DILLON THOMAS: Chris just murdered his entire family--
his pregnant wife Shan'ann, Bella, CeCe--
and hours later, he's moving on with his life
as if nothing ever happened.
WOMAN: He is texting with his realtor
about putting his house on the market.
He is calling the girls' school and telling
them that they won't be coming back to school anymore.
He even googled the lyrics to a song
by Metallica called "Battery."
DILLON THOMAS: Chris is thinking that nobody has any suspicions
of what's gone on.
He doesn't know that Nickole Atkinson takes
it upon herself to call 911.
I believe he thought he could pull it off.
Chris might have gotten away with murder If it
weren't for Nickole Atkinson.
CHRIS WATTS: This is my flesh and blood.
This is, like, what I wanted all my life.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NICKOLE ATKINSON: My name's Nickole,
and I'm calling because I'm concerned
about a friend of mine.
Shan'ann's best friend, Nickole Atkinson,
had a gut feeling that something was wrong.
All righty.
We do have a call in, Nickole.
We'll have an officer come out that way as soon as we can.
Hi, Ben.
Hi.
OFFICER: You're Nickole?
Yes. OFFICER: OK.
So what's going on?
OFFICER: OK.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: The police officers wear a camera
so that they can document the conversations
between a suspect or witness.
I'm sent these police cams to analyze them
to be able to detect whether the person has
suspect behavior and demeanor.
DILLON THOMAS: What's interesting is the garage door
opens, and Instead of yelling out for Shan'ann, he
stops and opens up their car and starts looking through the car.
This is a stalling tactic to kind of gather
his thoughts up a little bit.
He then walks in the house and is
never heard calling their names, as
if he knows they're not home.
He goes in the house.
He's in there for about a minute by himself.
Nobody goes in with him.
DILLON THOMAS: And that's when he comes around
and politely lets in the police officer,
Nickole Atkinson, and her son.
Oh, yeah, of course.
OFFICER: OK.
DILLON THOMAS: They go upstairs.
There's no sign of the girls there.
They go in the basement.
There's no sign of Shan'ann or the girls.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: This could be the ticket
to all the information, like she left a phone behind.
But here's the other thing is is that he
didn't think that it was odd, that the phone was left there.
TANIA HAGAN: I don't believe Chris had planned
to have the phone discovered.
I think he planned to come back later and make some changes
and do what he had to do to make it look
as if Shan'ann was wandering around with her
phone and doing other things.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: He seems to be anxious.
You can see this rocking movement in his body language.
DILLON THOMAS: But instead of frantically calling around,
asking for help finding his wife, or if anyone's seen her,
he's texting people.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: He's trying to take
attention off of himself, transferring
his anxiety onto that phone.
Nickole is like a hound dog.
She knows something's up.
She knows something's off.
And she's looking over at Chris going, you know,
what the heck is wrong with you?
DILLON THOMAS: At one point, the police
officer is asking questions about where
they might have been.
And Chris conveniently walks straight into the bedroom
and comes straight out, and on his finger
is Shan'ann's wedding ring.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: And he's pointing it out, almost
like he's pointing a gun.
You know, here it is.
I found the ring.
This is the missing evidence.
TANIA HAGAN: I still, to this day,
believe that was her wedding ring
that he took out of the car.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We just have one camera in the front--
My camera.
DILLON THOMAS: It shows Chris very clearly
walking out of the house by himself,
backing his truck up into the driveway,
and then loading something into the back of his truck.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: What Chris Watts does is very purposeful.
He goes into the garage.
He walks out and he's got a gas can.
He goes to put it on one side of the truck,
and then he thinks twice, and goes,
well, I can't really put it there.
But you can see him kind of moving,
like apparently, there's not room for it there.
That wasn't going to fit.
Let's go around to the other side.
Oh, OK, now it'll fit, obviously,
between the three dead bodies.
DILLON THOMAS: Suddenly this guy who had few words
has a lot to say.
He has an explanation for everything.
TANIA HAGAN: Then Chris started to fall apart a bit.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: Chris Watts can barely watch it, right?
So what happens when you arrest somebody?
Get down on the ground.
Put your hands on your head.
So he puts his hands on his head,
even though he wasn't told.
But that was a surrendering moment.
DILLON THOMAS: That's almost as if Chris was verbally saying,
oh my gosh.
I was not expecting this.
SUSAN CONSTANTINE: And you see him pacing and moving, nervous
and anxious.
Chris Watts' body language is betraying him.
So right now, police don't have probable cause to be able
to arrest him because it still isn't clear where
Shan'ann, Bella, and CeCe went.
They're never seen leaving the house.
REPORTER: Police in Colorado have
issued an alert for a pregnant mother
and her two young daughters.
CHRIS WATTS: I have no inclination
of where they're at right now.
Like, if she wasn't here, where did she go?
I'm just hoping right now that she's somewhere safe.
INTERVIEWEE: And when I saw him on the news,
I knew there was foul play.
There was just a huge element missing with him.
CHRIS WATTS: If she's vanished, like, I want her back so bad.
I want those kids back so bad.
There was something more to this case,
and the focus really started to center in on Chris.
[MUSIC PLAYING]