The ongoing romantic pursuits and manipulative tactics of Chris Watts, who murdered his pregnant wife and two young daughters in 2018, are explored in the latest installment of The Trial USA podcast. The episode, titled "Chris Watts Unmasked," features an exclusive interview with Amanda McMahon, a woman who secretly dated Watts for months. She details how Watts charmed her before exhibiting violent behavior and recounts a disturbing sexual encounter.
McMahon, who initially described her relationship with Watts as a brief fling to investigators, has since revealed more about his persona on dating apps. She told reporter Luke Kenton that Watts presented himself as an ordinary, blue-collar man, carefully omitting details about his family. His dating profiles sometimes featured cropped-out individuals, leading McMahon to suspect one of them was his wife, Shanann.
In the podcast, investigative reporters Ruth Bashinsky, Steve Helling, and Rachel Sharp join host Kayla Brantley to discuss Watts's life before the murders and his behavior in prison. They examine how women continue to be drawn to Watts, enabling what they describe as his "deranged self-image."
Watts strangled his wife, Shanann Watts, 34, in their Colorado home on August 13, 2018. He then drove their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, to a remote oil field, where he smothered them and disposed of their bodies in oil tanks. Shanann was buried in a nearby shallow grave.
Investigators later uncovered that Watts was having an affair with a coworker, Nichol Kessinger, in the weeks leading up to the killings. Prosecutors contended that Watts murdered his family to escape his marriage and start a new life. He is currently serving a life sentence without parole.
McMahon shared that during their relationship, Watts frequently disparaged Shanann, referring to her solely as his "baby mama." The podcast series, which marks the eighth anniversary of the murders, aims to provide a comprehensive look at Watts's crimes and his interactions with women both before and during his incarceration. The full interview with McMahon and further analysis from the Daily Mail's crime reporters are available on "The Trial USA" podcast.