One of the key sequences in the movie is Chris’s polygraph, which he fails and that leads to his eventual confession. Was that something you deliberately wanted to avoid delving into too much? While Christopher Lee Watts (Chris) was 33 at the time. “That letter corrected the narrative by showing she wanted to make their relationship work. There's a moment in the footage where he says yes and no to confuse it! They wanted him to obviously serve time for the crimes he committed, and he will play with that for the rest of his life. ', Fiery interview between Ted Cruz and Chris Cuomo turns personal: 'Why don't you talk to the president like you talk to my brother? But because he continues for hours not giving them anything beyond, “It’s a mystery to you and it’s a mystery to me,” they start offering him a way to confess in stages. Shanann’s open social media page made her a huge target; I haven't seen any victims of a crime targeted as much as she was. She’s so relatable, and I hope people sympathize with her and stop the victim blaming.
Chris Watts, Shanann Watts, and their two daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. There were all these red flags for them, and they just needed him to admit that she didn’t leave the house.
After her body was found, Shanann Watts’ Facebook page was retitled “ Remembering Shanann Watts.” 34-year-old Shanann Watts was 15-weeks pregnant when she went missing and now husband Chris Watts was arrested. I’m telling Shanann’s story, so if it wasn’t an issue or concern for her, then I didn’t cover it. I wanted to address the trolling in the film, but I also didn’t want anyone to start going down that rabbit hole. 284 talking about this. I decided that rather than our film telling people what to think, we could just show them.”, Premiering on Netflix on Sept. 30, American Murder shows viewers not only material that Shanann filmed or wrote herself, but also footage from police body-cams, interrogation rooms, news reports and even a neighbors’ security camera. I don't even know that the story that he detailed in his confession is correct. There are many cases that go on for months and months, and people are never recovered or there's never enough evidence. He ended up taking a plea deal, because they wanted him on the record to tell what actually happened and never went to trial. It all changed when he committed adultery [with Nichol Kessinger].
As someone observing America from overseas, were there any quirks of the justice system that you were surprised by? I haven't blamed her for it; I don't think she is in any way involved in it, and I think she's only guilty of having an affair. There have been multiple stories in America of law enforcement protecting male abusers, especially in cases when they are also police officers. That’s how the U.K. based filmmaker first experienced the story herself, visiting Watts’s social media presence after news of the Colorado murders filtered across the Atlantic.
People have questioned her parenting style, and what kind of car she drives — they’re picking her apart. Jenny Popplewell: The film does provide a sense of how we have a camera in our hand everywhere we go, and every moment is captured for home video. In telling the tragic story of Shanann Watts — who was murdered along with her two daughters and unborn child by her husband, Chris Watts, in 2018 — director Jenny Popplewell made the bold creative choice to let Shanann herself guide the narrative by using footage and text messages she posted on Facebook or had stored on her phone.
She didn’t deserve that. But he’s also said in other interviews that when he was walking in that day, he felt he wouldn’t walk out. You know, “Maybe she did something and you had to do something.” They're trying to offer him the chance to say this was a spontaneous act. But as I show in the film it was always about what was going on with Chris. I felt like it exonerated her.”, Popplewell makes it clear that the film’s ultimate intention is not to re-try the case, but instead offer confirmation that Chris Watts and Chris Watts alone is responsible for the deaths of his family. Among the never-before-seen material the family allowed included in the film is video footage from Shanann and Chris’s wedding, as well as a moving letter than Shanann wrote to her husband weeks before he killed her. Had she written about it in a letter or in the hundreds of text messages that she sent, then it would have been in the film.
Maybe, I don't know. If you look back at Shanann’s Facebook page, she doesn’t mention Chris or how wonderful he is after he starts detaching from her.
In the future is she going to tell her own story? Based on her Facebook page, Shanann Watts had it all: a satisfying career that allowed her to travel, two gorgeous little girls, a doting husband and a new baby on the way. I felt like that would play to their egos if I showed their faces or their social media handles — almost like I'm suggesting they had a point, you know?
Her last public mention of him is the pregnancy announcement, and that was the last time they were happy. You often do have children or a family to keep together and you think you'll get past it and that was the last time. Facebook. Are you at all curious in his version of the story? Yes, I didn't think that they deserved any more screen time. Chris Watts has collaborated on various books from prison. She’s the one blaming herself, but it was nothing that she was doing. But what it’s not so much about is how we perhaps lead a fake life online. (Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images), Oscar-nominated actor unmasks himself in strangest ‘Masked Singer’ reveal yet, James Van Der Beek and His Family Are Moving from Los Angeles to Texas: 'Onto the Next Big Adventure! Do you hope the film counters that? Nobody does.
Well, I wasn't going to go down this route, but they're a white family. We don't have the death penalty here [in England], but then that wasn't a situation there, either.
I also think he was of the opinion, “No body no crime. It’s just a very poor side of human nature. So I think the justice system for this situation worked. That’s the story I wanted to show: We’re not here to solve the crime, because no one will understand why Chris did this.
Source: Shanann Watts (Facebook) According to the Netflix documentary American Murder, Shanann Watts was 34 years old in 2018. Share this article:
Syndicated investigative television show Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen reported Shanann Watts’ disappearance. Was that again something you left out deliberately? I didn't approach her because I don't know how to find her.
I didn’t know that was the case — that’s quite shocking. I know [the difficulties] were based in medical bills, and that’s again something else we don’t have in the U.K. because of the National Health Service. And eventually he does take that lead, because it’s easier for him than to admit what he really did. He used the same blanket to … This is a place to discuss the “why” behind the tragedy. Their weekends revolved around the children, and they were really engaged and happy in those videos. “I went straight to Shanann's Facebook page, and she's still alive on there and feels like everybody else, you know?” Popplewell tells Yahoo Entertainment. I would say that if someone has ever put their hands around your neck in an argument, your chances of being killed by that person are massively increased.
It was speedy and justice was served, and then the family could move on and grieve. Maya Rudolph on what it was like meeting Kamala Harris, returning to play her on 'SNL' this season: 'She has such a great sense of humor about herself', 'Those were pretty awful years': 'Girlfriends' star Reggie Hayes speaks out about hard times in racially biased Hollywood, Hilary Duff on her 'Lizzie McGuire' years: 'It's not like I didn't sneak off and party sometimes and get drunk', The Watts family before the tragic murders of Shanann Watts and her two children by her husband, Chris Watts, a story told in the Netflix documentary, Chris Watts failed a polygraph test, which led to his eventual confession.
I know that’s what people think she did.