Skip to playerSkip to main content
On August 13th, 2018, the world was shocked by the disappearance of a seemingly perfect family. Chris Watts, a devoted father and husband, appeared to be living the American dream in Frederick, Colorado. But behind the laughter, family vacations, and social media posts, a dark and horrifying secret was hidden.

In this episode of The Betrayal Files, we uncover the chilling details of one of the most infamous crimes in modern history. How did a "perfect" father transform into a cold-blooded killer? We walk through the investigation, the betrayal, and the heart-wrenching final moments of Shanann, Bella, Celeste, and unborn Nico.

In this video, we cover:

The timeline of the disappearance and the deceptive search for the family.

The truth about the affair and the motive behind the tragedy.

The confession that left investigators and the public stunned.

The chilling final words of little Bella Watts.

⚠️ Warning: This video contains graphic details and themes of family violence. Viewer discretion is advised.

Subscribe to The Betrayal Files for deep dives into real-life criminal cases, forgotten files, and the quest for justice.

🔔 Turn on notifications so you never miss a new case file. ..

#TrueCrime #ChrisWatts #TheBetrayalFiles #Documentary #CriminalPsychology #FamilyAnnihilator #TrueCrimeCommunity
https://you-blush-nine.vercel.app/

Category

✨
People
Transcript
00:00إصالها في المفتالات في عام خوص، بالنسبة للميزة.
00:03معاها في الصين والجلس الزواج المسارين.
00:05انتمتسج الوصول على المرات المفتاح والثوية.
00:09إنه سنقره.
00:12إنه سنقره مستمر.
00:14إنه سنعرف هم من المدينة وهم بحق،
00:18و كل دي مكوري كانوا çünkü هناك إظهاراً أصبع ،
00:22سنسان لم يكن في اقلال فترة سوارة بالالعام.
00:27الكثير من الرجل من خلال نرى الحربية
00:30في مستخفى المنزل
00:32ومن خلال نرى الشركة
00:34بان خلال نرى
00:36وشانان مستدرد من خلال نرى
00:41هذا يتحدث عن كرسطفر واط
00:44وهو من العمل من المساعدة المدرنة التي أحدث أنت
00:48ليس لما ماذا فعله
00:50ولو لمن هو موجود إلى الحياة
00:53وماذا فرصاك في مكان
00:57المترجم للقناة
01:48المترجم للقناة
02:04المترجم للقناة
02:07المترجم للقناة
02:09المترجم للقناة
02:11المترجم للقناة
02:15المترجم للقناة
02:16المترجم للقناة
02:18المترجم للقناة
02:20المترجم للقناة
02:22المترجم للقناة
02:26المترجم للقناة
02:29المترجم للقناة
02:30المترجم للقناة
02:33المترجم للقناة
02:37المترجم للقناة
02:39المترجم للقناة
02:41المترجم للقناة
02:43المترجم للقناة
02:45وضع و في اخترار التسلح معه
02:48أنت محرك مرحبا لكي تحديد شانان لكي تيضا
02:52بخلط من المشأة
02:54بخلط من المنزل
02:55أجمل بثهر
02:58بحرنة لكي طريقة كما ت tablespoons
03:01ولكن شانان كانmodا
03:03وقد ستألطانا فيها المشال
03:05بين النهائي الثالث putي فيه
03:10شانان تحديق في الاعزونة وقف настоящ
03:14عندما كان هناك ، Watts spent the weekend alone with Bella and Cece.
03:19According to letters he later wrote from prison,
03:22this was when he began planning what he would do.
03:25He gave Shanann Oxycontin without her knowledge,
03:28believing it might end the pregnancy.
03:30He later confessed he had already tried and failed
03:33to smother his daughters in their beds during that weekend.
03:37According to his own account,
03:39he could not go through with it that first time.
03:42Shanann came home just before 2 in the morning on Monday, August 13th.
03:49She had been driven home by her friend and colleague, Nicole Atkinson.
03:55She went inside. She went to bed.
03:58What happened in that house in the hours before dawn
04:01is something Christopher Watts has given multiple different versions of.
04:07In his first confession, he claimed Shanann killed the girls
04:12and he strangled her in a rage when he found out.
04:16Investigators never believed him.
04:18In later letters to a pen pal, he told a different story.
04:22He said he strangled Shanann first during an argument about divorce.
04:28He said Bella walked into the room.
04:30He told her that mommy was sick.
04:32And then, one after the other,
04:34he smothered his daughters with his bare hands.
04:37He loaded all three bodies into the back seat of his work truck
04:40without their car seats.
04:42He drove to the Anadarko petroleum oil site where he worked.
04:46He buried Shanann in a shallow grave in the dirt.
04:49and then, he pushed his daughters' bodies through the hatches
04:54at the top of two separate oil storage tanks.
04:57The opening of each hatch measured eight inches in diameter.
05:01Bella had scratches on her from being forced through.
05:04A tuft of her blonde hair was found on the edge of the tank.
05:08Then he went to work.
05:10He came home that afternoon as if nothing had happened.
05:13If this case is keeping you up at night the way it is me,
05:16hit subscribe and leave a like.
05:18It genuinely helps this channel keep going.
05:21By noon, Nicole Atkinson was worried.
05:25Shanann had missed a doctor's appointment
05:27and wasn't responding to messages.
05:30When she also missed a business call,
05:32Nicole drove to the house and knocked repeatedly.
05:36No answer.
05:37She called Chris.
05:38He came home from work.
05:40He let the police in to search.
05:41Everything was there.
05:43Shanann's purse.
05:44Her keys.
05:45Her phone between the couch cushions.
05:47Her wedding ring on the bedside table.
05:50Her car in the garage with the girls' car seats still inside.
05:55Everything except Shanann and the girls.
05:58Chris Watts stood on the lawn that afternoon
06:01and gave interviews to two Denver news stations.
06:04He said he was praying for their safe return.
06:07He said he just wanted his babies home.
06:10Investigators standing behind him could be heard working with search dogs.
06:15That night, a neighbor's security camera footage was reviewed.
06:18It showed Chris Watts in the very early morning hours of August 13th,
06:23loading a gas canister into his truck and backing it into the garage.
06:29Investigators understood immediately what that meant.
06:31Two days later, on August 15th, the FBI joined the search.
06:37Watts was given a polygraph test.
06:39He failed it.
06:41Investigators sat him down and told him they knew he was involved.
06:45He broke.
06:46He first told his father, Ronnie, what he had done.
06:49Then he told detectives.
06:52He marked the locations of the bodies on a photograph of the oil field.
06:56They found Shanann first, buried in the dirt.
07:00Then the girls inside the tanks.
07:03Watts was arrested that same day.
07:05Anadarko Petroleum terminated his employment within hours.
07:09He was charged with five counts of first degree murder.
07:13Three for his wife and daughters.
07:15Plus two additional counts under a Colorado law that treats
07:20the murder of a child under 12 by a person in a position of trust
07:24as a separate and additional offense.
07:27He was also charged with unlawful termination of a pregnancy for killing Nico.
07:32and three counts of tampering with the deceased human body.
07:36Shanann's family made one request.
07:39They asked the district attorney not to pursue the death penalty.
07:44They said they did not want any more deaths.
07:47They said they supported the plea agreement.
07:50On November 6th 2018, Christopher Watts pleaded guilty to all charges.
07:56On November 19th, he was sentenced to five consecutive life terms
08:01without the possibility of parole.
08:03Plus, an additional 84 years for the remaining charges.
08:08He was transferred out of Colorado on December 3rd due to security concerns
08:14and is currently serving his sentences at a maximum security prison in Waupun, Wisconsin.
08:22In the years since the conviction, more has come out.
08:25In letters, Watts wrote to a pen pal from prison.
08:29He described planning the murders for weeks.
08:32He described the oxycontin.
08:34He described trying and failing to smother the girls the weekend before.
08:39He described what actually happened that night,
08:42a version far more calculated and cold than anything he had originally admitted.
08:48He also claimed in those letters that he had thought about killing himself afterward out of guilt.
08:54He did not.
08:56Instead, he called his girlfriend the morning after he murdered his family and told her he was on his way
09:03to work.
09:03Netflix released a documentary called American Murder The Family Next Door in September 2020.
09:09It is built almost entirely from Shanann's own social media content.
09:14The videos she posted, the messages she sent, the life she so carefully documented.
09:20It is one of the most unsettling things you will watch because you see her alive, happy, full of plans,
09:27right up until she isn't.
09:37And the man who killed them stood on his front lawn two days later and cried for the cameras.
09:44That is who Christopher Watts was.
09:47That is what was underneath the quiet, polite, unremarkable guy next door.
09:52If you made it to the end of this one, I need you to leave a comment.
09:56Tell me what went through your mind when you heard about the oil tanks.
09:59Because I have covered a lot of cases and that detail, that specific detail, is something I cannot shake.
10:06Like this video, if it hit you the way it hit me.
10:10Subscribe so you are here for the next case.
10:12And I will see you next time.
10:14The files are open.
Comments

Recommended