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Nichol Kessinger Googled “Shanann Watts” for the first time on September 1, 2017, almost a full year before the murders

No one believes Chris Watts. We didn’t. The cops didn’t. The media didn’t. Shan’ann, Nickole Atkinson and Amanda Thayer also found it hard to believe he was having an affair. His parents said they didn’t believe his confession either. But one person did believe him. Nichol Kessinger. 0_Mistress-of-Chris-Watts-speaks-out

According to Kessinger, their affair was “brief” and she barely got to know him. Yet, she believed him when he said he was getting divorced. Believed him. Didn’t she check to make sure?

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Now, we don’t know for sure exactly who, what and when Kessinger Googled, nor her precise online habits. We do know she covered her digital tracks and swept away a lot of online breadcrumbs.

This does raise a critical question: did Kessinger know Shan’ann was pregnant and continue with the affair regardless? Chris Watts knew. Did he really not tell her, or did he tell her and they continued their dalliance regardless?

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52 Comments

  1. Eleni Palmos

    I just cannot believe that the affair was that brief. Will they keep investigating to find out if it went on for longer? Surely someone knows the truth other than Kessinger and Watts. We will never get the truth out of those two. Watts will take his secrets to the grave out of pure spite.

    • Broken hearted for Shanann

      I think she knew EVERYTHING. I don’t like to disparage the character of someone that easily, but if you listen to her entire police interviews, it doesn’t make sense. She also changes her story somewhat; though she is smart and purposely kept a lot simple & easy to remember. She makes herself out as so innocent & yet we know she googled Shanann as early as 2017; and continued to. Shanann had quite an online presence and shared her marriage and pregnancy very publicly. Kessinger knew. She had to, she is not a stupid woman. There sadly are women out there; who would see Shanann gush about the man she loved, about how great he was as a husband and father; and instead of wanting to find that for themselves, they want to see if they can come between them. They feel more beautiful, more special, if THEY’RE the one who was chosen. Kessinger & watts spent as much time together as possible; and somehow, the LAST DAY of Shanann’s trip, the night it happened, Kessinger had family in town, a solid alibi, and remember, she spoke to Watts VERY late that night. The children might have been dead. Listening to the second police interview with Kessinger, her crying for the pregnant woman and little children sounds extremely fake; and she recovers quickly. I’ve cried about it and when you cry like that; your nose becomes stuffed or runs profusely; this didn’t happen with Kessinger. I believe she had something to do with it-

      [The rest of this comment has been censored and the commenter permanently banned from this site].

      • Sarah Wilson

        Could not have put it better myself spot on..
        I hate how she also keeps saying it was so casual and we were taking it slow..
        For a couple taking it slow they saw each other 5 times a week and had lots of photos together..
        She may want to appear to be a bit naive but we as an audience certainly are not!

      • Eleni

        I agree with you, Broken hearted. Nichol Kessinger makes single women everywhere look absolutely desperate. There are so many good men in the world looking for love and, no, women go for the ones that are married.

        Excellent point about not being with him the last night before Shanann arrived. That was convenient. Let’s say the murders did not happen, I would expect him to put the girls to bed early and sneak Nichol in to the basement. Remember that Shanann had sleep-trained the girls and they went to bed early.

      • June

        I agree with you. After videos I have seen with the armchair detective, my opinion is, she was there and she was an accomplice to the murders. Even if she just helped carry them out, I believe she was there.

        • nickvdl

          So just an FYI for others, June has been permanently blocked from this site. It’s kindergarten stuff, but some people simply don’t get it. You can’t accuse someone of being an accessory to murder without proof, or if you think you have proof, prepare to defend your allegation [accusing a member of the public of being involved in premeditated murder] in court in a defamation suit. Anyone else accusing Nichol Kessinger of being in a plot to commit triple murder will also be booted from this site!

  2. Diana

    I saw where it was suggested that Chris could’ve taken Shan’ann’s phone without her knowledge and blocked Nichols number from Shan’ann’s Facebook. I’m not into facebook or how any of that stuff works, but is that a possibility? Regardless, I still believe Nichol knew he was at least still married.

    • Carrie

      I don’t think shannann knew about her.

      • Shanann's friend

        Shan’ann did not know about that crack whore Jesus Christ she looked like she crawled out of a fucking dumpster Shan’ann is BEAUTIFUL inside and out what the fuck was wrong with his eye sight Nicole is a bag of bones from all them drugs Shan’ann had a great body Nicole looks and talks like a man. Nichole is a home wrecking whore bitch I hope you get murdered for all the pain you have caused and your mother too for giving birth to you POS!!!!!!!!!

        • Shoregirl74 NJ

          YEAH!! My sentiments exactly!! So sorry about your loss hun xoxoxo

        • Ralph Oscar

          Boring. Go away.

          • Linda

            She should pay some kind of consequence for lying and being a black widow…instead of getting a free ride with our tax paying dollars.

    • Cott

      There is NO WAY Kessinger wasn’t involved, I think she planned and orchestrated it! I believe she stalked Chris Watts and probably even Shan’ann also. I believe she had an obsession to both get married and to have Chris.

      • Janine E Sasser-Grafton

        Yes Cott, I have to agree with you on that. I believe that Nikki Kessinger orchestrated the whole thing & Chris Watts did it because he was “in love” with her, she wanted Shanann’s life with Chris minus the children. Why else would she look up Shanann Watts on Facebook? She had to know she was already pregnant, since Shanann posted everything on Facebook. Chris Watts proved his love for her, that’s what she wanted. It’s awful, I think he should’ve gotten the death sentence because everyone knows someone in prison will kill him.

  3. Steffie

    Around what time did Chris Watts started losing weight and working out?
    Could a possible new love interest be the kick start and motivate to shed some pounds and tone up?

      • Stella colletti

        Sure sign of cheating, workout, lose weight, ignore your wife, start arguments, take phone into toilet, staying away with ‘work’ putting more gel in hair, staring at themselves in mirror, total disinterest in family matters, check their phone for messages EMPTY inbox, EMPTY outbox if this ringing any bells, beware. As a side note separation/ divorce figures spike after Xmas, drunken selfishness, disregard for marriage vows all come together to ruin family life. Just speaking from experience.

    • T Bullock

      EXACTLY!!..absolutly the first thing I thought!

  4. Carrie

    IMO Nickole Chris lover knew
    Everything. Maybe not the baby but she saw shannanns fb page. It even looks like she dyed her hair.

    • Cott

      Kessinger told the police she hadn’t heard of Shan’ann until after father’s day and didn’t know her name “for awhile” after that, yet she googled Shan’ann’s name on Sept 1, 2017!..?!
      Kessinger wanted Christ and wanted Shan’ann’s life! She wanted the handsome husband, the nice home the vacations!
      Early on Kessinger stated they had a lot in common; Chris didn’t travel much and she did. But Christ traveled with his wife whenever she went away for work. It was just ONE of her many inconsistencies.
      The more I listen to the interviews with Kessinger, the MORE I’m convinced she orchestrated the entire thing.

      • thetinytech2018

        This statement really has no basis in reality. Do you have any proof whatsoever that she orchestrated the murders? I mean the cops pretty much combed through her entire life and didn’t turn up anything.

        • Eyeswideopen

          That’s because she deleted it all.

  5. Carrie

    Drinking some wine …. Happy Thanksgiving all!

    • Shanann's friend

      Carrie what is there to be happy about we are talking about a pregnant women and 2 little girls being MURDERED stupid bitch maybe you’ll be next see how it feels to be strangled by someone you love!!!!!!!!!!

      • thetinytech2018

        You really don’t belong here, nothing you say adds value to the conversation here. This isn’t Facebook and your multiple misspellings, partial sentences, rambling and unnecessary exclamation points aren’t on par with the type of intelligent conversation Nick is trying to cultivate here. I’m sure there are other forms where you can name call and try to form cohesive thoughts but this isn’t one of them.

      • Light and love for shann’an and her 3 babies

        3 children! Niko too!

  6. Jade

    Nichol Kessinger is not as innocent or sweet as she wants everyone to believe. The affair went on much longer and I’m willing to bet Nichol and Chris met each other right away when he started working there but they both were tied up in relationships; once hers ended and his went south he pursued her. Chris wasn’t just involved with Nichol but had multiple affairs with men and women. I think it did get serious with Nichol because it had been over a year since they started actually seeing each other. Nichol would have no reason to google Shanann other than the man she was dating told her about his wife. I find it hard to believe Nichol didn’t continue to keep checking up on Shanann and I do believe Chris Watts lied for as long as he could to Nichol but I’m sure she gave him an ultimatum and he chose Nichol over his family. I’m sure Nichol didn’t think he’d murder them but she wanted a life with him. In the released transcripts Nichol mentions knowing about the epi-pen which is a lot to know about a man who you aren’t serious about. Nichol also mentioned she didn’t think she could have a future with Chris because he had kids and she wanted her own family. That reminded me of Susan Smith. So it was a myriad of reasons that drove Chris Watts to kill his entire family. But Nichol took extra careful steps to erase all messages between her and Chris, waited a couple days before contacting the Police to make sure anything she knew would be erased and cover her tracks. Lastly the most damning statement(s) she gave to the Police was that she believes Chris Watts killed his daughters because they walked in on him killing Shanann..how would she know that?? She also said Chris and Shanann had financial troubles and Shanann ignored it. So if they were supposedly separated why would that be relevant to a separated couple?? Nichol made many contradictory statements and that tells me she knows more and is lying too but it doesn’t rise to the level of criminal involvement just immorality and nasty infidelity. SMH.

    • Luis

      @jade
      I somehow still think that google search in September 2017 was a typo or other mistake. Did Kessinger even work there in September 2017? If not it MUST be a mistake. Also, why weren’t there constant Shanann Watts’ searches from Kessinger then onwards? Also, there weren’t any text messages or other exchanges between Chris Watts and Kessinger before June 2018. I know many of you are reaching but I wouldn’t mind to see all these claims backed up with actual evidence or else it just seems like a granny gossip group.

      • nickvdl

        That’s a very shaky approach to true crime. Because you can’t explain something it must be a technical error? Much of the cell phone data is missing, so to rubbish some of the few artifacts as errors is potentially throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

    • Luis

      @nickvdl
      Isn’t it also a shaky approach to conclude that Chris Watts and NK have been dating because of that one google search?

      The Sep. 2017 google search is an often discussed issue by many and even the investigation was asked about it. To build a complete theory that Chris Watts and NK were dating much longer, needs more evidence to back it up.
      Isn’t there an email exchange in June 2018 where it seems pretty clear that NK and CW had first got to know each other? They might have lost a lot of data but they also retrieved a lot. Is there any hint, any text message, any phone call exchange between NK and CW before June? Are there further google searches after September 2017?
      Also, did NK work there in September 2017?

      • nickvdl

        It doesn’t mean they were dating back in September 2017. It means Kessinger may had her eye on Watts since then, and if so, would have [or could have] been more aware of what was going on inside his family than she’s been letting on. This actually makes sense. They were work colleagues long before they were lovers, and it can take a long time for co-workers to feel ready to take the next step as it were, especially in a situation like this where one is married.

        In January 2015 Watts was hired to work at Anadarko.

        There’s no information on when Kessinger started, which is strange in itself.

  7. Jade

    But Nichol is right and she coldly put it Chris planned to do this and their relationship just sped up his plans. No one wins in this case. #BlessedAreTheAngels

  8. Dani

    She really tried to downplay the relationship and act like it was brief and that she was unsure about him. However, the data shows her googling wedding dresses, and various terms pertaining to “marrying mistress” for hours. Nicole is shady. I just can’t believe that they were not able to recover the conversations between her and Chris that they both deleted from their phones respectively. I would think with the level of technology today there would have to be a way to recover.

  9. Kitty

    I don’t understand how the messages can’t be retrieved.. did Chris also wipe his phone?

  10. K miller

    @kitty yea those were my exact thoughts! Obivously there is more to the mistress

  11. Cheryl

    In his interview with police, Chris insisted Nichol had no involvement in the crimes, which makes me suspicious right there. Was Chris’s pleading so readily to all of the murders an effort to take any heat off of Nichol? Could she still be a person of interest? Her desire to meet someone unfettered, I.e., no children, and start a family of her/their own could have been, coupled with finances, a motivation for Chris to eliminate his children with Shan’Ann. Nichol claims she never revealed this to Chris, but I wonder, especially when she eliminated what I assume are conversations with him. These could consist of embarrassing sexual banter, but, again, I wonder. Sometimes people will commit crimes together that they would never do alone, especially a passive personality like Chris, who is accustomed to receiving direction and pleasing his partner. At a minimum, she’s no Amber Frey.

    • Kaye

      And if that’s the case—maybe the plea deal was also a way to ensure the heat and attention did not get worse for her. Maybe if a trial happened, there could have been a higher level of forensics employed in order to get that deleted info. With such intense feelings, I’m sure CW wanted to keep her out of trouble—gee, what a knight in shining armor.

      • Cheryl

        Tarnished armor to say the least. Good post. Thank you.

      • Vicki Blackman

        Intense feelings or not….he would be acutely aware that if incarcerated, someone else would no doubt be servicing her needs…. so jealousy would, i think prevent him exonerating her if she were complicit…!

  12. Josh

    Nichol’s public statement is quite different from the one she gave to police.

  13. tammy

    She told him to go back to NC and “fix” his marriage before he moves on with her ( paraphrasing). While he is in NC, she sends him photos of herself during this time. SMH. This relationship was nothing but lies and manipulation. She should be thankful he is removed from her life. Too bad Shanann and her precious children didn’t get away.

    He reminds me of a boyfriend I had in college. We had been dating for a couple years, and I asked him about our future. He told me that I he would go wherever he got a job, and I should do the same. When I questioned his feelings, he just told me that “he would let me know when something better came along”. Once he found something better, he ghosted me. CW could just ghost Shanann, the courts wouldn’t allow it. He would be bound to her for many years to come.

    I found it telling while in his CBI interview, he tells them how his mistress took his breath away. He seemed to ramble on about her. The special agent even asked if the topic could get back to his missing wife and children. He also googled how to act when someone tells you they love you or something along those lines. It is in the documents. Really??? This guy just doesn’t feel. He just acts what he believes he is supposed to. Did he grow up being taught to hold in your emotions??? He doesn’t love or care about anyone but himself. He was feeling sad in that courtroom because he got caught, and his mistress was going to be with other men. If you want to know how sad he is for his family, revert back to his porch interview.

    • Vicki Blackman

      We are thinking as a normal person would Tammy…anybody who could do what this man did to his own children is not normal ! The awful method of lowering his tiny murdered tots, by their arms, into the filthy ,stinking crude oil tanks is so horrendous as to be unimaginable to us…think how the poor devils will feel who recovered them… the sight of such evil and cruelty will be burnt into them for the rest of their lives…..it will NEVER, surely..leave them ! For most of us, our lives will continue as normal and details of this will become a foggy memory ,one that we will not want to remember, but for now…. think of the rest of family this monster has scarred for ever……

    • Shanann's friend

      How could Nicole take anyones breathe away ugly, flat chested, manly looking bitch ohhh that’s right he likes dudes well Nichole looks like a dude Shan’ann put you to shame WHORE you are soooooo JEALOUS of SHAN’ANN and her BEAUTIFUL BABIES!!!!!!!!¡

    • Watts Is A Scumfuck

      He couldn’t feel because he is a sociopath. Those are classic traits of a sociopath. They have to study others in order to mimic how to act in situations that most of us know instinctively.

  14. Emma

    I do not believe the investigation should end until this mistress is fully looked in to. Investigators should not rest until 100% sure she knew nothing.

  15. Vicki Blackman

    Well…. you can be sure Watts has got other things on his mind to worry about , than who is going to be attending to Kessinger’s needs from now on…! But, if he were so enamored as to kill for her and know that his confession meant some other guy would eventually replace him, why would he exonerate her if she actually WAS complicit…?

    • Watts Is A Scumfuck

      I hope a fellow inmate cuts off his dick and balls and stuffs them down his throat or that some other Bubba on the cell block opens up his asshole wide enough that you could drive a semi truck through it.

  16. Andrea

    I wish he would have been sentenced to death. He belongs on death row. He does not belong in general population. He doesn’t belong in any type of society at all. It sickens me to know that her last few weeks he mantally and emotionally tortured her. Thank God she got to spend some of them last days with her family.
    I believe this affair had been going on for. a lot longer than the lie that was told. There would be no reason for her to google Shanann’s name unless there was something shady going on.

    • Andrea

      *mentally

    • Cindy Reynolds

      He’s not on death row but he will, apparently, be in solitary confinement, forever. As far as the way he acts emotion wise, he is a sociopath. He is born without the chip that makes him feel the way others do. It like expecting a blind man to see. Apparently there are a lot of these people among us they just aren’t always ousted by a hideous crime such as this.

  17. Linda

    Witness protection…deleted phone history…google searches? She’s pregnant guys!

  18. nancyjames3358

    As “adults”, not sure what to make of both CW and NK choosing their dad, rather than an attorney, to attend their conversations with investigators.

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