“She was twenty and beautiful, with high cheekbones and striking blue eyes.” Her nickname was “Foxy Knoxy”…
#12yearsagotodayMK 4. Knox constantly brought men into the home, including her Albanian co-worker Juve and "Internet Man" [Spyros].5. Knox's hygiene, or lack of, also bothered Meredith. She had to remind her to flush the toilet, even when she had PMS. #AmandaKnox
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) October 14, 2019
#12yearsagotodayMK On Oct 13/14/15, Knox's cell records are peppered with exchanges to exotic boys: many calls to Juve, Spyros, Elis, Ardak. For 11 days, Oct 6 – Oct 17 there's not a single call/text between #AmandaKnox & Meredith, but there is with Knox/Filomena/Laura
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) October 15, 2019
#12yearsagotodayMK 20-year-old Knox felt other parties going on in Perugia reminded her of UW frat parties which she "disliked". Despite protesting her aversion to alcohol, on Facebook #AmandaKnox described herself as "having very few social inhibitions."
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) October 7, 2019
“In fact, the ‘Foxy Knoxy’ nickname had nothing to do with sex.”
Errr…are you sure about that?
[Paraphrasing]: Grief – or lack of – has nothing to with guilt.
Nonchalance is often how the guilty try to project their innocence.
“Amanda didn’t hug Sophie back…”
Why is she warm and cuddly to her boyfriend, but not to Sophie?
Why is she warm and cuddly to Meredith’s boyfriend, but not to Sophie, nor any of Meredith’s other friends?
#12yearsagotodayMK One day Meredith bumps into Sophie in front of Perugia's law courts. She tells Sophie she can't stand it any more. Meredith says she finds it awkward talking to #AmandaKnox, but wonders why Knox herself isn't embarrassed by her own behaviour.
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) October 15, 2019
“The couple…ignored Sophie…”
It’s not a case of no emotion, it’s a case if inappropriate emotion.
Knox is indignant at the idea that Meredith didn’t suffer.
“They cut her throat…”
How did she know?
“The Foxy Knoxy nickname had nothing to do with sex”
Never settle for second best. Shan’ann didn’t. Which was why everything she had was the best. The best house, expensive car, expensive school for her kids, a husband at her beck and call etc.
But what happens when what’s best for you isn’t someone else’s idea of what’s best for them? What if what’s best for the other person isn’t you? What should that person do? After all – isn’t this all about making 100% sure you get what you deserve – which is for you to be the #1 person not only in your life, but in someone else’s life?
Isn’t that the fairy tale?
https://youtu.be/lRRgf2iniec
Unusually, we’re going to be interpreting this idea of being first not from Shan’ann’s perspective, nor from Watts’. We’re going to follow the psychology from the perspective of the mistress.
If Nut Gate was about Shan’ann knowing what was best for her child [and perhaps her inner child], Deeter Gate was about Nichol Kessinger knowing what was best for herself.
Deeter Gate happened when Kessinger went to the Watts home. On the first visit Watts made lunch for them.
But the second visit two weeks later was different. Kessinger admits in her interview that she was impressed by the house. Even awed by it. And probably more than a little intimidated by what she saw at face value.
We get a tiny glimpse of additional insight into what really happened during that second visit to the house on July 14th, via the Third Confession.
You wouldn’t know of Kessinger’s “despair” on that second visit from the discovery documents, nor from CBI agent Kevin Koback’s interview with Kessinger on August 16th.
Incidentally, it was on the same day as this interview that Kessinger surrendered some of Watts’ clothing that he’d left at her house, as well as other items of forensic worth – his birthday card to her on July 3rd, and his letter written on July 30th, the day before he flew to meet with his family in North Carolina.
But Deeter Gate had such a profound impact on the affair, and on Watts, it was still at the forefront of Watts’ mind two weeks later. Deeter Gate was effectively the moment Nichol was confronted for the first time by the reality of Watts family. This shocked her, and her shock and despair in turn caused Watts to panic.
The semantics of that despair matter immensely. What his mistress was communicating was something Watts knew all too well within his family – this feeling of being second. Nichol didn’t want that, and Watts understood that. He wanted to make sure she knew how much he cared for her, and he wanted to make sure she wasn’t second. Not just that she didn’t feel second, but that she wasn’t – in reality – second.
At first glance, looking at the love note dated July 30th reveals about as much as the drone did during its first reconnaissance over CERVI 319.
But looking closer, there are clearly idiosyncrasies hidden in plain sight, hidden – effectively – in the detail.
The word first appears five times in the 86 word love note [excluding the lyrics at the end]. The final instance of the word is in ALL CAPS. That’s once instance approximately ever 17 words, or basically one out of every two sentences. The last sentence also includes an indirect reference to firsts, where Watts states, reassuringly:
And I want to keep having them [firsts] with you…
Bear in mind he’s about to leave for North Carolina. He likely slept at Kessinger’s home before departing very early the next morning for the airport.
Probably he wrote this note at home, after sorting out the dog and alarm – and possibly one more thing. Getting a supply of Oxy from the basement.
We know for a fact that he had the notion of FIRSTS on his mind [firsts with Kessinger]. We also know for a fact that Kessinger specifically didn’t like the idea not only of being second to Watts wife, but of having seconds in other respects, such as child bearing. She wanted to be first.
Interestingly, on July 4th when she’d visited his home the first time, and they’d argued, she went to a baseball game and expected to meet someone there she’d contacted on eHarmony. But apparently this person had stood her up, as had many other suitors on the App. So she was keeping her options open, putting herself first, and yet there’s a sense that pressure was being exerted on him to put her first.
Meanwhile, Shan’ann was doing the same. She wanted to be first, and as a result of Nut Gate, she even wanted Watts to have nothing to do with his own parents. So in a very short space of time, two women very close to him were sort of twisting his arm, saying prove to me I’m #1 in your life.
If folks are adamant about narcissism, and how narcissism relates to the Watts case, well this is where it certainly does. Is it narcissistic to want to be treated as valuable by someone else? When is it healthy narcissism to demand to be treated better, and when does it become unhealthy? Was is healthy for the mistress to want to be a priority? Was it healthy for Watts to not want to be in a marriage where he felt second best? Was it healthy for Shan’ann to demand that Watts sacrifice his relationship with his parents as a result of Nut Gate, so that her hegemony over his existence could continue? We can see that this issue – of how much we are valued – isn’t unique to the Watts case, it’s universal. This is why conflating narcissism with true crime, or with this case in particular, makes no sense and reveals absolutely no insight into the authentic dynamics of this case. This is because we are all narcissists, and the relevant narcissism in this story is no different to the narcissism in all our stories.
When I read the love note for the first time the part that stood out the most was the word addicted. Sometimes when people are in love they act like people who are drunk or on drugs. You can get addicted to another person. You can feel like you are dependent on them for your happiness, or even that your life depends on being with them.
The part I missed was the true significance of the firsts. While I was aware of him trying to reassure her of her priority in his life, especially with his departure imminent, I didn’t realize what he was doing here was exactly what he was always doing – generally, during the First Confession, the Second and the Third. He tells people what they want to hear. And he knew Nichol wanted to hear she was first. Not only did know that, he wanted to make that happen. The murders were about putting her first.
The first thing he did when he got to North Carolina was try to get rid of Niko. That was so that she could give him his first son. Nichol knew he wanted a son, and at that moment, it was the one thing Shan’ann hadn’t quite given him yet. Little did Kessinger know, that door was closing fast in her face as well. But Watts did know. And he wanted to close it if he could.
Part of Kessinger’s desperation and urgency, I think, lay in the comparative reality that her best friend Charlotte was engaged and about to get married. Not only was Kessinger struggling with her love life, she was effectively single.
One has the impression she wanted to snap her fingers and not be left behind. And the horrible manifestation of this insta-fairy tale, was Watts magically transforming his home situation so that Nichol could walk right in, and his family would simply have vanished.
Vanish is a word he used to the FBI and to the media. It has magical undertones. Watts was trying to perform a magic trick to make his mistress happy, so that she want him and felt wanted in return, so that she felt like she had what she deserved and so that he deserved her.
If Nut Gate happened on July 9th, Deeter Gate followed just five short days later. Watts was caught off guard by Nut Gate, and was still sort of finding his mojo in how to deal with Nut Gate, or respond to it, when Deeter Gate happened. On July 14th he was faced with another emotional emergency that distracted him from his wife’s crisis with his parents in North Carolina.
First things first – what was Deeter Gate?
And why Deeter Gate?
Deeter Gate was an emotional conflagration that erupted between Watts and his mistress on July 14th, when Nichol Kessinger visited 2825 Saratoga Trail for a second time. We know from various sources that Nichol was at the Watts home on the 14th, including from Watts and Kessinger respectively.
#6 July 9th, 2018: Nut Gate: “My heart is still racing 30 mins later and tears of anger…” #1yearagotodayCW
2. Debunking Gladwell’s Analysis of Amanda Knox: #3 [Part 1]
"Everyone thought that she seemed odd…" #RevisionistHistory's Malcolm @Gladwell speaks to @TinaDaheley about how the Amanda Knox case relates to the behavioural expectations of society.
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2. How Social Media Shapes Our Identity – The New Yorker
New technology—especially the smartphone—allows us to produce a narrative of our lives, to choose what to remember and what to contribute to our own mythos. For Eichhorn, this is the latest instance of a long-held, if mysterious, practice. “Long before children were able to create, edit, and curate images of their lives,” she writes, “they were already doing so on a psychic level.” Freud called these images “screen memories”—no pun intended—and he thought that we used them to soften or obscure painful experiences. Humans have always tried to cope with the difficulty of memory, to turn it “from an intolerable horror to something which is reassuringly innocuous and familiar.” Social media just makes us more adept at it.
On the other hand, Eichhorn writes, such media can prevent those who wish to break with their past from doing so cleanly.
Two early works by Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh were auctioned in the Belgian city of Ghent on Sept. 22, fetching near estimate prices that the organizer said were bargains.
The first work, a watercolour of flowers, was snapped up for 220,000 euros ($240,000), slightly more than expected, auctioneer Johan Kiggen told AFP. The second piece, a charcoal drawing of a jug, went for 140,000 euros, just below the estimated price. “Everyone is happy,” Kiggen said, who added that buyers could only bid in person.
“The two works went for a very good price for the buyers,” he said. The two buyers, who wished to remain anonymous, were both Belgians and pledged to keep the works in the country, which was a request of the seller. Kiggen said the works have been certified as authentic on several occasions, and are featured in Van Gogh catalogues.
Dated to 1883, the works bear little resemblance to Van Gogh’s iconic works. They were made before the troubled master was inspired by the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists in Paris. Van Gogh is one of the most expensive Impressionist and modern artists, with 12 of his works having gone for more than $30 million at auction.
His output of about 2,000 pieces, of which 900 are paintings, are mainly held in museum collections, which means they are a rarity on the art market.
September 20th, 2019
1. Debunking Gladwell’s Analysis of Amanda Knox: #1
#September11th has still not been satisfactorily explained. Why did buildings not collapse the way science predicts they should? Why did vehicles spontaneously combust miles from the scene? Why did fires burn until after Xmas? How did steel turn into streams of molten metal? pic.twitter.com/tuARY6aOCY
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) September 11, 2019
#September11th has still not been satisfactorily explained. Why did buildings not collapse the way science predicts they should? Why did vehicles spontaneously combust miles from the scene? Why did fires burn until after Xmas? How did steel turn into streams of molten metal? pic.twitter.com/tuARY6aOCY
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) September 11, 2019
Instead of a proper legal argument, #StevenAvery's lawyer has come up with a gimmick.>>>MAKING A MURDERER: Avery attorney announces $100K reward for "real killer" https://t.co/QrhRTqJgC2
— Nick van der Leek – True Crime Rocket Science (@CrimeRocket) September 9, 2019
Yes there are, and folks like Joe Kenda [AKA Homicide Hunter] and John Douglas [AKA Mindhunter. Profiling isn’t a skill you’re born with, it’s one that’s honed, although one does need a knack for pattern-recognition and attention to detail.
https://youtu.be/zeKqD2g9-ic
“What was Amanda Knox’s problem?”
“Knox was confusing…”
It was pretty clear what was going on. Knox liked attention.
“Knox was actually a bit of a misfit…”
No kidding. By the way, get this – most criminals are.
“Mismatched are confusing and unpredictable…”
Unpredictable behavior is nevertheless predictable.
Chris Watts slept in the basement on the last night he and Shan’ann were still together. And in North Carolina they slept apart for the entire week that he was there. In the latest book on Watts, he says he was read the riot act by Kessinger, and that although she said she wanted him to have a chance to sort things out with his family, when it came down it, she didn’t want him getting back together with Shan’ann while he was away.
If we accept this scenario, then it raises the question: when Shan’ann arrived back from Arizona, why would he sleep in bed upstairs? When he called Kessinger for 111 minutes, wouldn’t she have wanted to know the sleeping arrangements? What would he have told told her to reassure her?
At 23:52 in the video clip, Chris Watts is asked about the bed in the basement. Who is sleeping there? He stumbles over whether it was two or three nights ago. Given his spiel, that they were separating, and he was supposedly sleeping in the basement, why would he – on the night of the murders [the disappearance in his story] – sleep upstairs?
It actually makes sense given Shan’ann’s late arrival. All things being equal, had he not intended to murder her, and had they really been in the process of separating, then he’d have slept in the basement and neither of them would have seen each other the next morning. She would not have woken him up [and he wouldn’t have wanted to be woken up], and he would not have woken her up when he left [and she would not want to be woken after sleeping for two hours].
When we go through the Phone Data Review, we can see that the idea of separating, moving and selling the house had been broached before, which is why the spiel is so unlikely that he was desperate to talk to her then, at 04:00, about something she already knew. The reason he’s doing it, and the reason he’s not in his right mind [and why the whole thing doesn’t make sense], is because through this manufactured drama, he’s confirming to Kessinger that:
They are separated [at the moment they’re reunited].
He is moving [at the moment she’s back in Colorado for the long term].
Nothing has changed [at the moment everything has changed, meaning now that the family are back to together, they’re not and he can still see her].
Through this Watts is essentially waving a wand and granting Kessinger [and himself] wish fulfillment, which makes total sense to him and her, but makes no sense to anyone else.
At 22:41 in the clip below, the officer asks about the children’s medications. Watts says Ceecee takes Singular every night for her allergies. Then there’s a minor slip.
OFFICER: She had the kids last night?
WATTS [Appearing very smug, his lower jaw hanging open in a dopey-sort of way]: Yes.
OFFICER: Or you had the kids?
WATTS: Oh, I had the kids.
At 30:27 in the clip below, after the officer asks Watts if he has any questions [he doesn’t, but he mentions calling hospitals], he follows up asking about Shan’ann’s medical history. Did someone say she was diabetic, the officer asks.
In response Watts does a nervous lip snarl, and then starts off saying “she had” [past tense], then corrects himself. There is a lot to say here about Shan’ann health, including her pregnancy, but he doesn’t.
There are several revelations in the new book about Chris Watts. Some of these revelations are apparently authored by Watts himself. I don’t believe the botched double attempted murders on his daughters [while Shan’ann was home], but I do think some aspects are true. Like the admission that the lovers had phone sex during their last 111 minute conversation on Sunday.
This conversation was their last chance to be together before Shan’ann returned [and possibly ruined everything]. The phone sex claim certainly makes sense given the context that neither Kessinger nor Watts have previously said much regarding what that conversation was about.
Below are a few excerpts from the discovery dealing with that crucial final conversation. Given the rabid coverage of this case, it’s weird the phone sex claim hasn’t come up [as far as I’m aware] in the media.
On October 4th, 2019, Britain’s Daily Mailtabloid published an exclusive “preview” of a new book on Chris Watts, Letters from Christopher by American writer Cheryln Cadle.
Near the end of the article, the following information appeared:
Cadle asked him about the claims that Watts gave his wife Oxycodone and he responded with conflicting stories, saying he had given it to her twice – once at her parents’ home in North Carolina to try to cause a miscarriage, and then immediately before her death. He later contradicted himself and said he only gave it to her once in North Carolina.
‘I asked him where he got the Oxy, and he told me that is one of the things he will take to his death,’ Cadle wrote.
The moment Chris Watts said he used Oxycodone [the actual letter refers to Oxycontin] but wouldn’t say where he got it from, it set a cat among the pigeons. On the CrimeRocket forums people immediately begun to spread rumors and gossip. This prompted stern warnings – at least from CrimeRocket – for folks to cease and desist.
What they didn’t realize was by simply attaching a name to this new murderous spiel they were actually implicating someone as a potential accessory in triple murder.
I don’t think this was intentional, and I don’t think Watts or anyone else foresaw this possibility, but you can imagine what it felt like to be one of those names thrown in the hat, and there have been a few.
CrimeRocket has certainly been clear from the get go that Chris Watts alone is guilty and responsible for the Watts Family Murders.
Following this turn of events, a source close to the Watts family contacted CrimeRocket on October 5th and provided the following statement which is from Chris Watts himself. Not only was this statement transcribed and sent via email, but an audio clip of the conversation from Dodge Correctional was provided to CrimeRocket as well.
Furthermore, Chris Watts consented to this statements being sent to and published on CrimeRocket, so there was no underhand recording made without Chris Watts’ knowledge. Chris Watts and the Watts family would like to clear up any confusion about where he got the Oxy from.
The statement reads as follows:
“I gave Shan’ann the oxy on either July 30th or 31st, whichever was the first day I got into North Carolina.* I got the oxy from the bin [in the basement]. It was in Colorado and it was on the plane and I brought it from my house.”
In POST TRUTH, the 100th True Crime Rocket Science [TCRS] title, the world’s most prolific true crime author Nick van der Leek demonstrates how much we still don’t know in the Watts case. In the final chapter of the SILVER FOX trilogy the author provides a sly twist in a tale that has spanned 12 TCRS books to date. The result may shock or leave you with even more questions.
SILVER FOX III available now in paperback!
“If you are at all curious about what really happened in the Watts case, then buy this book, buy every one he has written and you will get as close as humanly possible to understanding the killer and his victims.”- Kathleen Hewtson. Purchase the very highly rated and reviewed SILVER TRILOGY – POST TRUTH COMING SOON.
TCRS MERCH available now – just in time for Christmas!
Book 5 – ALL NEW! “I have thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook…” – Connie Lukens. Drilling Through Discovery Complete Audiobook
Read the entire 9-Part TWO FACE series, the most definitive book series covering the Chris Watts Case
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Book 4 in the TWO FACE series, one of the best reviewed, is available now in paperback!
“Book 4 in the K9 series is a must read for those who enjoy well researched and detailed crime narratives. The author does a remarkable job of bringing to life the cold dark horror that is Chris Watts throughout the narrative but especially on the morning in the aftermath of the murders. Chris’s actions are connected by Nick van der Leek’s eloquent use of a timeline to reveal a motive.”
The moment Chris Watts said he used Oxycodone [the actual letter refers to Oxycontin] but wouldn’t say where he got it from, it set a cat among the pigeons. On the CrimeRocket forums people immediately begun to spread rumors and gossip. This prompted stern warnings – at least from CrimeRocket – for folks to cease and desist.
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