AMERICAN MURDER
The Family Next Door: A Shocking True Crime Series
For the true crime lover, the new Netflix documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door pieces together the investigation into the August 2018 Colorado murders of Shan’ann Watts and her daughters Bella and Celeste. It is not a mystery. Shan’ann’s husband, Chris Watts, was arrested, pleaded guilty, and is now serving five life sentences in a maximum-security prison in Wisconsin. The documentary used home videos, social media, texts, and police footage to examine the disappearance of Shan’ann, her children, and the events that followed.
The recently released trailer shows footage of Shan’ann returning late at night from a business trip after being dropped off by her friend Nickole Atkinson. It was the last time Shan’ann was seen alive. The film reveals Chris Watts wasn’t the man he appeared to be and uncovers the disintegration of the couple’s marriage.
They met in 2010, married two years later, and had two daughters. Shan’ann used Facebook to share thoughts about her relationship with Chris, ” I went through one of the darkest times of my life and then I met Chris, and he’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
At the time of her disappearance, Shan’ann was 15-weeks pregnant, Bella was four, and Celeste three. It’s not revealed in the trailer, but Chris Watts also had a mistress, Nichol Kessinger, who he hoped to marry. Chris initially told investigators he had no idea what happened to his family. Still, taped police interviews show him slowly unraveling after failing a polygraph test. A detective told him, “There’s only one person in this room that knows what the truth is. In about five minutes, there’s gonna be two of us.”
The body of Shan’ann Watts was discovered in a shallow grave at the Anadarko Petroleum site where Watts worked, and the bodies of the two girls were found nearby at the bottom of an oil tank.
Jenny Popplewell directed the documentary and James Marsh, who won an Oscar for the 2008 documentary Man on Wire, took on the role of Executive Producer. American Murder: The Family Next Door begins streaming on Netflix on September 30th.
