The Most Bizarre Things About The Chris Watts Case

Disclaimer: The details of this case are extremely disturbing. Some readers may find this story upsetting.

Chris Watts' case is pretty much infamous at this point, after he pleaded guilty to the murders of his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. Shanann, Bella, and Celeste became the focus of a police investigation after disappearing from their home in Frederick, Colo. in the early hours of Aug. 13, 2018. However, the case soon became a murder investigation, in which Chris was the prime suspect — and after failing a polygraph test, he would confess to murdering his family and disposing of their bodies. 

After pleading guilty to the crimes, Chris — who had been having an affair with a coworker prior to the murders — was sentenced and is now in prison. Per the Independent, "Watts was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences for the murders, and a 48-year prison sentence for the wrongful termination of a pregnancy. He also received 12 years for tampering with the bodies of each victim." 

The entire case was later featured in the 2020 Netflix true crime documentary, American Murder: The Family Next Door, but it's safe to say that there are many strange details that didn't make it onto the streaming service. Join us as we examine the most bizarre things about the Chris Watts case.

While Googling romance advice isn't necessarily bizarre in and of itself, the fact that Chris Watts was searching for dating tips while married to Shanann Watts is troubling. While Chris reportedly met Nichol Kessinger, the coworker he would begin an affair with, in June 2018, the romance seemed to have escalated quickly by the following month. 

According to People, prosecutors in the case revealed that Chris had Googled, "When to say I love you for the first time in a new relationship," on July 25, less than three weeks before he murdered his wife, two daughters, and unborn son. Chris' Google search indicated that the married man was moving quickly with Kessinger and was ready to take their relationship to the next level, despite already being married to someone else. Strangely, Chris also Googled, "What do you feel when someone tells you they love you," suggesting that he either didn't know or wanted to accurately react to any romantic declarations. 

Either way, his internet searches suggested that he was putting a lot of time and energy into his illicit romance with Kessinger. Per People, District Attorney Michael Rourke revealed that Chris also spent time "searching the internet for secluded vacation spots" to take Kessinger to during their affair. As reported by the outlet, "Prosecutors have cited Watts' desire for a fresh start with his mistress, coworker Nichol Kessinger, 30, as his motive in the killings."

In the digital age, it's difficult to conceal information, but Chris Watts found an unusual way to store content he received from his mistress, Nichol Kessinger. Per the discovery documents released by the Weld County District Attorney's Office, "Watts had a 'secret calculator' application uploaded to his personal phone. This application by all appearances is an operable calculator. When the user enters a secret passcode the application reveals its true purpose, a concealed storage device for photographs, videos, contacts, even a private browser." 

So, in order to conceal his affair with Kessinger from his wife, Shanann Watts, Chris made sure to store all content from his mistress in the special app on his phone, presumably so that Shanann couldn't access it. Investigators discovered a plethora of hidden photos and messages in the app on Chris' phone, and they noted in the discovery documents, "I'm certain Watts communicated far more with Kessinger than is reflected in his phone data, perhaps facilitated through the Secret Calculator application. It become apparent he was receiving assorted nude images of Kessinger ... which he then stashed in that application to prevent Shanann from ever seeing them." 

Basically, it would appear that Chris was living a double life before he murdered his wife and children.

When Shanann Watts was killed on Aug. 13, 2018, she'd just returned from a business trip in the early hours of the morning. Chris Watts had spent the weekend with their daughters, Celeste and Bella, and according to him, they'd had a rather normal time together at home. 

According to documents released by the Weld County District Attorney's Office, "On Sunday, August 12, 2018, he took his girls to a birthday party ... There was a mini pool at the birthday party and his girls 'had an epic time.' They drove back home after the party and he gave his girls a shower and put them to bed." Chris also revealed to investigators that earlier in the morning, after watching some television, he took the girls to Target to "purchase a birthday present," and when they got home from running the errand, "he fed them leftover, cold pizza."

By all accounts, Chris had spent a pretty regular weekend with his two daughters, and there seemed to be indication that he had planned to murder them and their mother just hours later. In hindsight, this normalcy appeared to be extremely chilling.

After Chris Watts pleaded guilty to first degree murder in November 2018, his parents gave an interview to ABC11 defending their son. Chris' mother, Cindy Watts, said of her son's marriage to Shanann Watts, "It was a very hard relationship ... It was a very hard relationship (with Shanann) as far as I'm concerned. I couldn't do anything right." 

Chris' parents also suggested that it was his marriage to Shanann that changed him. "He was in sports from when he was five until 17 years old," his mom said. "There's not one person you can talk to that will say anything about this kid. He was normal, he didn't have a temper, he was just easy-going like his Dad. He's not a monster."

Meanwhile, Chris' dad, Ronnie Watts, also defended his son to ABC11 and explained, "It's hard for me to believe that he would hurt them girls no matter what ... The story he told me that night, I believed it: The way he looked at me, the way he was crying, I believed it." Ronnie is referring to the initial story that Chris gave to the police, claiming that he only killed Shanann after discovering that she'd murdered their two daughters. However, this was, of course, later revealed to be untrue.

Police investigating the Chris Watts murders discovered that he had looked up the lyrics to the Metallica song, "Battery," per the Weld County District Attorney's Office's discovery documents, "during a respite" taken shortly after he murdered and disposed of the bodies of his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters. One of the reasons, then, that some people speculated that Chris' mistress, Nichol Kessinger, might have allegedly been involved in the murders was because of a mysterious text she reportedly sent him soon after the killings had taken place. 

As author Cherlyn Cadle wrote in her book, Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders (via the Daily Mail), "After Christopher killed his family and drove away, Nikki texted him to look up the song by Metallica band called 'Battery.' I challenge you to look up the full lyrics of this song. I find it interesting that we should believe it's only a coincidence."

According to Genius, the lyrics include lines like, "Smashing through the boundaries, lunacy has found me / Cannot stop the battery / Pounding out aggression, turns into obsession / Cannot kill the battery / Cannot kill the family, battery is found in me."

While Chris Watts' mistress has maintained that she believed he was separated from his wife when they met, police discovered a strange piece of information on Nichol Kessinger's mobile phone. According to the discovery documents compiled by investigators, data from Kessinger's phone showed that she'd Googled Shanann Watts' name the year before she started an affair with Chris, on Sept. 1, 2017. 

In an interview with CrimeOnline, Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke said, "The dates to which you are referring — in 2017 where it appears she Googled or otherwise searched Shanann — was data that came off her phone." He continued, "Nichol Kessinger told us that she met and started the relationship with the defendant in 2018 ... So where that anomaly in the data comes from ... I don't know the answer to it."

Indeed, the fact that Kessinger reportedly Googled Chris' wife's name in September 2017 seemingly contradicts her own version of events. As The Denver Post, with whom Kessinger gave her only press interview, later reported, "Kessinger was working in the environmental department with an Anadarko Petroleum contractor when the two met ... One day in the middle of June [2018], he walked into her office to introduce himself." Per Kessinger's account to the outlet, "Watts told her that he had two daughters and, after Kessinger asked, Watts said he was separated and at the end of divorce proceedings, she said."

On Feb. 18, 2019, Chris Watts sat down for a five-hour interview with the Frederick Police Department, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI — the audio of which was released to the public. Chris made a plethora of revelations during the interview, and he spoke about his former mistress, Nichol Kessinger. As reported by Oxygen, Chris said, "I'm not sure what you [Nichol] went through afterward, if you had like counseling, if you're in a different state, if you had to leave everything behind ... I just hope there's normalcy for her since she's on the outside." He continued, "I'm hoping it could get that way at some point."

When the investigators asked Chris if he was hoping to speak to Kessinger one day, he replied, "Maybe once ... just to say, I'm sorry this all happened." However, per Oxygen, Chris' attorney reportedly attempted to contact Kessinger on his behalf, but she refused. 

During this same interview, Chris also emotionally suggested that if he hadn't begun an affair, he might not have become dissatisfied with his marriage to Shanann Watts. "If I never met [Kessinger] would I have ever thought our relationship was bad? Probably not," he told investigators. "I never thought I would have strayed away from [Shanann]."

Chris Watts revealed a plethora of details about the case to author Cherlyn Cadle, which were subsequently published in her book, Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders. As reported by the Daily Mail, in one letter he sent to Cadle, Chris reportedly admitted that his first attempt to kill his young daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste ("Cece"), 3, was unsuccessful. 

"August 13th, morning of, I went to the girls' room first, before Shanann and I had our argument," Chris allegedly wrote in a letter to Cadle. "I went to Bella's room, then Cece's room and used a pillow from their bed [to kill them]. That's why the cause of death was smothering. After I left Cece's room, then I climbed back in bed with Shanann and our argument ensued."

However, as Chris explained, his first attempt to smother his daughters didn't work. "After Shanann had passed, Bella and Cece woke back up," he explained. "I'm not sure how they woke back up, but they did. Bella's eyes were bruised and both girls looked like they had been through trauma. That made the act that much worse knowing I went to their rooms first and knowing I still took their lives at the location of the batteries." 

Instead, Chris reportedly loaded wife Shanann Watts' body into his truck after strangling her, and then drove his daughters, who were still very much alive at that point, to what would become their final resting place.