On July 16th, Watts is showing signs of being completely smitten. He’s taking photos of flowers and Googling Dave Bunk Minerals possibly to buy Kessinger a gift. He’s also taken it upon himself to fix Kessinger’s Toyota. What this shows is he’s become not only fixated on Kessinger, he’s already embarking on a new life and lifestyle with her.

He’s able to do this because of the unprecedented space Shan’ann gives him – 5 whole weeks.

The series of intermittent  phone calls between Watts and his wife in the afternoon, lasting almost 33 minutes, looks to be argumentative, again. Bear in mind this is only the first week after Nut Gate, and Nut Gate remained a serious issue even when Watts finally traveled to see his folks in North Carolina a few weeks later, in early August.

While we have the impression that Watts wanted a new life with Kessinger, and that’s why he murdered his family, in reality he was already in the new life to a large extent before the crime. The crime was committed to allow him to stay in that life, for the status quo to continue.

Each time Shan’ann called him she painfully interrupted his fairy tale, reminding him that eventually he would have to make a choice between one life and another, one face and another. This is how and where the psychology of premeditation takes root – maybe not consciously at first, but through many small triggers, desires, thoughts and wishes. And over time someone emerges as a preferred choice, and someone else as an increasing threat to that perfect present, that fantasized Happily Ever After.