True Crime Analysis, Breakthroughs, Insights & Discussions Hosted by Bestselling Author Nick van der Leek
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.
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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.”
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To bury his family at his work site was beyond dumb, especially since he knew the truck had a gps, as was keeping the shovel which he could have thrown away on his way to meet the police.
Still, a lot of commentators on this site seemed to believe this crime was premeditated. With all the cameras in his home, the neighbor’s camera, gps, pings from cell phones, etc. CW was not so stupid as to have premeditated this crime. The deck was stacked against him.
Nickole and her son had surprised him before he had the chance to cover up his crime, it’s true.
If this crime was premeditated, CW didn’t really have a “plan” for cleanup. If it was premeditated he would have chosen I different locale for the killings like a camping trip or something. Killing at his house was never ever going to work with all the technology plus the house was locked up tight so the burglar theory wasn’t going to work.
He should have realized his own red flags about his temper and the rage he had been feeling the past few weeks. His brain should have told him to move out immediately and get away from shan’ann if he was capable of losing it and hurting her in any way.
Had he done so, 4 people would be alive today.
What caused him to kill her? In my opinion it was the CC getting declined and Sw going into the basement to confront him about everything, where both of them probably snapped.
He’s in jail where he belongs.
We’re 6 months after this crime was committed and you’re still debating whether this was a premeditated triple murder?
Do you read much?
Reducing this to “Chris Watts is dumb” is why your theory is so simplistic. If it was so dumb why was virtually no evidence found at the home and despite knowing the GPS movements, law enforcement still couldn’t find the bodies. They had to be told where they were.
We still don’t know when, where or how these murders took place. Who is dumb now?
I imagine it depends on what your definition of premeditated is. Watts was stupid and had no real long term plan for getting away with these murders. It wouldn’t take genius level police work to at least find Shanann’s grave-it was obvious the moment a drone was sent up to survey the scene at Cervi-309. The girls would have been hard to find as they were in the tanks, but Watts made so many mistakes it’s hard to credit his way of thinking.
It wouldn’t take genius level police work to at least find Shanann’s grave>>>Is that why the police, FBI and the CBI were involved from the 2nd day onwards? Because it didn’t require genius police work? Do you know how many people were involved in the law enforcement army that was assembled to investigate and prosecute this case?
I imagine it depends on what your definition of premeditated is.>>>Do we need a definition of premeditated? You seem to be arguing that this was a maybe a little premeditated, maybe not. Is that what you’re arguing?
I actually think putting the smaller bodies in separate tanks is pretty genius (strictly in a medical/forensic sense). I have looked at the literature and can’t find anything with this particular method of disposal and composition of chemicals. (There are a few studies on disposal of bodies in an “acid bath” per the mafia, but little on oil/water and other chemicals that have been found in this particular environment inside the tanks). Reading between the lines, the girls bodies were already significantly decomposed/disarticulated with abundant skin slippage so they were in fact breaking down very quickly for that short period of time. I believe Bella’s body was described initially as that of an “adolescent female” which would suggest there was significant bloating and disintegration of connective tissues so the body would be disarticulating and appearing larger. Shan’ann would likely have been found as he did not cover up the area with scrub and the bedsheet had not blown far away. (Many buried bodies are not found in areas with large trees or lots of larger vegetation as this would overhang and conceal the gravesite from aerial view). The fact this was a prairie area with sparse vegetation certainly worked against him. I personally believe he planned to dismember Shan’ann and then distribute her equally among the tanks. If he had time to do this, I don’t believe he would have ever been caught as it likely wouldn’t take long for the bodies to almost completely disintegrate in the tanks. I’m still not sure how much could be “dumped’ in each tank before a sensor would be tripped or something else but I presume Chris would be aware of how this works. Another advantage of having this at one of his remote worksites would be that he could observe the tanks and monitor them, interfering if necessary, until a certain amount of time passed. He could keep an eye on his disposal site. I would still like to read forensic studies on this particular disposal method/chemical composition if anyone has come across any but it certainly appears to be in a unique category of its own. Sorry if this is a bit morbid, but it is forensically fascinating.
It’s a relatively unknown area of true crime. As you say, there’s very little in the literature to guide us.
Yes! Very little is available – I am still trying to read about how these oil batteries work and what they actually contain chemically plus the normal temperature they operate at (does the environmental temperature change it?) Interestingly, I did read about one case where the suspect was a welder and had burned the body first (destroying hair, nails and a large amount of fat) and then used acids – this disposal method was far more successful than strictly using acids. (This made me think about Chris loading a red gasoline container into his truck) As well, the question of how this composition inside the tank would effect toxicology results is a valid one (I suspect these substances would significantly interfere with any true reading in this respect). It really makes you think about this plea being pushed and case closed quickly . If there would have been a trial, I suspect experts in these fields would be called to testify and some of these questions would have been answered or at least a clearer picture would emerge
Nick,
I enjoy your blog and all the people commenting. Some very astute people here.
However, I don’t agree about premeditation. Am I not welcome here to express what I think, or do I deserve a slap on the wrist when I don’t agree with you?
Isn’t this an open forum to discuss theories?
I don’t think you can say you believe there wasn’t premeditation or in your opinion there wasn’t premeditation. It’s very clear from the Discovery Documents that there was.
If you want to make the argument that “there was very little” then I think you miss the point. Personally I disagree. I think there was a lot. The standoffishness that went on in the previous two weeks especially is evidence of this. We saw a similar trend in increasingly cool behavior from Scott Peterson towards Laci in the days before her disappearance/death.
The way you approach this is to conflate what you believe as very low amounts of premeditation with virtually no premeditation. That’s wrong and this site is about uncovering facts.
So it’s quite a serious thing to be adamant about because you expressing your opinion effectively misinforms others. You also don’t seem willing or openminded to know where or why or how it was premeditated.
Does that make sense?
I don’t believe expressing my opinions will manipulate anyone reading your blog. People will form their own opinions, as many have in believing the murders were premeditated.
I am quite well versed in this case as well as the discovery documents. I’m neither a CW nor Shan’ann supporter. I am just interested in why what happened did happen. I am also interested in the psychology of the crimes.
I mean no harm by making comments. If I have to believe that the murders were premeditated, in order to comment here, I will refrain from doing so, no problem.
I would urge you to watch as from 2:37 in the clip below:
https://youtu.be/CugmDXYX7P8?t=157
You should be aware that your theory contradicts the findings of the police, CBI, FBI, the District Attorney and the sentencing judge. So if you have an idea that you think you have a pretty strong claim to, you should be able to back it up with extraordinary evidence beyond one or two sentences.
I’m sorry but saying that Watts was caught quickly or had no long term plan isn’t an explanation that explains away premeditation. In the Jamal Khashoggi case, a 15-man hit squad went to incredible lengths to commit the perfect crime. They were also “caught” virtually immediately. Does that mean it wasn’t premeditated?
Note the date of the blog provided below – October 16th. The issue of premeditation has been dealt with in some detail quite a long time ago on this site.
https://crimerocket.com/2018/10/16/chris-watts-family-homicides-were-far-from-a-perfect-murder-heres-what-a-perfectly-executed-murder-looks-like/