Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Episode: "MURDER DAD CHRIS WATTS BLAMES WIFE SHANNAN FOR NOT BEING LIKE HIS LATEST AFFAIR"

Date: November 25, 2025
Host: Nancy Grace
Guest: Sherilyn Cadle (author of The Murders of Christopher Watts and The Many Faces of Christopher Watts: A Five Year Update)

Episode Overview

In this gripping installment, Nancy Grace investigates the tragic and infamous Chris Watts case, focusing on Watts’s shocking justification for murdering his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste. Nancy is joined by Sherilyn Cadle, who has spent extensive time interviewing Watts and writing two books about the case. The episode explores the timeline, details, and psychological underpinnings of the crime, Watts’s shifting blame to both his wife and mistress, and the monstrous depths of deceit on display both before and after the murders.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Disappearance & Initial Investigation

• Timeline recap: Shanann Watts is dropped home by friend Nicole Atkinson at 2 a.m. after a work trip, then misses a doctor’s appointment the next morning, prompting concern.
• Nicole Atkinson: “I dropped her off at her house at 2 in the morning last night...and I haven’t been able to get a hold of her this morning. She’s pregnant.” (03:46)
• Chris’s shifting stories: Chris tells conflicting tales—Shanann left for a playdate with the girls, was picked up, etc.—which immediately cast suspicion.
• Nancy notes: “When your story changes, that is a problem.” (12:56)

2. Chris Watts's Deceptive Demeanor

• Nancy and guests analyze Watts's on-camera behavior: organized, cold, giving police tours of his home and drawing attention to missing children’s blankets (“He knows exactly where those blankets are. They were with the children...when he murdered them.” (09:12)).
• Emotional plea on local TV is dissected as feigned: “That house was not complete. That was your doing.” (10:32)
• Neighbor’s suspicions: “I’ve heard them full out screaming at each other...he gets crazy.” (10:56)

3. Discovery of the Bodies

• Shanann’s body is found in a shallow grave, with baby Nico expelled post-mortem (“coffin birth”). The girls’ bodies are recovered from oil drums at Watts’s worksite.
• Nancy: “Bella and Celeste, these two babies were found forced...into oil drums...their bodies decomposed in that liquid not far from where mommy was buried.” (13:52)

4. Chris Watts’s Confessions & Blameshifting

• On tape, Chris continues lying: He pleads innocence, expresses (fake) love and longing.
• Watts: “You have to trust me...I did nothing to them...I had nothing to do with this act of evil...” (14:53)
• Admission to murder: Sherilyn Cadle recounts Chris’s step-by-step retelling—rolling Shanann off the bed, smothering the girls after an initial failed attempt, murdering them in the presence of each other, and disposing of the bodies.

5. Watts’s Rationalization: Blaming Shanann & the Mistress

• Watts claims Shanann was to blame for not being more like his mistress, making him “look little.”
• Sherilyn Cadle: “He then turned to blame his girlfriend, that she was dark, and somehow she transferred this evil dark spirit onto him...Just another way of blaming.” (33:42)
• Nancy: “He tries to blame it on anger...Like anger is some type of beast that did the deed.” (51:44)
• Nancy (on Shanann): “She made the money, she takes care of the children, she designs the home, she cleans the home. Wait, how does she make him look small? I thought you could only do that all on your own.” (43:20)

6. The Grisly Details: Step-by-Step Atrocity

• Cadle shares what Chris told her in letters about the murders:
  • Shanann was smothered after being pulled off the bed.
  • Bella and Celeste witnessed much of the aftermath and were driven to the oil site with their mother’s body at their feet.
  • Chris killed the girls at the oil site; Cece was forced into a tight opening (“an 8-inch hole”) and Chris admits “he had to stomp her in.” (27:44)
  • Last words and desperate questions from the girls (“Daddy, you’re not going to do the same to me that you did to Bella, are you?”)
  • Watts describes driving away listening to Metallica’s “Battery.”

7. Watts’s Delusions & Spiritualizing

• Watts, in letters, claims to Cadle that the girls “woke up,” which he frames as a demonic event rather than his failed attempt at murder: “He thought it was demon...he thought that there was some sort of a darkness over him that made him kill...” (31:07)
• Nancy: “He knew the night that he put those girls to bed...that was the last night I would be tucking my babies in.” (31:31)

8. Deep Dive with Sherilyn Cadle: Author’s Prison Conversations

• Cadle relates Watts’s affect: “He just acted like the nicest guy...hang his head, not look me straight in the eye. I could tell he was very ashamed. At one point I said, Christopher, look at me...Well, he was lying so much...” (24:47)
• On Watts’s arrogance: “He never considered, never gave one thought that he would ever be caught. He thought he was so smart that he could literally pull this off and never be caught...” (34:32)
• On his personality: “He wanted me to just feel that he was the good boy next door. And he took on a role with me almost as that I was a mother figure to him...” (35:45)

9. Unspoken Horrors & Unanswered Questions

• Cadle shares that Watts admitted some secrets would “go to the grave”—including, possibly, drugging Shanann (with oxycodone) in an earlier attempt to induce miscarriage.
• Nancy speculates the “real secret” may be even worse: “I think it’s something much worse...something he did to Shanann or the girls or to their bodies. Something that’s so horrible he won’t confess it.” (40:14)

10. The Cult of Chris Watts

• Despite evidence, Watts continues to receive love letters and money from admirers.
• Cadle’s warning: “My takeaway is...there’s something in him that he thinks he can just woo any woman. And woman beware.” (53:48)
• Nancy: “He confessed. And people still believe he didn’t do it.” (56:13)

11. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Nancy Grace (on the details):

  • “He has a straight face. This guy can lie like a rug.” (09:56)
  • “I find all of this so hypocritical. I mean, he’s got the children’s pictures up on his wall in his jail cell, but he was of sane mind at the time he murdered them.” (33:00)

• Sherilyn Cadle (on her impressions):

  • “He wanted to clear his wife’s name so he was willing to speak with me...His mother was very much pushing for it...” (20:33)
  • “He never did shed a tear.” (52:00)
  • “He had a job, a decent job, but he only made $60,000 a year. She made twice what he made. And he felt belittled, he said, by her.” (44:32)

• On the fan club/cult of personality:

  • Nancy: “Why am I seeing him without a shirt on? Why are you doing that to me?...You might as well show me a picture of a coral snake or an anaconda or a poisonous spider. That’s how I view him.” (55:08)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Discovery/Disappearance Timeline: 03:46–08:34
• Analyzing Watts’s Lie & Police Interview: 09:12–14:53
• Details of the Crime (Letters, Motive, Method): 19:03–30:56
• Blameshifting (Wife, Mistress, Demons): 31:07–34:32
• Author Impressions & “Unspoken Horrors”: 35:45–41:47
• Psychological Dissection and Motive: 42:29–52:00
• Watts’s Fanbase, Public Reaction: 53:48–56:22

Conclusion & Takeaway

Nancy Grace and Sherilyn Cadle shine a blistering light on Chris Watts’s manipulative, narcissistic psychology—his attempts to paint himself as a victim, the incessant shifting of blame, and the monstrous reality of his actions. Through firsthand prison visits, letters, and analysis, they make it crystal clear that Watts was calculated, prepared, and unrepentant, motivated by ego, infidelity, and selfishness. The episode is a cautionary tale not just about domestic violence and sociopathy but the dangerous allure manipulators hold—even from behind bars.

End note:
Nancy caps the show by honoring Corporal Michael Roberts, a fallen officer, in sharp contrast to the evil at the episode’s core, and delivers a stern warning to listeners about the dangers of narcissistic manipulators like Watts.