New Netflix true crime ‘American Murder’ is all about the Watts family killings

Shanann and her two young daughters disappeared in 2018

4 years ago | UPDATED 4 years ago

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Netflix has announced it has a new true crime coming, called American Murder: The Family Next Door. The documentary will explore the real life story of Shanann and Chris Watts, and it will be released later this month.

In 2018, Shanann, who was pregnant at the time, and her two young daughters went missing from their home and the family’s story become worldwide news when the case began to unravel.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the documentary’s release on Netflix.

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via Instagram

American Murder: The Family Next Door will tell the story of the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children

In August 2018 Shanann and her two daughters were last seen in their home in Colorado. On August 15th, Shanann was reported missing by a friend. Initially, the girls’ father and Shanann’s husband denied he knew what had happened, and Chris Watts appeared on camera to beg for the safe return of his pregnant wife and their two young daughters. As the story spread throughout the media everyone felt for Chris, a seemingly heartbroken husband and father.

When the bodies of his family were found, Chris suddenly changed his story. He said it was Shanann who killed the girls and when he found her doing this, he freaked out and killed her. But then he failed a lie detector test and confessed to brutally killing his entire family.

Later in 2018, Chris Watts was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without chance of parole. He plead guilty to the murder of his 34-year-old pregnant wife Shanann and their daughters, four-year-old Bella and three-year-old Celeste.

via Instagram

The Netflix synopsis for the documentary reads: “Using raw, firsthand footage, this documentary examines the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed.”

The story of Chris Watts was also told in the Lifetime film Chris Watts: Confessions of a Killer. It was described as the “creepiest film ever” but overall reviews said it was rushed, with production starting less than a year after his arrest. The story of Shanann and her daughters has also been told in Beyond the Headlines: The Watts Family Tragedy.

Watch the trailer for American Murder: The Family Next Door on Netflix here:

This is going to be the next true crime we're all hooked on 👀

Posted by The Holy Church of Netflix on Wednesday, 16 September 2020

American Murder: The Family Next Door will be available on Netflix from September 30th. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.