While Chris Watts was assuring police that he had no idea what had happened to his pregnant wife and daughters, he was assuring his girlfriend he wasn't involved in their disappearance.
A recently surfaced video of a police interview shows Watts' mistress, Nichol Kessinger, talking to police. In the sit-down, she talks openly about her relationship with Watts. She acknowledges that he told her he was married and going through a divorce, but it never seemed like an angry or contentious situation.
The three-hour interview gives more insight into the mind of Watts, who is currently serving life in prison for the murders of his wife Shanann, daughters Bella and Cece, and unborn son Nico.
If you or someone you know has been the victim of domestic abuse, you can find help and support at DVIS.org, the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or by contacting your local women's shelter (domesticshelters.org).
The recently unearthed video, which appeared on a YouTube channel run by Shanann Watts' family, shows an over three-hour-long interview with mistress Nichol Kessinger and police. The video features open and frank discussion of the relationship between Kessinger and Chris Watts, and what Kessinger knew about Chris and Shanann Watts' relationship.
"There were several discussions that we had about his current relationship and where it had gone," she tells police.
"He talked about his kids from time to time. But the thing was that he was never hostile," she said.
"It was never anything aggressive. It was still very kind. He was just like, 'This is not working.'"
"It wasn't anything out of the ordinary or anything that would scare me," she noted.
"Even to this day, even after everything that I've found out, I still look back at that, and I don't see any red lights about the way he spoke about his family."
Shanann Watts, on the other hand, was suspecting the end of her relationship could be near. She confided in friends in the days and weeks leading up to her disappearance that she believed her husband was having an affair and that things between them weren't in a good place. While she wasn't optimistic about her marriage, she never shared concern that she was in danger.
Sadly, danger awaited Shanann on August 13, 2018. Hours after she returned from a trip, an argument led to Chris strangling Shanann. He then put her body in his truck, loaded their daughters into the truck, and drove to a job site at the oil company where he worked. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave before smothering his 4- and 3-year-old daughters. He disposed of their bodies in oil tanks.
When the news of their disappearance became public, Kessinger grilled Watts about his involvement.
"I kept asking him, 'What did you do, Chris? What did you do?'" she recalled.
"I asked, 'Where's your family?'"
"I was still in my head. I was stressed out," she continued.
"So I texted Chris one last time, and I told him, 'If you did anything bad, you're going to ruin your life and you're going to ruin my life. I promise you that.' And he responded, 'I didn't hurt my family, Nicky.' And that was the last text. I never said another word to him after that."
Watts is currently serving five consecutive life sentences at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. He isn't eligible for parole, though he's made a number of friends and pen pals who have shared news of his experience as an inmate. As recently as last year, there were rumors that he and Kessinger were back in touch.
