first place was to tell people how sorry we were for supporting that man who we thought was a friend."
