If you keep up with the news, you must have heard of Chris Watts and the crimes he committed. What went down in 2018 shocked everybody. Besides, innocent people lost their lives for nothing. A lot is to be learned about the case from Nichol Kessinger telling the news. The picture-perfect family wasn’t really that perfect after all. Kessinger has released some much important information that allows us to understand the case better. If you want to know the case better and learn exactly what happened, read the following article on Nichol Kessinger and more we have written for you.
Table of Contents
What are the Watts Family Murders?
The Watts family murders took place in August 2018. And ever since, it has been a topic of conversation. This family looked like an adorable one. Anybody who knew them always said that the parents were in love and absolutely adored their children. Hence, a pretty normal family. Nobody anticipated that Chris Watts, father and husband, would go on to murder his wife and two children and lie about it for days.
Full Story
The family of four lived in Colorado. Christopher Watts, his wife Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, Bella Marie and Celeste Cathryn were a so-called happy family. Their posts on social media showed much they loved each other and how great of a father Chris was. At the time of her death, Shanann was pregnant with a third child, a boy they were going to name Nico.
Chris had strangled his wife and smothered Bella and Celeste to death on 13th August 2018. He buried Shanann near an oil storage facility and dumped his children’s bodies into crude oil tanks.
You might be wondering who alerted the police. Well, let us tell you that it wasn’t Chris. It was Nicole Atkinson, Shanann’s friend, who reported Shanann and the two children missing. Apparently, Shannan had missed an obstetrics and gynecology appointment on August 13th. And she had not responded to texts or calls from Atkinson. This led to Atkinson going to the Watts residence to see what was going on. And on not having anyone answer the door, they notified Chris that Shannan was missing and also called the Frederick Police Department. That’s how the investigation started.
Investigation
The police first did a welfare check where they found no trace of Shanann or the children. The house looked normal except for the fact that Shanann’s car keys, wallet, and phone were still at home. Besides that, her car was in the garage with the children’s car seats still in place. This indicated that something bad had happened to the mother and her two daughters. Chris was one of the first people to be interviewed, and initially, he kept denying knowing abutting about Shanann’s whereabouts. He said that he had not seen his wife since that morning at 5:15 am.
Chris kept acting like the husband and father who had no idea where his family was. He looked concerned and kept saying how much he loved his wife and children. Chris even gave interviews on news channels, a thing like the concerned family man.
But he failed a polygraph test. This led to him subsequently confessing to murdering his wife and children. And he was arrested on 15th August 2018. Chris told the police that he had an affair and wanted a divorce from Shanann. But his wife apparently did not take it well and strangled the children. And he returned, strangled her in anger. Then he proceeded to give the police the location of their deceased bodies.
Charges against Christopher Watts
Christopher was charged with three counts of first-degree murders, an additional one count pee child cited as “death of a child who had not yet attained 12 years of age, and the defendant was in a position of trust”, unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body.
Nichol Kessinger
Christopher did indeed have an affair with a woman named Nichol Kessinger. She had come forward to talk about the case. Nichol was in a secret relationship with Christopher. They met through work, and Chris did not seem like a dangerous person to her. Apparently, he told her that he was having marriage problems with Shanann and wanted a divorce, but he loved his children. Nichol has said repeatedly that the reason she did not have any suspicions and that Christopher seemed like a gentle and kind guy to her. She never imagined he would do something like this. Besides, his last text to Nichol was, “I didn’t hurt my family” after he had, in fact, killed them. He was still putting up an act.
Sentence
Christopher pleaded guilty to his charges. Technically, Christopher was supposed to get a death sentence. But Shanann’s family did not wish for any more deaths. The death of Shanann and the children were traumatic enough. Hence, on 19th November 2018, Christopher Watts was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was given an additional forty-eight years for the unlawful termination of Shanann’s pregnancy and an extra thirty-six years for tampering with either a deceased body. It’s safe to say he is going to be in prison for life. Since December 5th, 2018, he has been at the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin.
Final Thoughts
A lot of people have had opinions about the case. But at the base of all this are Shanann, Bella, and Celeste, who got killed by the man they trusted. The words of Nichol Kessinger prove that Christopher was putting up an act for quite some time, and nobody could guess what he would go on to do. What did you think of this article? Tell us in the comments below.
