The Watts Family Murders (Part 1)

Episode of Morbid · May 7, 2026 · 1 h 51 min

Morbid hosts Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley recount the backgrounds, marriage, affair and disappearance leading up to the 2018 Watts family murders.

Summary

In the first of a two-part series, Alaina Urquhart narrated the case of Chris Watts, drawing heavily on publicly released discovery documents. She traced Watts's quiet, car-focused upbringing in North Carolina, and contrasted it with Shanann Watts's outgoing personality, sales success, first marriage and lupus diagnosis. The hosts described the couple's courtship, their move to Frederick, Colorado, persistent friction with Chris's parents, financial strain, the births of Bella and Celeste, and Shanann's work selling Thrive through social media.

Urquhart then detailed Chris's 2018 affair with coworker Nichol Kessinger, citing search histories, a hidden calculator vault app, and texts in which a pregnant Shanann pleaded with him while he appeared emotionally absent. Both hosts repeatedly argued that divorce was an obvious alternative and criticized characterizations of Shanann as domineering, insisting nothing justified her murder.

The episode covered August 13, 2018, when Shanann's friend Nickole Atkinson reported her missing, and the police visit during which neighbor Nate Trinastich showed security footage of Chris's truck backed into the garage. Urquhart praised Shanann's friends and Nate for pressuring the investigation quickly. The hosts closed by analyzing Chris's August 14 television interview, citing body-language commentator Dr. G on his smiling and

Chapters

0:00
Introduction and announcements
The hosts introduce the Chris Watts case, recommend the discovery documents, and promote their Radio City Music Hall show and The Butcher Legacy.
4:35
Chris Watts's early life
Urquhart describes Watts's quiet upbringing in North Carolina, his love of cars, NASCAR training and first relationship.
12:33
Shanann's background
Shanann's move from New Jersey, early marriage to Leonard King, sales career, dream home and lupus diagnosis are recounted.
18:00
Courtship and family tensions
Chris persistently pursues Shanann, manages her medications, and his family's hostility toward her grows.
25:15
Move to Colorado and wedding
The couple relocates to Colorado, marries in 2012 without Chris's parents present, and buys a house in Frederick.
35:25
Children, debt and social media
Bella and Celeste are born amid financial strain while Shanann builds a Thrive business and portrays a happy marriage online.
48:32
The affair with Nichol Kessinger
Chris begins a secret relationship with coworker Nichol Kessinger shortly after Shanann announces a third pregnancy.
1:03:32
The marriage unravels
Discovery texts and searches show Shanann pleading for reassurance while Chris hides photos and appears emotionally detached.
1:14:35
Disappearance on August 13, 2018
Shanann returns from Arizona, misses an appointment, and friends led by Nickole Atkinson press Chris and call police.
1:23:16
Police visit and neighbor's footage
Neighbor Nate Trinastich shows officers security footage that undermines Chris's account as Chris visibly panics.
1:35:42
The television interview
The hosts analyze Chris's August 14 interview, including his smiling, blinking and choice of memories about his daughters.
1:47:14
Wrap-up and fun fact
The hosts preview part two on the polygraph and confession and share a fun fact about nutmeg.

Key points

What was said, by whom, with the exact words. Timestamps jump to the moment.

Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said that after researching Chris Watts she considers him one of the worst people she has ever studied.
“I think is one of the biggest pieces of shit I have ever come across in my entire existence of research”
Listen from 6:18 · Watts family murders
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argued that divorce, however difficult, is vastly preferable to family annihilation.
“hell of a lot better than murdering your pregnant wife and your two children, I would say”
Listen from 12:23 · Watts family murders
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart characterized Chris Watts as passive and hollow, going along with others until something stopped working for him and then exploding.
“It looks that Chris Watts is an empty, again, I say husk, that will just take anything and just roll with it until it doesn't work for him anymore”
Listen from 27:41 · Watts family murders
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart recommended that listeners take breaks from social media, saying she once took about a year off.
“taking social media breaks is so healthy. Yeah. I really encourage everybody to do it if they can”
Listen from 42:51 · Social media and self-presentation
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart advised that a married man who promises to leave his wife usually will not, and that the other party should wait until he actually divorces.
“when a guy is telling you, no, I am going to divorce my wife. He's not”
Listen from 57:46 · Extramarital affair
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said the discovery records show Chris searching trivia while Shanann sent emotional texts pleading with him.
“these big long blocks of texts where she's spilling her entire heart out, Chris Watts was Googling the distance between moon and earth”
Listen from 1:05:49 · Discovery documents in the Watts case
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart interpreted Chris paying for a dinner with Kessinger by credit card on August 11 as a sign he no longer expected Shanann to be a problem.
“I take it as a clear indication that he didn't plan for it to be a problem anymore”
Listen from 1:11:47 · Watts family murders
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart rejected claims about Shanann's personality as irrelevant, saying nothing justified her murder.
“no matter what, I don't give a shit. She didn't deserve to be murdered. No. I don't care if she was domineering”
Listen from 1:14:25 · Watts family murders
Linked moment · 1:19:05Skip to 1:19:05 using a listen link in the info box.
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart argued that Shanann's friends immediately suspecting Chris was itself telling about him.
“If I went missing, I tell you right now, I know for a fact that none of my friends first reaction would be John did it”
Listen from 1:19:05 · Watts family murders
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart said pressure from Shanann's friends and neighbors meant Chris had to answer for the killings within hours, leaving no time to build a cover story.
“within like six hours of him killing his entire family he was having to answer for it already”
Listen from 1:31:49 · Watts family murders
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart credited neighbor Nate Trinastich with greatly helping the detective by contradicting Chris's account on the spot.
“gave that detective a fucking gift because he hammered him in front of that detective and made it so much easier to see what was going on here”
Listen from 1:32:38 · Surveillance video evidence
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart speculated that Chris closing his eyes when mentioning his daughters reflected an involuntary biological response rather than emotion.
“I imagine there has to be some kind of primitive biological evolutionary connection to your child”
Listen from 1:38:21 · Chris Watts television interview
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart explained duper's delight as the smug pleasure a deceiver feels, and linked it to Chris's smiling in his interview.
“somebody who lies and, you know, manipulates will feel like a smugness and like some kind of delight, like a happiness”
Listen from 1:39:57 · Duper's delight
Alaina Urquhart
Urquhart recalled concluding Chris was guilty the moment she saw his interview on the news in 2018.
“I remember seeing this interview on the news in 2018 standing in my living room and I looked right at John and I said, he did it”
Listen from 1:45:22 · Chris Watts television interview

People

In the conversation

Alaina UrquhartCo-host of Morbid, autopsy technician and author of the Butcher novels
Ash KelleyCo-host of the true crime podcast Morbid

Discussed

Chris WattsColorado man convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters in 2018
Shanann WattsMurder victim, wife of Chris Watts
Bella WattsElder daughter of Chris and Shanann Watts, murder victim
Celeste WattsYounger daughter of Chris and Shanann Watts, known as Cece, murder victim
Nichol KessingerCoworker with whom Chris Watts had an affair
Nate TrinastichWatts family neighbor whose security footage aided police
Nickole AtkinsonFriend of Shanann Watts who reported her missing
Cindy WattsMother of Chris Watts
Sandy RzucekMother of Shanann Watts
John GlattTrue crime author who wrote about the Watts case
Dr. GClinical psychologist and body language commentator on social media

Topics

The Watts Family Murders (Part 2)
Morbid · May 11, 2026 · 2 h 11 min
Morbid hosts Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley conclude the Watts family murders, covering Chris Watts's behavior, polygraph, confession, sentencing and reported paranormal events.
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John Quiñones reports on the 2015 murder of Allison Feldman in Scottsdale, solved through Arizona's first use of familial DNA and contested in court.
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David Muir revisits the 2004 murder of three-year-old Riley Fox, her father's coerced false confession, his DNA exoneration, and the FBI's identification of killer Scott Eby.
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Crime Junkie reporter Briana Whitney and Ashley Flowers revisit the Nancy Guthrie abduction six months on: ransom notes, investigative missteps, and a 'wrench attack' theory.
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From the publisher

When thirty-four-year-old Shanann Watts missed a doctor’s appointment on August 13, 2018, her friends reported her missing to the Frederick, Colorado Police. When officers searched the home, they found Shanann’s car parked in the garage and her belongings—including her wallet, cell phone, and medication—were found in various spots around the house, but there was no sign of Shanann or the couple’s two children anywhere. The next day, the FBI opened an investigation into the disappearance of Shanann, Bella and Celeste and Chris took to local television to give one of the most infamous and suspicious interviews of all time. He asked anyone with information about their whereabouts to come forward. The very next day however, Chris failed a polygraph exam and eventually confessed to murdering his wife, but he initially denied killing their children.

Summary, chapters and key points were generated from the episode transcript on September 27, 2026. Quotes are checked word for word against the transcript.

Categories: True Crime·Relationships