Because of the settings of Shan’ann’s Facebook profile, her last publicly accessible post is dated June 28th, 2018. The crucial final six weeks of Shan’ann’s life are missing from her profile.
This is why the post below is quite exceptional. Not only does it provide a peek into that crucial window, this video is the very last Shan’ann took – a simple, intimate portrait of a little girl with butterfly wings playing with a little dog that’s doing his best to jump up and lick her face.
https://youtu.be/uAKEPGA27LY
The Universe screamed out to Shanann, “Don’t go! Stay in N.C. with your mom, dad, and brother. You’re a strong, intelligent, woman. You can do this on your own. Now, the world will never be the same. The evil ones prevailed! There may never be healing, just learning. Pray that KHARMA deals with the evil ones.
Well I’m not sure about karma and evil, but he’ll certainly have a long time to think about it while he rots in jail.
I must say, not having him allocate to the crime as part of the plea deal was an odd choice, you’d think they would be interested in finding out what his line if thinking was. I very much understand that they may have not cared, but there’s always something to be learned and that opportunity was missed. Who knows, perhaps that was his decision to exclude that. Either way, it would’ve given us a bit more insight and a glimpse into his line of thinking.
I have the feeling the local DA, Rourke, has an eye out for higher office in the future. In this way, he can say he saved the taxpayer the cost of a trial.
They uncovered the majority of the truth, located all 3 (4) bodies and had CW behind bars within approximately a little over 48hours…my God, that’s is astronomical. The FBI were very smart in picking and chosing the battles for the best possible outcome. Please don’t complain, geez.
And obviously he wasn’t “happy with just Bella and Celeste” – he wasn’t happy at all.
I lived for a while with a very intoverted person. He seemed passive but that was only on the surface as a way of handling other people. When he’d decided on a course of action – then wham! – it would surprise you in its determination and intensity because there was no indication of what was beneath the surface. So Shan’ann’s surprise at how quickly things had changed between her and Chris was only quick for her, sadly. Once he was decided that was it – logic or reason be damned.
“When he’d decided on a course of action – then wham! – it would surprise you in its determination and intensity because there was no indication of what was beneath the surface. So Shan’ann’s surprise at how quickly things had changed between her and Chris was only quick for her, sadly. Once he was decided that was it – logic or reason be damned.”
Yet Shan’Ann’s first husband said that Shan’Ann was exactly like that – once Shan’Ann was done, she was done and there was nothing more to say about the matter. She’d just clam up and that was the end.
But this time, she didn’t clam up. She was trying everything she could to save. She had alot riding on this marriage.
In their texts, you really don’t see anything anywhere , other then Chris pretending to work with her, and her wondering. No resolve.
Wonder what would have happened if she didn’t go away for the small business trip and had stayed home. Chris told her to go.
Was he planning already?
What if she had said, No, I’m not going I want to talk.
Another If.
“But this time, she didn’t clam up.”
I know – what I was trying to point out was that Chris was mirroring Shan’Ann’s own conflict-avoidance behaviors right back at her.
And yet. Bella turns away.
While I can reasonably comprehend Chris’s motivations for annhilating his family, I cannot emotionally fathom them. A little girl playing with her dog and sporting butterfly wings murdered and dumped in oil. Unbelievable. How does anyone arrive at such a dark and unreachable place that enables them to commit such an atrocity? We like to call it evil, as if it’s some interloping force that exists outside of ourselves. However, if we ever hope to understand and, by doing so, wrestle with it, we have to first acknowledge that it is integral to our fallible and failed humanity.
While I can reasonably comprehend Chris’s motivations for annhilating his family, I cannot emotionally fathom them. >>>That’s why a narrative and context are needed. You wouldn’t do something like that, but it’s not your identity that’s being tested and examined here, it’s his.
Nick, I agree. I was touched by the video and expressed my emotional struggles. In doing so, I understand my feelings are separate from Chis’s and the overall context in which he was living.
Addendum: I think my interest in True Crime originated with the atrocities committed by the Nazis in WW II. My mother had a room dedicated to books–every wall was populated with them Early on, I used to thumb through the many books she had collected–many from college but most on her own. One day, I stumbled on several books that covered WW II and the Holocaust. When I opened the pages of one of these books, there were black-and-white photos of twisted, naked piles of ematiated people who had been murdered in the concentration camps. I think I was about nine or 10 at the time. To me the photos were obscene versus what I later understood was considered pornography, because their murders were such a violation of their humanity, while sex is a feral celebration of it–whether we’ll admit or not. From that point on, I was obsessed with what led people to commit such atrocities–seemingly “normal” people, as were many Germans and in this case, as was Chris Watts. I read many books about this period, including Victor Frankel’s, “Man’s Search for Meaning” and Hannah Arendt’s “Eichmann in Jerusalem–The Banality of Evil. I also watched many documentaries, including “Shoah,” a relentless 12-hour journey into the heart darkness but also into the will to not only survive, but also to prevail. These books and documentaries, as well as others, were wonderful, enlightening , but I still have questions. And so I continue to read, and, of course, I’m here trying to understand why Christopher Watts annihilated his family.
Cheryl,
I always appreciate your dialogue and the perspectives you share. Your contributions add a unique quality of interest to every discussion and I look forward to your input.
Among Christians, evil is seen as something people CHOOSE, regardless of depictions of the Devil. This is why such stress is placed upon the 10 Commandments, and other exhortations. Christianity is nothing if not fully tuned into “our fallible and failed human NATURE”, a state of affairs that many in this country are quick to deny, believing in the perfectability of human beings. Many disregard the Bible as mere superstition, but there is a wealth of wisdom based on human observation within it. There truly is “nothing new under the sun”.
Yeah. Like “original sin” is anything anyone chose. Can you please leave the religion at home? It’s not appropriate to this discussion, and it’s tiresome.
LOL. Too funny.
I think it’s very appropriate Teresa. There is a very deep spiritual element in crime that is beyond the seen world, it’s the unseen world. It’s the horror of killing other human beings, taking away what God put them here on Earth to do – the possibility that is to be a human be-coming, being. I very much enjoy studying the Old Testament , the allegorical stories, inviting the reader to go beyond the story and understand the relevance in our lives to something that happened centuries ago but still relevant to today. Sandra Rzucek said she thought Satan had gotten into Chris Watts – and although we might dismiss that as Catholic symbolism, it’s her very faith that will get her through. I’m rambling, but I think there is a place for what you said Teresa.
While seeing this final post does give us a peek into a crucial time period, I’m still surprised there was no allocution from Chris as part of his plea deal. Prosecutor Rourke says he’s doubtful Chris would’ve been truthful. Did they even try to get to the truth?
The photos of Bella with Dieter makes me not only sad for Bella, but for Dieter too, he is intuitive enough to know what went down in that house of horrors. That dog has seen some shit! Here’s hoping Frankie soothes that little guy’s soul.
Cheryl Filar,
Great commentary as always. You are such a great writer as is Nick (and so many here like CBH, Sylvester, Mustang Sally, Shannon). You say something quite profound here when you wrote:
“To me the photos were obscene versus what I later understood was considered pornography, because their murders were such a violation of their humanity, while sex is a feral celebration of it–whether we’ll admit or not.”
My husband watched a lot of documentaries on Hitler and his regime, and he couldn’t believe how the good and ordinary citizens of Germany allowed it to happen.
Propaganda, scapegoating, brainwashing, group think and paranoia can turn good people evil. In a way, Nick is trying to get all his readers to get out of the group think vortex. I agree saying Chis is a psychopath says more about us than him.
Maybe the holocaust says more about the ordinary citizen than Hitler/Nazi’s. Darkness can’t exists in light.
Thank you, Seymour Glass. I very much appreciate your posts as well. In this case, I especially appreciate your point that the Holocaust says more about the ordinary citizen than Hitler/the Nazis, as they were also once ordinary citizens themselves. A great quote from Hannah Arendt on this subject: “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.”
People can’t reconcile the evil someone else does with the good they perceived they had which had them originally believe in them in the first place. Hitler took a struggling bankrupt economy – Germany – and turned it around. He gave the German people hope, people were able to make a living again and feed their families. But Hitler’s true evil intent was well hidden in the beginning, but spelled out in Mein Kampf. How many Germans read “My Struggle”?
On 60 minutes Van Breda’s aunt says “that isn’t the Henri I know.” I wonder how many Germans, after viewing the death camps at the end of WW2 said “that wasn’t the Adolph I knew.”
Enjoyed reading the posts about Hitler / Holocaust. I’ve read quite abit on this topic and seen video, pictures.
Sad time.
Even if they are off topic.
Ditto Ralph!!
The humiliation he felt days prior with those texts about the nut incident seems very similar to what Jodi Arias felt a few days before he pretended a gun was stolen from her grandparent’s house. In exchanges of emails with Travis Alexander we can see him first telling her exactly what he thought she was, a manipulative evil person, a three-hole wonder, stupid, etc… After that conversation she decided to commit the crime getting that gun. For Chris it could be after those exchanges of messages with Shanann, with her belittling him so much even after him agreeing with her initially. That’s when he probably decided to kill her. Also, he thought he somehow had the approval of his mother and his mistress, since he seemed always to be doing things for women in his life. With NK saying resolve the situation soon and his mother always wanting him to see the light, like she said in her interview, he somehow justified in his own mind it was ok, like Jodi Arias justified it was ok to kill Travis because she thought he belittled her and because he couldnt keep living without her. Remember the book they got together “1000 places to see before you die”? And they said they would travel to all those places together? So, how dare he would take another woman to Cancun after all the verbal and sexual humiliation, the debasing? No, Travis, you will die first because you cant see another place without me.
Also, to continue the previous post it seems disturbed minds take things literally sometimes. Jodi Arias believing and fulfilling the prophecy in the title of that book (1000 places to see before you die) and Chris fixated on what SW said about the kids seeing the grandparents: “Over my dead body”. The human mind can be so scary
I enjoyed reading your comment.
Thank you Shannon!
Putin that made me cry