American Murder: The key details in the Shanann Watts case the Netflix documentary missed out

Shanann Watts, who was pregnant at the time, was murdered in 2018, along with her two daughters
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George Fenwick8 October 2020

Netflix’s new true crime documentary American Murder: The Family Next Door has renewed interest in the 2018 murder of Shanann Watts.

Watts, who was pregnant at the time of her death, was murdered along with her two children Bella, four, and Celeste, three, by her husband Chris Watts.

The Netflix documentary highlights the fact that Mr Watts was having an affair prior to the murder.

However, not all the facts are present in the American Murder.

Netflix

What details are missing from the Netflix documentary?

The documentary does not delve into the financial complications they faced, with the family filing for bankruptcy in 2015 and court documents showing Mr Watts as the main earner.

Shanann landed a new job and began travelling for work - the effects of which are referenced in the documentary, with Mr Watts often staying home with their two kids.

Further, the documentary depicts Mr Watts’ polygraph test, but does not reveal that it took roughly five hours.

He took the test after initially appealing publicly in a series of television interviews for help in finding his missing family.

The following day, on August 15, he was arrested for the murder of his wife after failing the test and confessing to killing her.

Netflix

He did not confess to killing his daughters, saying instead that Shanann Watts was responsible for their deaths and that was why he murdered her.

Mr Watts later confessed to murdering the two girls, however, and told detectives that he had been having an affair.

He had been having an affair with Nichol Kessinger, who said he had been lying to her about still being married.

She cooperated with police, and is reportedly living under witness protection.

American Murder: The Family Next Door is available to stream on Netflix now

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