American Murder: Netflix documentary left out certain details about horrific 2018 killings

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The Netflix true crime documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door has revived interest in the real-life 2018 murder of Shanann Watts.

Watts, who was pregnant at the time, was murdered along with her two children, Bella (age four) and Celeste (age three) by her husband, Chris Watts.

It later came to light that Chris Watts had been having an extra-marital affair prior to the murder, a fact which is presented in the Netflix documentary.

However, American Murder omits several other details about the case.

For one thing, the documentary didn’t delve into the Watts family’s finances. In 2015, they filed for bankruptcy, with court documents reportedly revealing that Chris was the main earner at the time.

Faced with credit card debt, student loan repayment obligations and outstanding medical bills, Shanann Watts was able to land a new job with a healthy salary.

American Murder does, however, show some of the effects of Watts’ new career, including the business trips she embarked on, while Chris Watts would stay home minding the children.

Chris Watts was arrested two days after his wife and children were reported missing, having failed a polygraph test.

While the documentary does feature some of the recordings from Watts’ incriminating polygraph, the actual test was reported to have lasted roughly five hours. 

Per reports, Watts scored a -18 on the lie detector exam (with -4 being the benchmark for suspicion of guilt), and referred to his daughters in the past tense at times.

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Chris Watts eventually confessed to his family’s murders and disclosed the locations of their bodies. He admitted to burying his wife and had hid his daughters in oil tanks at work.

The documentary also included footage of the confession made to police by Nichol Kessinger, Chris Watts’ girlfriend.

Kessinger said that Watts had been lying to her about still being married, a fact she learned from the widespread media coverage of Shanann Watts’ disappearance. 

Kessinger told the Post: “It got to a point that he was telling me so many lies that I eventually told him that I did not want to speak to him again until his family was found.”

Some reports have now suggested that Kessinger has entered witness protection after aiding authorities in the investigation.

A book was later published comprised of letters sent from Chris Watts to author Cheryln Cadle, in which he outlines the exact nature of his crimes.

In the letters, Watts admitted that he had once attempted to force Shanann to miscarry her pregnancy by secretly giving her some tablets.