MURDERED: The Watts Family
The most recent family annihilator case in the U.S. was incredibly heartbreaking and had every American checking their TVs and smart phones regularly for updates. In this week’s episode, we give you our take on the case of Chris Watts who murdered his wife Shanann and their two young daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year old Celeste.
Caption from Shanann’s Instagram post:
Happy Husband Appreciation Day! I couldn’t imagine a better man for us. You spoil us with love an attention! You put up with 3 impatient, demanding women in the house. 🤣🤣 You Work so hard everyday to provide for us. I love you so much and so grateful you hung around when I tried pushing you away in the beginning! 🤣🤣 #HappyHusbandappreciationday
The Four Types of Family Annihilators:
Self-righteous:
The killer seeks to locate blame for his crimes upon the mother who he holds responsible for the breakdown of the family. This may involve the killer phoning his partner before the murder to explain what he is about to do. For these men, their breadwinner status is central to their idea of the ideal family.
Disappointed:
This killer believes his family has let him down or has acted in ways to undermine or destroy his vision of ideal family life. An example may be disappointment that children are not following the traditional religious or cultural customs of the father.
Anomic:
In these cases the family has become firmly linked in the mind of the killer to the economy. The father sees family as the result of his economic success, allowing him to display his achievements. However, if the father becomes an economic failure, he sees the family as no longer serving this function.
Paranoid:
Those who perceive an external threat to the family. This is often social services or the legal system, which the father fears will side against him and take away the children. Here the murder is motivated by a twisted desire to protect the family.
Related Resources:
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Episode Source Material
- Mother in-law immediately suspected Christopher Watts in disappearance of daughter, granddaughters, murder case file shows
- The scent of death: Police dogs and the Chris Watts Investigation
- Christopher Watts and Shanann Wats: Their friends saw a ‘perfect’ family. What happened?
- Christopher Watts Youtube
- Days before murdering entire family for ‘fresh start’, Chris Watts gushed to mistress in love note
- Chris Watts was ‘Cold as Ice’ Before Triple Murders – and What Wife’s Mom Told her Before she Died
- Chris Watts confesses to this father that he killed his wife
- Surveillance footage shows Chris Watts loading track after murdering his wife & children
- A Secret Mistress Comes Clean & a Suspicious Bed Sheet Spotted from the Sky: How Chris Watts was Caught
- Characteristics of family killers revealed: The male dominated crime most common in August
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