There’s very little new evidence in Chris Watts case, largely because a lot of people have moved on. While checking the bodycam footage for this particular moment I came across a few additional flags. In any event, this is a question posed by a regular reader and CrimeRocket commenter, Sylvester Alexander:
As Chris is going into his front door, wearing the grey t-shirt he had on when he was summoned home on August 13th by Nickole Atkinson. I’m not sure when this picture was taken but you can clearly see a stuffed animal on the striped outdoor porch couch. We’ve all wondered why the trauma dog alerted to the couch cushion – could this be why? Because there was something on the stuffed animal at some point?
Looking closer, it may be a stuffed animal, or it may not be.
It’s also not a difficult matter to establish the time. The bodycam cameras are set to ZULU or military time. 22:38 ZULU = 16:38. This time should allow those searching across all the bodycam footage to find this particular moment.
There could be an innocent explanation if Sylvester’s right and it is a toy. Nickole’s daughter was literally running around through the crime scene while the cops and Chris Watts were trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
There she is in Ceecee’s room, possibly playing with the toys. If this case went to trial, Watts’ defense would have had a field day allegating massive contamination and compromising of the crime scene, and the Atkinson’s would largely be highlighted as the bad the guy in terms of the defense case.
But it may be that Nickole’s daughter found a toy inside and carried it outside. She may have had to sit for some time outside waiting for her mother and brother to finish what they were doing.
There could also be another explanation – it might be a plastic wrapper from someone’s lunch.
From the bodycam I’ve gone through, the object was not on the outside porch cushion earlier the same afternoon.
Or was it?
Watch from 01:22 in the clip below from Officer Coonrod’s bodycam when he first arrives at the Watts home at 13:51. [Thanks MattyB for sourcing this.]
It even seems to be visible through the glass table in the bottom left of the ring doorbell camera footage. This indicates the toy wasn’t dropped on the driveway by runaway shadows either. It does appear to have been moved to the right [from the perspective of approaching the front door from the garden] compared to where it was in the image below.
More: Two Possible Cadaver Dog Alerts that have been Overlooked
Why did Cody [the Trauma Dog] alert to the cushions on the outside porch?
Read the True Crime Rocket Science analysis of the discovery documents and video footage. DRILLING THROUGH DISCOVERY is the best rated and best reviewed books in the TWO FACE series…
True Crime Rocket Science II 
The object was there before anyone entered the house. First appears on Officer Coonrod’s body cam at 19:51 ZULU.
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Thanks MattB.
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looks like a crinkled up Target bag to me…with the red bullseye (target’s trademark)
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It’s a Target bag.
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Thanks guys.
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I think you all are right. The first thing that came to mind for me, was it looked like Madeleine’s cuddle cat – 4 legs, which only 3 are visible, a body, and a tail. But I agree, the “head” is likely a Target bullseye. In any event Watts didn’t feel any necessity to remove it, it’s also in the pictures of the K9 search.
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I think everyone has likely heard by now – A&E/Lifetime Movie will be airing “The Chris Watts Story” (working title) early 2020. The actor playing Chris Watts is Sean Kleier, Ashley Williams will be playing Shan’ann (mostly known for television roles). They hope to uncover the motive for the murders, but do we think they will?
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Here’s something else I just read although the article was written in August so it’s old news. The Watts home has been completely emptied and re-painted. Gone is the Cinderella pink shoe closet, Bella’s name in her lavendar-colored room, the turquoise room that belonged to CeCe, the hot pink bathroom. It’s as if Shan’ann has been erased, all of her touches and flourishes, gone. Some of the neighbors expressed a desire to turn the plot of land into some kind of memorial or park – her family as well – but they couldn’t get city permits. I would think that would attract the public even more so. Also it must be a new law in Colorado and perhaps elsewhere that a death in the house doesn’t have to be disclosed. Of course everyone knows about it. Her family states they don’t wish to take the profit from the sale of the house and will donate it to a Lupus Foundation or something else in her name. It should be quite a profit – over $200,000 on what’s owed.
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