It’s chilling that he says he put his daughters in the oil drums in “case they wake up again”. I mean how cold is that? He’s ok with them waking up in the dark, terrified and swimming/drowning in toxic oil, trapped, with no escape. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying than that. It’s just horrific. That is the epitome of evil.

He showed no empathy at all! The only time he cried was when he knew he was going to prison. He cried for himself.

you're a treasure to the field of psychology

I don't believe that rage was the deciding factor in Chris Watts' actions. *All the evidence points to deliberate intent and premeditation.*

Can you please do a video on his parents? The mother in particular. 🧡

He could’ve had rage when he killed his wife, but I will never understand him killing his daughters.

It was premeditated and he start making plans when he realise that a divorce will be the end of his confortable, ''luxury'' live. He push a confruntation when he pay with the card, unpation to get his ''freedom'' before Shanann will divorce him. So greedy, hartless and egoistic... Thank you Dr. Grande for this complete description of a disturbed mind and empty soul! Best wishes!

After watching a 45-min. video about what Shan'anns mom wrote to the police about how HIS mom acted, I think he had a Mom- Rage problem. I'm a paramedic. The fact that his mom left nuts out when she KNEW the kids were allergic to nuts (and anaphylaxis is nothing to play around with) makes her inSANE and that's a professional opinion. MOST adults of average intelligence know not to leave the allergen where the victim can come into contact with it. I lost any sympathy for his mom the second I heard that. Anaphylaxis (aka angioedema) is what paramedics call "a true emergency," meaning that if you don't get emergency medical intervention within half an hour (or 15 mins in the case of extreme allergies) the person will die. What the hell kind of person would TRY to make that happen by leaving bowls of nuts around the house, much less a supposed "grandmother" of the potential patient?

Maybe his killing his wife was a rage crime. His children? No he was not in a rage then he was cold and calculating.

Thank you. He had it all going on: massive insecurity, financially broke, another baby on way, strong wife, conniving mistress, disapproving mother, weak gormless father. He couldn't afford to divorce. Like he kept saying: he didn't know what else to do....weird thing is the heinous nature of the crime and total lack of emotion afterwards with lie after lie. Bizarre is a good word.

His rage was at the thought of having to pay child support for 3 kids and possibly alimony if he were to divorce Shannan!

With a name like "Watts" the electric chair seems appropriate. :)

Excellent assessment! I am curious if you have ever been called to make Mental Health analysis on criminals?

I think so. I knew someone like Watts. He was very quiet laid back and friendly but a complete door mat. We had been friends since we were kids. He got married super young at 21 to a girl that was like 4 years older or so. Eventually he realized he wasn't happy, he'd text me all the time because he had a thing for me. I told him if you aren't happy you need to separate and divorce then maybe we can date. That never happened! He didn't have the balls. So eventually they had a kid. A few months after the baby came he cheated on his wife and she found out. Then they finally got divorced. So instead of being up front and ending it he had a child with her then cheated on her to force her to leave him! She was a really sweet girl too, a good woman. He just wasn't in love with her anymore. He had no ball's, complete door mat. That's exactly what Watts was like but obviously he actually killed his family!

Studying the best approach to anger management is very important. He had it all inside Didn't talk to anybody about what was going on in his head. Scary and sad what suppressed emotions can do! Seems like mental disorder to think of such an escape!

It is obvious he didn't want a family. And then here comes another baby. In his trapped, evil mind he did not consider divorce for the negatve stigma, child support, dealing with ex-wife's anger, and visitation of kids he didn't care about. In his sick, selfish mind, he wanted to erase them, make them disappear like a do-over, like it never happened. He wanted to turn back the clock to start over before the marriage. He still doesn't see anything wrong with what he did cause he thinks he deserved happiness and freedom. That is the definition of premeditation.

If you have attention deficits like me and can't keep up with or space out during slower talkers change his vids to 1.25 speed! Such a help. Thanks for your content Dr!

He said he had an iq of 140? Probably got it from one of those Facebook games that you answer 10 questions and the lowest iq they give is 120

I'm not being a butt kisser but I love all your videos....but that March interview, I believe the whole thing is a lie... he's calling schools and planning trips with NK.... believe it was all premeditated.. they were asleep and he murdered them... there are many text messages from Shanann saying that he wouldn't touch her anymore he wouldn't hug her he wouldn't speak to her,( because hes all about NK now.).and so to beleive at 4 in the morning they're having sex because she rubbed his leg.. and then he has the audacity to say "I got on top of her,I did not pin her arms, I strangled her and she did not fight, she was asking God to forgive me " that's from the FBI transcript ... you couldn't make this stuff up !!CW thinks most people are idiots.he essentially blames Shanann for the murder, says she said " won't see my kids anymore" I think his mask of wanting to seem normal won't let him admit this premeditation he went out of his way to secure that isolated job site Monday morning... there's too many things that add up to premeditation

I saw the interrogation tapes. The tactic which resulted in his confession was to treat him as though he was a narcissist, for what that’s worth. 🤷‍♀️😊

Excellent! This is probably the best description (makes the most sense), that I have heard thus far. With all the opinions and emotions flying around about these murders, it was nice to hear a more rational/logical take on it. I just wish you would have had more time to explain....Ty😊

Great topic. I was curious about this part of the case. Thanks Dr. G

I love the points you made about rage murder, however, in this specific case I don't believe he "snapped". He showed no signs of having any psychotic symptoms, he didn't have a history of schizophrenia, he wasn't paranoid by something and it's not like he was under so much pressure that he snapped at his wife. It's possible that he felt his wife was demanding, but he already was in the process of leaving her. Why go as far as killing her and then killing his two own daughters? I think he just did that because he wanted to be with NK and he must've known this before he actually killed them.

Take a shot every time the doctor tells us how he remembers OCEAN. (love ya doc)

I think he had already made up his mind, to kill all of them while they slept the night shanann came home. Only Bella woke up and I’m sure saw her mother just after she was killed. So he panicked and had to rethink what he was going to do with the girls. He’s such a coward he didn’t want to face them while he murdered them. God rest their poor souls🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

Another great topic and analysis. Thanks Dr. Grande for all that you do.

His later interviews present such a detached persona as if he wasn't even there or was just a spectator--so much gray area surrounding the activities of that night.

👍🏻 Dr. Gorgeous Grande , ❤️ your assessment of this Case! Hope you are enjoying your weekend. 💗

Thank you for continuing to look into the Chris Watts case.

Excellent explanation about anger. I feel like that. I learned to acknowledge my anger, because the cause for it is most of the time justified, I had no problem to controll it. Lately I can use my anger to gain energy for myself to do chores and I can express anger if the person, who causes it, for example invaded my personal space. It helps, that I do not fly in a full rage or in deep agression, but can do a little bit of "acting" - just to show my limit - so that this person takes care and takes it serious. Kind of like holding up a sign to tell this other human being "Hey you did wrong here - do not mess with me - I will not accept your behaviour..." and most of the time I am not deeply angry inside, therefore "acting", I learned to react before I allow a person to really bother me in a profund way. Of course most of the time no "anger acting" is necessary, most people react to a normal appeal. I think Chris Watts did something so utterly "abnormal" and so utterly without the will to solve his "problem", that most of the people can not fantom how he allowed himself to get there and why he did something so irrational and cruel. He could have asked for help, he could have gotten a divorce. Maybe the financial aspect played a role. Very cold hearted.

Thank you Dr Grande I got a lot out of that , your explanation of anger vs aggressiveness was very helpful to me. The Chris Watts case is very interesting to me and I’d love it if you might consider looking at the case from this angle. I’ve noticed as a lot of other people have, especially in the beginning of this case that a lot of blame was put on the females around Chris Watts as the real causes of his behaviour. That his crime was their fault essentially. There was criticism of Shanann, Nicole and his mother too. I heard a lot of spite and hatred about his wife in a way I haven’t heard women talked about in crime since the 1970s. Why is this? Why was it focussed on so much in this case? Has it always been there? Did this case highlight it? Why? Why are people talking about the women around Chris Watts as these almost “ mysterious evil Entities “ that somehow drove him to it? That’s what perplexes me anyway. Thank you.

Do you know when you see him in the small convenience store just going about his day.... isn’t that the creepiest thing you have seen in a long time? Doctor, if he “snapped” would it be “normal” for him to just go about his day like that? Thank you very much Doctor. Another thing. He constantly “worked out” and I would think that would relieve his stress. It is so appalling how his wife was the one who encouraged him to take care of his health, and she died when his ego got to be too big! Omg sleepless nights!

Thanks for the therapy _helps those of us traumatized over this horrific evil act . Listened to a dr Phil podcast and it seemed to just go over the horrible details. I felt worse and icky after hearing it. I think people are drawn to this case not to hear the terrible details; but to try to understand why it could happen and make sense out of senselessness .

No matter how much we try to label what or why he annihilated his beautiful family, it will never make sense.

The source for Chris Watts' IQ, almost three SDs above the average, is Chris Watts. Do I need to tell you that I doubt it?

CW had some help in these murders!!! NK was a part of it and she needs to pay for it as well!!!!

Dr Grande, I was curious about Shanann. The videos I watched make me wonder if she was the more active, energetic, and assertive one in their marriage. I don’t know. I wonder too if Chris had things he wanted to do in life and didn’t speak out? My thoughts are bc all the activities, the costumes Chris wore (Santa, Mickey Mouse & more) for pictures, the matching clothes, the videos he was seen in for her business career, the big home, the vacations, the finances etc. I heard Chris’s mother say on KZfaq that Chris bought Shannan a $12,000 wedding ring. They had children soon after marriage, they were both so young. Not an excuse for the horrific murders. Could that be the rage that had built up for Chris?

Close to 100000 subs, you go dr Grande!!!:)

Dr. Todd Grande, nice to hear from you again 👍👍.

Can you go into detail about more female murderers Dr. Grande? Are their reasons the same as males? Loved this video by the way.

Years ago my bf got attacked by several guys, I was definitely in a rage and acted much more aggressively than I ever would. I wasn't really thinking I was just reacting.

This has been asked before however Chris Watts mother keeps referring to her son as a victim Does she not get he killed his family what is gone wrong with her !!!!???

He had mentioned a kind of dissociative state that seemed to begin when his wife had said he wouldn't see his children again. He also claimed this state lasted a couple of days before reality sank in. I wonder how this might be linked to him mentioning at another point that he had felt like he could be 'himself' with the mistress. Can a person dissociate from a sense of responsibility in this way?

Thank you, Dr. Grande! This was very interesting!

Is there a correlation between low intelligence and murder/violent crime?

This crime is so simple...man starts affair..only problem is a wife and he is bankrupt..the only way he could be worthy of new girlfriend is to get rid of his family, he cannot support family and girlfriend..so someone had to go..easy targets 2 little kids and pregnant wife..now he is free to progress with new girlfriend. What bothers me is how in hell he thinks he will get away with these murders.. he is insane

Wow! I've watched 12 of your video(s) just this morning, I'm hooked, excellent work! Thanks Dr. I find all the subjects fascinating! 🤔

I truly believe that if that incident with the nuts never happened, they would all still be alive. I think that is the straw that broke the camel's back. Shannon was so pissed that Chris would not stick up for his child's life and so she let him know what a coward he is. She verbally tore him a new one and he could not withstand such a blow to the ego. He never let go of that humiliation, anger.

Dr. Grande! You have hands!!? Great video.😊

....my heart goes out to those precious children...how can anyone do that??! cannot even begin to fathom it...sad

How does the rage type murderer fit with the murder of his children? He had plenty of time to consider his actions with regard to killing them. Seems very methodical to me. I can see killing his wife in a rage, though I am unconvinced that this is what happened but it doesn’t fit with killing of his children to me. I would love to hear your analysis of that.

I think this analysis is far closer to the truth. I think he was a co-dependant married to a narcissist. I think he had a shed-load of unspoken resentment that bubbled up into a simmering rage. I think the murders were pre-meditated - but rage was the motivation.

My perfect evening is cosying up on the couch with a selection of cheese and crackers, a good glass of red wine and Dr Grande on KZfaq. I could listen to him talk forever

What are your thoughts on the high level amount of “Thrive supplements” he was using? Can high amounts of stimulates combined with days of very little sleep contribute to loss of self control and the underlying rage?

I just do not see any rage coming from Watts. He said he felt rage to his dad upon confessing to Shanann's murder after he said she killed the girls. He lied so many times and I find it hard to believe he was in a rage. He knew that he wanted Nichole Kessinger and knew he would not be able to afford any divorce from Shanann and pay any alimony and child support. He needed them out of the way. His distancing himself from Shanann when they were both in North Carolina and him sending the photo of that doll covered up; to me were signs of premeditation. He didn't foresee his family being around so that he could totally devote his life to Nichole Kessinger. I believe he had a more controlled explanation of his wife and daughters went missing like getting rid of any evidence like her purse and cell phone as well as the children's medication, but Nicole Atkinson ruined his plan by getting involved and calling the police immediately.

Some feel he was assisted.

Chris Watts had an almost photographic memory and his colleagues knew him 2 B talented with numbers, graphs and mathematics. A degree of autism maybe? As well as cowardly psychopathic. OCD?

Is there a way to tell if someone has the potential to do something like this? I think the reason the Watts case shocked and facinated so many of us is because there was never that moment where you said "there were signs," ya know? Aside from the affair, which he hid sucessfully, he seemed to act like a normal guy. In your opinion, based upon the information we know of the Watts case, what sorts of characteristics or red flags might have been present with someone like Watts? From a spouses perspective, what sorts of behaviors might have been red flags that were missed?

They were premeditated with Chris Watts, in my humble opinion. He is impulsive in the sense that wanted a commitment with the mistress, as in NOW, and wanted out of the marriage without burden of children and without debt. He had only been dating this woman for maybe two months. He has internal rage but he directs it against anything or anyone who keeps him from what he wants NOW. You can see moments of controlled anger throughout his FBI interviews. But imo he most likely had obsessive, unrealistic poorly thought out fantasies about his future, and a compulsion to kill his family that he seems to have ruminated on for a period of weeks, fueled imo , by his family of origin's delusional hatred and abusive behaviour toward his wife and children. His father said that Shan put a dagger between he and Chris, pretty strong emotional blackmail, imo. His parents forced him to choose at a time that his mistress also wanted him to choose. Was he dependent or irresponsible and parasitic? There are several examples he was the latter and that Shan could not trust him, which is why she handled the money payments. He lied a great deal about Shanann, he has no credibility there imo. His father may have been the same. CW said his dad used family budget money to buy cocaine. Chris held his own in that marriage imo. He had a job, good money, a promotion even. Shan was not leaving him, so it was not a desperate need to replace a dependent relationship with another one. Shan was willing to work on the marriage, he was not. She made good money, so did he, they could have found a way to solve the debt problem. He might have feared losing NK if he did not get rid of his burden. I see this not as a rage killing, but methodical, planned , by a man who has clear psychopatic traits. I think his parents were more influential on his state of mind than has been explored. At the same time he though nothing of lying to them, he admitted this , because he knew they would believe his lies about Shanon. This guy impresess me as a psychopath, but of course this remains only an educated guess.

Love your intellect doc.

Love all your insight! Could you do a video on the interview Chris Watts’ mom did? She seems to blame Shan’ann for everything

Are we sure that he alone performed these heinous acts or merely agreed to and facilitated others (nichol and maybe someone else?) to perpetrate these horrific crimes?

I guess the impulsive, yet plotting, murderer would be at least some like the murderer from Edgar Allan Poe's Tell Tale Heart. Couldn't stand the old man's eye, practiced sneaking up on him in the dark, and planned to kill him, but couldn't quite get up the nerve until he saw his pale eye in the moon light..

This all premeditated.

I appreciate your methodical and objective way of working through the evidence and questions surrounding this case.

He didn't kill in a rage! It was premeditated! He pre planned it!

Thank you, Dr. Grande. This is very interesting. Shared with a relevant group on Facebook.

In all of the discussions on Chris Watts, I haven't heard any opinions on the impact that the hostility between Shanann and Cindy might have had on Chris. It's telling that Chris married a woman who was very much like his mother in one significant way. Both were dominant personalities while Chris is a passive person. In addition, their on-going feud put Chris in the position of having to attempt the take both sides - an impossible situation causing him considerable stress. Add to the mix a mistress who could be for him a way out of the problem. It was a perfect storm.

How long does rage last? Long enough to pack your bags and drive an hour away to murder and secrete three bodies ? Would he just think " Phew, no more Rage, there, that's better, let me Google Battery

What ever his thoughts they were entitlement.

You explain things so clearly, i do need to listen to your cases and analysis over but i can understand lots because of what i have learned from you, thank you Dr Grande much respect Sue

So good, I love your content!

Thanks for this video Dr. Grande. Cannot get past this case, Watts is pure evil. Can you do a video about Lizzie Borden? Your analysis would be very interesting.

Can someone just BECOME a narcissistic rage-type murderer, from a few weeks of the influence of an affair triggering reactivity against his prior controlling mother and choice of controlling women in his life? The extreme decision to premeditate the (first, unsuccessful)killing of his two daughters in ADVANCE of his successful murder of his wife,.. then smothering them and drowning them in oil, as a second attempt at smothering, doesn't add up with any impulsivity or rage patterns. He just seemed determined not to be held back by having a family, from returning to a single lifestyle as if he'd never been married and had never had children. Extreme entitlement? Maybe just that.

Thank you for helping us understand Doc! 📚🌟

Pure evil.

I really appreciate your content, thanks 😊

Shanaan and her kids were just adorable. Many men want that kind of family. Chris is a coward.

What springs to my mind is the case of Dr Crippen, meek, mild, soft spoken. Someone you would never suspect. What did he bottle up and suppress. In terms of personality if not method of murder which in Crippen's case still open to debate.

Fascinating! 😁😁😁Another great video. Do you think you could do one on Warren Jeffs and his cult following.

Hi Dr Grande l still think to do this crime he has to be a monster with no feeling. Thanks so much for sharing.

New sub! Love this insight

Hello .. truly enjoy your videos ... Would you share your thoughts on the Jennifer Dulos / Fortis Dulos case? thank you

Amazing analysis. Chris definitely feared the loss of Nicole. I think the dynamic between Chris' mother and Shanan showed that Chris inherited his disfunction from her. Chris mother holds the key to his story

Another perfectly detailed and probable outcome opinion from Dr Grande. Great job!

I’ve been diving into this one. I know I’m late. Before I start, I am usually not a fan of assigning any blame to victim. And I am horrified by Watts’ actions. I think enough could be said on that by all. With that said, I was kinda upset at the behavior of Shannan toward Chris before all of this went down (though does not justify murder of course). At times she does seem to belittle him and seems to relish in it by talking with her friends. She would constantly post about her family. Everybody seem to be around for her benefit to look at the Facebook posts. She isolated him from any support system like his parents. And by her own admission she was the dominant personality. You also see friends describe her as “dominant but she is just trying to help him succeed.” Watts had no such friends. Watts parents would talk about how she would constantly criticize him in front of parents. In other words, I feel she displayed traits that could interpreted as narcissistic of the adaptive type. After hearing a few interviews from Watts, I think you are on the money for dependency. I feel what we had here was a narcissist/codependent relationship. I think occasionally as the codependent grows, they start to pull away from the narcissist. But the narcissist will cajole and use various tactics to exert control. Male co-dependents I think deal with societal stigma and told to man up. She said this to him on many texts. I think these pressures contributed to the snap. Again however, Chris Watts is responsible for the murders. Especially when we start talking about his daughters. I feel codependency has something to do with that to. Shannan was domineering to everyone, but she was the lynchpin of the family. Watts was not capable (or at least he felt) of raising kids without having another person to be dependent on. Jmo

Thank you for another insightful video. Could you please discuss the chances of a family annihilator getting help from a girlfriend? I've read about dozens of family annihilators and none of them ever had help from a girlfriend. Occasionally, two parents or a parent and step parent cooperate in a murder suicide, but I've never seen a girlfriend help a man kill his children. People seem to be obsessing on NK and eager to blame someone other than Watts for the murders.

His excuse that he killed his wife, enraged by her supposed claim that he wouldn't see his kids again, is belied by his later report to an author, that he had already smothered his daughters in advance of his murder of his wife. He was fully committed to a premeditated plan of mass murder, which he claims to have planned 2 weeks in advance. Maybe narcissistic injury at the prospect of him losing face by divorcing, or being less appealing to his mistress because he had a family, could be a factor. He just seemed like he did not value human life for it's own sake.

I suppose I need to disclose that when we were trained as paramedics (and I went to paramedic school for 2 years, NKU's School of Health Technology, plus I have 10 yrs of experience) they trained us to recognize psychiatric emergencies and abnormal behavior. I'm basing my opinion of her behavior of leaving nuts around as abnormal whether or not she "believed" the kids did or didn't have allergies. You don't take a chance like that, esp when you don't work in healthcare. I would at least find out from a doctor but why would the mother lie about a peanut allergy? But then my opinion was solidified against her when I saw a news video (done by People Magazine of course) that interviews his parents blaming the victim for her own murder. That's just completely TACKY but what can one expect from certain reporters at People Magazine. I lived in Los Angeles. I know what they did to celebrities. They're making money off a tragedy & I may not know a great deal about "abnormal psychology," but I do know you DON'T blame the victim for the murder. Even the police know that & they're pretty dumb about psychological mindsets when they're on the scene.

Nice to hear from a professional. So many people who say he was this or that and ther are not in the field.

Could you please do a video on Paris Bennett and his mother?

His report that he smothered his two daughters PRIOR to going to the bedroom to have sex with his wife, then kill her; and that he was angry that his daughters had lived, and came out of unconsciousness to discover their mother dead in her bed; speaks against rage, and against impulsivity. It was pure premeditation. His reasoning just makes no sense. Divorce and moving out, were the solution to starting a new life as a single man, not murdering everyone.

My wife and I talk about this a lot, so it’s amazing to find your analysis of the idea that rage was behind the killing, or was it? I lack the ability to be so objective, my mind wants to immediately give things a name and reason. Initially, we almost had sympathy for Chris. Assessing his wife together, we see this high strung, “my family is perfect” image on social media, mlm pusher, needy person...it was like this guy was gonna snap at some point, who wouldn’t? We had to really put ourselves in the same position, and no, we wouldn’t have hurt our spouse...we’d just fucking leave them. Maybe even slander them a bit if we felt the need, break that picture-perfect image they wanna portray so badly (resentment of being put in that position constantly may have caused us to seek revenge in some way). However, he killed her. And then the kids. I just don’t get the second part. In times when I’ve wanted to hurt someone in my past, it mattered to me that it was the right person and that the person knew the attack came from me and exactly for what. It’s strange that someone could kill someone uninvolved or who isn’t the source of your “rage.” Unless that’s what rage can do? Columbine? Constantly suppressing yourself, it’s not enough to shoot off guns and make threats, some people want to bring it to light and they want everyone to know they did it. The only thing that allows me to think Chris did this out of rage would be the fact he was so dumb about it. He tried to list his house and shit, pulled the kids out of school, lots of text messages and the camera next door. It just seems like premeditation, and rage was completely secondary. I think his pent up anger allowed him to justify his actions, but he knew what he was doing when he was doing it. People like to pretend they won’t be vindictive given the chance to be, but give them a chance and you’ll see a person you never thought existed within them. I think he thought he had his chance. Though, I’ll never know. Maybe one day he’ll be more upfront when he realizes he’s never getting out and his reputation is already in the ground.

Brilliant description as always. Thankyou Dr.

Fascinating analysis! Thank you, Dr. Grande.

I believe that's exactly what this case was about. He was never violent...went along with anything...never lashed out...bottled it ALL up and the results were devastating. Not saying he has no other issues tho.

No, Watts was not a rage type killer. He just wanted out and miscalculated the convenience of his choice.

How anyone is looking to blame the mother in this case is beyond me.

I love the OCEAN acronym! How about using CANOE occasionally to amuse us and keep us on our toes!

No history is that he hadn't wanted to do that but would have without any guilt or remorse.