My Daddy Is a Hero

by Lena Derhally

  Shanann was constantly praising Chris and sharing the story of how they met and fell in love. On his birthday, three months before he killed her, Shanann shared a birthday post for Chris on her Facebook page:

  Today I celebrate you Chris. You are absolutely the BEST thing that ever happened to me in 2010! That year you were placed in my life when I was at my worst! I was just diagnosed with Lupus and Fibro, and I felt like my world was crumbling around me! Then I met you! We have so many incredible memories these past 8 years, two beautiful girls, moved halfway around the world, sold house, built our home for our family and all you constantly do for us! You work your ass off, you’re an amazing husband and even better dad! You are the blessing I’ve been looking for my whole life! You are chasing big goals and dreams and never stop. You support me in so many ways! I hope you have an amazing birthday! I love you baby!

  Many people roll their eyes at proclamations like these on social media. It is true that people who are overly saccharine are often embellishing or portraying an image they want others to believe rather than the reality. However, in Shanann’s case, she seemed like she really believed she had won the lottery with her husband. There didn’t seem to be any secret abuse behind closed doors. Shanann felt she genuinely had a happy, loving, and affectionate marriage. According to her text messages with friends, if there were any problems, Shanann would have considered them minor issues every couples goes through after being together for a long time.

  Shanann, always looking to a big, bright future, created vision boards and had them for her daughters as well. She was envisioning 2018 as her best year yet. On New Year’s Day of 2018, she posted a photo of her with Chris and the girls with the caption: “To the future. Bigger. Better. Greater. 2018.” Shanann had claimed 2018 was her year. She was on the right track to achieving all the goals she was setting for herself, and she was extremely excited about her future.

  Chris had always wanted a son, and because he was always so hands-on and helpful, Shanann agreed to try for a third child. Chris probably imagined a relationship with his son that was like the relationship he had with his father. Shanann had even gushed on Facebook on Father’s Day of 2018 to Chris, saying the following:

  Chris, we are so incredibly blessed to have you! You do so much every day for us and take such good care of us. You are the reason I was brave enough to agree to number 3! From laundry to kids to showers! You are incredible and we are so lucky to have you in our life! Happy Father’s Day!

  Shanann was excited that everything she had ever dreamed of was finally falling into place. She had no way of knowing that her world would fall apart only a month after this post and that her husband would murder her in cold blood two months after this Father’s Day post.

  • • •

  In early June, Shanann discovered she was pregnant with their third child. She wanted to surprise Chris with a creative pregnancy announcement and knew that the news would be a huge shock to him. Because they needed fertility drugs to conceive Bella and CeCe, the thought of getting pregnant naturally and right away was not something either of them had banked on.

  Shanann set up her iPhone camera so it was directly filming Chris as he walked through the door as he came home from work that afternoon. She wore a shirt she had made just for the occasion that read, “Ooops We Did it Again.”

  Before Chris walked in the room, Shanann stepped in front of the camera with a teasing grin on her face and flashed the message on the shirt before going back to hide behind the camera. Dieter was barking excitedly when Chris got home. Chris, dressed casually, wearing a long-sleeved gray shirt, jeans, and tinted sunglasses, stopped dead in his tracks with his arms frozen out at his sides as he spotted Shanann, read the words on her shirt, and chuckled.

  “Oops, we did it again,” he said in his soft-spoken Southern drawl, a grin breaking out on his face. He laughed as he walked toward her. “I like that shirt,” he said, still smiling. Then, after a moment of silence, “Really?”

  “Really,” Shanann answered.

  “That’s awesome,” Chris said. “So pink means…?” he trailed off in a teasing tone.

  “That’s just the test,” Shanann said from behind the camera.

  “I know…just the pink is gonna be girls?” Chris said with a goofy smile.

  “I don’t know. That’s just the test,” Shanann said.

  “That’s awesome,” Chris said again as he leaned in to kiss her. Then he looked directly in the camera and flashed a smile. “I guess when you want to, it happens.”

  He pulled the pregnancy test away from him and examined it, shaking his head in disbelief.

  “Wow,” he whispered loudly.

  This pregnancy video was just one of many examples of Chris’s phony acting. Unbeknownst to Shanann, more than another child on the way was brewing for Chris that June. Around the first of the month, he started chatting with Nikki Kessinger.

  She had been talking to Chris at work and had found him very attractive. The attraction was mutual. Chris hadn’t been wearing a wedding ring because of his rapid weight loss. His ring kept falling off, so he was getting it resized.

  According to Chris, during one of their first conversations, he said something along the lines of, “We moved to Colorado from North Carolina.”

  Nikki responded with, “What’s all this ‘we’ stuff?”

  Chris told her about his wife and daughters. He also had pictures of them as the wallpaper of his phone that Nikki saw.

  On June 12, one day after Shanann’s pregnancy announcement on Facebook, Chris received an email from Nikki. In the email, she thanked Chris for being so honest with her and told him that truthfulness was underrated.

  Chris responded with a brazenly forward email. He told Nikki he was just a straightforward guy who didn’t like lying. He also mentioned that he thought she was stunning and amazing. He said he wanted to get to know her better.

  Nikki responded again, saying she enjoyed talking to him and felt she could relate to him. She told Chris she was looking to build a beautiful life with someone, similar to what he had done with Shanann and the girls. Mentioning her belief in karma, Nikki said she wanted to keep their friendship at work.

  Chris responded with the final email in the chain. He said he thought that people always have an agenda for everything, and that a beautiful life was hard to find because of it. He said he also believed in karma but gave Nikki his work number in case she ever needed to get in touch with him in the field. He signed off with hopes that she would have an amazing day.

  Chapter 11

  “My daddy is a hero.”

  After the email exchange between Chris and Nikki, Shanann was oblivious and ignorantly blissful, starting to think about life with a third child. On June 14, only a few days before Father’s Day, she happily captured a video of Bella singing in her car seat. “My daddy is a hero. He helps me grow up strong. He reads me books; he ties my shoes. You’re a hero through and through. My daddy, daddy, I love you.”

  Shanann’s voice in the background squealed with emotion. “Awww, I love it!”

  Chris and Shanann were very busy the rest of the month of June. They planned to leave for a Lifestyle Getaway in San Diego with Le-Vel at the end of the month, and her father Frank traveled from North Carolina to stay with the girls, so Chris and Shanann could enjoy some relaxed time together. However, Chris wasn’t looking forward to the trip because he already had made up his mind about starting a relationship with Nikki. Upon their return to Colorado, Shanann was set to fly with the girls to North Carolina for six weeks to spend the summer with their families. Because Chris had to work, he would join them only for the last week of the trip in early August.

  Shanann was preoccupied with Le-Vel and her Thrive business and getting ready for her trips. She was packing and meal prepping for Chris, jokingly calling him a “bachelor” who would be on his own for five weeks, no
t realizing how literally he would take that role.

  Shanann went to an ultrasound to check on the baby without Chris on June 19. He was out working in the field that day. There was a tornado in the area, he had to take cover, and couldn’t make the appointment on time. Shanann took Bella, who had joked that there were five babies in her mama’s belly.

  When Shanann texted a photo of the ultrasound to Chris, he replied, “No 5 babies?” and then added, “Little peanut!! Love her/him already!!”

  Still blissfully unaware of her husband’s intentions to stray, Shanann proudly boasted the text exchange on Facebook with a screenshot of the exchange, saying, “I love Chris! He’s the best dad us girls could ask for.”

  A few days later, on June 22, Shanann and Chris flew to San Diego for the Thrive Lifestyle Getaway. Shanann’s best friends, Nicki Atkinson, Cassie, Addy, and Cristina were all there, including Cassie’s and Addy’s husbands. Cassie’s husband, Josh, got along well with Chris, and the two men texted and kept in touch every now and then. The Thrive getaways were something the group looked forward to because the women didn’t live in the same state. Addy was in Maryland, Cristina in Hawaii, and Cassie and Josh would soon be moving to Colorado near Nicki and Shanann.

  Everyone had a great time in San Diego and spent most of the time lounging by the pool, walking on the beach, taking a cruise on a boat, and attending social gatherings where they connected with Le-Vel people from all over the country. Josh took beautiful, candid photos of Shanann and Chris strolling on the beach. Although the sky was overcast, Chris and Shanann looked happy and in love, embracing each other, holding hands, and smiling.

  Chris had someone else on his mind, though. During this trip, he and Nikki texted back and forth the entire time. Aware that Chris was in San Diego, Nikki suggested they meet up for the first time outside work when he returned to Colorado (according to Chris). Shanann and Chris flew back to Colorado on June 26. Twelve hours later, Shanann flew to North Carolina with Bella and CeCe.

  To Shanann, everything seemed great between Chris and her. She had told several friends that they had been “all over each other” in the weeks leading up to her departure to North Carolina. She had even shared that Chris couldn’t keep his hands off her, and they would have sex in the kitchen pantry when the girls were watching television in the next room.

  As early as June 27, however, Chris and Nikki exchanged flirtatious text messages. The first one recovered was from Chris to Nikki.

  “Promise! I’m about loyalty, truthfulness, and being dedicated. I don’t like playing games…unless its role playing (wink face emoji). If you want me there, I will be there! Ice cream, cookies, and lollipops. Sounds like a cheat meal night lol.”

  Immediately after Shanann and the girls left for North Carolina, Nikki and Chris met at a park in Thornton, Colorado. The affair ramped up very quickly from that point on. Some deleted text messages have not been recovered, so many of the text messages may seem out of context or confusing. What is clear is the haste with which Chris accelerated his relationship with Nikki once his pregnant wife left town.

  On the evening of June 29, Chris texted Nikki, “I’m still going to see you! It won’t be as often as we like but I will make it happen! You think you’re the only one addicted right now? I’m so hooked on you.” Shortly after that, he texted again. “Sleeping without your warm body next to me isn’t going to be fun tonight.”

  On June 30, Nikki texted Chris. “I have an idea btw. I have a free hotel stay at a Holiday Inn. Not sure if you can swing it this month but we can road trip to the mountains or southern Colorado for a day or two if you want. Won’t cost a dime lol.” She also texted, “She supports me…but her parents were in a situation like that when she was a kid, and it came up. It won’t bother me. I’m not going to stop seeing you. I made up my mind. Are we bad people?”

  On July 1, Chris sent Nikki a text, saying, “I’d love to be a part of it. Being in your life is something that I crave. Conserve it while you can. I enjoyed our conversation tonight. I hope you have a great night. Sweet dreams. Nikki (kiss face emoji).”

  Soon after, Chris and Nikki started spending four to five nights a week together. Chris was barely at home, and it is unclear how much attention Dieter the dog was getting.

  July 3 was Nikki’s birthday. Chris got her a birthday card, one that made it seem as if they had been dating in an exclusive relationship for years.

  The card read, “A year of stuff you love to do and brand-new dreams to make come true. One that brings you smiles and laughter and fills your heart with love long after. A million moments day by day, that simply take your breath away. Have a birthday as wonderful as you are.” Chris wrote his own message after, saying, “This sums up you! Big things will happen this year, dreams will come true. That smile (that stare), that laugh (that giggle) gets me every time!! You are a truly amazing, inspirational and electric woman that takes my breath away every time I see you! You are wonderful!! Don’t EVER stop being you!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Chris.”

  He also added a quote from the song “Take You There” by Through the Roots: “Your energy is so insane. You heat me up, you make me melt and then you cool me down like rain.”

  • • •

  The next day, on the Fourth of July, Chris was off work and had spent the night at Nikki’s. He woke up that morning to a livid Shanann, who was just starting to pick up on Chris’s emotional distance and lack of receptivity toward the girls and her. The first week Shanann was in North Carolina, she and Chris were chatting on the phone and having frequent phone sex, but now something was starting to feel off to her. That morning, she had been trying to reach Chris on the phone and didn’t know where he was, which was unusual because he was an early riser and would have been awake early. She called multiple times in a row, getting angrier with each call that he didn’t pick up. When Chris saw the missed calls, he went outside to call her back, and she started yelling at him, asking him where he was and telling him the kids wanted to talk to him.

  Chris went back inside to the house and told Nikki he had to go.

  “Are you coming back?” she demanded. In his prison confession, Chris said she was angry and realized she would always be “second fiddle” to Shanann. Nikki told investigators she recalled telling Chris she needed to take a step back.

  “Just because I have to leave doesn’t mean you have to take a step back,” Chris supposedly said to calm her down. He was already feeling stressed after Shanann’s call, and now he had someone else angry with him.

  “I don’t think we should see each other the rest of the day,” Nikki said.

  While in prison, Chris was writing to a woman named Cheryln Cadle, who has since published Letters from Christopher,6 which details her correspondence with Chris in letters and in person. In his account to Cadle, he says later that day, Nikki came over and went over a “protein eating plan” for him.

  In North Carolina, Shanann was struggling with the pregnancy, the humidity of Southern summers, and trying to parent active toddlers. It had poured rain that evening, and Shanann and her family were unable to see the fireworks.

  In the evening in Colorado, Chris had plans to meet up with good friends Nick and Amanda Thayer and their daughter. They all went to a firework show at the Thornton Recreation Center.

  As they sat together on a blanket, Nick recalled making small talk with Chris.

  “What’s it like to be a bachelor?” Nick jokingly asked.

  “It’s weird being in an empty house. I’m working out all the time,” he replied. “Shanann got upset with me today because I missed her calls. If I don’t answer the phone because I’m in the shower or working out, she gets upset. If I’m having any fun without her, I have to hide it.”

  Amanda, Shanann’s friend, overheard the comments and picked up that Chris was feeling a little annoyed. While out with the Thayers, Chris was texting Nikki.

&nbs
p; “I’m getting drenched right now lol. Like to see you all wet in the rain.”

  The text messages mostly involved what Chris was eating. He told Nikki he “crushed tacos,” avoided eating funnel cake and tater twists, and had a protein shake before he left the house.

  After he said goodbye to the Thayers, he headed back to Nikki’s apartment, resuming his new double life. At eleven o’clock that evening, he texted her, “Just pulled up to your place.”

  * * *

  6. Cadle, Cheryln. Letters from Christopher: The Tragic Confessions of the Watts Family Murders. Pittsburgh, PA: Dorrance Publishing, 2019.

  Chapter 12

  “How does it feel when someone says, I love you?”

  The next few days would leave Shanann frustrated and confused by Chris’s continued aloof behavior.

  On July 8, at 5:15 am, Chris texted Shanann to cover his tracks for being so distant. “I’m sorry Boo. I fell asleep as soon as I got home. The heat killed me yesterday. I love you so much!!!” Sadly, he was duping his wife here, using scripted and disingenuous sentences to keep Shanann off his back.

  On July 9, Shanann took the girls to visit with Chris’s parents, Ronnie and Cindy, his sister Jamie, her husband, and their two children. Shanann was hoping the trip to North Carolina would be a bonding experience for the girls and both sides of the family. Despite all the tension that had transpired, Shanann had said to friends that she was always willing to try to put the past behind her and have a good relationship with her in-laws, especially for the sake of Chris and the kids.

  After lunch at Cindy’s and Ronnie’s house, the incident known as “nutgate” happened.

  CeCe was so allergic to tree nuts and cashews that during her allergy testing, she vomited multiple times and broke out into hives after the smallest amounts were given to her. The little girl had apparently been diagnosed with an anaphylaxis reaction to the nuts, which is life threatening. Children who experience anaphylaxis reactions must always have Epipens because they could potentially die from ingesting whatever they are highly allergic to.