The more details that come out of the Chris Watts case, the more twisted it all becomes — and now, we have a bit of insight into the investigation process that ultimately led to his confession. On Sunday night's edition of Criminal Confessions on Oxygen, investigators shared how they got Watts to confess to the murders of his pregnant wife and two young daughters. And although horrifying, the details are pretty fascinating.
In November 2018, Chris Watts pleaded guilty to the murders of Bella, 4, Celeste, 3, and Shan'ann, who was pregnant with their baby boy.
At first, Watts denied having any idea what happened to his missing family and begged for help. His story later changed, and he denied harming his daughters, claiming that he only killed Shan'nan after seeing her strangle their children. Finally, he confessed, and he received a host of charges including five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a body.
Watts was given three life sentences, along with an additional 48 years in prison for the murder of his unborn son and 12 additional years for all three counts of tampering with a body.
Now, more than a year later, investigators are opening up about how they secured his confession.
On Criminal Confessions, viewers are given a look into the strategy used after Watts gave that unsettling initial TV interview, asking for his family's safe return.
It was revealed that FBI agent Graham Coder brought Watts in and spent hours with him to get him to warm up and talk about his family's disappearance. But when Watts didn't show emotion, that was a red flag, and he tried another tactic.
"Special Agent Coder has a very soft, soothing almost, type of voice when he was talking to Chris," CBI agent Tammy Lee said on the show, per E! News. "But, at the same time, he was asking very, very tough questions."
Coder showed Watts photos of his family, and Watts dropped the biggest red flag yet: He started talking about them in the past tense — even though it hadn't been confirmed that they were dead. From mentioning a pair of shoes Celeste "loved" to mentioning that she "was" a girly girl, these were major slips to investigators. "If he is hoping and believing that they're still alive, why would you start talking about them in past tense?" Lee said.
Then, Watts failed a lie detector test the next day, and it all went downhill from there.
After Watts failed the lie detector test, investigators changed techniques: They started vilifying Shan'ann.
Investigators discovered that Watts had been lying about having an affair, and after they got him to confess to that, they tried to get on his good side by vilifying Shan'ann to make him feel more comfortable opening up — and hopefully slipping again. "Vilifying Shan'ann, it's a technique that we can use to eventually get the actual truth," Lee shared. "We just needed to find Shan'ann and the girls."
After rounds of interviewing, Watts asked to see his father, Ronnie, so investigators took a chance and decided to allow it. When Watts saw his dad, he partially confessed, admitting to murdering Shan'ann and claiming she'd been the one to kill their daughters — but that wasn't the whole truth.
"It was pretty much gut-wrenching to hear Chris talk about the fact that he murdered his wife to his own father," Lee said. "It was the theme of Shan'ann doing something to the girls that I had just given him prior to leaving the room. But to actually hear that come out of his mouth was shocking."
Six months after the murders, Chris revealed that his daughters had been alive when he drove to their burial site, and Bella, the oldest, watched as he smothered her younger sister, Celeste, before he did the same to her.
"Chris told us that, every night when he closes his eyes, he hears Bella yell, 'Daddy no!'" Lee added. "I feel like it's kind of what he deserves. I hope he hears that every night."
It's heartbreaking to hear what the girls' final moments were like, to say the least.
It's good to know that justice has been served, and that Watts will be behind bars for the rest of his life, although it will obviously never make things right for everyone who loved Shan'ann, Bella, and Celeste.
"You know, he didn’t even cry for them. Like, I’ve cried more for them than he has. Like, who does that?” Lee added, according to Oxygen.
With a Lifetime movie and new documentary about the tragedy on the horizon for 2020, it seems as if people will be talking about this case for months.
