Next Shan’ann describes a trip [with Chris] to San Diego [also a work trip] leaving almost two months later on June 22nd [a Friday] and returning at 01:30 on June 26th [Wednesday].
The same day they arrive back from San Diego, at 17:30, she says, everyone’s going to North Carolina for six weeks, including Shan’ann’s dad – well, everyone except Chris. After arriving back from North Carolina on August 7th, Shan’ann’s flying to Scottsdale, Arizona on the 11th.
All of this has been scheduled weeks and months ahead of time. Shan’ann knows it. Chris knows it. And right at the end of this cycle of travelling, in fact the moment she returned, she was murdered.
Now consider the calculation here. Shan’ann was 15 weeks pregnant – exactly – on the day she died. 15 weeks earlier was April 30th. That means she was already pregnant when she made this half-hour video on May 5th. Did she know she was? According to wehavekids.com, after almost a week she may well have known:
Answering the burning question of whether you are pregnant or not [depends]…on how well you know your own body. Many women can tell if they are pregnant within two or three weeks of conceiving, and some women know a lot sooner, even within a few days. It really depends on your ability to pick up on the changes occurring within your body and how sensitive you are to them.
The fact that Shan’ann posted the two family videos on June 11th, first of her two children reacting to the announcement [presumably with Chris filming silently on the sidelines], and then Chris’s stilted response doesn’t necessarily mean they were filmed in that order. If it was filmed in that order then Chris’s part looks to be entirely staged. What it does show without any ambiguity, is it took Shan’ann almost six weeks to announce her pregnancy on Facebook, and perhaps even to her family.
How long had she been living with this knowledge? And didn’t Shan’ann have some idea on May 5th when she recorded the half-hour clip that she was pregnant? Since she’d been living with Lupus for years, and having been a nurse and being paid to pay attention to changes in human homeostasis, it’s likely Shan’ann was very in tune with her body. It’s also possible that the whole Thrive spiel made her somewhat more aware of changes to her weight, her mindset, her moods and her overall condition, even if many of these were more psychosomatic than real.
Now we need to pay attention to the content of the half-hour post and consider the potential context of what she was saying with the possibility that she knew she was pregnant.
1. Shan’ann announces on the video on May 5th not only plans to travel to San Diego on a business trip, but six weeks she – with the kids – intends to be with her family in North Carolina, including with her father, and not with Chris. Despite the subsequent announcement of her pregnancy, Shan’ann went on both trips as scheduled. Was this six week period intended to test what it may be like to move back home with her folks long term? Was it also intended to see how well she could sell in North Carolina?
Since a colleague of Sandi Onorati, Shan’ann’s mother, told WRAL that the couple “was having problems” and that Onorati told her that Shan’ann and Chris were planning to separate, we have to speculate that the trip to North Carolina may have been a trial separation. Perhaps it had been some time coming, and perhaps the pregnancy threw a spanner into the works of a planned divorce at a critical time.
The half-hour video kicks off with Shan’ann on the couch at 08:30 on a Saturday morning, saying how she loves being able to stay home and spend time with her family. On the face of it, this seems to be an affirming message, but what she’s really doing straight off the bat is selling the stay-at-home Thrive lifestyle message. And rather than staying home with her family, being with them, what’s really happening is she’s selling being with them.
We see Celeste sitting beside her mother with a nose full of snot, and initially Celeste doesn’t really want to interact with the camera, she wants to interact with her mother. Next Bella shouts from across the room, Shan’ann calls her, asking four-year-old Bella to join her, but Bella doesn’t.
In the first thirty seconds, Shan’ann makes a weird comment about it being Saturday, she [and they] have no plans, and they haven’t determined where they’re going. She talks about summer coming….and being super excited because so much is going on.
2. If one looks at the psychology of that opening, Shan’ann is thinking broadly about seasonal changes. It’s May 5th, and she’s thinking about summer coming. She’s thinking about where they’re going.
There also seems to be a mismatch in Shan’ann not having any plans, and not knowing what they’re doing, and then minutes later explicating in detail precisely what their travel plans are, to where, and when. What happened to be home with the family?
She has the dates, she even remembers the flight times. This is for two trips almost two months away. And yet, I don’t think she’s referring here to travel plans. I think she’s referring to private family plans. What their plan is for the next season of their lives.
…they haven’t determined where they’re going…
It may be that they are as a couple haven’t decided, or that Shan’ann as a mom hasn’t made up her mind what to do with the Chris Watts situation she has – which is a dude not earning a great income and cheating on her. She wants him to be part of the family, but equally she wants him to step up and be part of the financial solution to their problems. And really, he’s neither.
…they haven’t determined where they’re going…
So what to do? Isn’t this what the half-hour video is addressing? Not directly, not explicitly, but indirectly. It’s the spirit behind what she’s saying, and of course, he’s there eavesdropping on it because Shan’ann wants him to. What Shan’ann doesn’t realize is he’s not only eavesdropping, he’s not only listening, he’s plotting.
When I first listened to the video my impression was that Shan’ann seemed very vulnerable, and more than that, almost teary. Overall the whole video feels like a rollercoaster of revelations, and it happens to be filled with milestones in her life, almost as though Shan’ann’s taking stock.
It makes sense that she’s doing this with the knowledge that she’s pregnant, or if not, then subconsciously she did. She was intuiting some kind of determination for their family [and yes, for herself], wasn’t she? In this sense then, this clip is of incredible import because it represents the decisions Shan’ann faced at a critical time, and how she approached them. Did she deal with them or fail to deal with them? Knowing what we know, knowing what happened to her and the kids, don’t we have an early answer to that?
Early on when Shan’ann says she’s going to San Diego with Chris, she immediately follows that with a trip home. She’s conveying being with Chris and not being with him, and frankly, she sounds more excited, and provides more detail about the latter. But she also says she feels “really blessed this summer” and then mentions going somewhere with Chris. That happens to be the San Diego deal, which is a Thrive getaway, it’s a business trip with other Thrivers.
It’s not quite the way she’s presenting it, as a couple taking a trip together although interestingly when she refers moments later to the San Diego trip as a “retreat with her team”, she says they’re going to have a little bit of fun, then corrects herself to say “a lot of fun”.
I feel really blessed this summer…
She may be blessed in the purely financial sense that she’s grateful that Chris is playing ball, as a Thrive product-placement. Could she really be that shallow? Could he?
In photos of that trip, we see all the Thrivers and their partners dressed in matching military garb, like a cult. That’s their getaway. Shan’ann seems to see Chris as product placement, and as part of a means to making money for the family. Does she see him as any more than that in private? Does he see himself as more than that, in private?
At about three minutes into the spiel, there’s the first truly family dynamic moment. And it comes because for three minutes Shan’ann’s attention has bee
n focused on her phone. It’s not on Celeste who wants some one-on-one time on a Saturday morning. Shan’ann says, with measured emphasis:
“This child does not sit still – ever!”
Now we know the police believe the children were murdered first, and for reasons I won’t go into right now, I believe that makes more sense. If that’s true, then it suggest an urgency in a sense to get rid of the children.
3. Why would Chris want to murder his children? Obviously there is no good, rational or decent answer to that question. But it’s a mistake not to intuit the personalities of the Watts children into the dynamic. In other words, the dynamic doesn’t start and end with Chris and Shan’ann, the kids – both them – form a very important part of the wear and tear as well. And whether it’s personality or just that very young age when kids are old enough to be mobile, but too young to be unsupervised and thus are very high maintenance [or both], there’s clearly a lot of freedom being sucked away from both parents at this stage. And since Shan’ann is often away from home on trips, guess who’s playing parent on weekends? And guess who is getting sick of it?
Now, I apologise for using the term “wear and tear” with regards to children. No child would like to be referred to in those terms, and no parent should think of their progeny in those terms. But this is a true crime analysis, and as objectionable as it may be in a respectable setting, or within decent families, it’s the reference we’ll be using given what we’re talking about here.
The imminent arrival of a third child had to present a daunting prospect to the father in terms of this perceived and experienced wear and tear, especially in the context of the wear and tear already wrought by the first two children.
Although Chris seems like a patient man, I’m not sure if he was a particularly kind, loving or giving man. Although he seems like a sensitive man, I’m not sure if that’s a compliment, especially if he wasn’t a strong man. Instead, he seems used to being passive, a wallflower and a doormat, and the longer the bogus family thing went on, the less he liked it. He felt suffocated by it, and perhaps by Shan’ann. The real thing suffocating the Watts household was money. The murder, after all, was his singular effort to extricate himself from an oppressive burden of obligations that were drowning him.
By killing his family, it’s possible Chris may have seen himself inheriting the home and a nice lump sum in life insurance, and then being free [snap of the fingers] financially. A quick solution to a problem that in the late summer of 2018 was looking like it was going to last a lifetime.
In a video posted on March 15 2018, a-month-and-a-half before the half-hour video in May, Chris arrives with pizza and Shan’ann doesn’t acknowledge him. Nor does he acknowledge her. It’s all about the kids. The video actually seems to cut Chris out of the recording, even though he is walking towards the camera, and then across the room. What this is is Chris running errands for the kids, and Shan’ann, and not getting any credit. He’s invisible, like a delivery boy not worthy of greeting or tipping.
In young, busy families, particularly when social media and television are part of the equation, there are often moments where one feels invisible. Everyone’s there, and yet in a sense, no one is.
Going back to the May video clip, for the umpteenth time Shan’ann calls to Bella, telling her to say “hi” to the camera [something she doesn’t invite Chris to do]. And Bella continues to ignore her mother.
With the camera back on herself, Shan’ann talks about being blessed to travel the world, and that one day she hopes Chris can “travel that long” with us. Given their virtual bankruptcy, this seems more than a tad disingenuous. Perhaps because of this, Shan’ann takes a big emotional gulp at this point in the pitch. She should be emotional about this because although her message is about wealth, lifestyle and high flying, the reality is they have no money.
Those trips aren’t holidays as much as Thrive promo deals. They’re business trips, effectively.
In the next snippet Shan’ann talks about time freedom and then snookers herself talking about her previous job and her kids being sick, and that taking precedence over vacations. The snooker comes where she says with her new job she doesn’t have to take time off because – oh, well, she doesn’t have to talk time off because she’s supposedly never working. [Except now, on a Saturday morning].
And then the fairy tale starts. Shan’ann describes loving “helping people feel better”, and “giving their happy back”. It’s a nice sentiment, especially if you believe sticking a patch on your arm can cure everything from a headache to world hunger.
4. “No matter what you do, you just have to love what you do. And I love what I do.” When she tries to illustrate it with examples, Shan’ann thinks and apologises for rambling. She can’t think of what she loves about what she’s doing, because what is she doing? Posting messages about products is hardly the stuff of fairy tales. It’s an interesting moment, because one can’t help wondering – Shan’ann, are you really happy?
Most network marketers aren’t. Most network marketers are poor and desperate. Most people avoid these jobs until it’s their absolutely last option. And most of their friends and customers are put off by their incessant attempts to sell.
Some have speculated on whether Shan’ann was really making $80K a month selling patches and powders of dubious efficacy.
They sell happiness, but they’re faking it to try to make it. If this aspect of her life wasn’t real, what else wasn’t? If the marriage wasn’t real, what else wasn’t real? If none of it was real, then Shan’ann was living a lie, and so was Chris.
This is not the first time multilevel marketing has reared its head in true crime. Travis Alexander, who roped his girlfriend – the infamous Jodi Arias [who later murdered him] into his Pre-paid Legal business. Alexander also talked a big game, had a nice house, used a lot of aphorisms and magic thinking, but the history of that business was checkered to say the least.
Skipping ahead through the clip, Shan’ann briefly mentions the downside to her job. Being judged. Being criticised. Being snubbed by cynics and haters.
5. “I will continue not letting the haters get in my way. I will continue not to be discouraged. I will continue not letting people judge…me, or what I do. I will continue to not let people influence my decisions on what I do in life. I will continue fighting…for my children. For my husband. For myself.”
This is where the clip seems to be a rallying call – from Shan’ann to Shan’ann. She’s pregnant, maybe she knows and maybe she doesn’t, but this is a rallying call to herself and perhaps to Chris. But she’s not done.
6. “And nobody’s gonna hold me back…from…my future. My kid’s future. No one’s gonna tell me the right way of living life. No one’s gonna tell me what I should and shouldn’t do for a job.” Shanann seems tearful here, doesn’t she? “Like…if I’m bringing in income and taking care of my family then I’m being a better mom than I’ve ever been because I’m here….You have to be strong, you have to be confident…You have to be you at the end of the day.”
Chris is still in the room with her – is she saying what she’s saying purposely to communicate with him?
… I’m bringing in income…
…I’m taking care of my family…
…I’m being a better mom…
Has he been criticising her work? Has he been annoyed and frustrated by the constant business trips, promotions and selling? Who wouldn’t be?
Perhaps her friends or even her mother have told Shan’ann to get out – of the marriage and her dead-end job. But right here, Shan’ann’s fighting to stay in both. It’s a fight she would ultimately lose.
Behind the Mirror of Facebook [Part 1]
“Every dog is a lion at home.” ―Henry George Bohn
Facebook provides a stunning Technicolor glimpse into the interiority of Shan’ann’s life, and the rest of her family. Although we might be tempted to jump right in and look around, and we will, let’s zoom in slowly first, an
d see if we can tease some insights from the surface of what we’re talking about, the sort of understanding one misses by looking too closely too soon at the thing we’re trying to get a handle on.
So let’s begin with a broad pan across the woods that is Facebook. It’s a huge forest circling the globe. But at its heart, that forest of users is comprised of people. People who exist in the real world somewhere, living in real houses, people with real dreams [or at least, real people who think their dreams are real].
Let’s take a look at one of those users in the real world, before we look inside their computer browser. It could be you, it could be me, it could be a little house on a Colorado prairie somewhere. But we start by looking at the house. What is a house?
Houses have walls. On the outside, the walls keep people out. On the inside the walls keep people in. There’s a design architecture to the structure, and an interior design too. There’s supposed to be safety and utility behind those walls. And in these safe places, and safe spaces, pictures are hung, families gather and conversations are had. Precious and everyday moments are shared. The saying “safe as houses” comes from this everyday idea of suburbia as a conventional place where people live, eat and can simply be themselves.
In our homes we have our preferences, and those we live with tend to honor or at least remember them, if there’s to be any kind of harmony. Communication is direct, in lounges, the dinner table or in the kitchen, while meals are prepared. Television however can interfere with the conversations within, in the sense that it brings news from outside inside. Television can cause conversations, but more commonly it prevents them. In many modern families there are arguments over whose turn it is to watch what, or how long one can be allowed to not participate in family activities, in favor of some pressing entertainment opportunity.
Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way.
Facebook also has walls. It also has security features and barriers to entry, or at least, it pretends to. Most people don’t pay much attention to the design architecture of Facebook, focusing more on how their walls look to the outside world. In a sense it’s intended to be public, and for network marketers like Shan’ann and Nickole, their accounts are explicitly public. It’s the equivalent of leaving the front door and windows of one’s home open day and night, and hoping someone who wanders in might be converted into a customer. One of the reasons this is such a sensational case is because of the public access to the Watts family via these settings, along with the impression that the Watts family life was “picture perfect” on Facebook.
Two Face- the Man Underneath Christopher Watts Page 4
