True Crime Analysis, Breakthroughs, Insights & Discussions Hosted by Bestselling Author Nick van der Leek
I am the defendant in this case.
I have had enough time to talk to my lawyer about this case, and he/she has discussed the evidence against me. I have fully explained my side to him/her.
I believe that the District Attorney has enough evidence to convict me at trial…
Interesting. He has the right to seek post-trial reduction of his sentence.
It doesn’t make any sense. Why go to so much trouble to commit triple murder of his own family, secretly dispose of their bodies only to confess, and then agree to a plea deal?
Or does it make complete sense?
This question is covered – and answered – in-depth in TWO FACE TWO POLLYANNAS due out in the next few days.
We get some insight into Shan’ann Watts through her brother Frankie Rzucek’s unfiltered social media. It’s not so much what he says that’s revealing, but how he says it.
We know Shan’ann also had her moments on social media [don’t we all]. But since her Facebook page was also where her business was at, we can imagine she was pretty careful about keeping things clean and sanitary on Facebook.
Is it likely that the Watts case will fade now that a criminal trial is off the table?
Meanwhile, Chris Watts also has a sibling – Jamie Williams – that almost nothing has been reported on.
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke told reporters yesterday that he knows why Chris Watts did what he did – partially. He said he’d be happy to talk about what he believed [not what he knew, believed] post sentencing. What did he mean? And why is it so sensitive he couldn’t just say it there and then?
The area of the transcript [which I will post more on in due course] that deals with the why of the crime is provided below:
ROURKE: We believe we have a partial motive. I’m not sure if it’s the entirety of the motive, but I will be happy to comment on that following sentencing. Ask me again [on] … the day after, the day of sentencing. I will be happy to answer that question. At this point, that’s getting a little too far into the investigation at least as we sit right now.
In true crime, how often do we hear about “partial” motives? It’s part of the motive but not all? Not often, and especially not often from prosecutors. It’s prosecutors who have to confidently make it abundantly clear what happened and why.
No one has been on top of the Watts case as much as Rourke has [arguably with the exception of this site], but he has been able to have vital first-hand encounters, discussions etc. with the accused and he’s been able to review the actual evidence. He also knows what’s in those still sealed autopsy reports.
So what’s going on?
I’m speculating, and speculating on an area we know very little about, but Chris Watts’ sexuality [and suggestions about his bisexuality] seems to fit what Rourke is saying about partial motives and beliefs.
Being bisexual does partially explain wanting to not be married, wanting to not be a father and perhaps [but not necessarily] no longer wanting to have sex with his wife. In other words, half of the equation [but not entirely] is explained by the bisexuality.
Being bisexual is also about the beliefs one has of oneself as a person, and of the beliefs one has of society’s view of you. As noted in the TWO FACE narratives, male bisexuality is a particularly taboo orientation even in progressive society’s. Even homosexual men can’t stand bisexual men because of an impression that they’re loosey goosey and just can’t make up their minds. Bisexual women, by the same token, are considered by some to be highly sexualized and highly sexualized and so are prized – if that’s the term – by some. In any event, bisexual women don’t experience nearly the same discrimination.
So it stands to reason, if you’re a bisexual man who might want to keep it under wraps, especially in a masculine-type work environment like auto mechanics or the oil industry.
My own impression of Watts was that he was trying too hard to be a regular dude in his own family. He was playing constantly at being Mr. Nice Guy, but who he really was was eating him up.
A handy example of a bisexual criminal who murdered his wife and was convicted is Michael Peterson from The Staircase documentary series.
If the bisexuality is what Rourke’s referring to, and if that’s only a partial explanation, where’s the rest? And with no prospect of a court case, will we ever find out? A lot of the answer to why resides in the first two narratives that are already out there. TWO FACE TWO POLLYANNAS will be out by the end of this week. It’s the purpose of this site and these narratives to plumb the entirety of the Watts story, and nothing short of that.
Nickole Atkinson – God love her – isn’t the most introspective of people. But after Chris Watts accepted the plea deal, Nickole – the friend who set the cat between the pigeons [she played a huge role in Chris Watts’ arrest] – got very deep, and posted this message to Chris Watts on Facebook.
She also used her profile picture to declare justice in this case. Done and dusted.
Below is a previous profile picture:
After remembering her murdered friend for a few minutes on Facebook, it was back to Thrivin’. Whose comin’ with me to Fort Worth? Nickole and her fellow Thrivers have been pushing out the invites.
And celebrating other things.
And then investing more of her thoughts in the less-introspective stuff in life.
Jeremy Lindstrom held a birthday party for his five-year-old son sometime on Sunday August 12th. Within hours of the photos taken below, the man in the baby-blue Carolina tar heels shirt [he seems to be leaning into the shot] would murder the two little girls right beside him.
It would take three months before he u-turned on his dubious confession of August 15th. In exchange for avoiding a death sentence himself, he admitted to their murders in court – in tears – on November 6th for the first time.
Below is the back garden of the Lindstrom home in Erie, Colorado. Bella is right at the back wearing a purple summer dress. Celeste is out of picture.
August 12 was a hot, windy day, with temperatures hitting 91,4°F [33 °C]. Since it was clear all day, it’s difficult to tell when this photo was taken.
Many thanks to Jane Bos for providing these images. Bos is a member of the TCRS group, and a former cop currently based in the Netherlands.
This post from last Saturday [November 3rd, 2018] has since been removed from Nickoke Atkinson’s Facebook timeline. Less than four months after the Watts family murder, Shan’ann’s “best friend” seems to be back into the swing of all things Le-Vel.
Scroll down the comments and Shan’ann’s mother doesn’t seem like the grieving mother or grandmother, does she? Has Sandi Onorati Rzucek inherited Shan’ann’s MLM setup, is that why she’s so gung-ho about it?
Just how desperate are these Thrivers?
ROHDE TRIAL: PROSECUTION CLOSING ARGUMENTS
First image of Jason Rohde in court…
Image courtesy Jenna Etheridge.
The Judge seems very uncertain of the state’s arguments thus far. She’s either being thorough or she’s still vacillating.
The prosecutor Louis van Niekerk reiterates [rightly] how the mosaic of evidence lines up.
End of morning session.
The afternoon sessions starts off with a gripe. Judge Salie-Hlophe raps Van Niekerk on the knuckles for producing a thesis, rather than heads of argument. Well, I hope Van der Spuy is listening; sounds like he was hoping to generate twice as much legal diarrhea.
Van Niekerk apologizes and gets going, jumping immediately from page 100 to 135.
Is Jason Rohde also following the commentary on Twitter?
Above image courtesy of Jenna Etheridge, who specially asked for it to be credited.
Good to see the cameraman in the afternoon session actually capturing some footage of the accused. Van Niekerk starts off with a reference to the mysterious diary. Was there or wasn’t there a diary?
The diary seems to be part of an effort by the defense to malign the cops for misplacing or losing evidence. It could be that Rohde himself secreted the diary away, and then blamed the cops for taking it, otherwise, why else would it even come up?
Besides the diary, her handbag also mysteriously disappeared. Odd, isn’t it? Also odd is that two attorneys associated with the Rohde case have been murdered during the course of the trial: Pete Mihalik and Noorudien Hassan.
Rohde claimed he had no idea how to open the hotel door, so he called reception to have a hotel maintenance dude open the door. If you were confronted with this, would you have no idea how to open it?
Personally I find this a less credible part of his whole case. In his own version he describes himself doing a half Ironman. In order to compete as a triathlete, you’d need a minimal level of back maintenance know-how. Allan keys and the like to adjust saddle height etc. Besides this, Rohde had worked in the past in an upholstery business. Is it really believable that he’d never picked up a screwdriver in his life?
The autopsy evidence in the Rohde case have some application in the Zahau and Watts cases respectively. How can one tell, definitively, that a victim has been manually strangled to death?
True to his word, the prosecutor has galloped through his summary, and is done after less than 50 minutes. The first session was three times as long. A little underwhelming, and unfortunate that it was long and that, as a result, it was rushed. The prosecutor must be disappointed. The defense has the advantage of hindsight to develop a short, concise, compelling, competing narrative. Which will be the more convincing? We’ll know tomorrow.
ROHDE TRIAL: DEFENSE CLOSING ARGUMENTS
The morning session kicks off in the spacious Court 1, the same court where the Van Breda case was heard in its entirety.
End of morning session.
No live coverage provided by TCRS of the afternoon session.
Analysis pending…
JUDGMENT DAY
Further reading:
The #1 Reason Why Susan Rohde DIDN’T Kill Herself
Jason Rohde Trial: The #1 Hurdle for the Prosecution
Rohde Crime Scene Schematic: What else are we missing? [ANALYSIS]
Rohde Trial: The Art of Strategic Cross-Examination
Rohde Trial: Can a body bruise after it has died, even one prone to bruising?
#Rohde What did “Drama, but OK” actually mean?
Rohde Trial: Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who is Character Assassinating Who? [WATCH]
5 Key Difficulties for Jason Rohde’s Defence [and they’re all unexpected]
According to Brendan Miller, Susan Rohde was “calm” shortly before her death
On the face of it, pretrial hearings aren’t usually televised. Advisements and arraignments are, however. Thus far Chris Watts has made two court appearances, the first on Thursday August 16 [three days after the murders, and before the children’s bodies had been recovered] the second on Tuesday August 21. Both hearings were packed with media, and both were televised. The first hearing was held in a modest court room, the second in a larger court.
When 9News reported on the second appearance in the four-row courtroom “filled almost entirely with media”, they concluded:
Chris Watts’ trial has generated media attention from around the world. During Tuesday’s hearing, the judge said this has meant furthering proceedings will have to be held in [an even] bigger courtroom.
As I understand it, both those hearings in August were advisements.
What is unusual about this case is the Warrantless Arrest Affidavit. Conventionally an arrest warrant is issued with reasons and facts. Think of a parking or traffic fine. The document, when issued, has all the pertinent information on it – time, date, location, infringement, license plate etc.
A warrantless arrest is executed by an affiant [a cop, sheriff or prosecuting attorney], and is done where there is probable cause. In other words, Watts was issued the warrant but not provided a full disclosure of facts or reasons for his arrest. In effect the warrant states:
We’re arresting you. We know what you did. We’re not ready to say what we know but we know enough.
It’s the equivalent of a traffic cop witnessing a car crash out of the corner of his eye. He doesn’t quite see what happens, he’s not quite sure what has happened, but he knows enough to take the driver into custody right then and there.
Given that Watts was arrested before the cadavers of his children were recovered [they were located and in the process of being recovered] we can see why the warrantless arrest was necessary. You want to secure your suspect ASAP but you’re also clearly not in possession of all the remains. Make sense?
So why is this hearing not being televised?
A status conference is kind of a private and confidential pretrial trial where various issues are decided before commitments are made to invest in a full-blown trial. Think of it as the foreplay leading to an official engagement announcement. That stuff tends to be private. Both parties are basically deciding how confident they feel about their positions, how attractive the offers and proposals are, what they can get away with, and it’s also about the position and commitment of the other party.
A status conference is a court-ordered meeting with a judge (or under some circumstances an authorized counsel) where they decide the date of the trial or to get updated information on a defendant for ongoing conditions, set forth previously by the courts such as house arrest or home monitoring.
A meeting of the judge and the lawyers (or unrepresented parties) in a pending legal matter, to determine how the case is progressing. At the status conference, the judge may ask about what discovery has been conducted, whether and how the parties have tried to settle the case, and other pretrial matters.
If a party does not attend the status conference, that party’s requests for scheduling changes will be ignored. If the plaintiff and/or a representative of plaintiff does not attend the status conference, the action may be dismissed.
Chris Watts’ appearance in Weld County District Court today for for a status conference is supposed to be his last court appearance before he’s scheduled for an arraignment. The arraignment is where he enters a guilty or not guilty plea.
The status hearing allows Watts the opportunity to preempt an arraignment. If so, the case is also settled outside of the glare of cameras. So no potentially controversial moment is recorded on camera when the District Attorney [for example] says, “Deal,” and everyone shakes hands and pats one another on the back.
Although pretrial hearings aren’t televised, an enormous number of news outlets have applied regardless. Do none of these media agencies know the law? It’s doubtful.
On the other hand, there were a lot of media motions for expanded coverage of the first two hearings, and only some limited coverage was allowed, due to a combination of practical and logistical constraints.
So why would the media apply for expanded coverage if they ought to know better? It may be that they’re simply taking their chances in the hope of a “break”. It may also be that they know, or suspect, this may be their last opportunity to get a bite at the cherry. Meaning: if there is a plea bargain, then that closes the book essentially on this case. The trial is shut down and the media narrative eclipsed.
Although today’s hearing may simply be a procedural status conference with no plea deal, the fact that it’s been moved forward by two weeks suggests some kind of urgency. This in itself is unusual as well. Remember, we’re in a scenario right now where there’s a separate trial pending for the release of the autopsy reports.
The media scrutiny of this case isn’t unprecedented, but it’s at the top of the pile when it comes to America’s high-profile cases right now. The response thus far hasn’t been to take the media into confidence, so-to-speak, from either party. This, and the scheduling of the hearing on the same day as the mid-term election when media resources will be stretched thinnest strongly suggests a deal is in the offing.
Below is a copy of a request for expanded media coverage in the arraignment of Aurora shooter James Holmes. The Arapahoe Court granted limited permission to some, and denied permission to others. The motion as a whole is also redacted.
True crime aspires towards omniscience, but it never quite achieves it. Thanks to you readers out there, true crime analysis never really stops, it never really sleeps. There’s always someone, somewhere chewing on some area of the bone, isn’t there? Like this one sent in today via WhatsApp from the lovely Amanda Gildenhar [follow her on twitter here].
Notice anything strange in this picture [from More Watts Family Photos posted yesterday]:
Look closer…
Right in front of Bella is a can of opened lime flavored Spiked Seltzer.
Amanda reckons Seltzer is the kind of drink that’s easy to get away with, with no smell. It’s the “sneak a drink drink” as she puts it. 6% alcohol.
Amanda thinks it’s weird the can is set right in front of Bella. In the foreground are other drinks too. It looks like Shan’ann may have had some sort of get together, judging from the board in the background. Unless this was an average day and Shan’ann was taking a few swigs to help her cope in addition to [or instead of] Thrive’s mood maintenance.
Let’s face it, alcohol does the trick when you’re on edge, and all those highly caffeinated patches aren’t going to settled frayed nerves.
This raises the question: Are there any other images of Seltzer or alcoholic beverages elsewhere in Shan’ann’s social media? Also, was Shan’ann putting alcohol in any of those Le-Vel branded shakes she was drinking?
More generally, MLM is associated with addiction. Not just any addiction, the sort that can cost people everything. If the Watts case isn’t a potential case study of this, what is? Think about the scenario we see here in technicolor; a wife so addicted to MLM [and not just Le-Vel], her whole family gets gobbled up into it too. Were they always willing participants? What if it wasn’t? What if it became like living with an unemployed junkie who keeps stealing from you and cashing in your stuff to keep the ball rolling?
There is reason to believe there may be a relationship between MLM and addiction, including alcoholism:
MLMers will slowly become dependent on their team, and their life will become more and more absorbed by all things involving the business. You will see the MLMer’s personality change as they become more involved with the group, and their day-to-day responsibilities will start to go unattended.
MLMers will start to get less and less positives out of the experience, because uplines will not continue to love bomb unconditionally without results. Upline may ridicule the downline, and the pleasure of the love bombing will fade as the downline continues to struggle.
I have heard of MLMers pursuing the dream to the point of foreclosure on their homes, job loss, and divorce. MLMs have been responsible for taking away retirements, and have made people lose friends and family. MLMs have the exact same downsides as any drug (legal or illegal), but MLMs may be worse because people can be harder to escape.
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