Pages 4 and 5 of the CBI Report deal briefly with Watts’ version of his relationship with with Kessinger:
He stayed at Kessinger’s house almost every night his wife and daughters were in North Carolina. He felt like he didn’t have time at home to think about his marriage when Shan’ann and the girls were out of state. He went home after work to work out, eat dinner, and then would go over to Kessinger’s house. He slept over at Kessinger’s house almost the entire month of July. Being away from home allowed him to not think about being a father and husband because he wasn’t surrounded by reminders of his family. “It feels like a roller coaster ride that I just kept punching a ticket on and never could get off.”
if Watts spent an entire month sleeping at Kessinger, wouldn’t his GPS have alerted the office in Platteville that Watts was at another location? Wouldn’t he have been asked about it?
Page 554 in the Discovery Documents alludes to this:
Kessinger wanted to have sex all the time. He never had to worry about saying something stupid around Kessinger and never had to plan what he was going to say when he was with her (Kessinger). He told Kessinger that it felt like she had a leash on him and she was able to tug him away from Shan’ann.
If Watts had been staying with Kessinger solidly for a month, then naturally when Shan’ann arrived back, that scenario would no longer be the case, would it? How could Watts continue to sleep with Kessinger once Shan’ann was home?
Unless he moved out. No wonder Kessinger was actively helping Watts with this part.
Wasn’t this the pressure Watts felt because of her impending return? That his mistress expected to have access to him after Shan’ann’s return, because their divorce was finalized, along with the sale of their home…? Because that’s what he’d told her and now it was important to make reality fit the lie…
While researching ANNIHILATION[published on April 8th, 2019], I stumbled across a few additional insights in the Chris Watts case.
Officer Coonrod and Detective Baumhover were in a unique situation when they arrived at 2825 Saratoga Trail on that fateful Monday in August. They had a witness there who had been with Shan’ann hours before she disappeared. Not Chris Watts, Nickole Atkinson.
Although they turned to Watts as the most reliable source on the whereabouts of his wife and children, they ought to have focused more on Nickole especially when Watts started behaving strangely.
It’s easy to play Monday morning quarterback, but just for the sake of arguments, let’s see what happens when we do.
1. Search the house for Shan’ann’s Clothing
Firstly, the cops could have asked Nickole what clothes Shan’ann was wearing when Nickole dropped her off at 01:48. Nickole could have given them an exact description of Shan’ann’s jeans and shirt.
One of Watts’ earlier versions was that Shan’ann left in the evening. In any event, by locating these items the cops would be able to ascertain if Shan’ann had changed, if she had slept that night and the location and state of the clothing could have told them something about her last movements. They may also have been able to find evidence on the clothing of a struggle. The shirt itself may have been ripped, and may have had traces of sweat, blood and touch DNA on it.
It’s not clear what happened to Shan’ann’s shirt. It appears the jeans she wore were removed, washed and placed into the laundry basket.
When Officer Coonrod did his check early in the afternoon at the Watts home, Watts made no mention of jeans or the laundry basket, even though he walked past that area and into the walk-in closet several times.
The laundry basket or a portion of it appears to be visible at 39:19 in the clip below.
https://youtu.be/HEngqmI7SLc?t=2359
At 2:01 in the clip below, taken on Tuesday morning when the K9 unit was looking for items to scent, Watts of his own accord picked up Shan’ann’s jeans [out of the basket]. This was an interesting move because the K9 handlers had specifically asked Watts which items they could scent off that Watts had not touched. So Watts lifting the jeans out of the basket was almost a way for him to say, “Look, see, I’m touching her jeans. Gee, so I guess you can’t use these…”
The question is, had they been washed earlier, immediately after the murder and prior to Watts heading off to work? It seems unlikely. It seems more likely that he would wash Monday night and then place them in the laundry basket to make it seem as if Shan’ann had changed [slept] and put them there herself.
Interestingly, as Watts is asked by Officer Lines on Tuesday, August 14th, if there are any other items of clothing they can scent off, Watts leads her to the laundry. She asks if he has touched the clothing and he smiles wryly, answering:
I may have.
2. Watts Should Have Been Arrested Based on Trinastich Surveillance Video
Was there probable cause to arrest Watts based on the video of him backing up his driveway and loading unknown objects at 05:18? Everyone who knew Watts said he never backed his truck into the driveway. Trinastich never saw him do it, and the Rzuceks, when they lived with the family for over a year never saw him do it either. So him doing it on that night of all nights was suspicious.
It turns out now there was probable cause, but an argument can be made that even based on what we know now the video was simply not clear enough to establish anything. One might argue there was possible cause, but not probable cause.
We also know the prosecution referred to the video, saying Watts went back three times to collect each body, but the prosecution were sort of bluffing, implying they knew more from the video than they actually did. The prosecution and the cops have to observe strict protocols in terms of evidence, and executing arrests. Often, if these protocols are exceeded or violated, a defense can argue that an arrest was procedural illegal and that there was a “rush to judgement”.
In the Casey Anthony case, Casey was arrested when her explanations didn’t make sense and the nanny stuff didn’t add up. On that occasion the little girl had been gone for a month, and Casey’s car smelled of cadaver odor. Even then, Casey wasn’t arrested and taken into custody until the next morning. It may be that during these additional hours prior to her arrest someone deleted her browser history on the family computer. Interestingly, in the Anthony case she was also seen backing her car into the garage…
Like Casey, Watts would have had time to do similar polishing of the crime scene during his extra night of freedom, especially after the scare of cops trampling through his house, looking for something but of course only Watts would have known what was potentially incriminating. That night he would have ample opportunity to take care of those things.
But what sort of behavior counts as strange, and what qualifies as probable cause? This is a tough one. In hindsight we know Watts’ behavior was odd because he was guilty, but at the time it could simply have been because Watts had argued with his wife [and not necessarily done anything].
At 1:08:52 in the clip below Coonrod asks Watts if he has any idea where Shan’ann is. Watts pulls a face, shakes his head and attempts a convincing answer.
WATTS: All the friends that I know…that I know…if there’s other…
And then Watts gives up answering, pretending to be on his phone.
WATTS: That’s the only ones that I know of….Th-there could be people that I don’t know of…
And then, standing directly opposite Coonrod, Watts does his swaying thing.
But the mosaic of evidence – including the fact that Shan’ann’s phone was phone, her car, and the medication – probably did add up to probable cause. Nickole could have impressed this upon the cops then and there, rather than talking to Sandi the whole time on the phone. Nickole could have let them know Shan’ann would absolutely not have left home without her phone, because it was what she used to do her work and was always on it. Although this was mentioned to Coonrod, it wasn’t emphasized. Watts also interferred with what the cops were thinking and checking by suggesting other possibilities – that Shan’ann may have left through the back entrance, and may have simply gone to a friend. The going to the friend narrative, which he said he told her, took a long time to disprove. And how does one disprove a negative?
It’s also worth mentioning one YouTuber who seems to have identified the second blue nitrile glove, lying under the pillow on the bedroom floor, and possibly a Yankee blanket tossed into the corner.
None of these observations are certain. And in keeping with uncertain observations, here’s mine. Is that Oxycodone on the counter in Shan’ann’s office?
One critical component is missing from the Watts Family Murders. It’s this missing link that makes the crime atypical, and Watts himself such an enigma. Intertextuality provides us with some clues to what fits the criminal psychology, and what doesn’t.
The Manrique Family Tragedy played out in a suburb of Sydney, Australia on Monday, October 17, 2016:
A Sydney father who is suspected of pumping lethal amounts of carbon monoxide into his home as the family slept resulting in the deaths of his wife and two children, made multiple trips to a Bunnings store before the deaths, an inquest has heard.
In the days leading up to family’s deaths, Fernando Manrique, 44, visited the store in Belrose in Sydney’s north shore to buy equipment that police believe was used to set up an elaborate mechanism to channel the deadly gas from a garden shed, through the roof and into the house.
Manrique, his wife Maria Lutz, 43, and their two children, Elisa and Martin, were found dead inside their family home on Monday, October 17, 2016.The inquest into the four deaths, which began today, also heard Manrique had been having an affair with a teenager he met in a bar in the Philippines.
Superficially we see more than a few consistencies:
The murders [and suicide] were carefully planned – that is premeditated – over a few days prior to tragedy.
The premeditation wasn’t simple.
The father was having an affair while married, and in spite of being a father to two small children [aged 11 and 12]
But between the parallels there are a few inconsistencies too:
Maria had not been replying to text messages the weekend before and hadn’t dropped her kids at school on the Monday morning. On the morning of October 17, police conducted a welfare check at the home after Ms Lutz’s friend Nichole Brimble noticed the devoted mother had failed to turn up to her volunteer shift at the school canteen, and learnt the children were not at school. Police attended the single-storey home in the leafy northern beaches suburb of Davidson. While officers initially thought nothing was amiss, they soon made the grim discovery of Maria’s body through an open window.
Her daughter Elisa, 12, was beside her in bed, her husband was slumped in a hall while 11-year-old Martin’s body was found in another bedroom. The family dog, Tequila, was also dead lying on the floor close to Martin.
Asked if there was evidence to suggest Maria had a role in her children’s deaths, he said: “She wasn’t involved at all or had any knowledge. Going through phone records no indication with any person of anything like that.” Counsel assisting Adam Casselden said it was likely the family died sometime between 11am on the Sunday and 11am on the Monday, most likely as the mother and her two children slept in the early hours of Monday morning.
A neighbour said they distinctly remembered the barking of a dog from the house at 2.30am.
The couple were childhood sweethearts from their home in Bogota, Colombia. They emigrated to Australia and gave birth to their daughter in 2005 and son in 2006. Both were diagnosed with autism. “Caring for Martin and Elisa was no doubt challenging,” Mr Casselden said. Despite the challenges the care of the childrenposed, Judge Truscott said there was no indication Maria was involved in her children’s deaths.The inquest heard that, initial speculation that Ms Lutz was aware of Mr Manrique’s fatal plan, would be dispelled by the steps he took to hide it from her, and because of her happiness at securing $50,000 in government funding to help with the care of Elisa and Martin. Ms Truscott said it was clear from the evidence of Ms Lutz’s large network of friends that “Maria loved her life, loved her children and had every intention of continuing a very loving, giving and productive life with her children”.
Indeed, he said the relationship between Maria and Manrique had broken down. “There was very little conversationwith her husband and with conversations with friends she said she has ‘had enough of him’,” Det Sgt Pooley said.
Maria, who used to be a lawyer in Colombia, had given up work to care for her childrenwhile her husband had been made redundant. That had seen his income fall dramatically as he helped set up another company, which led him to frequently visit the Philippines. Detective Sergeant Pooley said the couple had just $6 in a family trust, had credit card debts of $28,000, only a few thousand dollars in a savings account and two mortgages, which Manrique had reduced his repayment amounts on.
“I’d say that he was in dire straits and had massive tax issues,” the detective said. Mr Casselden said the couple had a debt to the Australian Tax Office of about $15,000 in September 2016. Despite this, shortly before the family died Manrique wired several thousand dollars to a lover in the Philippines that he met while travelling for work. Mr Casselden said Manrique had met a 17-year-old called Jamielyn in a bar in the Philippines in 2016.
“He confided in a friend his marriage had become strained and he was seeing other women in the Philippines,” he said. Manrique would “hook up” with other women and had been seeing Jamielyn for at least four months on his trip abroad prior to the family’s deaths. (Manrique) said he would buy her a property but never did so. She recalled that he was particularly stressed on a final trip in September 2016.”
“Manrique told [his business partner] Mr McKenzie that he was struggling to hold everything together and said ‘I just need to slow down’,” Mr Casselden said. In the weeks before the family’s deaths, Manrique had left the Davidson home but had returned in early September for a temporary period, he told his wife, while he found somewhere else to live.
Usually distant, Manrique seemed to be a changed man. Maria confided in a friend that “if he had been like this throughout the marriage, I would never have told him to go”.
“Maria described him as ‘father of the year’ during that week,” Mr Casselden said.
Which television was on during Watts’ 111 minute call to Kessinger late on Sunday night [August 12th]? Was it the one upstairs in the bedroom, upstairs in the loft, or in the lounge downstairs? Why was the television on?
Of the ten results cited above, seven refer to the word “possible” or that the weapon is “believed to be” or “thought to have [been used]”. The two stories highlighted at the bottom are more definitive. The gun that killed Van Gogh is to be auctioned. Unsurprisingly, these definitive statements are made by two websites that trade in art auctions and art auction coverage. They’re the one’s trying to talk up the auction and the object to be auctioned because there is a treasure to be made if someone takes the bait.
The Van Gogh Museum is another supporter of this theory, noting in their catalogue that “there is a strong possibility that he used it in his suicide attempt”.
To reiterate, if the gun is authentic, it will fetch a handy fortune when it goes on auction in Paris on June 19th. If it’s a fake, it may attract little if any interest, in fact, it may not even be auctioned off at all. Who decides whether the weapon is the genuine article or not? Well, it depends who you ask. If most people decide it’s the actual gun, doesn’t that make it reality?
Interestingly, many of the stories above take it as fact that whether the weapon is the real thing or not, Van Gogh killed himself. The Van Gogh Museum also takes on this narrative as beyond dispute. Yet even this aspect has recently been disputed. There is a growing chorus who claim Van Gogh was either killed accidentally or murdered by one of several handy suspects. In the 2018 Oscar-nominated film At Eternity’s Gate starring Willem Dafoe as Van Gogh, the shooting is dramatized not as a suicide but as a scuffle with local youths.
That should tell you something about the state of the mainstream suicide narrative – it’s no longer mainstream!
It makes sense to talk up the rusty relic as the real thing. Everybody wins. If it’s real, someone gets very rich and a lot of people get to talk about it. If it’s not real, well, it’s all a bit of bore really, isn’t it? The same applies to a lot of Van Gogh’s art, sketches and writing. Many of his works are repeatedly argued as authentic, and if the argument eventually sticks, someone becomes an instant millionaire. So there is a lot of incentive to turn straw into gold, to argue the case for objects as being authentic. Who is rewarded, who earns anything by arguing the opposite? All it really takes is a handy expert to give the thumbs up at the right time, to the right people, and for the media to do the rest.
KA-CHING!
In the same way, Van Gogh’s madness, ear cutting and suicide are stories that make Van Gogh’s art worth more than almost every other artist in human history. It makes the museum relevant. As such there’s an incentive to keep these stories alive. The madness, the self-inflicted ear cutting and the suicide all hold with one another, don’t they? It all adds up to a struggle making Van Gogh’s art seem worth more than it otherwise would be.
The problem is, if one undertakes a true crime analysis, it turns out there is strong reason to doubt not one, but all three narratives: the ear cutting wasn’t self-inflicted, Van Gogh wasn’t mad or depressed [poor and troubled, yes] and on the day of his death why would he go out to paint with his equipment and then commit suicide? Why not just commit suicide? Why was the gun lost and why did the painting equipment disappear if he simply shot himself somewhere and botched the job? Why, after suffering the wound did he ask doctors to remove the bullet from his stomach? Dr. Paul Gachet was his doctor. When he asked his doctor to come to his aid, why didn’t he?
Also, Van Gogh had just made a large order of paint and canvasses from his brother. This indicates the artist meant to continue his work. If he was painting more than ever, a picture a day in July, where is his suicidal impulse in all of that?
https://youtu.be/CgV9LbI6RuI
If we are to debate the question seriously, we must hold up a motive for the man to murder himself against the motive of some other man to murder him. Which one is the most convincing? I have done extensive research into this question, and expected to find the popular narrative to be the most likely story. But it’s not.
The more likely story would probably devalue the work of the world’s most famous and expensive artist in the minds of many, just as a forensic audit of the weapon would likely devalue the relic as “possibly” related to Van Gogh’s fatal gunshot wound, but probably not.
Curiously, the gun itself was “found” in the 1960’s, after Van Gogh became famous. And now the object auctioneers describe as “the most famous weapon in art history” is worth a fortune. A little serendipitous, wouldn’t you say?
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?
There were dirt stains on the sheet, including a large area of dirt stain with patterns that appeared to be from the sheet being dragged along the ground. [Discovery Documents, page 483]
It’s been a while since the last #KindleCountdown Deal. The ten titles listed below will start selling at $0.99 and over the course of the weekend prices will count down to the full price. SLAUGHTER, sequin star and The Murder of Vincent van Gogh are particularly pricey books ordinarily, so if you don’t already have them, now is your chance. Or why not try something new like Indefensible [about convicted triple axe murderer Henri van Breda] or NEVEREST – an analysis of the ’96 Everest Disaster from a true crime perspective.
At 3:28:10 in the clip below Agent Tammy Lee touches on a critical aspect of the evidence. I discuss it in detail in ANNIHILATION. She’s trying to confirm how Bella sustained the gash to her frenulum, an atypical artifact of asphyxia.
Remember, to strangle someone one typically closes off the throat area, and if the mouth is covered, it often includes closing off the mouth and nose. One could expect pressure on the lips but not upward, vertical pressure.
One wouldn’t expect strangulation to include throttling the throat and closing off the mouth and nose, and especially not for a relatively weaker victim like a toddler.
In the clip Watts tries to account for this anomalous injury by explaining how Bella’s head tossed from side to side as he throttled her under a blanket. But that doesn’t work either. To cause that sort of injury there would need to be jerking in a vertical nodding type motion.
In any event, a 33-year-old man would have almost no problem subduing a 4-year-old girl in a vice-like grip around her mouth and neck, assuming that’s what happened. If Watts was able to subdue his wife with no defensive wounds, and almost no wounds to her, then why did he have so much difficulty with Bella?
His version is that because Bella was murdered last, she fought back the most.
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.”
That should tell you something about the state of the mainstream suicide narrative – it’s no longer mainstream!
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