Dr. Phil confirms paternity of Niko Lee Watts
The Daily Mail has released a preview clip of Monday’s Dr. Phil, part two in the show dealing with the Watts Family Murders. Part of the factual findings of the show [not the show’s strength it has to be said] is a medical report proving Chris Watts was the father of the unborn child. Not that that was ever in dispute, but in a case as fluid as this one, where reality seems to shift almost on a whim, it’s good to get certainty. Brick by brick we’re building a solid scenario for this case.
Curiously, what the victims are going through seems to be a parallel universe to Chris Watts’ experience in jail. The Rzuceks are also finding comfort in God, and according to Sandi, she has feelings of hopelessness that sound troublingly close to suicidal thoughts. That’s exactly what Watts has been saying about how he’s handling things as well.
Of course going onto Dr. Phil and telling the nation is the worst way to deal with grief, or to get closure, if that’s the goal.
While the Rzuceks deserve every support and sympathy, and probably will benefit financially from this interview – and significantly – it is not the purview of true crime to hand the fates or the souls of criminals [or their victims] to God. In common with the law, law enforcement and the justice system as a whole, it is also not the business of true crime to be sentimental about criminal matters relating to life and death, though a no-nonsense approach shouldn’t be confused with a lack of compassion or humanity in the face of genuine human tragedies and catastrophes.
It takes a thief to catch a thief, and so in true crime, we can’t catch the operant criminal psychology without trying to outfox the fox. We have to temporarily adopt the merciless mindset of the fox to catch the fox, if that makes sense.
In fact the point of true crime is to show how our humanity [or the criminal lack of it] to humanity actually plays out, and by doing so as honestly, completely and as thoroughly as we dare, perhaps we can improve our sense of self-consciousness, self-awareness, and our ability to adapt to and change for the better. Or as Thomas Hardy once put it:
If the way to the better there be,
it exacts a full look at the worst.
Perhaps by taking an unfettered view at the worst in ourselves, we can find a way to being better, to some kind of affirmative journey to authentic self-actualization.
Not to be indelicate, but it is the purview of populist tabloids and tabloid media to ingratiate and indulge in the touchy-feely aspect of crimes. This does virtually nothing to actually move our understanding forward, and despite appearances to the contrary, Watts’ Second Confession hasn’t provided truth or closure in terms of where, when or how the murders were committed. It is possible the way he killed his children is truthful, or partly truthful in terms of how, even if the where and when is not true.
With that being said, it’s probably timely to address TCRS’s position in terms of the “new information” of the Second Confession, as well the District Attorney’s recent statement that most of Watts said is credible and reliable. Has it changed?
The position of TCRS remains that the children were murdered at home prior to the arrival of their mother [which was originally scheduled to be three hours earlier than she did arrive], which also necessitated the immediate execution of Shan’ann the moment she arrived. The children were killed first, and then Shan’ann, not the other way round.
The position of TCRS also remains that the children were sedated, overdosed or poisoned and that there was no “please Daddy” or any other kind of talking – or crying – in the home, just as there was no talking or intimacy with Shan’ann prior to her murder.
Admittedly, there is no chemical or autopsy evidence to prove the contention of sedation, besides the fact that the basement had containers – floor to ceiling – filled with powerful sedative medication, and that Shan’ann and her husband both worked in jobs on a daily basis that had to do with chemicals, arguably toxic in both cases.
We also have the tiniest thread indicating Watts searched Oxycodone 80mg and subsequently deleted this search, so we can’t be sure when he searched. What we can be sure of is that Oxycodone can also be used as a murder weapon, and far more effectively than a blanket because it is a silent and “soft” kill. 
More: Mixing opioids and popular sedatives may be deadly – CBS
US drug overdose deaths rose to record 72,000 last year, data reveals – The Guardian, August 16, 2018
Prescribe Oxycodone With Caution – Psychiatric News
Sackler family members face mass litigation and criminal investigations over opioids crisis – The Guardian, November 2018
OxyContin [another name for Oxycodone] kills 200 Americans daily, so to use it as a murder weapon would make sense, especially if its already in the home.
If there is negligible forensic evidence to prove the TCRS theory, then neither is there evidence [fibers or otherwise] to prove Watts’ contention of in situ random, impulsive smothering at CERVI 319. The blanket as imputed murder weapon for both children has also disappeared so it’s impossible to verify Watts’ claims. And that’s the point – there is no evidence to confirm his scenario so we have to make up our own minds what makes sense and how it lines up with his introverted, cowardly, sly, two face and face saving personality. One thing we know with certainty is Watts Googled Oxycodone prior to the murders. We don’t whether whether he Googled “smothering”. So which has more objective proof behind it?
….harrowing details emerged this week for the first time since Watts was taken into custody.
‘It’s worse than we ever thought. We thought we’d heard the worst already, we had no idea it was worse than this,’ Shanann’s brother Frankie said. Her mother cried at points in the interview and said the only thing keeping her alive was her faith.
‘Those were my grandchildren. I loved them. They were mine. I cry all the time. ‘There’s many times that I just feel like giving up. If it wasn’t for God I wouldn’t be here,’ she said.
Frank, Shanann’s father, recounted the disturbing details of the murders to Dr. Phil who replied: ‘I am so, so sorry.’
I also wish they’d asked him about the oxy. But that wouldn’t work with the “What am I doing I have no controoool” thing. Although there is evidence he smothered Bella.
I find it completely bizarre Nick that the DA said he finds this credible. There’s no way he believes the actual murders went down like that. It also greatly minimizes the premeditation. Is he just thinking “great he admitted he killed the kids” and that’s all he cares about? There’s no way he buys it. The family apparently does-is he just “supporting” them? If he thinks he is, he actually isn’t. I don’t believe the kids said most of those things-a 4 year old who thought her Dad was about to kill her after watching her Dad kill her sister and dispose of her with her dead Mom wrapped in sheets and bookended by garbage bags would probably be mostly screaming and crying and shitting herself. I just don’t get it-the DA should tell the family the truth which is that they probably DIDN’T suffer as much as he’s claiming. This really irks me.
Well I think the DA want this case to dissolve, disappear, what it takes to go away. I thought it was very irresponsible, ignorant and dismissive of the DA to say at the sentencing hearing “we’ll never know why…” It’s the job of a prosecutor to know why, and to come up with a theory. To say “we don’t know” is a dereliction of duty and a cop out.
Nick maybe the DA does know that he slacked off as a prosecutor and made a gigantic mistake by stating what he did at the sentencing? And could it be that his behavior now by suggesting CW ‘might’ be telling the truth is just to cover for that?
Another thing which struck me as very unprofessional/irresponsible of the DA, shockingly so:
Armchair Detective on YouTube months back started saying that in the neighbor surveillance footage, you could see shadows which Chris bent down and picked up: They were Bella and CeCe; Chris took the children alive and killed them at Cervi! Well, the main refutation which MANY commenters posted was : “So the CBI and FBI with all their skill and experience, having viewed this footage for hours and hours, were too dumb to see the children, but you, an amateur, must now point it out to them???”
And now Rourke admits openly that Armchair Detective was right all along, and that the FBI really did need an amateur to see Bella and CeCe on the tape! I’m flabbergasted 😲
Yeah it is ridiculous. I think it’s possible because the conspiracy theory has caught on as much as it has, the DA figured it was simpler and easier to cave. It may also be that they believe the footage is credible, or might be credible, and they wanted Watts to weigh in on it. I’ll be doing a post sometime – probably tomorrow – on the #1 reason Watts may be telling the truth in a particular area of the confession, and I think many will be surprised what this refers to.
Thanks. Looking forward to it.
Even AD admitted it appears to be one of the children but he couldn’t find where the other girl was picked up and put in truck. Yet the DA went with Chris’s story of both being put in the truck. What about evidence for the second girl? Now you accept both were along just on Chris’s word. What happened to seeing him go into garage three separate times taking out the bodies? Now it was one and two walked out.
Actually I had seen some comments from people on live chat back in November about someone,( can’t remember their name) who saw a shadow before AD put up his theory, he does copy, even though he swears he never looks at other people’s videos
Yes, I’d read that some woman had thought up the shadows theory and he copied from her. And it’s ridiculous that the DA as you say now accepts it without a thorough explanation and swallows Chris’s story. And so does the public from here forward.
I don’t think the DA really cares at this point, he’s happy to ride the wave wherever it takes him – he’s satisfied as long as there was a confession to put the doubt to rest. If he has aspirations to run for State Attorney General, I’m sure he’ll have plenty of support from Anadarko. God help us.
No doubt. And yes, God help us.
Maybe he should ask Le-Vel for support too, sewing it up so fast nobody brought Le-vel into it saved them from possible scrutiny too. In fact they used this crime as a kind of sales promotion to sell in shananns memory. Could a company be any more despicable than that but Shan’anns parents were happy about the accomplishment rather than seeing it as exploitation as I think it was
I fully agree it was despicable. It’s obvious Shannan got her looking at life through rose-colored glasses from her parents.
Personally, I find the second and third confessions to be so ridiculous, that I’ve come to believe the first.
Right?! You’d think this would be a major embarrassment for them to admit an amateur figured it out. I don’t understand what they had to gain except that maybe they really did just want it to end (as others have stated). It’s incredibly frustrating. AD is so arrogant and really comes across as a jerk. I hate that he thinks he’s somehow won now. He’s the last guy on Earth that needed to think more highly of himself!
Don’t worry, Clean Queen, there’s no way the FBI (hopefully CBI too) believes this story)! He just blew everything they know about family annihilators to smithereens. They aren’t ready to add a fourth category to the profiles of the people committing this type of crime. So far, CW wants them to believe he had little to no knowledge or awareness of the financial disaster directly ahead of them. They know he’s much brighter than they originally expected, so this will be the first of many interviews I suspect.
Oh, and the local small town LE is probably a bit less sophisticated and knowledgeable in their perspective of the whole thing.
Excellent points, JC!
Or would it be a fifth category they’d have to create especially for Watts…. I think there are 4 distinct profiles currently?
Yeah, his ego has now been boosted as never before. I thought the DA seemed like a jerk to
be casually admitting he now believes a YouTube hoax, but as you note and as Nick has said, they really just want to throw some bones to the public so they’ll just disappear.
Nick I saw a youtube video from Rebecca w Published Feb 18, 2019 that shows a page in the discovery documents that show what they found in chris watts truck and it says in there that they found stuffed animals and blankets in the truck. Just thought I would let you know.
This is the video you’re referring to:
https://youtu.be/pLUtle5SdHE
That’s incorrect. Those were items listed by Officer Steve Walje on the search warrant [Discovery Documents, page 125]. They were items he was asked to search for but they were never found in the truck or the Lexus for that matter.
The full evidence list of items found in both vehicles is on page 816 of the Discovery Documents.
I hope you are right.
I think it is VERY irresponsible of the DA to come out and say anything that implies CW is telling the truth (unless of course he can present hard factual evidence).
Presenting evidence from a man that laughs while talking about gruesome details of a child’s murder who sits in his basement behind a screen, who’s suffering grandious issues that shows a video with questionable shadows while CW loads up truck, is not hard factual without a doubt evidence.
Why didn’t the DA also talk about all the other factual evidence that points to CW lying? like a 111 min phone call to the mistress at 9pm at night with the TV blaring with supposed children sleeping. Or the call to secure the oil site for the next day. Or the tampering of his home security system. Or the oxy search that was deliberately deleted. Or how he couldn’t send shanann a photo of the girls asleep and instead RE-sends pics from earlier on.
I smell a rat.
Also, why then did the kids’ sheets smell so bad? If a person is killed early one evening and left to fester in a bed, (and probably had soiled themselves upon being smothered), that would do it, right? Chris and Shan’ann kept that house spotless, and I’d imagine that went with changing the bedding often, also. No way would the Watts bedding have any foul odor in normal circumstances.
look what i found i am french so i translated everything with google besides thanks for this site fully translated and your interesting reflection .Never take OXYCODONE EG LP 80 mg, extended-release film-coated tablet · if you suffer from severe respiratory failure (respiratory depression) with too little oxygen in your blood (hypoxia) and / or too much carbon dioxide in your blood (hypercapnia);
If you have severe chronic pulmonary insufficiency, pulmonary heart (heart changes due to chronic overload of the pulmonary circulation) or acute and severe bronchial asthma; (children were suffering from this maybe he doubled the dose and closed the door to not see) Children and adolescents
OXYCODONE EG LP has not been studied in children under 12 years of age. Its safety and effectiveness have not been established and its use in children under 12 is not recommended.
PREGNANCY :
OXYCODONE EG LP should not be used during pregnancy …
Not sure why the “Big Reveal” on Dr. Phil. 🙄 The autopsy findings were released months ago, and Niko was DNA tested, proven to be the biological child of Shan’ann and Chris Watts. Only low information, casual followers of this case, would have any interest. Them, and people who are just in it for the cheap sentimentality. There is plenty of genuine sadness and grief to go around without sensationalizing all of this.
Big Reveal = Big Ratings for Dr. Phil.
You got it, Maura!
HAHA I’ve just had my laugh for the night…
https://youtu.be/H7otGOkjnOM
And also just figured out from the 411 guy that ‘sofa defective’ as he shall be named now, was using an altered video for his infamous shadow video. So if the DA are referring to his video as likely backing up CW’s 3rd or is it 4th? version of lies, then they are basing it on evidence that would probably never make it into court.
Thanks for sharing. I love this guy’s irreverent approach.
Thanks…I had my good laugh for a week lol….not to mention if he’s hiding in a dark house how do you make a shadow outside which is where the light actually is.It was his theory that he was hiding waiting to pounce, in a lit house?
Thank you, Donkeykong, I needed as little uplifting tonight!
I hope Nick’s position is right since It would have been easier on the girls with drugs rather than at cervi.
I still question why he would say this new version, of killing the girls at Cervi. CW hates to look bad and this version makes him look worse then to just say that Bella and CeCe woke up, walked in while he was murdering Shanann and in his rage he killed them at the house. This would also fit in with the the whole “I just snapped” excuse. Also, if three people died in the house why didn’t the dogs go wild with alerts. I find that very strange.
This is what’s bothering me about the issue. Taking sleeping children out of their beds and out to Cervi with their dead Mother at their feet seems a lot worse than over sedating them in their beds where they would have gone to sleep and never woken up.
Surely he knows that the Cervi version makes him seem even more monstrous, if this is possible? I don’t suppose it really matters to him what anyone thinks anymore but even so, this issue is one which I can’t resolve and I go back and forth over what version I believe.
NannaMcFhi on the surface it’s worse. But when you think about it, ‘his’ new version of lies (his 3rd? Urgh) still makes the children’s murders seem last minute. If we take away the legal definition of premeditation, it’s still kind of last minute “I didn’t know what I was doing, I was out of my mind anxious stressed having just killed Shanann”
But a father, a husband, callously methodically strategically planning and committing the kids murders well before Shananns already planned murder, is SO much worse. In fact, There is nothing worse. Because he’s calm. Hes not emotional. He’s sure. He knows what he’s going to do and he does it. Nothing more sinister and evil than that.
And CW does not want anyone to know the extent of his actions, ever.
Nick — I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your plate, but there is SO much information swirling around now it’s easy to lose track of what’s rock-solid evidence, what is still in question, where CW’s latest fiction-fest has any validity and where it is ridiculously untrue.
I know you said you are going to write something on one aspect of the “second confession” that rings true, but it would be helpful to have a concise list of A) the fabrications by CW (I can’t bear to write his actual name) that simply don’t hold up in the face of the facts; B) perhaps a look as to why on earth he would concoct all this now especially as it would guarantee so much more pain to the families (unless of course he is simply, literally as sick as he seems); and C) What is up with the seemingly total acceptance of this new version by law enforcement, the involvement of a sleazy television program, wanna-be-on-TV lawyers, etc.
Again, I realize you’ve touched on Rourke’s reaction & role in this aspect, but there’s a REAL reason (or several) that they’re going all out to give this guy a voice now, even when they KNOW he’s a pathological liar and patently unreliable. One can only hope they’re playing him, because If it was done for “closure,” (ha!) it not only failed miserably, but created even more questions and uncertainty.
Sorry…think I just toppled your plate, but had to ask.
I think he’s very much enjoying this cat and mouse game. Whatever his game, it was developed long ago and established in his primary family dynamic. I wouldn’t completely blame his mother – it was a dynamic established by the union of mother and father. Children learn their behavior from both parents. It could be that the sister was soaking up all of the attention such that Chris had to invent stories and live in his own world to stay relevant in his family and to himself. Being good, in contrast to his sister being bad, got him his own form of attention. He seemed to be quite happy when told the Rzucek’s bear him no ill will, thought of him like a son…no, like a son-in-law, and still do. I suspect that was a tactic used by the trio to get some kind of reaction. He says “that’s awesome” . He seemed more excited about having the Rzucek’s approval than his own family’s approval. Maybe he was “chopped liver” when Shan’ann met him in the eyes of his family as she shares with one of her friends. And that is a part of his deep-seated anger. His need to be liked and his need to stay relevant overrides almost everything else he does in life. I do not get any remorse from any of this. He’s already dissociated himself from the crime, and invented another story about how it happened.
Less than 2 years ago, Dr’s could prescribe opiates and benzos together. The law changed 2 years ago. Unfortunately, I know this for a fact. If Shan’nan was getting the oxycodone for neck surgery,, I wonder if she was a nervous wreck and needed some Xanax too?
Chris is playing everyone. He told his “truth” and now Rourke and many others believe Chris “went to China” when he didn’t.
I agree ncam! Chris is a wimp who does not like confrontation. He is playing games.
Rourke wants to hang on to his notoriety and hero status for closing this case so quickly. He’s just glad he confessed to the murders of the children, he doesn’t care so much about details anymore. I’m sure Anadarko is very happy with him.
After some technical difficulties posting…..
As hard as I am trying to shelve this horrific event and quell my curiosity with this newest revelation in the case, I’m struggling to keep my word and walk away at this point.
Everyone has the right to their own opinion whether it sounding outlandish or not on the “why” and “how” but at this point, 2 questions keeping surfacing for me:
Why on earth would he make up something so incredibly vile on the deaths of his family? It serves no purpose whatsoever for ANYONE in this case. Granted he lied in the beginning about the murders and is not trustworthy, but he’s far from a cool, calm and crafty killer. That is a FACT. My humble opinion is he is not capable of fabricating a senero as such. Each and everyone of us can dissect the evidence to exhaustion. Not an ounce of it ( the actual killing) was to try and save face or make him look less of a monster in this newest revelation most would agree. In conclusion, we will never know completely. However, what we were in fact made privy to is more than enough to leave a branding mark on each and everyone of us that has a deep core of compassion and empathy for the rest of our lives.
I agree with alot of what you say. He does not come out of this looking better than before that’s for sure.
I do think though that he has held back a bit on the reasons for the killings and details of the killings themselves.
I dont think he is ready for us to ALL those gory details yet.
Nick had a post about why he would make himself look worse with this. He said what’s worse than this is that planning it as he did is far worse. Watts said he’d say before NK marriage was good, financial problems were downplayed, never felt she belittled him. All meant that why would I plan on killing her, things were ok
The paternity may have been in question because there were quite a few photos of a Thrive person named Chris that were posted by you tuber “set the record str8” with Shannon. I am curious, with all those photos of SW with this guy, that CW never mentioned or even seemed bothered by any of it, even though I am sure many husbands would not have liked that many photos of their wife with someone else. I am also very curious to know if NK has an actual diagnosed mental illness and what are the bi-polar videos that CW refers? So much of the crime theory is based on her interviews, such as the face time on the night of the murders referring to him playing loud tv on a bed with no sheets, for example. Or saying that CW washed the sheets because they were smelly. She did tell lies, for example, telling the police she didn’t know the Watts address even though she had just googled the address a few days before the interview. So it’s really getting difficult to say if her testimony is credible even without knowing that she may suffer mental illness. Another issue with her is the secret app. I remember reading in the discover that there was an email from a blind woman with terrible spelling and not making total sense that mentions a woman working at an oil company who was having sex with the men there and using a secret app. I am not sure when the police received that email or if they already knew about the secret app. Also, I do think I read somewhere that NK has no contact with her mother and I do wonder about the effects of her parents divorce, and what relationship she did have with her mother as a child because it really does look to me as if she targeted the Watts family and did know that he was married.
The big problem with the shadow tape is that according to you tuber 411, Armchair is using an altered and looped video and also says it would not be admissible in court just on that fact alone. I don’t see the girls in that video but I concede that it is possible. Maybe a clear unaltered view of that video would give a better idea.
The interview had questions that the FBI may already have answers to and he wouldn’t know if they have proof or not. It is very possible that the question about Trent Bolte is an answer they already know and may have used that as a barometer. I think his answer that he didn’t want them charged a little strange because most men would not like the accusation of being gay where CW doesn’t seemed to be bothered at all. Of course, maybe he doesn’t care, I don’t know. This has certainly been a wild ride and I am wishing I could just let go of this case for a while. But I guess I still have too many questions for now. Thanks for this blog. It helps to sort out thoughts by reading the posts and comments.
There would have been no need to look up “smothering” or “suffocating”. It’s been common knowledge for *decades* to warn parents about the dangers of suffocation posed by plastic bags. The unknown, from CW’s perspective, would have been what effect a given dosage of Oxycodone (which he had on hand) would have had – *that* was what he would have looked up. Once he’d established that a given dosage of Oxycodone would have sedated the girls to the point that they would have been basically limp, to masking-tape plastic bags around their necks would have been a gimme if he’d wanted to suffocate them that way. Easy peasy. Kind of scary easy, when you think about it. Once the girls are sufficiently sedated, he could have applied diapers to make sure there were no inadvertent messes, and they would have stayed right wherever he put them – no problems. If only SW had been so easy to dispatch…
Have you ever tried to do something important and life changing without Googling it? Like quitting your job or getting a divorce or travelling abroad? In any event, it’s an opinion, and the point is we have evidence that Watts Googled one thing, and no evidence he Googled another. If you make the argument that he didn’t need to or want to Google it, maybe your argument is he knew how to strangle and in a premeditated murder went with his gut. He had days to prepare and get information, but he didn’t. I find that hard to believe, but we’re all different.
Don’t know if someone else has pointed this out already, but I find it highly unlikely that girls as young as Bella and Celeste would have the kind of casual reaction (that Watts descibes) to seeing their mother unconcious (well, dead) and wrapped in a sheet. When my daughter was younger she was terrified and inconsolable when I was sick or even asleep when she wasn’t. I remember having a really bad case of the flu when she was 4 when I went to the bedroom to lie down and sleep. She was hysterical about the fact that I was sleeping and not immediately responding to her, she came up to me crying, trying to bend my eyelids open, wailing with fear about what was wrong with me. My husband had to take her out of the apartment for the day so I could get some rest, because she wouldn’t – couldn’t – leave me alone. The idea that those little girls would first wander around the house and then quietly (relatively) accept to sit in the car with their feet on their non-responsive, ”smelly” mommy… no.
I’ve thought when seeing footage of Shanaan’s office that it looked like it had been ransacked. Would she have left it that way? Possibly, if she had been looking for something at the last minute for her trip to Arizona. As well, there are medicines in the office, and I have thought Chris could have been looking for the oxycodone (which is very hard to get nowadays). Maybe he didn’t find any. Additionally, while I hoped he went for the soft kill, I have always been worried that he waited until the last minute to kill the children, and that it could have been horrific. I have several thoughts on all of this from time to time. I did watch the video with the shadows and I only saw one shadow converging towards him and he bent or swooped and picked up something or someone that had a center of gravity much higher than the ground. At that point, I thought maybe…. but once the video on possible Kessinger /Chris came out, I discarded both at that time. Now however, I do think it is possible he took the kids out to the site, although previously my mind did not want to comprehend this. He’s still mixing truth/lies. I also think the 111 minute conversation he had with Kessinger could have been his “talking her down from the ledge” since his wife would be at home all the time once she came back from Arizona, and this gave him fortitude to carry out his premeditated plot, although how he thought he would get away with this, beats me.
which chris watts is father of his son nico?