The confession seems so easy now, in hindsight, doesn’t it? Like taking candy from a baby. Well, it’s easy to say that in hindsight. In fact, Watts only cracked after about 10 hours of questioning. 4 on Tuesday the 14th, and 6 more the next morning. There was also a polygraph test, which turned on the pressure, and Watts father Ronnie, waiting [like a carrot] for the operative moment to provide comfort.
Besides all this, the male and female interrogators – both well trained agents – were engaged in a kind of psychological warfare with Watts. They were leading him down a path, and to be frank, he was trying to lead them too, and to some extent he did [because his confession was ultimately only a partial confession].
The moment the agents leave the room and Ronnie replaces them, and vice versa, is also carefully timed. When Ronnie leaves, it’s just as he starts talking about hiring a lawyer.
In the Discovery Documents [page 606] the narrative is flipped around, where Ronnie leaves the room and then mentions a lawyer. In reality, it’s when he mentions the lawyer the agents come rushing back in. This is one reason why the narrative isn’t a proper transcript, but a summary written from a “third person” perspective.
Don’t laugh but the same Good Cop Bad Cop routine both worked and backfired in the classic confrontation between Batman and Joker in The Dark Knight. Batman thinks he’s getting what he wants, and he does get information, but he’s ALSO being played.
https://youtu.be/G691fDwsCMY
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