Netflix trailer shows killer Chris Watt’s smiling wife in home video before he murdered family

A new Netflix documentary trailer has shown killer Chris Watt’s smiling wife talking about their happy family life in home video footage before he murdered her and their two daughters, 4 and 3, and stuffed the little girls’ bodies in an oil tank. 

‘I went through one of the darkest times in my life and then I met Chris and he’s the best thing that has ever happened to me,’ Shanann Watts tells the camera in the chilling never-before-seen footage. 

Chris Watts strangled his pregnant wife, 34, killing her and their unborn son Nico in their bed at their home in Frederick, Colorado, in August 2018 when she confronted him about his affair with a co-worker.  

He then drove their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3 – with their mom’s corpse in the car – to a remote oil field where he worked and smothered them with a New York Yankees blanket before squeezing their bodies into an oil tank.

A new Netflix documentary ‘American Murder: The Family Next Door’ airing from September 30 will look into the grisly murders including the apparent picture perfect family life that led up to the crimes and the killer’s efforts to convince cops his wife had ran away with their kids.

The online streaming giant dropped a trailer for the true-crime show, directed by Jenny Popplewell and Oscar-winning executive producer James Marsh.

The show will bring together ‘raw, firsthand footage’ and examined ‘the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed’, Netflix says.   

The trailer begins with home doorbell footage showing Shanann arriving back at the family home the night before she was strangled to death by her cheating husband. 

A 911 call made by Shanann’s friend Nicole plays over the footage with the woman saying she was ‘concerned about a friend of mine’.

‘I dropped her off at her house at two in the morning last night and I haven’t heard been able to get a hold of her this morning,’ she tells the 911 dispatcher. 

‘I’ve gone to her house and her car’s there. She won’t answer phone calls, she won’t answer text messages.’ 

The trailer goes on to reveal the lengths the killer went to to distance himself from his family’s disappearance before finally confessing to the grisly crimes.  

It reveals Chris sent his dead wife a text message reading: ‘Can you call me please?’ some point after he strangled her and dumped her body at his place of work. 

Footage shows how Chris attempted to deceive law enforcement that his wife had disappeared and taken their children with her.

‘There was no note or anything?’ someone asks him as he and others appear to be searching the family home. 

‘No,’ Chris replies. 

‘I don’t know what to do right now,’ Chris says in another clip where he plays the concerned husband. 

During a police interview, he continues the facade, saying: ‘I think about like did I cause this? Did I make her feel like she needed to leave?’   

The show also gives a glimpse into what appeared to be a perfect happy family life, with smiling photos of the young family and archive footage of the kids blowing out candles on birthday cakes.

In one home video in the trailer, Chris appears to be the image of the doting father playing with little Bella and Celeste and their toys. 

In another, Shannon tells the camera she wants to tell them her ‘story’ of how her husband was ‘the best thing that ever happened to me’. 

‘Hey guys, my name is Shanann. I just want you to know a little bit of my story,’ she says, smiling at the camera.

Her voice is later heard saying: ‘I’ve done everything in my heart to make my family’s life better.’

The couple’s wedding day footage also plays across the screen.

However, the show reveals that beneath the happy image on the surface there was trouble.

Chris’s voice is heard saying ‘my mom just never thought she was good enough’ while Shanann jokes that she ‘tortured’ and ‘rejected’ her husband. 

Moments from the police interview room show Chris being interrogated by officers. 

The footage shows the moment the net closed in on the depraved killer.

‘There’s only one person in this room that knows what the truth is,’ a detective tells him. ‘In about five minutes, there’s gonna be two of us.’    

Chris received five life sentences and was sent to the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun, Wisconsin, in November 2018 after confessing to the murders.  

After he was jailed, it emerged that he had been having a two-month affair with a co-worker and had planned a new life with her. 

He revealed in a jailhouse confession how he strangled Shanann in about four minutes after she found out about his affair and told him he would never see his kids again.  

After strangling her, the killer said Bella came into the room and asked what was wrong with her mom.

Chris then dragged Shanann’s lifeless body down the stairs and Celeste also woke up and ran around the house.

He bundled Shanann into their truck and got his two girls into the vehicle with their mom’s body.  

The killer drove the girls to his work site where he smothered Celeste with a New York Yankees blanket and threw her body in an oil tank while Bella watched. 

He then murdered Bella in the same way also stuffing her body in the tank.  

Chris then buried Shanann and their unborn son in a shallow grave. 

Chris faked concern for his family saying his wife must have taken their children and left him. 

He later confessed and pleaded guilty to five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body in November 2018.