“I watched him get more and more unhappy with his life. He went from being a friendly guy to being withdrawn and angry,” said Brian Spence, a contractor who worked with Chris Watts.
"This case shows that domestic violence can happen anywhere," Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Tammy Lee said of Chris Watts murdering wife, daughters.
“You certainly don’t expect someone to react that way over a simple ‘hello,’” neighbor Vonda Knox said of her encounter with Chris Watts before he murdered his family.
Chris Watts also allegedly confessed to writer Cheryln Cadle that he unsuccessfully tried to kill daughters Bella and Celeste before murdering Shanann in August 2018.
Letters found on Shanann Watts' phone show how she pleaded with her husband Chris to tell her what was wrong so she could fix it. He strangled her to death a short time later.
A pregnant Shanann Watts vowed to do whatever it took to save her marriage with Chris Watts, days before he killed her and their daughters Bella and Celeste.
“American Murder: The Family Next Door” filmmaker Jenny Popplewell says that female victims of violent crimes, like Shanann Watts, are often blamed for the actions of the perpetrators.
Text messages included in “American Murder: The Family Next Door" show Shanann Watts' anxiety over her relationship with Chris Watts and her suspicions that he was cheating on her.