On Monday it was back to work for Watts. This day was arguably the last normal work day for Watts, because when he returned from North Carolina, the premeditation was likely locked in.
As was her usual habit, Shan’ann called Watts first thing in the morning before he left for work. She may have given him a brief list of instructions that included sorting out her car insurance and getting the damned defective Vivint sensor fixed.
At 09:18 Shan’ann sent Watts three images of a serious injury to one of their children. Watts observed that the ankle appeared dislocated. It’s possible the visual of this injury fed into the mental preparation that was psychologically primed and already in place. How did he feel about his family getting hurt? Bear in mind, what he did to his children’s bodies [stuffing them through thief hatches] wasn’t just an effort to hide their bodies, but to destroy their limbs, to dissolve them into nothing.
It’s unknown which child was injured but it would be no surprise to learn that it was Ceecee. This injury should also be seen in the context of Shan’ann’s earlier fear that Watts’ mother had tried to kill her child. Now we have a serious injury, the circumstances of which aren’t even mentioned. Who was supervising the child when the injury happened? Were they trying to kill the child? Obviously not, but doesn’t it reveal a double standard at best, hypocrisy at worst?
At 16:44 Kessinger called and left her second voicemail with a creepy, schoolgirl-like giggle. Background noise suggests the call was made while driving. The couple were very much in love at this point, as evidenced by the effort Watts made into researching lovey-dovey lyrics and love letters. [Five days earlier he’d researched “when to say I love you” online].
Watts likely called Kessinger back shortly after receiving her message, but this call is also deleted from Watts’ device.
It’s noteworthy that the last order of business for Watts before he decamped from Colorado, was dealing with Vivint and crafting his love letters to Kessinger. On July 30th, his final day in Colorado without his wife and children, what’s he doing specifically?
1. VIVINT
Watts is working, “…resetting settings and sensitivity…and [monitoring]”of the home security system. This is necessary because he’ll be away all week, and also because the system needs to be programmed so that Deeter doesn’t set it off.
This also begs the question, when Watts was away on the camping trip, and sleeping over at Kessinger, where was Deeter? We know Nicolas Atkinson and Nickole were roped in to babysit the dog during the first week of August, and were briefed on the security system and front door code, but what happened before that? Did Watts leave the animal “caged” in the basement the entire time he was sleeping over at Kessinger’s?
Did this control of the animal while he was getting his kicks also form part of him hardening his heart, and developing the necessary mental preparation to commit triple murder?
And there’s something else. It may be that during the next week, while sulking, and pining away for Kessinger, he started plotting, and saw the loopholes in the home security system as the key to pulling off his scheme.
2. LOVE LETTERS
At 18:38, presumably while still at home, Watts Googled “love letters”. About an hour-and-a-half later he was likely done, and ready to leave him. Instead he told Shan’ann:
“Letting Dieter out and going to bed Boo. Love you.”
But he no longer loved her. He loved someone else, really loved her. That night he didn’t go to bed early, and didn’t sleep in his own bed. It’s likely he didn’t go to sleep at all.