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

“When Chris Watts caught up to her, Bella was screaming at the top of her lungs…” [Discovery Documents, page 681]

RZUCEK said that when the girls would get punished for anything they would always cry for him. He said SHANANN set it up so that when he left here after watching them for the week that SHANANN and CHRIS were gone, that she would fly back to North Carolina with him. She initially was going to stay for a couple of weeks, but ultimately ended up staying for 6 weeks.

RZUCEK said that when he had them in the airport, the girls ran away from him and when he caught up to them BELLA was screaming at the top of her lungs. RZUCEK said that when they went back to the house, the girls did the same thing to CHRIS. RZUCEK said looking back, it is possible that CHRIS got tired of the girls crying for their mother instead of him and he resented that. 

But the video Shan’ann took at the airport doesn’t corroborate Frank’s version of events. Why do you think that is?

Fullscreen capture 20190406 122619Fullscreen capture 20190406 123427

Fullscreen capture 20190406 123814

https://youtu.be/BmROG6fhfQE

52504054_1033133040215769_7184389759651807232_n

13 Comments

  1. Sonja Savolova

    Frank was talking about a time when he picked Shanann up from the airport and the girls were screaming for her.

    • Jenn H.

      It’s possibe but not probable. I don’t necessarily discount this possibility.
      Not from what we’ve seen with the airport footage or even other footage with Watts and his children.

  2. Jenn H.

    I didn’t see this in the airport footage.
    Could be that Bella did at a different time.

  3. Karen

    I could totally see that happening but I am a bit turned around. Are you saying that Shan’ann was originally only going to stay in NC for 2 weeks bit ended up staying the 6?

  4. Maura

    Did SW plan a 2 week trip to NC but extend it once she got pregnant? Her parents lived 1500 miles away. Due to her medical conditions and pregnancy she was sick and may not have been well enough to travel later on that year. So she modified her plans into an extended family visit also planning to work.

    However, once she left home Chris drastically changed his attitude toward her and the kids since NK went after him full force day after day. Nude picture after nude picture. SW also had a gallstone she didn’t know about causing her to be ill and a husband treating her like dirt so I can see why wasn’t able to concentrate on work or sales.

    I wonder if she’d only left for 2 weeks and had Chris join them for the second week if she and the kids would be alive.

  5. Jenn H.

    Maura, ( I wonder if she’d only left for 2 weeks and had Chris join them for a second week if she and the kids would be alive.)
    I wondered this too, and they probably would be. However, Chris was obviously wanting to move on with NK. She had told him of her concerns about being second place to his children, and not being first.
    Considering the outcome of the murders. He may have done it anyway.
    Later, or in the near future.

  6. richard

    I wonder how things would have worked out if CW didn’t do what he did.
    CW did say that on that day he wondered if hed get back from work and Shanann and the kids wouldn’t be there or that he wouldn’t have driven home. things were that bad. Communication had broken down.
    Financially speaking, that week was going to be interesting as they were due to pay the mortgage but already three months behind in payment, being taken to court for the housing association maintenance of $1500 and bills due for the kids school.
    Was Shanann going to use another 401k loan to get them out of this ?
    Plus the show down of Chris spending on a date night with Nicole

  7. Lynn

    Not victim blaming just so you know.
    Was Shannan burying her head in the sand by staying away 6 weeks? Behind 3 mortgage payments, behind on association fees, credit cards maxed out I wonder what must have she been thinking when payment dates came and went with no payment. Would Chris just have assumed bills were paid? I would imagine she was sick with worry. It baffles me why she stayed away as long as she did. Were there any texts between them during her time away about bills and payments?

    • Ralph Oscar

      I seem to recall her trip was supposed to be 2 weeks and she then stretched it out to 6 weeks. You’re right, though – since she was the one responsible for paying the bills, that 6 weeks would have covered a full cycle of bills (phone, electricity, water, mortgage, garbage collection, cable, etc.), with her in no position to make those payments. Some might have been set to autopay, but in their desperate financial situation, that doesn’t seem likely to me – the payments would simply bounce. Sounds like she was running away from reality.

      • richard

        Shanann and the kids did come back for a week at the end of the 6 week NC visit. So I doubt running away (well not permanently)
        I suspect the atmosphere would have been frosty to say the least that last week.
        I wonder if they both knew that problems were not being solved and just simmering away waiting for some explosive moment.
        hence the restaurant bill between CW and NK whilst Shanann was away the last weekend would have really upset Shanann. CW even said it was his way of ending it all without the guts to say it’s over.

  8. kswilson15

    Here is what doesn’t sit well. If the children were runners who screamed running away to be with Mommy, how was it that they were so complacent in getting into the truck. Celeste was a ball
    of energy. And Bella was easily the soft thoughtful child whom I can’t imagine would just saunter to the truck with his commands. Both girls were used to having Mom around and had spent multiple weeks with her. And I dont foresee CW loading up a dead body and assuming that his two daughters wouldn’t start crying or screaming, doesnt feel plausible to me. It would be far too risky in my opinion.

    • Ralph Oscar

      Those are definitely the right questions and observations.

    • Jessica

      The saddest part is that children have no other option than to obey their parent. There was nothing the children could do, even if they didn’t get in willingly. That’s what makes it so horrible. Chris was in a position of ultimate trust, which he was easily able to exploit, attacking Shan’ann when most vulnerable, using his Father status to load girls minding him to be driven to their horrible deaths.

Leave a Reply to Jessica Cancel reply

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