TCRS contacted a source close to the family requesting additional information on the Oxy in the basement. This question was passed on to Watts and this was his response.
Chris doesn’t remember the exact date, but the oxy search was done before his visit to North Carolina. They (Chris and Shanann had expired medications all throughout the bins down in the basement to include the pain killers).
Shanann [was] into couponing and would get good deals on medication so in those bins downstairs they had both prescription and over-the-counter medication. That’s why there’s so much of it.
They also had them in the medicine cabinet. He is unclear about which he used, but we assume he could’ve scraped up whatever he found. He then crushed them and put them in her thrive balance pills and already had them made and ready to give to her in Colorado. He gave it to her in North Carolina.
He’s saying he only gave it to her once in North Carolina when he had first arrived. He has only ever told any of us that it was once. Giving it to her twice as he stated in that letter was news to us. He currently maintains that he only did it once. So confusing and terribly frustrating to have these conflicting accounts. I did speak with XXXXXX by phone just before I emailed you to make sure I’ve understood it just right.
Also, he’s going to be reading the book soon and going through it to separate fact from lies.
True Crime Rocket Science II 
Sounds like he didn’t just want to cause a miscarriage, he wanted to poison her too while he was at it. If the Oxy in the home was only 10 milligrams, then he might have researched what 8 of them crushed up would do – hence, 80 mg “oxycodon”.
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I agree. His “confession” about giving her drugs to cause a miscarriage doesn’t ring true to me.
I think as soon as Chris arrived in NC his first priority was getting rid of his wife and unborn son in an “accidental overdose.” If they had died during that vacation maybe he would have gotten away with it. He could leave his daughters with his in-laws afterwards while he flew home to sell the house which would have resulted in him getting the $100K cash from the equity.
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Does anyone else wonder about the collecting/storing of medicines like this – and “couponing” to get bulk discounts? To the point where you’ve got expired ones in the basement and on-date ones in a medicine cupboard? It might be that I’m from a country with socialised health care where you’d pay a nominal prescription charge for either a month’s worth or a course of something (like antibiotics for a week) – but it sort of sounds odd and the amounts in the house have always looked a bit odd to me . But it may be a cultural thing – ie if you have to pay more than a standardised prescription charge then maybe like anything else you look for ways of doing it cheaper. It is quite a serious drug though – would a doctor keep prescribing more and more ? And why keep getting them If you weren’t taking them ?
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Because if they were expired. S/he was getting them off the street.
Drugs like Fentanyl and expired Oxycodone/oxycontin are gathered up and supposed to be desposed of. But, street value is quite lucrative. Destroy some, sell the rest.
It was no secret Shannon had neck surgery… I don’t know who got them, but there were more than massive amounts of “expired”oxy in that basement
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And the other thing that’s always niggled at me -were they not worried about the kids accidentally getting hold of them in how they kept medications ? In the police camera footage they’re just spilling about loose in the basement boxes. Not exactly a child proof cupboard and not even out of their eye line.
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There are several things off about this. Why mention the Oxy now? Also he says he’s not going to say where he got it, but now, through someone else, he’s saying where he got it. Certainly you can’t “coupon” a class 4 drug like Oxycodone. And 80 mg? Not all at once in a prescription, which if they had 10 mg stored in the basement he might be researching what 8 could do – and what does his confession have to do with using it on the children. So far he’s provided several confessions around their deaths, none of them believable. He seems to want to go back to the past to clear up misconceptions in the public’s eye, but he won’t stay focused in the present with a true and accurate account of what happened Aug. 12.
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Thanks, Sylvester, for consistently offering the most cogent analysis of this case’s myriad facets (and the apparently endless supply of new ones), AND for asking questions with no trace of ego…i.e. not being afraid to NOT know something…
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Thank you Anne. There are many perspectives to be had on this multi-faceted guy. And after a year of studying him I find him more abnormal than normal, and I would hope I could recognize the signs if I ever encountered such an individual – especially if he were a family member.
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Could the Rzuecks get pharmacy records?lets just figure it out the easy way
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As usual, I’m late to this discussion but I am familiar with OxyContin. It is an extended (12 hr) release form of Oxycodone (which is found in Percocet). OxyContin, as distributed today, can be crushed but doing so will not release active ingredients. It’s encapsulated somehow in the manufacturing process and will only break down over time in the digestive tract. It is not dissolvable either. It will turn into a gummy mess. Addicts used to crush the pills to inject or snort so changes were made several years ago. 10 mg is a relatively small dose for OxyContin. It is available in an 80 mg strength, which I believe is currently the strongest dosage available in the US. Watts may have crushed Shanann’s pills but they would only release Oxycodone over 12 hours so I doubt they would have made her ill, especially if she had been taking them for years. She may have also had Oxycodone HCI, immediate release, avail in 5,10,15, 20 & 30 mg strengths), which is crushable and soluble, so perhaps he used those. A lot of chronic pain sufferers are prescribed Oxycodone in addition to OxyContin for “breakthrough” pain. Personally, I think he’s lying.
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You have it backwards. The oxycontin would be the daily and the oxycodone is for breakthrough pain. No one would prescribe an extended release med for acute “breakthrough” pain. Also a a recovering addict I can tell you that you can my definitely breakdown oxys to inject or snort. There are ways around it.
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Dayzlazy, they crush up just fine for quicker delivery, I’ll have you know. There are ways around these things….
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