446: Part 1: Chris Watts Admits the Murders Were Pre-Planned & Throws Mistress Under the Bus?

Chris Watts (0:00)

Like, I have no inclination to where they're at right now. It's like a nightmare that I just can't wake up from.

SPEAKER_2 (0:04)

Like, I want her back so bad. I want those kids back so bad.

SPEAKER_3 (0:07)

He labels Nichol Kessinger a Jezebel. This was the case that people wanted a punishment for. It stirred such a reaction in the community.

SPEAKER_2 (0:18)

They just disappeared from thin air.

Annie Elise (0:25)

Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialously.

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialously with me, your host, Annie Elise, also your true crime bestie, Clock and InferDuty, and you know how it goes. On Monday, we deep dive together into these cases. I am your, you know, I don't know, I guess you call it your resident sleuth going to the ends of the earth researching these cases for you. The depths of hell online, the FOIA requests, the court documents, the interviews, everything so that I can give you the full story, okay? And for those of you who might be new here, first and foremost, welcome, welcome to the podcast, welcome in.

Please, before we get started too, everybody do me a favor. If you're watching on YouTube, hit the like button, hit the subscribe button. If you're listening to the audio version of this in your car, make sure you're following the podcast so that you don't miss any new episodes. And you're really gonna wanna do that right now because today's deep dive is a little bit different than our regular deep dives in the sense that there are two, a part one and a part two, but all on the same case. However, it's a notorious case too. I'll just tell you that right from the jump. Part one is all about the backstory, the notorious case, the evil monster at the center of it. And part two is digging a little deeper, going a little bit behind the curtain into the mistress involved in this case, who I believe hasn't been proven by court of law, but who I believe did play some type of role in this quadruple murder. And it is a quadruple murder, because this monster, Chris Watts, he murdered his wife, his two daughters, and his unborn son. Now, okay, let me just say this. I just shared with you that today we are talking about Chris Watts, also Nichol Kessinger. And because it's a two-parter, and because of the case and the content within it, it is going to bring up a lot of mixed emotions, okay? Because this is a case that I could probably retell in my sleep by this point. I know this case so well. I have been so immersed in it for years now, decoding every single thing I can, researching everything I can, literally going through hundreds of pages of phone records and highlighting things. I just, I feel like I know it like the back of my hand. And like I said, today we are talking about none other than the infamous family annihilator Chris Watts, which I know, I know, I know, I thought that ship had sailed too. I didn't think we were going to be going back to Watts Island anytime soon. Yet somehow, even after all these years, Chris Watts is still finding a way to stay relevant in the media. And most recently, it's because there are reports that Chris has apparently gotten married or is preparing to get married while behind bars, which obviously has put his name right there back in the headlines.

So today, what I'm going to do is not only revisit the murders themselves, because like I said, I know this case backwards and forwards, and I promise you, even if you think you are familiar with this case, there are details that you probably don't know about, especially when it comes to whereabouts, activity, phone records, time cards, you heard that right, time cards and other details from the afternoon following the murders.

There is so much that we need to go through. So we're gonna dig in together everything we know about Chris, everything I've been able to pull together over the years, everything that's out there relating to the crime itself. And then we're also going to talk about his mistress, Nichol Kessinger, because some of the details surrounding this case still have a lot of people asking questions. Because chances are, if you mention Chris Watts or the Watts family murders to anyone you know, or anyone who follows true crime, I would say that 90% of people have at least heard of the case, or have some sort of knowledge of it. But a lot of people still have no clue about the smaller details. The inconsistencies, the unanswered questions, the strange pieces of the investigation that even after all these years later, still have people wondering, did investigators actually get the full story? So like I said, because of the massive deep dive that today's episode is, and the sheer amount of information that there is to go over, I've decided to split it into two parts. First, we're going to talk about Chris and Shannan's marriage, the dynamics within it, how they went from this seemingly perfect family next door to a marriage that was near the end, and what was the ultimate catalyst within that. Then we are going to also talk about Chris and Nichol's activity before, and even more importantly, after the murders.