Kathleen McKenna Hewtson - Blood & Marriage: Chris Watts: With these hands

Blood & Marriage

Chris Watts: With these hands

By Kathleen McKenna Hewtson

Published by Taylor Street Books

Smashwords edition

Copyright 2021 Kathleen McKenna Hewtson

ISBN: 9781005303624

All rights reserved. No part of this book maybe reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or byany information storage and retrieval system, without permission inwriting from the copyright owner.

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Part 1

An Authors Perspective

Chapter 1

Like many people who have long followeddevelopments in a case, I have a tendency to think that everyoneelse is as interested in it as I am, and as up-to-date, or more so.This is a ridiculous assumption, so if you have purchased this bookand are not familiar with the Chris Watts case, here is a briefoverview:

On August 13, 2018, in the early morninghours, a man named Christopher Lee Watts, aged thirty-three, killedhis pregnant wife, Shanann Cathryn Watts, aged thirty-four, theirtwo young daughters, Bella Marie, aged four, and Celeste Cathryn(CeCe) aged three, and their unborn son, to be called Nico.

Initially Watts claimed Shanann had simplywalked off with their girls following an emotional conversation,but the authorities quickly dismissed this explanation for theirdisappearance as his wife had left her car, her purse, her cellphone (which was a permanent extension to her hand), and herchildrens medicines, and could not be traced leaving their largehouse in Frederick, Colorado, on the next-door neighbors securitycamera.

This same security camera showed only ChrisWatts leaving their house early that morning, after he had,atypically, backed his work truck up to the garage and begunloading objects into it, including maybe a child, although thislatter fact was not initially noticed by authorities and was onlybrought to everyones attention by sharp-eyed British amateursleuth and YouTube show host Alan Vinnicombe, the self-styledArmchair Detective, some months later.

Chris Watts was brought in for questioning.After voluntarily submitting to, and allegedly failing, a polygraphexamination, he suddenly confessed to killing his wife but said hehad done so only after he had witnessed her killing theirdaughters. He then gave the detectives the location of the fourbodies, stating that he hadnt known what else to do with themfollowing the murders.

Shanann, who was some fifteen weekspregnant with a baby boy to be named Nico, was found face-down in ashallow grave at the Cervi 19 site operated by her killersemployer, Anadarko Petroleum. The girls were found at the same sitefloating in separate oil storage tanks.

Watts was arrested and within a few weekswaived his right to a trial by pleading guilty to five counts ofmurder in the first degree (including two for each child as theywere under twelve and in his care), three counts of tampering withcorpses, and the unlawful termination of a pregnancy, for which hewas sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility ofparole, plus eighty-four years, and quickly moved out of Coloradoto Dodge Correctional in Wisconsin.

Given the ages and cuteness of the girls,the beauty and charisma of Shanann, the enigmatic nature of hismistress Nichol Kessinger, and the seemingly harmless, cleanliving, boy-next-door persona of the murderer himself, the casecaught the fevered interest of a large swath of both the Americanand British public, an interest that seems destined to continue forsome time to come.

Chapter 2

Outrage is like drinking poison and

expecting the other person to die.

Carrie Fisher.

Too soon?

Anonymous

While this is the story of what is commonlyknown as the Chris Watts murder case, this is about the last time Ishall refer to the man as either Chris or Watts, preferring tonickname him Pennywise (or Penny for short) after the StephenKing character who malevolently kills children in his book It.Chris makes Pennywise sound too warm and familiar; and to callhim Watts is to lend him a stature he simply doesnt have ordeserve.

I will also refer to him as that filthychild killer from time to time, which indicates well enough mydisgust for him, but underplays just what kind of killer he reallyis, being also a filthy wife killer and a filthy unborn childkiller. He has also been a really bad son, a really bad husband, areally bad father, a really bad boyfriend, a really bad son-in-law,and a terrible employee of Anadarko Petroleum. Since his plea deal,he has used his platform as a notorious murderer to torture almosteveryone who has ever come across him, up to and including God,although he has especially targeted his particular predilection forspite at his erstwhile girlfriend, Nichol Kessinger AKA Nikkior NK who has done nothing to him except to get caught in hisweb.

(There are three Nichol-Nichole-Nickoles inthis story, so Nichol Kessinger will be Nikki, Nickole Atkinsonwill be Nickole A, and his ex-cousin-in-law, Nichole Canady, willbe Cousin Nichole.)

In using the nickname Pennywise, I wouldlike to point out that I am not trying to co-opt Stephen Kingsliterary character its just a nickname. I am a huge fan ofStephen King and actually met him once in a bookshop in Bangor,Maine. There he was, drinking a cup of coffee at a table, and I washovering uncomfortably in front of him at the shock of seeing him,so he invited me over to join him. I cannot remember a word hesaid, but I do remember that I could barely get a coherent word outof my own mouth, never mind a sentence, and was mostly reduced tobarking like a seal.

So here goes

The house Chris Watts killed his family inwas a big McMansion-style property, and his wife, Shanann, was notonly strikingly beautiful but also extraordinarily photogenic andcharismatic.

Inside the house, Shanann sold health andwellness products to downlines and other customers on behalf ofan MLM (multi-level marketing) company, making videos lots andlots of them that she posted on Facebook. In these videos, whichwent viral after the murders, people everywhere got to see her andher little girls, Bella and CeCe, living their everyday lives,while they still had them. Their deaths were therefore takenpersonally and the case became a multi-media sensation, thisgenerations OJ in that the identity of the killer was clear but sounlikely as to leave a billboard-sized Why? just hangingthere.

Here in my home country of America, we havea lot of murders. They happen so often, in fact, that it is hard tokeep track of who has killed whom, and whether the name youremember is that of the murderer or of the victim. Sure, I canrecall the names of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, but do you knowthe name of the guy in Las Vegas who shot and killed fifty-eightpeople from a window of the Mandalay Bay Casino and Hotel? Or thenames of the last thirty or so school, or supermarket, or almostanyplace, shooters?

Probably not, because weall have lives and this is our new ordinary. I guess it is evenreassuring after the lull in reports of mass shootings during theworldwide Covid-19 pandemic. Theres beena mass shooting? Phew! Covid must be receding. After all, there can be no school shootings if there are noschools. Unless you are personally connected to one of the victims or maybe worse, to one of the killers well, a murder is justanother Tuesday in the Land of the Free.

Dont get me wrong, I wouldnt live anywhereelse. As far as Im concerned, there is no better place on theplanet to be than the US of A, but we have to admit that we are alittle edgy and inclined to be dangerous.