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Crime and Justice With Ashleigh Banfield
Stunning New Evidence Uncovered In Massacre; Chris Watts, The Uncut Seven Minute Lie. Aired 6-8p ET
Aired August 27, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
[18:00:00] B.D. WONG, SOMETHING`S KILLING ME SHOW HOST: Thanks for watching, I`m B.D. Wong. Good night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two little girls had reportedly been submerged in an oil well for days.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I`m sickened, that a parent, a father could do that to his children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is Chris Watts plagued by thoughts of his family rotting in an oil field while locked behind bars alone?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just didn`t seem like a type of guy that could hurt a fly.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because cops say he murdered his wife and baby girls.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daddy, daddy, I love you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yet he pins the blame on that wife. Saying she could not handle him leaving her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To think that a wife would kill her children after her husband said that he wants to leave is pretty far out. I can see why he
want to kill her though.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, how did Bella and Cici really die?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They have the eyes of an eagle, and they had the hearts of angels and the souls of angels.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And are there forensic clues, sprinkled throughout the home that played a starring role in her Facebook posts.
CHRISTIAN WATTS, HUSBAND OF SHANANN WATTS, SUSPECT: We have an emotional conversation, but I will leave it that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are those clues still hiding in plain sight?
SHANANN WATTS, VICTIM, WIFE OF CHRIS WATTS: Weirdo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, HLN CRIME AND JUSTICE: Good evening, everyone, I`m Ashleigh Banfield, welcome to "Crime and Justice." Tonight in Colorado
jail cell, it is one of the most hated man in the country. Police he lied to them about cheating on his pregnant wife before they say he killed her
and both the daughters too. Dumping their bodies at his work cite and driving back to their beautiful suburban home to tell everyone that they
had simply gone missing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WATTS: I don`t know where my kids are. I don`t know where Shanann is. It`s not something I could ever, every fathom would happen in my lifetime
and I have no inclination of where she is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: But once Chris Watts was in handcuffs, he began telling a whole new story. That he indeed killed his wife Shanann and buried her next to
the oil tanks where he submerged his little girls` bodies, but only because he says Shanann strangled them. The loving mother, who couldn`t stop
posting about all her big plans for their family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. WATTS: 2018 is my year. I`m claiming it. It is my year. Everything I want for my family is happening in 2018, I just feel blessed that we can do
that, we can travel the world and one day Chris can travel that long with us. And I love the fact that I can be there for them. We go everywhere
together and we do everything together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: If you can`t picture that mom as a double murderer, you are not alone. And as we speak investigators are checking out that story Chris
told. Sifting through and testing all of the evidence from that family`s once happy home. To piece together the story of who really did kill the
kids, but there are other clues that virtually anyone can access. And that anyone can access virtually, because Shanann Watts left behind a whole
catalog of evidence on her Facebook page. Hours and hours of footage that wind you through their family life. And their family home. The crime
scene.
And despite the way things might have been when the camera wasn`t rolling, Shanann might have unintentionally captured the clue to her family`s
murder. I want to bring in Stacey Newman who is live on location out in Colorado. Stacy, what are you able to find out about that nagging last
piece, the woman with whom Chris was having an affair at work?
STACEY NEWMAN, HLN PRODUCER: Yes, actually at this point, that is one of the big questions in the story that everybody wants answered and clearly,
since the court documents came out, who is the alleged mistress. Now according to the information we received, some of them court documents, we
were able to track down potentially the home, the area where this mistress lives. I visited there today actually, knocked on doors. Neighbors of
course, at this point, do not want to talk, they have sign on their board, but what I do find interesting is as the home that they think is connected
to the alleged mistress, there is no sign of activity, no cars in the driveway, the house is dark, I have knocked on the door and no one is
answering. So it seems like whoever lived there may have left and closed up shop.
[18:05:22] BANFIELD: Well, it is an absolute mystery, and that is only underscored by a big chunk of the affidavit that refers to this mystery
woman is simply awash in black marks. It was the part that may have named her. It was the part that possibly could have said what part she may have
played in all of this, whether she knew anything about this, it was the part of the affidavit that remains a big mystery.
A two-day investigation reveals Chris was actively involved in an affair with a co-worker, which he denied in previous interviews, blank. Pat
Lalama, Crime journalist in Los Angeles, this is what has a lot of tongues wagging and it has journalists fanning out everywhere to find her and if
indeed, if she is out there somewhere, they`ll find her.
PAT LALAMA, CRIME JOURNALIST, LOS ANGELES: Oh, they will find her, but you know, the fact to me, Ashleigh, because you and I have covered these kinds
of stories many, many times. A mistress does not necessarily translate to a motive for murder. I am sort of looking in the big -- and by the way, if
I were her, I would get out of dodge too, tight now. I don`t want anybody talking to me, but I am looking at a bigger picture and again, I don`t know
either of these people, never met them, I`m just speculating based on, you know, what we know about this relationship is that there`s something
deeper. He is admitting to killing, and he is saying because he saw her killing their children. I don`t know --
BANFIELD: Don`t you think that is exactly what police want to know from this witness, whether in fact he had mused about this before, whether the
two of them had talked about how life would be so different if I just didn`t have these obligations. Aren`t these the links that this mistress
can make to him telling a lie?
LALAMA: Absolutely and she need to come forward, but I am just going to guess, Ashleigh. I bet they know who she is and they have spoken to her
and they have tucked her away for now, just to --
BANFIELD: Tom Fuentes, he is the guy who is going to know about this. You`re not only a senior law enforcement analyst for CNN and HLN, Tom, but
you`re the formerly the assistant FBI Director, and the it`s FBI that has all the tools in the toolbox to go into all of the digital footprints
between this mistress and the accused and find out what exactly they had been talking about. What exactly had they been musing about? Perhaps this
mistress knew nothing, but won`t there conversations be critical?
TOM FUENTES, CNN`S SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Well, certainly Ashleigh, they will be able to do a lot of that
type of investigations and I am sure they may have already done it, but that doesn`t mean they are going to make it publicly any time soon. So, I
think for now, you know they are going to be very close hold on that kind of information with that, and especially, you know, involving her privacy.
Yes, you know, if she was having an affair with him, you know, and other people may have known that, but again, that they may not be in a position
to want that to be public as far as her identity, because harm could come to her and she may not be responsibility for that other than she was having
an affair with him.
BANFIELD: I think it will be very, very difficult for her if and when her name becomes public, because many people will look to her as a lynch pin in
all of this as to why this may have happened. No matter whether it`s right or wrong, there is a mob mentality that would go directly to her and her
life will never be the same even Amber Frye, Scott Peterson on the notes girlfriend at the time, with (inaudible) and knew nothing about Scott
Peterson being married. She thought she just met a nice guy. And her life became so difficult.
We`re going to talk to Gloria Allred soon in this program about the connection between these two cases. And what that tells us going forward
about this mistress and in the meantime, Stacy Newman, I know you spent a lot of the day driving that desolate area, not only from the home, but
between points that landed in that site where those bodies were buried. That lonely oil field where those oil tanks held those little girls for
four days, a shallow grave of their mother nearby. Is it completely abandoned? Is there crime scene tape? Are there people working there?
It`s amazing to me that no one in this company has said boo about the relationship between their fellow co-workers and what has transpired in the
small community?
NEWMAN: Ashleigh, I think the company may have put a blanket statement out to the employees, but what I discovered out there was, let`s backtrack to
where the family lives, I did that entire drive from their house, all the way out to the location, that police released in the court document.
Ashleigh, it is a long drive, we are talking 50 minutes to an hour, which means if he had Shanann and his daughters in his vehicle. That is a long
drive to have three deceased bodies.
[18:10:05] Along that road there are so many remote areas, two lane roads and when you get closer to the area, where the (inaudible) is, there are
some barbed-wire, acres and acres of land out there, the only vehicle I was able to see, (inaudible) landscapers and anybody in that (inaudible) no
laymen people or residents back in that area.
BANFIELD: You know, it`s obvious how remote this is, just by the signal that we can get from you, in this day and age, just to get a cell signal,
it should not be that difficult, but this is how remote this area is. Where Stacy Newman has been investigating throughout the day. You can see
it on your screen right there. It is a very quiet location, perhaps a perfect location to leave bodies and hope they are never seen again.
Certainly not by busy workers who spend all day opening up those tanks and taking a peek inside.
If I can, I want to bring in Marc Saltzman, he is a technology expert. And Mark, the reason I want to speak with you is our team has been combing
forensically through every single scrap of video that Shanann Watts posted on her Facebook page, because there are clues all throughout her public
life. She was so public about her household, her children everything in their household, tiny little clues everywhere, and I could not help, but
notice pictures of her and Chris showing off their apple watches. Shanann has one on and Chris also has one on, and it is all too happy to display it
during their happy functional time, where they are actually promoting a lot of her work product, but in so many of the pictures, whether she is in a
dress or workout gear or her Steelers jersey, she is wearing that apple watch. Mark, help me navigate how the Apple watch of both Chris and
Shanann could be a lynch pin to the forensics in this case.
MARC SALTZMAN, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: We leave digital crumbs, if you will. Bread crumbs everywhere we go, whether it is social post or it is s a
device that we are wearing on our body or a phone we are carrying and in this case there is no exception, whether it`s the Alexa speaker, the ring
video doorbell that we know that they had in the home, to the video baby monitor and now to an Apple watch that you noticed. So, it can track
location information, with the user`s consent. So it`s not unusual, especially for the newer devices that have either GPS or even cellular
caught activity to give an Apple watch to a love one and with their consent, you can track them, maybe an elderly relative, that you want to
keep an eye on digitally with their permission you can see where they are for a peace of mind a care giver or a loved one.
BANFIELD: Let me ask you this. Is it possible that Shanann`s Apple watch, if she were wearing it when she returned home at 2:00 in the morning from
her work trip, is it possible that it will show the exact kind of pattern that either Chris is telling or Chris is lying about?
SALTZMAN: So you can match a time line to the information given by a watch or by a phone, yes. So whether it`s cellular triangulation, if she had a
newer Apple watch, then the authorities would likely then go to a carrier to see if there has been a ping, a signal from that residential area.
BANFIELD: No, that is not what I mean. What I mean is her activity level. Because if Shanann came home from her work trip and was instantly murdered,
that is a whole different piece of information in terms of your activity level than Shanann getting into this long emotional conversation and going
and killing two children, only then to be murdered and dragged out of the house by Chris, which is his story. Might that Apple watch actually be
able to tell a different story?
SALTZMAN: Yes, in fact you can even see your heart rate through these apple watches, all of the versions, so correct. If the authorities had
access to her phone, and you need an iPhone by the way to use apple watch, and you know, to get all the features, and they were able to look at the
health app, they would be able to find out by time what was going on presumably in her body with her heart rate at that specific point, but they
would need some information, whether it`s the phone, the iPhone itself -- sorry the watch or both in order to match a timeline and try to, you know,
figure out what was going on that particular moment, yes you can.
BANFIELD: Here is my feeling about permission. I see the permission not being difficult for the Apple watch of the accused, that is what you call a
subpoena, and I don`t see it being difficult to get the information from Shanann`s watch, because she has a whole host of family members who would
be all too keen to be able to show exactly what her heart rate was and what her digital movements were the moment she came home from that work trip.
[18:15:07] I`m so fascinated by this unbelievable video showing them both wearing them all the time. We will talked a little more about that, but
the day after Shanann and the girls vanished, Chris Watts did something that is unforgettable. He made the rounds of all the local news stations,
begging for whoever had them to please bring them back. And up until now, we have only seen bits and pieces of those interviews, right? Just a
couple here and there, but now we have it all. Seven straight minutes of everything that guy was saying and everything that guy was doing. And if
you`re looking for tells and if you`re looking for what it means to be a liar, and what it looks like when someone lies to you for seven minutes
straight, you`re going to see it next.
[18:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: When a crime is he said/she said, and she is not alive to speak for herself, well then, what he says really gets dissected. Especially
when what he said at first that he`s pregnant wife and daughters are just missing. And then what he says when he is arrested for their murders is a
completely different story. Eventually a jury is going to have to decide whether Chris Watts indeed killed his entire family or not, and when they
do, it may all come down to this. This raw seven-minute interview that Chris gave to KMGH reporters just a day after he himself disposed of all
three of their bodies.
In an interview, we now know was a complete and total lie. A lie he seemed to have absolutely no problem telling as the cameras just kept on rolling.
Sort of brings back to mind Casey Anthony, who lied through her teeth about her little girl going missing when she admitted later on, that child was
indeed already long gone. Now investigators say Chris wants us to believe that it was his wife who killed their kids, not him. And he doesn`t just
want us to believe him, he needs us to believe him, but this interview might make it real difficult for anyone to ever believe anything that comes
out of his mouth again, I present to you, a liar uncut.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is your name?
WATTS: I am Chris Watts. W-A-T-T-S.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is going on at your house?
WATTS: Right now? The K9 units, the sheriff`s department, everybody, like they`re doing the best right now to figure out that if they can get a sense
of where they went, if they went in a car. They went somewhere. Right now it is like they`re about at point, they are going through the house, trying
to pick up a scent and hopefully they can fix something up to where it is going to lead to something.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what happened?
WATTS: Maybe she came home from the airport at 2:00 a.m., I left around 5:15 and she was still here. And about 12:10 in that afternoon, her friend
Nicole showed up at the door, and I had texted Shanann a few times that day, and called her and say, you know, but she never got back to me, but
she never got back so any of her people as well. And that is what really concerned a lot of people. It is like, she doesn`t get back to me, that is
fine, but when she doesn`t get back to her people, which is very concerning. And Nicole called me when she was at the door and that is when
I came home. And then walk in the house and nothing. Just vanished. Nothing was here. She wasn`t here, the kids were here. Nobody was here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What`s your wife`s name?
WATTS: Shanann.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And your kids?
WATTS: Bell and Celeste.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How old are your children?
WATTS: Bella is four, Celeste is three.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so, how many times did you try calling her?
WATTS: I called her three times, texted her about three times, just to say, you know, what`s going on? After I called her and texted her once, I
was like, maybe she was just busy, she had just gotten back. You know, like, everybody was probably calling her from her trip and she just got
back from Arizona and I just figured she was busy, but when that friend showed up, that registered, like this isn`t right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know? Do you think she just took off?
WATTS: Right now. I don`t want to even just like throw anything out there, like, I hope that she is somewhere safe right now, and with the
kids. Because she has just taken off, I don`t know, but if somebody has her, they`re not safe, like I want them back now. That is what`s in my
head, like, if they`re safe right now, they`re going to come back, but if they`re not safe right now, that is the not knowing part right now.
[18:25:07] Last night I had every light in the house on, I was hoping that I would just get ran over by the kids, running through the door just like
barrel rushing me, but it did not happen. I know it was such a traumatic night trying to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was your relationship with your kids?
WATTS: My kids were my life. I mean, those smiles light up my life and this is like, I mean, last night like, dinner, it was just like I miss
them, like , I mean, I miss telling them, hey, you`re going to eat that or you`re not going to get your dessert. You know, just like you are not
going to get your snack after. I miss that, I mean, you know, they cuddle up on their couches, they are like the Minnie mouse couches that they
cuddle up on and watch, you know, bubble guppy`s or something.
And it was just like, -- it is tearing me apart last night. I needed that last night. And for nobody to be here last night and to go into their
rooms and know that I wasn`t going to turn their air machines on, and know that I wasn`t going to turn their monitor on, to know I wasn`t going to
kiss them to bed tonight. It was like -- that is why I left the house, it was horrible, I couldn`t do it. I want them to -- I just want -- I want
everybody just to come home, wherever they`re at, come home, that is what I want.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long was she gone for? She came back Sunday --
WATTS: She was delayed from Arizona, because of like thunderstorms around the nation, she was supposed to get home at like 11:00, and she got home at
like 1:48. She delayed by about two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was she gone for?
WATTS: It was like a direct sales, it was a meeting going on with the local sales and the company.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What day was she back?
WATTS: I left work early that morning like 5:15, 5:30, she had barely gotten into bed pretty much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This might be a tough question, did you guys get into an argument before?
WATTS: It was not like an argument, I mean, it was an emotional conversation. But I will leave it at that. But its -- and I just want
them to come back, I just want them to come back and if they`re not safe right now, that is what`s tearing me apart. Because if they are safe,
they`re coming back, but if they`re not, this has got to stop, like somebody what has to come forward. They had been in constant contact like,
every hour, I mean everybody back in North Carolina and the East Coast, I mean from Maine to Florida.
If they need to get on a flight, just let them know, they feel helpless right now because they`re on the other side of the country, I mean Colorado
is -- I mean you can`t just drive around and look, it is just like you wouldn`t really know what you`re looking for. The cops that first day, I
want to get out and drive around, and they`re like, you wouldn`t know what to look for.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about law enforcement, what have the police or the sheriffs or your neighbors has anybody -- what`s police saying to you?
WATTS: Right now this is what they`re doing right now is with the canine, this is the best thing they have done so far, because yesterday they did
all the searching of the house and tried to gather all the information they could with the detectives, officers and sergeants. And today it`s I mean,
obviously with all the activity that is around, it`s -- there`s a lot going on around here, I really hope that all this can lead to something positive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible)
WATTS: The police were going door to door asking and, like, cameras and everything, just like nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the last question, if your wife could see this, if she can watch this, what would you like to tell your wife and kids?
WATTS: Shanann, Bella, Celeste, if you`re out there, just come back, if somebody has her, just please bring her back, I need to see everything
again, this house is not complete without anybody here. Please bring her back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Yeah, this is where you bring in the lawyers to refer to what you just saw, the long seven minute lie. Gloria Allred, joining me from
Los Angeles. She famously represented Amber Frye in the Scott Peterson story. And then Robert (inaudible) is a former prosecutor, he is here with
as well. So to the both of you. I want to be real clear. What we just saw was seven straight minutes of a proven lie, because he had just buried
them. And he told the police that and he pointed to where he buried them and he took the police to where he buried them.
So all of this is a complete and utter lie. Eye contact and all. And it wasn`t just one time. This is the Denver ABC station he spoke to. He also
spoke with two other affiliates. Any camera that would come by, he would give the same sob story too without the sobbing. Gloria Allred, you
reaction to this.
GLORIA ALLRED, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR AMBER FREY: Well, first of fall, it appears to be consciousness of guilt. But beyond that, you know, it`s
amazing that he apparently thinks that he`s smarter than law enforcement, he`s smarter than the press, and he can just go out there and give his
story.
You can see from his body language how defensive he is. He has his arms crossed all the time. And he appears to talk about the children, very
little mention if any of his wife. And, you know, what he`s trying to do is just so absurd. It actually, I think, probably angers the public even more
than if he had just stayed silent because he`s lying in everybody`s face.
BANFIELD: Yeah. This is what is so critical, Robert. Honestly, if it goes to trial, if it is not plead out in some way, a jury is going to watch
this. And the prosecutor -- I`m guessing, you`re a good prosecutor, you would probably look at this as a bonanza. Show the jury this guy and say
(ph) -- so he wants us to believe that his wife did all the killing, right?
Did kill those children. Then he just got mad and killed her, you know, in reaction to that. This is how good a liar he is. Ladies and gentlemen,
watch this. Watch him lie. And then you tell me if you`re comfortable believing him now.
ROBERT SCHALK, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Right. It will be exhibits one, two, three, and four. It will be video recorded statement one to the one
affiliate. Two, you know, three and down the road, to see if it`s one, consistent, or two, inconsistent.
But what was very important about that conversation that he had with that T.V. news camera, was he said something very telling about the kids, I knew
I wasn`t going to be turning the light on their bedroom on that night.
Well, if you don`t know where they are, how do you know you`re not going to turn the lights on? Because subconsciously, he was speaking, he knew where
they were.
BANFIELD: It`s permanent.
SCHALK: Right. They were in the oil drum and his wife was in the ground. And he had at least in his own mind admitted to killing them.
BANFIELD: Well, those are the tells. And if -- you know, if he hadn`t admitted to all this, I would be looking for those tells. But what I am
more exacerbated by is the fact that he is so good at lying. He has no compunction whatsoever. Look at the eye contact. Staring straight at the
Denver Seven reporter and spewing a whole load of crap.
And then having to say, when the reporter asked, did she just took off? Yeah, yeah, I don`t want to put that out there. No, good god, my wife would
never do that. No. No, he`s not defending her at all. He just happily and eagerly lying.
ALLRED: And Ashleigh, you know, the prisons are filled with criminals who thought that they could lie their way out of any consequences of any crime
that they committed, or they just didn`t think that they would ever be caught or both.
This is just really, really just outrageous. And I think that this is a defendant or a potential defendant who better not ask for a jury trial. He
better ask for a bench trial or he better be thinking about a plea if he can get one from the prosecutor.
BANFIELD: You know, I tend to think you`re absolutely right, Gloria. I don`t see how a jury could look at that seven minutes. My guarantee is
there`s another seven, maybe there`s 30 minutes of him lying straight to camera, over and over and over again.
ALLRED: Exactly.
BANFIELD: And juries don`t like to see that someone`s that good at lying. All right.
ALLRED: Exactly.
BANFIELD: Hold your thoughts if you will. We still got a lot to come. In fact, there are a couple of things that we noticed as well that were a
little surprising in these photographs in and around the home. Like, Chris was always wearing his purple bracelet in support of the lupus that his
wife had been diagnosed with.
He was wearing it in almost all the pictures, in fact. But he wasn`t wearing it when she went missing in those famous interviews from the porch.
That, and there were some unusual marks on his neck, you may or may not have seen. We`ll talk about that, next.
[18:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I stuck around because he was the one for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When somebody is not faithful to their partner, the partners realize that the relationship cannot be sustained.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He could be cheating but at the same time, he was like, he has no game.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can`t tell you how wonderful he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was one key detail that police say that Watts left out. That he was having an extramarital affair with a co-worker.
[18:40:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He knew me at my worst, and he accepted me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: From family man to suspected murderer three times over, Colorado`s Chris Watts is becoming a household name, accused of killing his
pregnant wife Shennan and their two daughters, Bella and Celeste, before telling everyone they were simply missing.
But one question towers above the rest, why would someone do this? Why would someone murder his entire family? And what would he want instead of
the life that he had with them?
I want to bring back my panel, but at the same time, I want to show you something that Shennan actually posted on her Facebook that I think in
retrospect maybe a clue if possible she might have known, if possible she might have had an inkling that maybe there was someone else in his life
because on June 22nd, and this is the day that she and her husband were on their way to a San Diego trip, she posts, success is my best revenge!
Look that to be innocuous. But who knows what it means. It`s on weekend, right before they`re headed off for a loving weekend in which their
photograph actually hugging and it looks like a fantastic weekend trip away, from the 22nd of June to the 26th of June, that this was how that
trip was launched.
Maybe even more fascinating is the purple bracelet. It signifies support for lupus, the disease that Shennan was diagnosed with. And in so many of
the videos and the photographs, the Facebook profile, the online digital pictures, he`s wearing that lupus bracelet. Just about everywhere, he got
that bracelet on, except for the day he faced all the T.V. cameras to say his wife was missing.
His wedding ring was missing and his lupus bracelet was missing too. And that didn`t go unnoticed by a lot of people. Here is the very unusual thing
we noticed though on the digital profile. What looked like a loving father making something to eat for his baby daughters, singing a TV giddy (ph) is
the reason I`m getting to this, but I want you to see it first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog. Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggety dog. It`s a brand new day, whatcha waiting for? Get up, stretch
out, stomp on the floor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So this is Chris Watts, singing to his daughter. But the caption that went with this post is very uncomfortable. It probably means nothing,
but nonetheless, it is eerie. Shennan posted it with the caption, he`s going to kill me. The hashtag says, he is going to kill me. It is simply
remarkable to see this now knowing what ultimately ended up happening.
Pat Lalama, I know that that`s not something that is a fact in the case, but it is uncomfortable nonetheless.
PAT LALAMA, CRIME JOURNALIST: Yeah. You know what, Ashleigh, the more I look at this -- and by the way, I had never seen that entire seven-minute
tape. And I don`t even know what to say. I`m at a loss for words.
He`s not a good liar, he`s a terrible liar, because who says, oh, I miss them, you know, turning off the lights and -- it just doesn`t make any
sense where he`s going with this interview. They should play this tape at law school and show people why defense attorneys don`t want to put their
clients on the stand.
Now back to your question, I feel in looking at this now deeper and deeper, is that this marriage was a sham. And I`m going to take my journalist cap
on, you know, put the subjective cap on, I think she was desperate to keep it happy.
I think she was so desperately trying to convince herself that everything was good. But in my mind, I think we`re going to find out that there were
so many problems and it didn`t just have to do with his mistress.
BANFIELD: I don`t know. I watched so many hours of this young woman posting and, you know, she`s dream of consciousness most of the time, but
it really sounds like she is madly in love with him and thinks he is the world. These pictures are just so --
LALAMA: But Ashleigh, I`m sorry to interrupt you, but let me ask you. Just look at the big picture. They have had bankruptcies. He is doing previous
videos about how infidelity can really hurt a marriage, that`s from the past. OK, so, I mean, it`s bigger than just those videos.
BANFIELD: I hear you. I hear you. You know what, we`re not even scratching the surface right now. Straight ahead, there`s this mystery woman at the
center of this tragedy, the co-worker that Chris eventually told police he was having an affair with, after lying to them about it.
So, what`s next for her? And does she need an attorney because we have seen this movie before?
[18:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just seems like I`m living in a nightmare and I can`t get out of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My office filed formal charges against Christopher Lee Watts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police say that Chris Watts confessed to killing his wife, but not their two young daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She loved those girls and those girls loved her. I am sickened that a parent, a father could do that to his children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We didn`t want to believe that he was capable of anything, but he`s a monster.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: We`re still talking about the family murder case that is rocking this country. Two little girls found dead on their daddy`s work site.
[18:50:00] Their pregnant mom buried nearby. And police say Chris Watts was the one who killed them all.
But his story is definitely different, because he is owning up to killing mom, but only after he says he flew into a rage when he caught his wife
strangling both of those little girls. The little girls that she could not stop posting about, caring for and loving. From a guy who has told lie
after lie after lie.
Gloria Allred is with me as is my panel. But Gloria, I could not help but think that when the story came out, that there is another woman, he was
having an affair at work, that this other woman`s life is about to fall apart.
Notwithstanding whether she could be criminally implicated here, notwithstanding whether she could be a conspirator here, we know nothing
like that, because it`s all redacted. But you represented Amber Frey, the girlfriend of Scott Peterson, and her life blew up. What do you expect that
you`ll see with this woman, given that you`ve gone down this road with Amber Frey?
ALLRED: I expect that she`s already been talked with by law enforcement. I would expect that she would have disclosed whatever she knew to law
enforcement. I hope that she`s not blaming herself.
Right now, we don`t have any information whatsoever that would lead anyone to conclude that she had anything to do with it, so I think she enjoys the
presumption of innocence. And it may be that she didn`t even know what he was planning. I don`t even know if she knew that he was married and had a
pregnant wife and two little girls.
We don`t know what she knew. But you`re right, Ashleigh, her life has changed as soon as he did what he did. That would be the interviews and
anything that he did that caused any deaths. This is someone who should definitely not only be talking to law enforcement, she should be talking to
a private attorney, and she should do it immediately.
BANFIELD: Because the investigators, and Tom Fuentes, jump in here, the investigators will be combing through her phones, her computers, her
tablets, her laptops. Anything from work. Any kind of work product. Any kind of e-mails. They will be looking for every single conversation this
pair had.
TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They certainly would, Ashleigh. But you know, again, I would think at this point that might be a
very low probability of determining that she was somehow a co-conspirator in this or encouraged him that, you know, if you don`t get rid of them,
we`re through, you know, some type of communication like that. Now, it`s not impossible, but I would think it`s not likely.
BANFIELD: Yeah. But it is going to be very difficult. I think you`re right, Gloria. She`s going to need a lawyer if she doesn`t already have
one. And my guess is, she`s got to have one right now.
ALLRED: Yes. She doesn`t necessarily need a lawyer because she has any criminal culpability or any risk that she might have of criminal
culpability --
BANFIELD: She needs to know the position she`s in. That`s for sure. Hold your thought for a minute, Gloria.
ALLRED: She needs someone to be able to speak to the media, for example.
BANFIELD: Yeah, no kidding, because it`s going to get big when her name gets out. The scene outside of Chris and Shennan`s house, it grew into a
massive public memorial. Friends and neighbors and even strangers came there to comfort each other and mourn Shennan`s loss and the loss of those
two little girls.
And now all of those teddy bears and stuffed animals are going to be headed to other kids in need. We`re going to tell you how and why, next.
[18:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Over the past two weeks, Chris and Shennan Watts` front yard became a memorial to the mother with the million-dollar smile and her two
beautiful babies. Neighbors and strangers leaving flowers, cards, and countless stuffed animals. Not just 20 or 30 of them, several hundred teddy
bears and other kinds of toys.
But now one of their neighbors is working to get those stuffed toys into the hands of others who also need them. Trent John says he loaded up his
suburban with the toys after meeting Shennan`s father and her brother last week.
Blankets in honor of Bella and Celeste is a volunteer effort that will turn those stuffed animals into little blankets that can then be redistributed
to first responders and given to kids in crisis. And in this case, it is perhaps appropriate that Shennan has the last word on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that everything in life happens for a reason. And I also believe people are placed in our life for a reason. No
matter how hard life gets, no matter how low you feel, know that deep down, like, in your heart, that there`s a purpose, there`s a reason for
everything.
[19:00:00] We may not understand it at the time. There`s a plan. No matter what your beliefs in life are, what you believe in, there`s always a plan
for everything. That is my belief, anyway.
(LAUGHTER)
[19:00:00] SHANANN WATTS, WIFE OF CHRIS WATTS: I believe it. And because I`m a living proof that something good comes out of everything negative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HLN HOST: The next hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE starts right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am sickened that a parent, a father, could do that to his children.
AMANDA THAYER, FRIEND OF CHRIS WATTS: He just didn`t seem like the type of guy to injure a fly.
BANFIELD (voice-over): Cops say he`s the reason his family mysteriously went missing.
CHRIS WATTS, HUSBAND OF CHRIS WATTS: I don`t know -- I don`t know where my kids are. I don`t know where Shanann is.
BANFIELD (voice-over): But he did know. Because their bodies were found at his work site.
Those two little girls had reportedly been submerged in an oil well for days.
And in a bombshell revelation, he pinned the blame on his wife.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To think that a wife would kill her children after her husband said that he wants to leave is pretty far out. I could see her
wanting to kill him, though.
BANFIELD (voice-over): So what really happened in that home?
C. WATTS: We had an emotional conversation, but I`ll leave it at that.
BANFIELD (voice-over): Which parent had reason to kill the kids?
S. WATTS: What do you want to do when you grow up?
BELLA WATTS, DAUGHTER OF CHRIS WATTS: Play with mommy and daddy.
BANFIELD (voice-over): What could have made Shanann and Chris Watts go from happy couple to a headline case of homicide.
LAURA, BABYSITTER TO THE WATTS FAMILY: Immediate thought was love. The way that she looked at him and the way that he looked at her.
BANFIELD (voice-over): Are there clues in the countless pictures and videos posted online --
C. WATTS: Do I have the desire to keep this relationship going?
S. WATTS: We`re not promised tomorrow.
BANFIELD (voice-over): -- that the Watts family wasn`t quite what they seemed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield. Welcome to the second hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE.
You can learn a lot about someone by scrolling through their Facebook page. And Shanann Watts didn`t just leave some happy memories on her. She left
behind a master scrapbook. Page after page in tribute to her kids, post after post about helping other people, and maybe most important, an
endearing dedication to the man she says changed her life.
The husband who, at the depth of her lows, lifted her up to the happiest place on earth. The man she declared was the best thing that ever happened
to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
S. WATTS: I was diagnosed with some health challenges, and then I met Chris. He knew me at my worst and he accepted me. And, you know, through
your vows, like, through sickness and everything, he`s been there. And he stuck around because he was the one for me. And he is amazing, and I can`t
tell you how wonderful he is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: But that indescribably wonderful man is now locked up alone in a Colorado jail, charged with murdering his entire family after police say he
cheated on Shanann.
And while Shanann had nothing but praise for her husband, Chris Watts, police say, has told quite a different story about her. Saying that doting
wife you see on Facebook is actually a double murderer. The one who really killed their kids, strangling the two young daughters that she appeared to
love so much.
And if that sounds far-fetched to you, you are, by no means, alone. There is now an army digging through her digital profile for clues to prove Chris
wrong. That is if the police and their forensic teams don`t beat them to the punch.
And what are the clues that only Chris` mistress might know? HLN producer Stacey Newman joins me now from the field. She`s been out in Frederick,
Colorado.
Do you know anything more about this mystery woman, the woman with whom he was having an affair, according to the police and even denied it to the
police?
STACEY NEWMAN, HLN PRODUCER (via telephone): Well, Ashleigh, you know, I went to what we believe is her family home earlier today and knocked on
doors, and I found it interesting that a lot of neighbors there didn`t want to talk or had signs up on their doors already telling people not to knock
on their doors, which led me to believe that we were getting warmer.
I did go to that home. I did knock on their door. No answer. No cars in the driveway. And literally, the home itself, it seems like they have
closed up shop, and there are no lights on in the house.
[19:04:59] Also, rumors are just swirling about who this mistress is. We know she worked at Anadarko.
And, Ashleigh, we did find, at some point in our research today, a relative of who we believe is the alleged mistress. But they, too, have appeared to
have gone silent, which means the trail is getting warmer, and I think we`re going to find her imminently.
BANFIELD: And that will be a very difficult day for that woman. Her life is about to change irrevocably. We know that from the Scott Peterson case.
We know that Amber Frey became a household name as the girlfriend of Scott Peterson.
Pat LaLama, as a crime journalist, this stood out to me. In the affidavit, the warrantless arrest affidavit, when it comes to who this mistress was or
is -- I want to read specifically.
A two-day investigation revealed Chris was actively involved in an affair with a coworker, which he denied in previous interviews -- and then it goes
black. That`s what you call the redaction pen. And it scratches out at least three lines and an additional line after that.
We know so little about this woman, but don`t you find it remarkable that tongues aren`t wagging at work, that something hasn`t leaked out about the
person who just vanished or who`s gone underground?
PAT LALAMA, MANAGING EDITOR, "CRIME WATCH DAILY WITH CHRIS HANSEN": Well, I think people are very wary of making her look guilty of something. At
this point, we have no knowledge she even knows that the guy was married.
And you know what, Ashleigh, let me just throw out there. Drew Peterson, Scott Peterson, and allegedly O.J. Simpson killed their wives, but they
fooled around. It wasn`t about a mistress. It wasn`t about wanting so desperately to be with one woman.
I think we look at the financial issues. I`m starting to think, possibly, he did not want to finance another child, he like -- much like Scott
Peterson. You know, if I want her out of the picture, I don`t want them anywhere on this -- you know, on this planet.
I don`t think it`s about a mistress. And I`m just guessing right now that she is probably in hiding but has spoken to cops.
BANFIELD: But, Tom Fuentes, as our CNN senior law enforcement analyst, and maybe more importantly for this question, the former FBI Assistant
Director, it won`t matter what the spidey senses are of investigators.
They are doing a deep dive into every single digital trail between this woman, this affair, and Chris Watts because, well, you know, let`s not
forget, everything happens digitally now. Every text, every e-mail, all phone calls. Many of them happen from your personal device. And many of
them are company devices, which can be subpoenaed pretty easy.
TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, they can subpoena all of those records, Ashleigh, but that doesn`t mean they`re going to immediately
turn it over to the public. And especially in this case, you can see from the redaction on the documents that they`re protecting her identity.
They`re keeping her, at least at this point, out of public view.
But, you know, the fact that they worked at a small company, I would find it hard to believe that she wouldn`t know that he`s married and has
children. That would probably be common knowledge, especially with other people seeing her on Facebook with all of these postings.
But, you know, whether she`s still going to work at that small company or whether she`s left town and she`s going to go somewhere else, we don`t know
at this point. But, you know, if --
BANFIELD: Let me ask you, Tom, you know, they often refer in the movies to the burner phone. And a lot of times, the affair will be had on a burner
phone. Not your work phone, not your personal iPhone that beeps up messages, face up on the breakfast table, but a burner phone.
Did the FBI have a pretty good track on how to track down burner phones? Because they have to be paid for some way.
FUENTES: Oh, absolutely, there`ll be a phone record. You`ll have the location of the cell towers that were hit, the calls that he made. No
matter what kind of phone he has or she has, they would have had an exchange of phone calls, text messages, other things. And, of course, as
we`ve seen in other cases here in Washington, the text messages will be located and will be read and discovered and eventually probably released.
But I think at this point, it`s going to be pretty hard. It doesn`t sound to me like there was any great effort on their part to conceal this affair
that they were having. And I think that`s why they probably, in the interrogation, were able to paint him into a corner where he finally
admitted it.
BANFIELD: Well, it sounds to me like they already had a beat on some of his indiscretions because they said they -- he denied it to them, and then
they confronted him with it. And so clearly, they knew something that he didn`t know they knew.
At this point, I want to go out to the location of the -- the scene of the crime, in fact. That extremely lonely oil field where those two little
girls were submerged in oil tanks for four days and where Shanann`s pregnant body with that little boy that she was going to name Niko Lee --
where she was buried in a shallow grave nearby.
Stacey Newman, I know you spent a lot of the day actually taking the drive out to that very remote location. And oftentimes, telltale clues can
surface when you`re just on the drive and noticing things that might go unnoticed otherwise. What were your observations?
[19:10:09] NEWMAN (via telephone): Well, my first obvious observation was the 50-minute, almost one-hour drive from the family home, which would tell
me he drove with three deceased bodies in his vehicle almost an hour.
Also, what I noticed was, closer to the crime scene, it is such a remote location, full of barbed wire fences, acres and acres. You have to drive
over gravel road. You have to have a reason, Ashleigh, to be in that area, and you have to know exactly where you`re going.
Local residents would not know where to go out there. The only vehicles I saw were landscapers, utility trucks, pickup trucks, and possibly people
that work in this industry. So to me, it sounds like Chris Watts had a plan and knew exactly where he was going to go.
And many suspects, as we know, from covering so many of these cases, Ashleigh, go to places that are familiar to them.
BANFIELD: Yes, this is true. This is true. And you know what, Robert Schalk, as a former prosecutor, I`m sure you`re going over in your head all
the things that look terrible for this man. But I am also curious about the physicality of actually taking a 130 to 150 -- I don`t know how much
Shanann weighed at that time, there`s some talk online about her weighing 139 pounds -- of dead weight. Pardon the pun, but it`s true.
It`s extremely hard to lift that much weight out of your truck and to take it to a burial site. That perhaps this is why he figured, I cannot carry
her up whatever steps or ladders it`s going to require to get her into the oil tanks. I`m going to have to just bury her.
ROBERT SCHALK, FORMER ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY FOR NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK: Right. And you have to consider -- which is where the law
enforcement is going to be scouring his phone for text messages or whatever -- was there an accomplice?
Did anybody help him? Were there text messages exchanged? What phone numbers did he call immediately thereafter? Does he have or are there any
video cameras at the location that comes on to take him to the oil tankers?
I mean, carrying a 139 to a 150-pound person with deadweight over your shoulder --
BANFIELD: Is hard.
SCHALK: I mean, he looks like he`s in good shape in the photos that are on Facebook --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHALK: -- but even then --
BANFIELD: It`s a lot.
SCHALK: -- it`s extremely difficult. And you have to get it from the truck to even the grave or wherever it`s going.
BANFIELD: Which would be fascinating because that would make you winded, which leads me to Marc Saltzman. As a technology expert, Marc, we couldn`t
help but notice in a lot of those -- oh, we don`t have Marc with us, unfortunately. My apologies.
But I mentioned one thing, Bob, and that was that, in a lot of those videos, lo and behold, what was he wearing? He was wearing an Apple watch.
SCHALK: Right.
BANFIELD: He was wearing an Apple watch and so was she.
SCHALK: Correct.
BANFIELD: Do we have those videos? I want to show some of these images. They were both wearing Apple watches. And Marc said before that that will
actually track your energy level.
SCHALK: It`s like a Fitbit.
BANFIELD: You`re -- it`s like a Fitbit. It will tell you what your spikes in activity are. So you would imagine that the story he tells about
Shanann would be easily trackable if those watches are up to date.
SCHALK: Right. Hers, obviously, would spike higher with regards to potentially her heart rate and her activity level if she, in fact, carried
out these two murders, as he claims. Or her heart rate, her activity will be low and his will spike extremely high during the period of time. So if
they`re consistent with one or the other, it`s going to either help his defense or assist the prosecution in burying his defense.
BANFIELD: Yes. Gloria Allred, I want to bring you into this conversation. You know, having formerly represented Amber Frey in the Scott Peterson
case, I think her life was just completely turned upside down. And I`m going to get to that in a minute, but I want your knowledge as a lawyer
first.
One of the things that a lot of the people who watch this program and have commented on the Facebook videos noticed, that when Chris Watts stands
outside on the porch, begging us all to help find his missing family, a lot of people on Facebook noticed that he seemed to have red marks on his neck.
Now, we looked at a lot of these photos. We isolated them. We tried to see what they were seeing. In certain light, you can see a red mark. But
is that going to be enough for investigators to get anything, in terms of what kind of struggle might have gone down in that house?
GLORIA ALLRED, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR AMBER FREY: Yes, I think that they`re going to have the forensics, they have his inconsistent statements, and I
think they`ve got plenty. And my guess is they could file this very, very quickly, if they wished to.
I do want to say, although I haven`t spoken at all to this unnamed person who apparently was a girlfriend or at least was having some sort of
relationship with Chris Watts, we want to be careful. We don`t want to call her a mistress. She -- we don`t know that he was supporting her in
any way.
We don`t know what he told her. Obviously, he`s very good at lying, so he may have also told her a lot of lies. He may have said that --
BANFIELD: Well, actually, I`m glad you mentioned that because --
ALLRED: -- he and his wife were separated.
BANFIELD: I`m glad you mentioned the lies because that`s coming up in a moment, and I`m going to talk to you a little bit more after the break
about the Amber Frey connection and what it means for this woman.
[19:15:04] But the day after Shanann and the girls vanished, Chris Watts, you`ll remember, made those rounds with all the local news cameras, just
begging for whomever had them to please bring them back.
And up until now, we have only been privy to bits and pieces of that interview, but now we have the whole thing. The whole raw seven minutes.
Minute after minute of bald-faced lies. And we know that because he finally copped to actually dumping them at his work site.
Coming up after the break, you`re going to be able to watch this man in his lies, moment for moment, and judge just how easy it is for him to lie.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:37] BANFIELD: When a crime is he said/she said, and she is not alive to speak for herself, well, then what he says really gets dissected.
Especially when what he says at first is that his pregnant wife and daughters are just missing. And then what he says once he`s arrested for
their murders is a completely different story.
Eventually, a jury is going to have to decide whether Chris Watts indeed killed his entire family or not. And when they do, it may all come down
this.
This raw, seven-minute interview that Chris gave to KMGH reporters just a day after he, himself, disposed of all three of their bodies. In an
interview we now know was a complete and total lie, a lie he seemed to have absolutely no problem telling, as the cameras just kept on rolling.
It sort of brings back to mind Casey Anthony, who lied through her teeth about her little girl going missing.
Well, now investigators say, Chris wants us to believe that it was his wife who killed their kids, not him. And he doesn`t just want us to believe
him. He needs us to believe him.
But this interview might make it real difficult for anyone to ever believe anything that comes out of his mouth again. I present to you a liar,
uncut.
[19:30:00] ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: and he took the police to where he buried them, so all of this is a complete and utter lie,
eye contact and all. And it wasn`t just one time. This is the Denver ABC station he spoke to. He also spoke with two other affiliates.
Any camera that would come by, he`d give the same sob story to, without the sobbing. Gloria, I`ll read your reaction to this?
GLORIA ALLRED, FORMER ATTORNEY FOR AMBER FREY: Well, first of all, it appears to be consciousness of guilt. But beyond that, you know, it`s
amazing that he apparently thinks that he`s smarter than law enforcement, he`s smarter than the press and he can just go out there and give his
story.
You can see from his body language, how defensive he is. He has his arms crossed all the time. And he appears to talk about the children, very
little mention, if any, of his wife. And you know, what he`s trying to do is just so absurd.
It actually, I think, probably angers the public, even more than if he had stayed silent, because he`s lying in everybody`s face.
BANFIELD: Yes, this is what`s so critical, Robert, honestly, if it goes to trial, and if it is not pled out in some way, a jury is going to watch
this. And the prosecutor, I`m guessing, you`re a good prosecutor, you would probably look at this as a bonanza.
Show the jury this guy, and say, so he wants us to believe that his wife did all the killing, killed those children. That he just got mad and
killed her, you know, in reaction to that. This is how good a liar he is. Ladies and gentlemen, watch this. Watch him lie. And then you tell me if
you`re comfortable believing him now.
ROBERT SCHALK, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Right, it will be exhibits one, two, three, four, will be video recorded statement one to the one affiliate,
two, three, and down the road to see if he`s one, consistent, or two, inconsistent.
But what`s very important about that conversation he had with that T.V. news camera was, he said something very telling about the kids, I knew I
wasn`t going be turning the lights in their bedroom on that night.
Well, if you don`t know where they are, how do you know you`re not going to be turning the lights out? Because subconsciously, he was speaking, he
knew where they were.
BANFIELD: It`s permanent.
SCHALK: Right. He was there in the oil drum and his wife was on the ground, and he had at least, in his own mind, admitted to killing --
BANFIELD: Well, those are the tells. And if we -- you know, if he had at least, in his own mind, admitted to -- I would be looking for those tells.
But what I`m more exacerbated by is the fact that he is so good at lying.
He has no compunction whatsoever. Look at the eye contact, staring straight at that Denver7 reporter and spewing a whole load of crap. And
then, having the audacity, Gloria, to say, when the reporter asked you, did she just took off? No, you know, I don`t want to put that out there. Not
-- no, good God, my wife would never do that, no. No, he`s not defending her at all. He`s just happily and easily lying.
ALLRED: And Ashleigh, you know, the prisons are filled with criminals who thought that they could lie their way out of any consequences of any crime
that they committed or they just didn`t think that they would ever be caught, or both.
This is just really, really, just outrageous. And I think that this is a defendant or a potential defendant who better not ask for a jury trial. He
better ask for a bench trial or he better be thinking about a plea, if he can get one, from the prosecutor.
BANFIELD: You know, I tend to think you`re absolutely right, Gloria. I don`t see how a jury could look at that seven minutes. My guarantee is
that there`s another 7, maybe another 14, maybe there`s 30 minutes of him lying straight to camera, over and over and over again.
I`m sure and jury`s don`t like to see that someone`s that good at lying. All right, hold your thoughts, if you will. We still got a lot to come.
In fact, there are a couple of things that we noticed as well that were a little surprising in these photographs in and around the home.
Like, Chris was always wearing this purple bracelet in support of the lupus that his wife had been diagnosed with. He was wearing it in almost all the
pictures, in fact, but he wasn`t wearing it when she went missing, in those famous interviews from the porch.
That and there were some unusual marks on his neck, you may or may not have seen. We`ll talk about that next.
[19:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SHANANN WATTS, WIFE OF CHRIS WATTS: I stuck around because he was the one for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When somebody is not faithful to their partner, the partners realize that the relationship cannot be sustained.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He could be cheating, but at the same time, she was like, he has no game.
WATTS: I can`t tell you how wonderful he is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is one key detail that police say that Watts left out, that he has been having an extra marital affair with a co-worker.
WATTS: He knew me at my worst and he accepted me.
BANFIELD: From family man to suspected murder three times over. Colorado`s Chris Watts is becoming a household name, accused of killing his
pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters, Bella and Cece (INAUDIBLE) they were simply missing.
But one question towers above the rest, why would someone do this? Why would someone murder his entire family? And what would he want instead of
the life that he had with them?
[19:40:00] I want to bring back my panel, but at the same time, I want to show you something that Shanann actually posted on her Facebook, that I
think in retrospect, may be a clue. It`s possible she might have known.
It`s possible she might have had an inkling there was someone else in his life, because on June 22nd, and this is the day that she and her husband
are on their way to a San Diego trip. She posts, success is my best revenge!
Look, that could be innocuous, but who knows what it means. It`s on the weekend, right before they`re headed off for a loving weekend, in which
they`re photographed actually hugging, and it looks like a fantastic weekend trip away, from the 22nd of June to the 26th of June, but this was
how this trip was launched.
Maybe even more fascinating is the purple bracelet, it signifies support for lupus, the disease that Shanann was diagnosed with. And in so many of
the videos and the photographs, the Facebook profile, the online digital pictures, he`s wearing that lupus bracelet.
Just about everywhere, he`s got that bracelet on. Except for the day he faced all the T.V. cameras to say his wife was missing. His wedding ring
was missing and his lupus bracelet was missing too, and that didn`t go unnoticed by a lot of people.
There is this very unusual thing we noticed, though, in the digital profile. What looked like a loving father, making something to eat for his
baby daughter, singing a T.V. diddy. There`s a reason I`m getting to this, but I want you to see it first.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER WATTS, MURDER SUSPECT OF SHANANN WATTS: Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog. Hot dog, hot dog, hot diggity dog. It`s a brand-new day,
what you waiting for? Get up, stretch out, get on the floor
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: So this is Chris Watts, singing to his daughter. But the caption that went with this post is very uncomfortable. It probably means
nothing, but nonetheless, it is eerie. Shanann Watts posted it with the caption; he`s going to kill me.
The hashtag says, he`s going to kill me. It is simply remarkable to see this now, knowing what ultimately ended up happening. Pat Lalama, I know
that that`s not something that is a fact in the case, but it is uncomfortable, nonetheless.
PAT LALAMA, CRIME JOURNALIST, BROADCAST JOURNALIST: Yes, you know what, Ashleigh? I`ve never seen that entire seven-minute tape and I`m -- I don`t
even know what to say. I`m never at a loss for words --
BANFIELD: Jaw-dropping.
LALAMA: But he`s not a good liar, he`s a terrible liar. Because who says, oh, I miss them, you know, turning off the lights and say -- it just
doesn`t make any sense where he`s going with this interview. And this -- they should play this tape at law school and show people why defense
attorneys don`t want to put their clients on the stand.
Back to your question, I feel, looking at this now, deeper and deeper, is that this marriage was a sham. And I`m going to take my journalist cap on,
you know, put this subjective cap on. I think she was desperate to keep it happy. I think she was so desperately trying to convince herself that
everything was good. But in my mind, I think we`re going to find out that there were so many problems, and it doesn`t just have to do with this
mistress.
BANFIELD: I don`t know. I`ve watched so many hours of this young woman posting and, you know, she stream of consciousness most of the time, but it
really sounds like she is madly in love with him and thinks he is the world. These pictures are just so --
LALAMA: But Ashleigh --
BANFIELD: disquieting, too.
LALAMA: I`m sorry for interrupting, but let me ask you, if you`ve look at the big picture, they`ve had bankruptcies, he`s doing previous videos about
how infidelity can really hurt a marriage. That`s from the past. OK, so, I mean, it`s bigger than just the mistress.
BANFIELD: I hear you, I hear you. And you know what, we`re not even scratching the surface right now. Straight ahead, there`s this mystery
woman at the center of this tragedy, the co-worker that Chris eventually told police he was having an affair with, after lying to them about it.
So what`s next for her? And does she need an attorney because we have seen this movie before.
[19:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WATTS: It just seems like I`m living in a nightmare and I can`t get out of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My office filed formal charges against Christopher Lee Watts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police said that Chris Watts confessed to killing his wife, but not their two young daughters.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She loved those girls and those girls loved her. I`m sickened that a parent, a father, could do that to his children.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn`t want to believe that he was capable of anything, that, he`s a monster.
BANFIELD: We`re still talking about the family murder case that is rocking this country. Two little girls found dead on their daddy`s work site.
Their pregnant mom buried nearby and police say Chris Watts was the one who killed them all.
But his story is definitely different, because he`s owning up to killing mom. But only after he says he flew into a rage when he caught his wife,
strangling, both of those little girls, the little girls that she could not stop posting about, caring for, and loving, from a guy who has told lie
after lie after lie.
[19:50:00] Gloria Allred is with me, as is my panel. But Gloria, I could not help but think, when the story came out, that there`s another woman, he
was having an affair at work but this other woman`s life is about to fall apart. Not with standing whether she could be criminally implicated here.
Not with standing whether she could be a conspirator here. We know nothing like that because it`s all redacted.
But you represented Amber Frey, girlfriend of Scott Peterson, and her life blew up. What do you expect that you`ll see with this woman, given that
you`ve gone down this road with Amber Frey?
ALLRED: I expect that she`s already been talked with by law enforcement. I would expect that she would have disclosed whatever she knew to law
enforcement. I hope that she`s not blaming herself. Right now, we don`t have any information whatsoever that would lead anyone to conclude that she
had anything to do with it.
So, I think she enjoys the presumption of innocence. And it may be that she didn`t even know what he was planning. I don`t even know if she knew
that he was married and had a pregnant wife and two little girls. We don`t know what she knew, but you`re right, Ashleigh, her life has changed as
soon as he did what he did, that would be the interviews and anything that he did that caused any deaths.
This is someone who should definitely not only be talking to law enforcement; she should be talking to a private attorney --
BANFIELD: So without questioning -- no kidding.
ALLRED: She should do it immediately.
BANFIELD: The investigators and Tom Fuentes jumped in here. The investigators will be combing through her phones, her computers, her
tablets, her laptops, anything from work, any kind of work product, any kind of e-mails. They will be looking for every single conversation this
pair had.
TOM FUENTES, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They certainly would, Ashleigh. But, you know -- and again, I would think at this point, it
might be a very low probability of determining that she was somehow a co- conspirator in this or encouraged him, that, you know, if you don`t get rid of them, we`re through, we`re -- you know, some type of communication like
that.
It`s not impossible, but I would think it`s not likely.
BANFIELD: Yes. But it is going to be very difficult. I think you`re right, Gloria. She`s going to need a lawyer if she doesn`t already have
one and my guess is she`s got to have one right now.
ALLRED: Yes, and she doesn`t necessarily need a lawyer because she has any criminal culpability or any risk that she might have a criminal culpability
--
BANFIELD: She needs to know the position she`s in, that`s for sure. Hold that thought for a minute, Gloria.
ALLRED: She needs someone to be able to speak to the media, for example.
BANFIELD: Yes, no kidding because it`s going to get big when her name gets out. The scene outside of Chris and Shanann`s house grew into a massive
public memorial. Friends and neighbors, even strangers came there to comfort each other and mourn Shanann`s loss and loss of those two little
girls.
And now, all of those teddy bears and stuffed animals are going to be headed to other kids in need. We`ll tell you how and why, next.
[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BANFIELD: Over the past two weeks, Chris and Shanann Watts` front yard has become a memorial to the mother with the million-dollar smile, and her two
beautiful baby girls. Neighbors and even complete strangers have come to leave flowers, and cards and all of these stuffed animals you see.
Not just 20 or 30 stuffed animals, literally, several hundred teddy bears and toys, candles, mementos. And now, one of their neighbors is working to
get those stuffed toys into the hands of others who also need them.
Trent John says he loaded up this suburban with the toys after he met with Shanann`s father and her brother last week. His organization is called
blankets in honor of Bella and Celeste, and it`s a volunteer effort that will turn the stuffed animals into small blankets, that can be
redistributed to first responders and given to kids in crisis.
And in this case, it is perhaps only appropriate that Shanonn Watts has the last word on that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WATTS: I believe that everything in life happens for a reason, and I also believe people are placed in our life for a reason. No matter how hard
life gets, no matter how low you feel, know that deep down, like in your heart, that there`s a purpose. There is a reason for everything.
We may not understand it at the time, there is a plan. No matter what your beliefs in life are, what you believe in, there`s always a plan for
everything. And that`s my belief, anyway. I believe it. And because I`m living proof that something good comes out of everything negative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BANFIELD: We`ll see you right back here again, tomorrow night at 6:00 Eastern. Thank you so much for watching. "SOMETHING`S KILLING ME" with
B.D. Wong, begins right now.
END
