The Basement Spiel and Contraindications around Shan’ann’s Immitrex – Analysis

Chris Watts slept in the basement on the last night he and Shan’ann were still together. And in North Carolina they slept apart for the entire week that he was there. In the latest book on Watts, he says he was read the riot act by Kessinger, and that although she said she wanted him to have a chance to sort things out with his family, when it came down it, she didn’t want him getting back together with Shan’ann while he was away.

If we accept this scenario, then it raises the question: when Shan’ann arrived back from Arizona, why would he sleep in bed upstairs? When he called Kessinger for 111 minutes, wouldn’t she have wanted to know the sleeping arrangements? What would he have told told her to reassure her?

At 23:52 in the video clip, Chris Watts is asked about the bed in the basement. Who is sleeping there? He stumbles over whether it was two or three nights ago. Given his spiel, that they were separating, and he was supposedly sleeping in the basement, why would he – on the night of the murders [the disappearance in his story] – sleep upstairs?

It actually makes sense given Shan’ann’s late arrival. All things being equal, had he not intended to murder her, and had they really been in the process of separating, then he’d have slept in the basement and neither of them would have seen each other the next morning. She would not have woken him up [and he wouldn’t have wanted to be woken up], and he would not have woken her up when he left [and she would not want to be woken after sleeping for two hours].

When we go through the Phone Data Review, we can see that the idea of separating, moving and selling the house had been broached before, which is why the spiel is so unlikely that he was desperate to talk to her then, at 04:00, about something she already knew. The reason he’s doing it, and the reason he’s not in his right mind [and why the whole thing doesn’t make sense], is because through this manufactured drama, he’s confirming to Kessinger that:

1. They are separated [at the moment they’re reunited].
2. He is moving [at the moment she’s back in Colorado for the long term].
3. Nothing has changed [at the moment everything has changed, meaning now that the family are back to together, they’re not and he can still see her].

Through this Watts is essentially waving a wand and granting Kessinger [and himself] wish fulfillment, which makes total sense to him and her, but makes no sense to anyone else.

At 22:41 in the clip below, the officer asks about the children’s medications. Watts says Ceecee takes Singular every night for her allergies. Then there’s a minor slip.

OFFICER: She had the kids last night?

WATTS [Appearing very smug, his lower jaw hanging open in a dopey-sort of way]: Yes. 

OFFICER: Or you had the kids?

WATTS: Oh, I had the kids.

At 30:27 in the clip below, after the officer asks Watts if he has any questions [he doesn’t, but he mentions calling hospitals], he follows up asking about Shan’ann’s medical history. Did someone say she was diabetic, the officer asks.

In response Watts does a nervous lip snarl, and then starts off saying “she had” [past tense], then corrects himself. There is a lot to say here about Shan’ann health, including her pregnancy, but he doesn’t.