True Crime Analysis, Breakthroughs, Insights & Discussions Hosted by Bestselling Author Nick van der Leek

Interview with Leonard King, Shan’ann Watts’ Ex-Husband [47th Tranche]

33 Comments

  1. CBH

    Odd that when her marriage to King ran into trouble her behavior exactly mirrored that of Chris in the months before the murders: Not waning to engage in conversation, shutting down, withdrawing, physically distancing herself within the home, etc.

    • marielangford3311

      I agree CBH. It amazes me to see photos and videos of Bella and CeeCee and the love they had for one another is plain to see. According to Shannan’s ex, she had many of the same traits as Chris!

    • Rene

      Except she didnt kill Mr King

    • Jill Stanton

      Yes . I also find that interesting which seems to me she couldn’t handle conflict either

  2. CBH

    Edit ^ ‘wanting’ not waning

  3. Daisy

    Shananns behavior is not odd at all, in fact, it’s pretty much how people act when they no longer want to be with you. They withdraw and distance themselves. Why was their marriage not going well? He doesn’t say but of course, we are only getting Leonards side of the story and we can’t hear Shananns. I notice other than no longer wanting to be with him, he had nice things to say about her, she was a hard worker, people liked and were drawn to her and she got along well with them.

    I am curious why we never hear from any other women in Chris Watts past? Is Shanann the only girlfriend he ever had? I find it very odd that he did not have girlfriends in high school and prior to meeting Shanann and that we never hear from any of them.

    • Frank

      Didn’t Shan’ann cheat on Leonard with the “middle eastern guy at Dirty South” he mentions? If so, nice of him not to say so.

      https://shakedowntitle.com/2018/09/30/dirty-south-customs-shananns-dirty-little-secret/

      • Janny Free

        She did cheat with the dirty south guy. If you look at his fb page, she’s still on his friends list.

    • mitzi2006

      Shanann was still very good friends with her ex husbands mother too. Not sure how often that happens even though I’m still friends with my sons ex-wife but it would be very hard not to like her,

    • Domonique Paxson

      There is an interview of an ex-girlfriend . Cans Natz

  4. LW

    What was their age difference if he met her while she was still in high school?

  5. Sylvester

    But you can see a pattern here, with Sha’nann – Pouring herself into work and not being interested in any of the things he was up to. Interesting he says when things were not going well in their relationship, that’s when she poured herself into work, out late, not coming home at all – etc. I think if you go back and look at the Thrive video output it might correlate with when Chris began cheating – posting a profile on Tinder and hooking up with Amanda McMahon either Feb. or March 2018. Chris also said he couldn’t talk to her, she wouldn’t listen. And Leonard King said the same thing – that it was virtually impossible to engage her in conversation. And once she was “done” she cut him out of her life. Likely when Chris did the same thing to her she may have had some insight into herself, that this is what happened with Leonard, which caused her to try her hardest to get Chris to talk to her. I also think she used her physical hardships once again to play on his sympathies, sort of like a book of struggles, but he had already turned a deaf ear.

    • Janny Free

      Yes, too little to late on her end. She was desperate when she realized he was done. Can you imagine her as a single parent? She could barely handle the 2 ‘monsters’ she had, another on the way, and Chris did a lot around the house to help out with the girls, meanwhile she had them in ‘school’ that cost them 2K per month…. Guaranteed she didn’t make enough to support herself, she needed Chris’ pay to keep her illusion going.

      • Gray Brother

        All parents would want the best education for their children. May be she aspired to live a little beyond their means but she didn’t kill anyone not does that make her evil. “Chris did a lot to help around the house”— yes he was the father of the family. It was a part of his responsibility. Nothing out of the box. Shannon too did a lot for the family. It is how you build one. For the kind of woman Shannon was, she wouldn’t have just given up on her two children even if Chris had left. What do you mean “needed Chris to pay the bills”- they both needed each other to pay the bills. They were a family. And they were his children too, not just shannon’s.

      • Susan White

        Agree 100% at least

      • Tatsu

        It was reported that she made $80,000 a year. Why does everyone on this thread seem so willing to badmouth a victim none of you have met? Have you forgotten what he did to her and his own children? It doesn’t matter what her past mistakes may or may not have been. There is never a good enough reason to do what he did.

        • Ann bella

          80,000 was between both of their salaries. They filed for bankruptcy due to do much debt they had. Do there was financial issues going on. They were spending more money than what was coming in and trying to live a wealthy life they could not afford.

    • strawheart

      Regardless she didn’t murder her children, the psychopath Chris Watts took their lives .

      • nickvdl

        You seem to like the psychopath label. One of the jobs typically associated with psychopaths are salespeople.

        https://www.businessinsider.co.za/professions-with-the-most-psychopaths-2018-5?r=US&IR=T

        • VictorRivera

          Chris Watts is a textbook “Malignant-Covert Somatic Narcissist“. Study up! This explains why he had both female AND male secret lovers. Coverts are nominally closet bi-sexuals. People are not born Coverts Narcissist, they become and it stems from bad parenting. Chris’s mom is a nasty soul and exhibits the toxic traits of a Narcissist herself, and so it would make sense. Covert Narcissist are incapable of real love and learn early on to mimic. Cheating is their hallmark. Chris was broken LONG before he met Sha’nann. Sha’nann was delusional in living beyond their means but she wasn’t EVIL …Chris Watts is. Learn the difference.

          • Susan White

            Agree to disagree?

      • leisalynnwilson

        @Strawheart, how do you know she didn’t kill the little girls? There was never an investigation in the case, therefore it’s impossible to know who killed Shanann or the little girls…. unless you was there, and I’m sure you wasn’t.

        • Denise Porter

          You are a complete moron if you think she killed her kids. People with less than 2 brain cells should not be allowed to comment on public posts.

        • Gray Brother

          He admitted to that. He described how he did it. If we assume that she killed the children, why did he not turn her to the police and secretly dumped the bodies of his children that “she killed”.

  6. Sylvester

    There was equity in the house – but they didn’t exactly buy low. $150,000 equity would have been swallowed up by realtor fees leaving the two of them not much. She would have received spousal support – but there is a time limit on that. It’s for a specified amount of time I believe. I know an ex wife who was getting very greedy and sued for more – and lost – because her ex could show he had no income by getting his employer to pay him in cash and lived on credit cards for a while. She would also get child support but it’s based on income and it’s possible, only possible, she was making more than he was. If she was (if she was making $80K a year) she would have to end up paying him child support. She would have moved back to NC, had her parents look after the kids, gotten a regular ole job and not have been too happy. There’s also the reality check that she might not have been able to leave the state if Chris filed for joint custody. So all around, it would have been a lose-lose.

  7. Wallflower

    I have thought she cheated all along as well. I remember she mentioned in her video discussing this time period she portrayed herself as a hard worker that put him through school. But wasn’t he eligible for the GI Bill hmmmmm? I listened to Interview podcast with the ex. The ex states Shanann states she left because domestic violence. But nonetheless I still feel Chris killed the children. If Shanann was a horrible person to some it doesn’t mean she killed her children when so much premeditation seems to be at hand. That router article is amazing work Nick! I would love to see a list that leads to Premeditated Murder.

  8. Karen R Swafford

    Janny Free please don’t call them little monster’s they died but the hand of their father, and Bella was such a sweet little girl, and CeCe was younger she was still in toddler stage…She was gonna grow out of it…No matter what happened between these adults they didn’t deserve to die, and neither did Shanann 💔💔💔 RIP Shanann and your 3 Angels Bella Celeste Nico 🦋🦋💜💜💜💚💚💚💙💙💙💜💜💜

    • Julie Isenhower

      Janny didn’t call them little monsters… she was repeating what Sha’nann called them in one of her videos 🙂

      • Maria

        Well, she shouldn’t have . Only parents can say that. Specially after they are both dead!

  9. Brittany Grantham

    That is a comment that should never have been said; parenthood is exhausting and social media never forgives human missteps. Where does the need to reinforce someone’s mistake come from? It’s the underlying current of this entire tragedy. Think before you speak. Words have devastating consequences.

  10. Leigh Binkley

    I think Nick Der Leek does an outstanding job because he cleverly reviewed the case in it’s entirety and was able to provide spot on the mental makeup of both Chris and Shannan beginning with being unequally yoked. Quiet people may appear calm but Chris was not quiet inside. To me inside he was a volcano just waiting to erupt. Thank you so much for providing all of the analyzation and conclusion because it defines this case as it was and is. It has helped me to put my thoughts in perspective because nothing else has. I felt all along there was apparently a rush by the prosecution to get this case brought to closure while ignoring various aspects that to me were very important. I am so very sorry all of this happened but perhaps it gives pause for thought when making decisions. Thank you Dr. Van De Leek for your enlightament

  11. antminer s19

    You have even managed to make it readable and easy to read. You have some real writing talent. Thank you so much

Leave a Reply to Brittany Grantham Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *