Middle Age

 Yo! Middle Age!

You look up at the stage and what do you see? 
        A fat little woman!
            Yo! That's me!
I got snow on my roof,
    and if you need more proof,
        I got wrinkles on my face.
            Hell, they're all over the place.

Yo! Yo! Yo! Middle age!
Oy! Oy! Oy! Middle age!

Boobs start drooping,

No longer a girl's prow.

Don't laugh men, your bits will soon dangle like udders on a cow.

Arms aren't long enough

    to see the writing on the wall.

Now it's bifocals to read,

    and hearing aids to hear

        a singing bird's call.

Sitting on the floor

    is no longer balm for the soul.

To rise up again you need a stout pole.

Yo! Yo! Yo! Middle age!

Oy! Oy! Oy! Middle age!

Aloha arms have wave hello and goodbye.

Brown Posts emerge and skin goes dry.

Sex becomes arid, say hi to KY.

Leering at the young is not to be done.

Labelled cougar and dirty old man

    just for having your fun.

Skin goes thin,

    joints start to ache,

        newly brittle bones threaten to break.

Time marches onward

    like a rabid pit bull pup.

Hey! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Yo! Yo! Yo! Middle age!

Oy! Oy! Oy! Middle age!

Hair will sprout in new and strange places.

Time puts us through some brand new paces.

Less time is left; so much more left behind;

    But I'm pretty sure you will find

        Even though aging is not always so kind

            It's good to look back and laugh at your youth;

helped out, perhaps, with some gin and vermouth.

Yo! Yo! Yo! Middle age!

Oy! Oy! Oy! Middle age!

Watts in Jail

 I just watched the first video of Watts in jail. He must have felt very important at that time. They appeared to have emptied out an entire pod of inmates so they could process him. They didn't process him in a regular intake, but they have him, all on his own, in an empty pod, with 9-10 staff. Three guards, and what appear to be intake/processing staff are taking finger/hand prints, foot prints, and such, All done away from the general intake and population.

I'm sure he felt very special and very important.

Shanann/Niko, Bella, Celeste - Part 2

 Police interview with Nickole Atkinson, friend of Shanann

Police interview with Nicolas - Nickole's son

Nick and Amanda Thayer talk to the press about their regrets that they had Watts in their home after the murders of Shanann/Niko, Bella, and Celeste

Police interview with Lauren Arnold - long time friend of Shanann

Watts is currently looking at some kind of relief on his sentence based on a lot of things that don't make a whole lot of sense. A lawyer who hosts the channel "Crime Talk" on You Tube has said that Watts doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting that relief. He said that the judge made certain that Watts was happy with the services of his lawyers, that he understood totally the consequences of taking the plea, including giving up the right to appeal and that he could, as was his right, go to trial. Watts indicated that he understood all of that and still agreed to the plea bargain. 

Watts has not told the whole truth about the tragedy he created.  I think he has told snippets of the truth, but by changing his story he makes it impossible to untangle the Gordian's Knot he tied. The only truth is that he killed all of his family and that Shanann was totally innocent. Shanann was incapacitated in some way to prevent her from fighting him. Bella and Celeste had no chance against a grown man. 

Watts has not ever had as much power as he has now. Even though he's confined to a prison, he's got his groupies who write to him and tell him how wonderful he is. He has others who are praying for him, for whatever reason they have. Most importantly, he has his sycophant family hanging on his every word and fulfilling his every whim. I've listened to tapes of his family's conversations with him and, if they were like this to him as a child, it's no wonder he turned out to be the way he is. He also holds the secret to how and why he murdered his family. Just like any psychopath/narcissist person, he glories in the mess he made and continuing turmoil he creates in the lives of others. He is right where he belongs.

Shanann/Niko, Bella, Celeste Part 1

I hope you have lots of time because I've got several embedded videos, one over 5 hours in length, that I curated into this page to try and give as complete a picture as I could.

   

For some reason this case has caused me to obsessively seek out information and watch videos regarding Shanann's, Bella's and Celeste's murders. 

As this documentary says, much of the information available is all about Chris Watts, how, why, etc. The victims, his wife, Shanann, their 1/2 way to term fetus, Niko, and their two beautiful, pre-school daughters, Bella and Celeste are side actors the main character. The first documentary I have listed here is much more about Shanann and her efforts to save her marriage, her love for her husband and love for her daughters and soon to be born, son. It also has some interesting insights into narcissism, covert (Chris) and overt (his mother) and the dynamics that combined to create the tragic events that Chris caused (not, I didn't say "what happened" because he created the situation and was the prime mover and shaker). 

Shanann Rzucek Story:

 

Police bodycam footage in chronological order the day Shanann, Bella and Celeste Watts were reported missing: Note, when the cadaver dogs are going through the house the barking is very loud on headphones. The house is echo-y (apparently not a word, but hey, I'm a sociologist so I get to make words up like that) and the barking reverberates dreadfully. So, if you don't want a headache, turn the volume down. Also note, there is a spooky bit when the woman handler and accompanying police officer enter Shanann's closet...

Body language analysis Part 1

 

Body language analysis Part 2

Body language analysis Part 3 - interrogation room

 

Bodycam footage with body language and clue notations

Full interrogation:

Right up to the very end, Chris appeared to think he could get away with murdering his family. It was only when he was talking to his father that he seemed to realize that they didn't believe him. However, being the narcissist that he is, he could not fathom that he would be arrested for it. So he copped to murdering Shanann and used the defense of righteous indignation that she killed her babies, something that no one who knew Shanann could ever conceive of let alone entertain for even a millisecond.

I've seen very good interrogation tactics (e.g. the interrogation of Col. Russell Williams) and this one was close to that. Though they had to pull out all the stops to get him in the end. All to get the bodies of Shannan/Niko, Bella, and Celeste so that their family could say proper goodbyes. 

In court for sentencing after agreeing to a plea deal that will convict him of murdering Shannann/Niko, Bella, and Celeste. He previously said that Shanann murdered the girls and he killed her in a fit of rage.

FBI, CBI, and Fredrick police interview of Watts in Dodge Correctional Prison in Wisconsin

 

Part 1:

 

  Part 2:

  

The letter he wrote to Cheryln Cadle which was included in her book, "Letters from Christopher" and his newer and less sanitized version of how he planned and then executed Shanann/Niko, Bella and Celeste. The You Tuber also put the text over pictures so you can mute it if you don't like the rather electronic voice that reads the letter. 

This letter proves that his family was not important in the least to him. For a time they were very useful to help him maintain a façade that stroked his ego. He was the good guy who helped people, an adoring and doting father, a loving husband who would do anything for his wife and family. His desires changed when he met Nichol Kessinger. It was then that his family became extra baggage that was weighing him down. He didn't want anything of his old life, that included his children. They were no longer useful to him. However, Chris mixes truth with lies so it's hard to tell anymore and really the hows and whys are less important to me than the fact that he fully admits that he snuffed the life out of a pregnant woman and two helpless preschool children.

Not only that, he spent years lying about Shanann to his friends so that they would always doubt her. He also lied to his own family about her, not that his mother needed much of an excuse it seems. He was the good guy who remained married to a woman who treated him poorly, who faked her illnesses, etc. He was the long suffering man who was there for his kids. They had a nasty awakening to discover that he was, in fact, duping them. All the while Shanann was lauding him. Her family thought he was the best and said so frequently, in stark contrast to his mother's opinion of Shanann (made crystal clear in her many interviews prior to Chris's acknowledgement that he murdered his little girls).

Full table of contents for case file 

Full redacted (edited) case file

Police audio of first interview of Nichol Kissenger

Police video of second interview of Nicol Kissenger

Do I believe that Kessinger knew of his plan to wipe out his family? Maybe. She may have deleted stuff that made it look like she had more knowledge, or perhaps she wanted to ensure that the police didn't know how much knowledge she had. Was she directly involved? I doubt it. One thing is for certain, she  has only a nodding acquaintanceship with the concept of being honest. The police may have looked at her, they may still be looking at her, but lack sufficient evidence to get them anywhere. 

So now, those people who would have labelled Shanann as a controlling shrew, who forced him into a place where he just had to kill his entire family just to escape, can shut up. The Rzuceks have shown far more compassion, far more grace, and far more class, than anyone in the Watts family, both through Shanann's marriage to Christopher, and after her murder. They loved him and they accepted him into their family, and according the the FBI agent who saw Chris at Dodge Correctional, still love him.

So sad.