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CRIME AND JUSTICE WITH ASHLEIGH BANFIELD

Shanann Watts and her two little girls; Chris Watts admitted to killing his wife. Aired 5-8p ET

Aired August 21, 2018 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had texted her good morning that morning and she hadn`t opened it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She jogged down the street, up the hill, and it like really hit me, and it`s like, I haven`t seen that runner since then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re treating right now as if it is criminal.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, CRIME AND JUSTICE: She`s the beloved college girl who has been missing for more than a month.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, my girl, she`s very responsible and conscientious young woman.

BANFIELD: Now investigators have reportedly found a body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How this could happen in a place like Brooklyn, I don`t know.

BANFIELD: It is Mollie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope this is just some big misunderstanding and that she`s going to pop up.

BANFIELD: And will search for Mollie Tibbetts turn into the hunt for her murderer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t ever imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: I want to take you right away to a live press conference. Let`s listen in.

RICH RAHN, IOWA DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION: ... from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Federal Bureau of Investigation the

Poweshiek County Sheriff`s Office. What I`d like to do first is read a brief statement to you and then after that I`ll be happy to take as many

questions as I can.

A first degree murder charge was filed today in connection with the disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts who was last seen jogging in Brooklyn,

Iowa on July 18th, 2018. A complaint and affidavit names Christian Bahina Rivera, age 24, who resides in rural Poweshiek County and he has been

charge would murder in the first degree.

Dozens of law enforcement officials from local state and Federal agencies were involved in the investigation after the disappearance of Mollie

Tibbetts. A body was discovered earlier this morning in a farm field southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa. The identity has not been confirmed however,

we believe it to be the body of Mollie Tibbetts. A complaint and affidavit which will be provided to you will provide the details and of allegations

against Mr. Rivera.

The charges were filed in the Poweshiek County District Court. The case will be prosecuted by the Iowa Attorney General`s area of prosecution

division and first degree murder carries a penalty of life without the possibility of parole, and I`ll be happy to answer as many questions as I

can.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What can you tell us ...

RAHN: Yes, sir? I`m sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Race and status and his background?

RAHN: We have confirmed would Homeland Security investigations that he is an illegal alien and we believe he has been in this area now for four to

seven years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you come into contact with him? How did he get on your radar?

RAHN: During the investigation, we reached out to the public as you all know and during our neighborhood canvass, we came across an individual that

had security cameras. We took those cameras. He was kind enough to give us the footage from it and through that, we were able to identify a vehicle

that we believe belonged to Mr. Rivera. It was a black Malibu, and from that we were able to track his pattern and the routes in which he took.

We were also able to find Mollie running on this video and we were able to determine that he was one of the last ones to have seen Mollie running

based on the video again that we were able to seize from the general public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators ...

(CROSSTALK)

RAHN: I`m sorry.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you believe that he abducted her and what did he tell you? What do you believe he did?

RAHN: Well, again, we were able to pull him in during the investigation. We conducted a lengthy interview with Mr. Rivera and during that interview,

he tells us that he sees Mollie running and was able to come upon her and approach her, and while he was interfacing with her, he actually tells us

that he ran along side of her or behind her and then at one point. he tells us that Mollie grabbed a hold of her phone and said, "You need to leave me

alone. I`m going to call the police." And then she took off running.

He in turn chased her down and then he tells us that at some point in time, he blacks out and then he comes to near an intersection which we believe he

then placed Mollie.

(CROSSTALK)

RAHN: I`m sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did this happen (inaudible)?

RAHN: On 385th Street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In what town?

RAHN: In Brooklyn, outside of Brooklyn -- actually, in the rural county just outside of Brooklyn, Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This side over here, that general area has been searched by investigators the last several weeks. What led you

specifically to this area today this morning?

RAHN: On 385th Street?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

RAHN: Or the location of Mollie? Because there are two different locations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The location where Mollie`s remains were found?

RAHN: Actually, after we got done interviewing Mr. Rivera, he led us to her location and that location was near 406th Street or Avenue in rural

Poweshiek County.

[17:05:12]

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any information on how she was killed?

RAHN: We aren`t able to release all the information in the investigation and so hope, I hope you understand that I can`t give everything out and

that`s one of the things that we`re not able to provide at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Investigators have been searching ...

RAHN: I`m sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) ...

RAHN: Again, I`m not going to be able to provide certain information. That is one of which I`m not able to provide. Another question ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) have been searching this area for weeks. Why was she not found before? Why did it take this long (inaudible) for

the body?

RAHN: Well, I`m sure you`ve driven around the area and it`s a rural county and there are a lot of fields, a lot of woods, a lot of ditches. We have

certainly had extensive searches throughout the county. We just didn`t have success locating her. In this particular case, she was found in a

corn field and there were corn stalks placed over the top of her and so we just weren`t able to locate her at this particular point of the

investigation. Yes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) you got this security video where you found out about Mr. Rivera and when you questioned him (inaudible)?

RAHN: We got the video a week or two ago and we spent hours going through the video trying to first of all locate Mollie on it, and secondly see if

there`s anything suspicious following Mollie, which is what we did. And so, we again spent hours going through that. Officers did a great job

coming up with the timeline. I mentioned to you last week that we felt very good about our timeline and that just confirmed our timeline that we

had.

And then again, we were able to determine what vehicle was following Mollie. We identified that vehicle belonging to Mr. Rivera and then we

located him, interviewed him and subsequently he led us to her location.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long have you been talking to him? You said two weeks ago, you got this video. How long have you been talking to the

suspect before finally ...

RAHN: We first approached Mr. Rivera yesterday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) investigation.

RAHN: No, he was very compliant. He was willing to talk with us. And so, there was no -- as you said, fight, there was no fight or any struggle of

any kind.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did Mr. Rivera have a criminal background? Any charges in his past?

RAHN: Again, I won`t be able to release some of that information at this time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: We believe he is, yes. His name -- again his name will be listed on the complaint and affidavit along with a photograph, so we can provide that

for you later.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you even (inaudible) ...

RAHN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Since you haven`t talked to him, I`m told, only yesterday, what do you believe he`s been doing (inaudible)? You think he`s

been following the investigation and kind of (inaudible)? Has he been aware of what was going on (inaudible)?

RAHN: I can`t really speak to that at this point. As I mentioned to you before, we are doing some more interviews. We`re trying to get as much

background on Mr. Rivera as possible, and so I don`t have all the answers for you on that, but I know that he was working and beyond that, I am not

sure what he was doing, coming and going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You think he was aware of the body (inaudible)?

RAHN: Again, there are certain parts of the investigation I will not be able to release and that happens to be one of them I won`t be able to speak

on. Any other question here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: What about the reward money? I`m sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What happens now with that reward money that was donated by friends?

RAHN: That`s not for me to say. I don`t play a role in that, so I am not sure what will happen with the money or the reward.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he say this is the first time he had seen Mollie Tibbetts or was he (inaudible) or stalking her (inaudible)?

RAHN: I can tell you that he tells us that he had seen her before, but beyond that, I won`t be able to say anymore about his interactions with Ms.

Tibbetts.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... on how the investigator (inaudible) day in and day out and just get a complete (inaudible). Can you talk about what

happened (inaudible) ...

RAHN: These are hard. I mean, we get to know the family. We get to know Mollie. We just spoke with the family and I`ve told them that they raised

a great daughter. I mean, she was a phenomenal individual and so, we are saddened for the family. It is difficult on the investigators, however,

that`s what we`re paid to do and we tried to do this as best as we possibly can. We`re just happy that we`re able to locate him, get him charged and

then, hopefully come out with a successful conclusion that being a conviction.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... along with her in the (inaudible) ...

RAHN: As we understand it, based on our investigation, he followed her around, circled around a couple of times, located her and then began to

interface with her at some point in time on 385th Street.

(CROSSTALK)

RAHN: I`m sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did the family know it? What (inaudible)?

RAHN: Well, they`re appreciative that we were able to find her, but obviously, it`s difficult. It`s hard on them. They`re struggling like any

family would, but they have a great support system and they have -- part of that support system is the community. Now, we`ll have to say that the

community here has been phenomenal. They have been of great assistance to the investigation and to the family.

[17:10:15]

RAHN: Now, I will have to say that the community here has been phenomenal. They have been of great assistance to the investigation and to the family

and so they will get through it, I`m sure. It`s going to be hard, but we will be there for them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: Yes? I`m sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You said that there were various locations (inaudible).

RAHN: Well, the location where she was found is on 460th and we believe, the running route in which she was running was on 385th Street, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you anything about (inaudible) ...

RAHN: Again, there`s certain things I won`t be able to release on the investigation. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: Well, we know that she was abducted on the 18th and beyond that we wouldn`t be able to provide that information.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How surprised -- how surprised were you that (inaudible)?

RAHN: I can`t -- I mean I don`t know what he was thinking and what his mind process was. So I can`t really speak to that. I mean, I don`t have

an answer to that. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) what can you tell us about (inaudible)?

RAHN: Sir, you`re asking me about the motive? Well, again I can`t really speak about the motive, as you said, I can just tell you that it seemed

that he followed her and seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day and for whatever reason he chose to abduct her. So I can`t even speak

other than that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sir, did you find any kind of a struggle? Did you see any bruises on Mollie`s body? Do you believe she was raped?

RAHN: I can`t speak to that as well because we won`t want to be able to release that information at this time. I can tell you that an autopsy is

going to be performed that will assist us. That autopsy is going to take place tomorrow up in Ankeny at the State Medical Examiner`s Office and so

we will await those results. Sometimes that takes a while and that will aid us as well in the investigations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How long do you think she was dead (inaudible)?

RAHN: I can`t speak to that as well. Again, that goes with the State Medical Examiner`s examination of Mollie.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was that the (inaudible) video (inaudible)?

RAHN: The video was critical. I`ll put it that way. Again, we have talked to hundreds of people, over 4,000 leads came in on this

investigation, and so it was extremely helpful. Let`s put it this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this (inaudible) someone who was well known in the community? Did a lot of people know him or did he kind of keep to himself?

RAHN: As I understand it, he pretty much kept to himself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has he faced any previous deportation orders?

RAHN: That would be a question to be answered by Homeland Security investigation, not I.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe you can tell us about Rivera`s role in the community here? Did he work here? Has he been here for a long time?

RAHN: He was employed here and again, as I previously mentioned, he was here, we believe anywhere between four to seven years. But beyond that, I

don`t have can any additional information. Yes, sir. Did you have a question?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: Well, the investigation is ongoing like I said, and we continue to look at a number of different individuals and people continue to collect

facts and at this point though, I can tell you he`s the only one that`s been charged with first degree murder.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: I would choose not to do that at this point, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: Here at the Poweshiek County Jail. Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So it seemed like you place (inaudible) ...

RAHN: Again those are certain facts that I wouldn`t be able to release at this time. As I previously mentioned, we continue to run out leads, we

continue to gather facts, we continue to analyze evidence and we`ll be able to have some of those questions for you as things go on. I`ve got about

one more question for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: I`m sorry? Autopsy is scheduled for tomorrow. However, it takes a while to get the results and so, that could take anywhere up to four to six

weeks. We just can`t predict that. But the autopsy will be tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

RAHN: I can tell you that we, as I have said previously that we examined her digital footprint and certainly that played a role in our

investigation. One last question and that`s it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Any advice to young women out there, anything they can do to protect themselves (inaudible)?

RAHN: Well, certainly it would help to run with others, not to run alone. But, I mean, this is a small community. Everybody knew everybody and

certainly she has been running for months, years and not had any problem that we`re aware of. And so, this is sadly a tragic event and we hope that

it wouldn`t occur anytime in the near future. Thank you.

[18:15:10]

BANFIELD: After 34 agonizing days, the family of Mollie Tibbetts now knows the answer. But it`s not the answer they were hoping for when their

daughter went missing. It is the answer they were dreading.

Mollie is dead and they know that because her body was found early this morning in a corn field with corn stalks placed over it. Perhaps the only

solace that Mollie Tibbets` family might have at this very moment after this earth shattering information is that at least, they found the guy they

think did it.

And now we know the guy they think did it. His name is Christian Rivera, 24 years old, in this small community just four to seven years, kind of

kept to himself, not well known. But the details now as we just learned, he saw her running according to the police. He followed her while she was

running. He came up beside her while she was running in his black Malibu and when she grabbed her phone and told him to bug off, "I`ll call the

police," he instead took her.

His story now is he has no recollection. That`s very convenient. He`s just blacked out at the most important part of his confession. Somehow he

came to and there she was, 75 streets away where they found her body in a corn field. This is really difficult information for this country to

process because for a long time, this country looked at these pictures and thought she looks like she could live next door.

She`s one of those all-American girls, she`s a camp counselor for god`s sake. They don`t get more innocent than that, and instead, this is the

information that ends their summer of hope that they would find Mollie Tibbetts alive somewhere.

If you think you`re hurting, just imagine what this is like for her family. But more details about what`s going to happen next to Mr. Christian Rivera

after the break.

[17:20:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHN: A first degree murder charge was filed today in connection with the disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts who was last seen jogging in Brooklyn,

Iowa on July 18th, 2018. A complaint and affidavit names Christian Bahina Rivera, age 24 who resides in rural Poweshiek County and he has been

charged with murder in the first degree.

Dozens of law enforcement officials from local, state and Federal agencies were involved in the investigation after the disappearance of Mollie

Tibbetts. A body was discovered early this morning in a farm field southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa. The identity has not been confirmed, however,

we believe it to be the body of Mollie Tibbetts.

A complaint and affidavit which will be provided to you will provide the details and of allegations against Mr. Rivera. Charges were filed in the

Poweshiek County District Court. The case will be prosecuted by the Iowa Attorney General`s Area of Prosecution Division and first degree murder

carries a penalty of life without the possibility of parole.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Tonight, a central Iowa community is shattered because after more than a month of searching for a college girl who disappeared from a

town of just 1,500 people, the investigators say this story is coming to one chapter`s end. They found her body in a corn field just miles from

where she was staying and they think that body is Mollie. There`s a lot more to this story.

The autopsy isn`t even until tomorrow, but that preliminary investigation has shown it`s Mollie Tibbetts. And the preliminary investigation led them

to one man named Christian Rivera who is now facing first degree murder, and the penalty in that state, life with no parole.

I want to bring in my panel, CNN correspondent, Ryan Young. He is live in Montezuma, Iowa where that news conference just wrapped up, "Crime and

Justice" producer Michael Christian is with me and watching for the affidavit that`s due to come in at any moment, defense attorney Rachel

Kugel is here with me to sort out some of the details that we just heard and how damming they may be, certified death investigator and professor of

forensics, Joseph Scott Morgan is with me, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant director Tom Fuentes is here, and clinical

psychologist, Dr. Seth Meyers is with me as well.

Welcome to all of you and clearly, this was not the development that anyone was hoping for. But here we have it. The story of Mollie Tibbett that has

really seized on this country`s mystifying imaginations for 34 days has come to this. Somebody found her out running and took her. But the big

question is at this point when did it happen? What happened? How did it happen?

Because everything Christian Rivera is saying is leaving a lot to the imagination still. If you could, Ryan Young, clear up for me all of the

things they would not tell us about this crime so far.

RYAN YOUNG, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Well, before we go there, I want to bring something up here. I`ve never really -- you come to a small town

like this and they were several dozen people from the community who were standing behind us during this news conference and when they made this

announcement, you could hear them start sobbing. This was one of the most painful news conferences I`ve ever attended to hear people who loved her

behind you just tearing themselves apart because they didn`t understand what was going on here.

And then hearing these details for the first time, yes, they talked to the family first, but some of the friends who showed up here, you`ve got to

imagine how heart wrenching that was for them to hear this. You don`t see that that very often in a news conference like this, and there were people

coming from the community who have been looking for -- look, as we were driving into town, everywhere you looked, there were these posters, there

were people who looking for her. They had hope. And all that hope sort of went away today, and the thing about it is they believed this man driving

that black car saw her and then apparently followed along with her, at some point, getting out of the car, jogging along with her and then he tells

detectives that he apparently blacked out when she said that she was going to call 911.

[17:24:59]

YOUNG: And they`re not sure yet, they`re not releasing this part. Did he dump the body there in this corn field that day or did it happen days

later? That`s something that we`ll have to figure out. But he did try to cover it with corn stalks and then he`s been living in this community since

that time.

So all that seems to be apparently very shocking to all of us. You want to ask the question has he ever been wanted for anything else? Of course,

we`ll have to call the Department of Homeland Security to find out. Has he ever been wanted? But he`s been living in this community four to seven

years. They also would not say what his job was in this community right now, and I`m sure they don`t want to say that because they don`t want us

all rushing to his employer.

But the next question is, what has he been doing the last few days? But then, let`s go back to the fact that the main piece of evidence here came

from a homeowner who had that video camera system and was able to give the cameras to the police department, the detectives working on this for hours,

going through each part of it, and then they realized they could see Mollie running by and they went through it step by step by step until they noticed

the black car.

BANFIELD: Ryan, I just want to interrupt you for one moment only because we`re just putting up for the first time the mug shot of Christian Rivera.

You can put that back up on screen. I`m going to back to Ryan in a moment. But here`s the person that you just learned about. Christian Rivera, 24

years old, illegally here in the United States, really kept to himself in a community of 1,500 people, but there for about four to seven years, so not

completely unknown to this community. Ryan, that might be one of the most surprising aspects of this case because all along, the investigators have

been saying, someone could be hiding in plain sight.

YOUNG; Yes, and that`s one of these things you have to realize maybe with this investigation. Did he talk to anybody else? Did he text anybody else

about this? Did he ever feel nervous? Because obviously, this community has been looking for this young lady for quite some time and then you have

that video that apparently they were able to go through.

And then, I asked the question, did he put up a fight when they went to arrest him and apparently, he did not put up a fight, and then he gave them

the information and even led investigators to the body. So you know, any good detective is going to make that next step. They`re going to go

through all of these to make sure that he didn`t text anybody else.

BANFIELD: And we have that information possibly now, Ryan, that they weren`t necessarily ready to deliver at that press conference. Ryan, I`m

going to ask you to standby for just one moment because Michael Christian just got his hands on that affidavit. I don`t even know if you`ve had a

chance to really get through it yet. But anything stand out yet?

MICHAEL CHRISTIAN, PRODUCER, CRIME AND JUSTICE: Yes, there is a probable cause part to this affidavit, Ashleigh, and just let me read a few things

from it, and pardon me, I need my glasses. It`s very small print. Defendant Rivera stated he parked the vehicle, got out and was running

behind her and alongside of her. Rivera stated she grabbed her phone and said, "I`m going to call the police." Rivera said, he then panicked and

got mad and that he then quote, "blocked his memory" which is what does when he gets very upset and he doesn`t remember anything after that until

he noticed there was an ear piece from head phones in his lap and that is how he realized he put her in the trunk. He went to get her out of the

trunk and he noticed blood on the side of her head. He described the female`s clothing that she was wearing, including an ear phone.

He said during the interview that he dragged her on foot from his vehicle to a secluded location in a corn field. He put her over his shoulder and

took her about 20 meters into the corn field and he left her covered in some corn leaves and then he got up and left her there face up. It also

says that he later guided the law enforcement to her location from memory where they found her. The physical surroundings of her location and other

factors at the scene matched the earlier physical description of the area as that where he has placed her body.

It says that based on tentative identification, including clothing, the deceased female is Mollie Tibbetts.

BANFIELD: So that might be the defining factor right off the bat. That she was wearing a pink jogging bra, if I am not mistaken and dark yoga

running pants at last sight.

CHRISTIAN: Yes, the witness who believes is the last -- who believes he is the last person to have seen her described her wearing that.

BANFIELD: Well, and this is the vicinity, you know, we always talked about the Fitbit, Michael that she was wearing a Fitbit and some of those

devices, depending on what year you got them, sends information to the Cloud if you have your phone with you and we now know she had her phone,

she picked it up said, "I`m call thing police."

So perhaps this is the digital footprint they were able to follow for her was from the Fitbit in the phone.

CHRISTIAN: Yes, that`s possible.

BANFIELD: All right, well, so there`s a lot of information now that Michael has just outlined and maybe we didn`t hear in the press conference

and that was this missing moment, the blackout moment that he woke up so to speak to have an ear piece in his lap and then discovered Mollie in his

trunk with blood on the side of her head. Michael, that`s how it was described, blood on the side of her head ...

CHRISTIAN: Yes, that`s correct.

BANFIED: He dragged her from the vehicle. He threw her over his shoulder, he went 20 minutes into the corn field ...

CHRISTIAN: Twenty meters.

BANFIELD: Twenty meters, excuse me, 20 meters into the corn field and then left her there face up covered in some of those what he called corn leaves.

[17:30:14]

BANFIELD: The detective instead said corn stalks and from her clothing that is likely what that first indication is about the ID, although,

autopsy results won`t be done until tomorrow. I want to bring in Mitch Mortvedt is the Assistant Director of the Iowa Division of Criminal

Investigation.

Sir, thank you for joining us on such short notice. I`m assuming you were in that room during the press conference. Can I just bring the human

factor here for a moment. I know you`re all seasoned police officers. I know you do this for a living. But one reporter asked a very poignant

question, and the answer was, "This is hard." This is very hard in a community of 1,500 people. I can only assume that you and your colleagues

have labored over this, only to have this result.

MITCH MORTVEDT, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, IOWA DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION: We have, Ashleigh, and we have been working this case for

about five weeks and we feel even though we didn`t have the opportunity to meet Mollie herself, we feel that we`ve really gotten to know her through

this investigation, because we`ve certainly gotten to know her family and it does become somewhat personal for you.

Everybody that we spoke to in the community, her friends, her family, her colleagues, all doing background investigations of her, you do, you get to

know them on almost a personal level if you will. So this has become extremely difficult for it to end in this manner that it did this morning.

BANFIELD: Your colleagues, Rick Rahn said, "They raised a great daughter," and I see what you say, you didn`t meet her, but you feel like you know her

and I dare say, a lot of people watching right now, Mitch, feel the same way. Her social media account is just -- they just exuded a girl who was

happy and confident and had a wonderful life ahead of her. Heading into her sophomore year in college, after the summer ended, completing a summer

of camp counseling. I mean, this is the girl next door. The proverbial girl next door.

So it is very difficult to talk about the details, the forensics, the investigative issues about this case because they involve that face. The

one question that is curious is the blackout and how many more details he may have eked out or will continue to eke out, if any, about what happened

during that blackout. Is it suspected that Mollie was sexually assaulted from the way he was speaking?

MORTVEDT: You know, and that`s hard to determine. We hope to get some of that information from the autopsy, which is right now scheduled to take

place tomorrow with the State Medical Examiner. In these types of cases, there`s usually a couple of reasons why abductions like this take place.

We`re certainly not ruling that out and that is a distinct possibility that sexual assault was part of the abduction or the motive to the abduction,

but we don`t know that for sure and we can`t confirm that at this time.

BANFIELD: So, Mitch, as seasoned officers, I know you asked the question, did he answer the question as to whether Mollie was sexually assaulted or

did he go silent?

MORTVEDT: You know, and again, unfortunately that`s some of the investigative material we can`t get into at this time. However, I would

point back to his comment that he had blacked out and that he does have a - - according to him, he has a history of doing that when he gets extremely upset. And with that said, that`s as much information as we have on that.

BANFIELD: So forensically and in terms of the discovery of her body, in the affidavit that Michael Christian, our producer just read, was very

descriptive of how Mollie ended up in the corn field, how her body was left there face up by the wording of the affidavit, covered in corn stalks that

he had dragged her 20 meters into the field. Can you confirm or deny if she was found clothed or if the clothes she had on while running were found

nearby?

MORTVEDT: To an extent I can, Ashleigh. The clothing that the description that we had since the very beginning of this investigation, I will say that

matched what was found at the scene, at the recovery site this morning. Since we have not been able to, through dental records or anything like

that identify -- or DNA -- identify her positively in that manner, we do feel very confident that is Mollie based on the clothing description and as

to how the clothing was, whether it was on or off her, that`s not something that we can release at this time.

BANFIELD: Well, perhaps after the autopsy, we can ask you back to get a few more forensic details. The mystery of why. It`s why people are

dumbfounded and bewildered by crimes and who becomes victims and why in this country. It`s why -- it`s the people versus when there is a death

penalty case or a life in prison, which is the situation in this particular state, the top charge brings the top sentence of life with no parole.

[17:35:14]

BANFIELD: And so, it is a natural curiosity as to why would someone take the life of a person like this, of a vibrant young woman like Mollie

Tibbetts. I do want to ask you one other question, there`s been so much speculation in the lead up to this very sad news, Mitch, that maybe there

were certain people around the community who were suspicious, and one person who took a lot of media attention and must have been very frustrated

by it was the man named Wayne Cheney who is a local pig farmer.

There was some suspicion. There was a red shirt that seemed like her camp counselor shirt. Some reports suggested that shirt was found in his field.

Can you lay out what the status of that part of the reporting is.

MORTVEDT: Yes, and throughout the course of the investigation, we`d received, as we mentioned earlier, over 4,000 tips and some of that

information led us to investigate further into other people`s backgrounds, into their behavior, into their actions the night that she went missing.

and Mr. Cheney, I would say fell into that category at the time.

As far as the red shirt, there was a lot of information that was out into the public forum that was not released by law enforcement. The red shirt

was one of them. A black SUV was one of them. We didn`t find anything in our investigation that ever confirmed or verified that information as far

as what Mollie was wearing or any suspicious vehicles in the area that matched those descriptions.

BANFIELD: So it is it fair, Mitch, to now definitively say that Wayne Cheney had nothing to do with this, that his polygraph was clear and that

he is not under investigation or under any kind of suspicion in any way anymore now that there`s a first degree murder charge leveled against

Christian Rivera?

MORTVEDT: And at this time, I would say that, yes, there is no information in our investigation which has been extensive to indicate that Mr. Cheney

was involved in her disappearance and ultimate homicide. It`s hard to go beyond that. With the polygraph results, again, that`s not something that

we are going to divulge at this time with the investigation, but as I mentioned, that there`s nothing to indicate currently that Mr. Cheney was

involved with her disappearance and/or murder.

BANFIELD: And that sir, is Exhibit A as to why all television reporting needs to preface much of what they say that he is not under suspicion or

charged or at this point being named a suspect and for anyone who did not do that, I hope they are thinking long and hard about the way they reported

this story because that man`s life has been an absolute hell for weeks with media batting down his door and demanding answers as to where he was and

who he has seen and why he`s not taking a lie detector test.

It reminds me of Richard Jewel and how much he was just excoriated by the press during the Atlantic Park bombings and he had nothing to do it with

it. Mitch, one other question for you, did Mr. Rivera have an active social media presence? Were there any sort of digital footprints that he

may have left behind in the subsequent days after Mollie was murdered?

MORTVEDT: You know and that part of the investigation, I don`t know. We do have investigators that are researching and diving into that aspect of

Mr. Rivera, but I don`t have that information currently.

BANFIELD: And I know that he`s only 24 years old, but do you know if he has any family? Did he live with any family? Does he have a wife or

children of his own that you know of?

MORTVEDT: That we`re not releasing at this point, and as I mentioned, he had just come on to the radar of the investigative team within the last 24

to 36 46 hours. So those are all things that we`re diving into, obviously quite extensively at this point, and trying to track down anybody and

everybody that had any type of contact with him whether it was friend, coworkers, family.

BANFIELD: Twenty four to thirty six hours. I mean, that must mean that the video came in fairly recently and that you were able to go through it.

Of course, it all has to the be gone through in real time. That`s not easy especially if you have multiple video sources. Can I get you to clarify

the video part of this story, Mitch.

I know that you canvassed a lot of people. This is a rural area, so even one person`s home surveillance system will only have so much of a range.

What sort of chain of video surveillance were you able to put together through the various different sources you were able to actually look

through?

MORTVEDT: Between the video surveillance that you just mentioned, Ashleigh, and then eye witness interviews. They saw Mollie running that

evening. We were able to put a timeline together which we have said for the last week or two that we felt very confident in. As well as what the

digital footprint.

[17:40:08]

MORTVEDT: And as far as surveillance goes, it came into our possession towards the end of last week, early this weekend and it took hours upon

hours of going through it, not only in real time, but also frame by frame and to try catch a person running or a vehicle passing by in real time is

sometimes difficult and it was in this case with the angles that the surveillance cameras were set at.

However, investigators did finally conclude that they were able and spot Mollie on that surveillance video, as well as this black Chevy Malibu that

it passed by, I believe two or three times in the same area at the same time and that`s how they were able to start putting all that together

through the video surveillance that we received.

BANFIELD: You know, Mitch, here we are in 2018 talking about the digital mapping that lead to the corroboration of the story that he told you or at

least part of it anyway, and ultimately really just led to him in the first place. If you and I had been having this conversation, say five years ago,

do you think that this now suspect might have lived among us for many more years to come, us none the wiser?

MORTVEDT: That`s definitely a possibility, and as you know, technology is changing every day and becoming better and better and just like any other

industry, just like any other business, law enforcement is trying to use that to the best of our advantage as well and fortunately for us, it worked

in our favor in Mollie`s case.

BANFIELD: Yes, and one last question for you, my producer, Michael Christian, going through the affidavit just pointed out that bond has been

set at a million dollars for Mr. Rivera. Do you know at this point where is he? Is he in protective custody because of the severity of this crime

and the high-profile nature of this crime? And does he have a scintilla of family or support who have come to see him? Does he even have a lawyer

yet?

MORTVEDT: You know, as far as where he`s at, he`s currently here at the Poweshiek County Sheriff`s Office in Montezuma and under $1 million bond as

you mentioned. As far as visitors, I don`t know about that. As far as -- he has had -- it`s my understanding that he`s had his initial appearance.

He has not been arraigned at this point or he`s going to have his initial appearance shortly and if he does not have an attorney at this time, he

will have one appointed to him, I`m sure by then and that can be either later today or tomorrow morning some time.

BANFIELD: Do you know if he`s under suicide watch of any sort?

MORTVEDT: That I do not know at this time.

BANFIELD: Mitch Mortvedt, I can`t thank you enough at this time for taking time out of your extremely busy schedule especially at this moment to help

us shed some light on the whys and the hows and the details and then there`s this picture. You`re left just looking at it and you look deep

into those eyes, don`t you, and wonder what on earth happened? If you did what you say you did, why? Why Mollie? We`re going to speak to one of

Mollie`s friends next.

[17:45:00]

BANFIELD: It seems that Mollie Tibbetts has now been found. That bright and bubbly camp counselor who vanished from her boyfriend`s small town.

She was last spotted on her evening run over a month ago, that`s what investigators tell us, a 24-year-old local man approached her in his black

Malibu. A man who is now facing first degree murder charges because police say ultimately, he led them right to her body in a corn field.

The body they now believe definitively is Mollie`s and tomorrow, that will be corroborated by an autopsy. It is such difficult news not only for

those who have followed this case for 34 days, but imagine the news for her family and her friends.

Caitlin Smith is one of those friends and she join said me now on the phone. Katelyn, I am so sorry to be speaking to you under these

circumstances. I cannot imagine what you`re going through.

CAITLIN SMITH, FRIEND OF MOLLIE TIBBETTS: Thank you.

BANFIELD: Can you tell me how you were told this news.

SMITH: Sorry. This morning, we were getting ready to leave our hotel and we suddenly started -- my parents and I all suddenly started getting text

at the same time saying that Mollie was found and that the area was blocked off on Highway 21 and that we needed to watch the news even though it was

going to be really hard to watch the updates come in.

BANFIELD: Caitlin, I`m so sorry that this is how you discovered the worst possible development in this case. Have you had a chance to speak with any

of Mollie`s family, her dad, Ron or her two brothers, Jack and Scott?

SMITH: No, I haven`t had a chance to talk with any of them, to any of them really, since I`ve been out of town.

BANFIELD: Her mom, Laura Calderwood has been struggling through this as well while her dad took lead out front in the press trying to get people to

think about what they`ve seen in the last 34 days, to try to come up with any kind of clue as to where she could be. Her mom must have been

suffering in such silence. Do you have any idea how this family is now processing what they were told today?

SMITH: Just because I wasn`t there, I`m sure they were struggling, all of them and to have this closure is not exactly what we were hoping for, and

so I can`t imagine what it`s like to be a close family member to her and to hear this news. Even though I can`t speak for them because I`m sure they

have their own problems they`re going to be dealing with now. I`m sure it`s better to have closure in knowing where she is now.

BANFIELD: You mentioned that you began to get text messages this morning. And of course, that is when the body of your friend was found.

[17:50:07]

BANFIELD: Do you have a close knit community of friends? I mean, it seemed to me just looking at Mollie`s pictures that she was surrounded by

hundreds of people who loved her. And I`m wondering if you are all bonding together and supporting each other after this news?

SMITH: Yes, we are definitely in contact, at least enough to say, you know, we love each other, we`re here. I had to call one of my friends who

had just gone back to Germany and tell her the news. And so, we were immediately just texting each other, you know. Even though we can`t be

with each other in person, you know, we love each other, we are going to be there for each other through all of this.

BANFIELD: And Caitlin, are you prepared for what`s to come? You know, the prosecution of a murder case can take years, and the details that are yet

to come out are going to be extremely difficult. We don`t even know how Mollie died at this early juncture. Are you prepared for everything that`s

about to be revealed?

SMITH: I know it`s going to be gruesome details, whatever it is, things we don`t want to hear that are real, things that happened to her, things that

she experienced, but the thing that`s most important to me is knowing that we all have found her. It won`t be a question of, you know, she

disappeared and we were never able to find her, she was never able to come home.

The case details and the prosecution will take a little while, I`m sure, just because of the high-profile case that this is, but even with those

details, I`m at least happy that we were able to know what happened and that we are able to find the person who did this so that Brooklyn can at

least at peace in some way, shape or form.

BANFIELD: Caitlin, again, I can`t thank you enough for sharing this part of the story with us, and my heart goes out to you, and I am so sorry for

your loss.

SMITH: Thank you so much.

BANFIELD: Tom Fuentes, as a law enforcement senior analyst. One of the difficult parts of this story is when you hear a seasoned investigator say,

"This is hard. This is difficult." This is a small town. They all know each other in one way or another. The connections are one degree of

separation. So, there`s a two-pronged approach to what`s happening right now. One is the science of what you`ve got to do to get the job done, and

the other is the delicate kid gloves with which you have to handle this family. Can you help me understand how they navigate that?

TOM FUENTES, SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, CNN: Well, it`s very difficult, as you`re mentioning, Ashleigh. And one of the things that

occurs to me is that, as the police get involved in this case, and you know, and as was mentioned by the officer, the more they get to know about

Mollie, the more they interact with the family and the friends, neighbors, other members of the community, the more emotionally involved they get, the

more difficult it becomes.

And one of the things that has to happen is that they have to keep those emotions in check. No matter that they`re family members, too, and they

have sisters and daughters and cousins that are just like Mollie, they have to do their job. And they have to do it quickly and meticulously, and

especially, you know, Rivera appears to be cooperating right now, and he did, in fact, take them to the location of the body, but that could end on

a dime.

When he gets legal representation and the lawyer tells him shut up and stop cooperating, it`s going to make it all the more difficult for the police to

put the case together, and they still need to do the crime scene investigation of where he lives, of his car, of his clothing. He said he

carried her over his shoulder. So, there`s a lot of work that has to be done. They need to keep their emotions in check.

BANFIELD: Yes, but that was 31 days ago, because they`ve only had him on the radar for 24 to 36 hours, so 31, 32 days ago. That clothing, I dare

say, whatever was on that clothing probably isn`t anymore. What I can say, though, is that there is a $1 million price tag on freedom for that man

right now. And $1 million is a lot of money to raise for the best of Americans. My thought is that it will be very difficult for him to bond

out any time soon.

I`m going to ask you all to stay with me for a moment, because there is still a lot to this case. I talked about the hard forensics, the deep,

dark science. There is so much of that they still need to get at. We`ll talk about that in a moment.

[17:54:00]

BANFIELD: Up to 34 days in an Iowa cornfield with an average temperature of 85 degrees. Joseph Scott Morgan, what are the odds that they`re going

to be able to find a cause of death and any evidence of sexual assault?

JOSEPH SCOTT MORGAN, CERTIFIED DEATH INVESTIGATOR: I think that they will be able to determine cause of death, Ashleigh. The trouble is, any kind of

trace evidence is left behind, she`s going to be in a moderate to advanced stage of decomposition right now, just to put it very, very bluntly, in

this environment outdoors, covered with these corn husks on bare soil, which I`m assuming that that is the condition they found her in.

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, HOST, HLN CRIME AND JUSTICE: Joseph, thank you for that. And thanks to all of my guests. I want you to stay tuned now, if

you will. A special edition of "Crime and Justice" begins right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WATTS, SUSPECT IN KILLING FAMILY: I don`t know, I don`t know where my kids are. I don`t know where Shanann is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody`s like, what about the husband, what about the husband, what about the husband? And I`m like, no, like, he wouldn`t

do anything.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just didn`t seem like the type of guy to injure a fly, let alone his entire family.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A pregnant mom and her two baby girls disappear.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`re not promised tomorrow.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then they`re found in an oil field.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those two little girls had reportedly been submerged in an oil well for days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now the devoted father and husband who starred in their loving family Facebook videos --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Daddy?

WATTS: Right here.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I do your hair?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is stepping into the spotlight in court, and he is charged with all of their murders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maximum death, sentence is death. Do you understand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But he is told the cops a different, darker story, pinning it all on the mom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Chris claims he went into a rage seeing his wife perform such actions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If he lied about his alleged affair --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She mentioned, you know, about them having problems.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And where his family had gone.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just kept saying he didn`t know where she was, that she was on a play date.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did he also lie about who killed who?

SHANANN WATTS, VICTIM, WIFE OF CHRIS WATTS: He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had texted her good morning that morning and she hadn`t opened it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She would jog down the street, up the hill, and it really hit me. It`s like, I haven`t seen that runner since then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re treating it right now as if it`s criminal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She is the beloved college girl who`s been missing for more than a month.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It`s not like her at all. She is very responsible, conscientious young woman.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now investigators have found a body.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How this could happen in a place like Brooklyn, Iowa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it Mollie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope this is just some sort of a big misunderstanding and that she is going to pop up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And will the search for Mollie Tibbets turn into the hunt for her murderer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don`t ever imagine that in your life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield, and this is the second hour of a special edition of "Crime and Justice" tonight, where the

man in the spotlight may have just gone from world`s best dad to cold- blooded killer. Chris Watts. He had his first hearing in court today, but make no mistake, this will not be the last time you see him shuffle in,

shackled and in orange, because Chris Watts has been charged with the murder of his pregnant wife and their two daughters, 3-year-old Cici and 4-

year-old Bella.

Police say he took their bodies to his work site, he buried his wife, Shanann, in a shallow grave, and then he dumped those two little blond-

haired, pigtailed angels in oil tanks until they sank under the thick, black grease. When you are accused of a crime like this, you should be

able to hear a pin drop when that defendant shuffles into court. Every eyeball on him. The tension, the disgust, the shock, it really should all

weigh on you so heavily, you would think that defendant might hang his head in shame.

That was not what Chris Watts did today. This was Chris Watts today, staring straight ahead, not a morsel of emotion, even though his wife,

strangled, he says, his daughters to death. And with that, with that, that latest version of his story, this is his emotion. He watched his wife

strangle his daughters, and that is his emotion. That is right, he is pinning the blame on this woman. He is pinning the blame on Shanann, the

wife who seemed head over heels in love with Chris, capturing every happy moment with their daughters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. WATTS: Having daddy do squats, Bella?

[18:05:00] WATTS: You want to check it? After I`m done, you can check my heart rate, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: But the Watts` family life on Facebook was apparently quite different in private. And as Chris goes to court for the killings, the

question is, what really happened behind closed doors in what sure looked like a very happy house?

I want to bring in my panel, CNN correspondent, Scott McLean, "Crime and Justice" producer Thalia Trella (ph), radio host and attorney for KLZ 560,

Jenna Ellis, technology expert Mark Salzman (ph), certified death investigator and professor of forensics, Joseph Scott Morgan, medical

examiner and forensic pathologist Dr. William Maroney, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI assistant Director, Tom Fuentes,

clinical psychologist Dr. Seth Meyers, and defense attorney, Rachel Kugel.

I`m glad that I have this many experts on this case, because it is going to take at least this many minds to sort through, let say muddle through how

on earth this could have happened and how we ended up in this predicament today with a story that seems so absurd on its surface, it makes the

average among us extraordinarily angry.

I want to begin with you, Scott McLean. This court appearance today, it`s just remarkable in its lack of description. There was no emotion in a

courtroom where, apparently, this man watched his two daughters murdered and then did a murder himself, by his own admission, but the face I saw in

court, it just belied all of those facts.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, there may not have been much emotion from Chris Watts, but there certainly was emotion inside that

courtroom. In fact, as the judge was reading out those nine felony charges to Chris Watts, he explained to him that the minimum sentence here is life

in prison, the maximum sentence is death. He said that he understood. And all the while that this is happening, Shanann Watts` father is sitting

there in the front row next to her brother, sobbing, audibly sobbing. It was an emotional appearance, to say the least here, Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: You know, Scott, as you`re reporting this from in front of the courthouse, we`re watching what happened inside that building behind you,

and I don`t know if there`s anyone among us tonight that doesn`t feel for the man on your screen, for not only Shanann`s father, but her brother,

whose eyes were cast directly towards that man in orange as he comforted his own father.

What he could have been feeling when he got his eyes on that defendant for the first time since the news broke, not just that he is been charged with

their murders, but that he is blaming the victim, Shanann. He is blaming her and accusing her of being a child killer. So, just let that marinate

for a moment as you look at this picture, as you look at her brother, staring in the direction of the defendant, her brother looking at him and

saying, I trusted you, you were family, you killed my sister, and now you won`t even hang your head in shame. You`re instead calling my sister a

child killer.

You just imagine those emotions that are being processed right now, and you imagine the anticipation in that courtroom before he even stepped foot in

it, the silence deafening. The tension so tight. I want to play for you exactly what this looked and sounded like as it was under way today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You had to ask yourself three questions when you`re in a relationship -- do I have a desire to keep this relationship going? Do I

have a moral obligation to stay in this relationship? Or is it a necessity for me to stay in this relationship? According to my research, sometimes a

necessity could be --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Explained to you what you have been formally charged with and what the possible penalties are. Count one alleges that on or

about August 13th, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, after deliberation and with the intent to cause a death of a person other

than himself, caused the death of Shanann Watts in violation of Colorado statutes 18-3-102, subsection 1, subsection 8, and that crime is classified

as murder in the first degree, a class one felony. Do you understand?

[18:10:00] Count two alleges murder in the first degree, also a class one felony. And it reads that between and including August 12th, 2018, and

August 13th, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, after deliberation and with the intent to cause the death of a person other than

himself caused a death of Bella Watts in violation of Colorado revised statutes 18-3-102, subsection 1, subsection 8. Do you understand?

WATTS: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Count three alleges murder in the first degree, a class one felony, and specifically it alleges that between and including August

12th, 2018, and August 13th, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, after deliberation and with the intent to cause a death of a

person other than himself, caused the death of Celeste Watts in violation of Colorado revised statutes 18-3-102, subsection 1, subsection 8. Do you

understand?

WATTS: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Count four alleges murder in the first degree, a class 1 felony. It alleges that between and including August 12th, 2018, and

August 13th, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly caused the death of Bella Watts, a child who had not yet attained

12 years of age and the defendant was in a position of trust of the victim in violation of Colorado revised statutes 18-3-102, subsection 1,

subsection F, do you understand?

Count five alleges murder in the first degree, a class one felony. It alleges that between and including August 12th, 2018, and August 13th,

2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly caused the death of Celeste Watts, a child who had not yet obtained 12 years of

age and was in a position of trust with respect to the victim in violation of Colorado revised statutes 18-3-102, subsection 1, subsection "f." Do

you understand?

WATTS: Yes, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With regard to these first five counts, the minimum sentence the court could impose, if convicted, is life imprisonment in a

Colorado Department of Corrections and a maximum could be death, the sentence is death, do you understand?

WATTS: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Don`t expect to see him walking into a courtroom any time soon, because he is not scheduled again to make an appearance until November. He

waived his right to a preliminary. That is what happened today. That is what all that drama was about. Rachel Kugel is a defense attorney. I

can`t even imagine. The men standing beside him, court-appointed attorneys, I`m guessing? They sure had financial difficulties. What do

they even tell him, knowing how high-profile this is, knowing the eyeballs that would be on him, knowing the family would be in that court? What did

they counsel him to do, if anything, before this emotionless appearance?

RACHEL KUGEL, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So, I mean, I think the emotionless part of it may have, I mean, just to play devil`s advocate for a second, quite

literally, you know, could have been part of what was counseled. In other words, we don`t know where we`re going with this yet. We don`t necessarily

want to be married to any one single position. We can`t have you seeming remorseful, because that seems sorry, right, and that is potentially guilt,

right?

BANFIELD: How about sad? Because if his story, which by the way, sounds like a whopper to me --

KUGEL: Yes.

BANFIELD: And I hate to weigh in like that, but I have been through hundreds upon hundreds of these stories, and this one sounds like a

whopper. And if that whopper or his story is true, then we`re looking at a man who just witnessed his two daughters being murdered and who just

murdered someone else. His words, not mine.

KUGEL: Right. I mean, first of all, it`s extremely hard to believe his story. I mean, the way that the events went down, it`s near impossible to

accept the story that he is offering as fact or truth in any sense. Also, even if we`re to believe his story, that makes him still guilty of at least

three class 3 felonies, one class 2 felony. I mean, he is still --

BANFIELD: I mean, and is that the mood of a man that not only might be, well, admittedly is guilty to those felonies, guilty to murdering the wife

and disposing of all of their bodies in the filthy, greasy way that he did?

[18:15:04] Is that the face or the emotion of a man, again, who witnessed his two babies only a week ago being strangled and dying before his very

eyes on a baby monitor, and then murdering his -- is that the face? Is that the emotion of the man who`s just been through all of that?

KUGEL: Well, I mean, you`re looking at it through the eyes of a rational, reasonable person who would never do something like that.

BANFIELD: I don`t feel very rational.

Right now I feel very irrational, because this has devolved from the story that was to the story that is. It`s become foul.

KUGEL: As a practical matter here is what we know, his attorney`s decided to waive that preliminary hearing, and one thing that says to me just as a

legal basis is that by doing so, they`re at least leaving open the possibility of pleading this guy out, right? The reason to waive a

preliminary hearing is to keep open the possibility of pleading this guy out. And that may be their best hope.

BANFIELD: Because at this point, death is on the table. They`ve got 63 days from the time of indictment to file death in this case, to intend to

show that they`re going to seek the death penalty in this case. So, he may have to fight for his life going forward. We`ll see. This is not the only

big story that broke today.

Tonight in Iowa, about 700 miles east of Greeley, Colorado, investigators now say they know exactly what happened to Mollie Tibbets. The 20-year-old

University of Iowa coed who disappeared 34 days ago. And in just the last hour, they detailed publicly in a press conference the heartbreaking end to

what most certainly you could describe as a desperate search.

They said that they believe Mollie has been found, but not in the way that anyone had hoped they would find her. Just moments ago, the authorities

announced that they filed first-degree murder charges in connection with her disappearance and her death, and this is who they filed them against,

24-year-old Christian Rivera, who now stands accused in Mollie`s murder. And if convicted, he faces life, no parole.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK RAHN, SEPCIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, IOWA DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION: During the investigation, we reached out to the public, as

you all know. And during our neighborhood canvas, we came across an individual that had security cameras. We took those cameras. He was kind

enough to give us the footage from it. And through that, we were able to identify a vehicle that we believe belonged to Mr. Rivera. We conducted a

lengthy interview with Mr. Rivera, and during that interview, he tells us that he sees Mollie running and was able to come upon her, approach her.

And while he was interfacing with her, he actually tells us that he ran alongside of her or behind her. And then at one point, he tells us that

Mollie grabbed a hold of her phone and said you need to leave me alone, I`m going to call the police, and then she took off running. He, in turn,

chased her down, and then he tells us that at some point in time, he blacks out and then he comes to near an intersection which we believe he then

placed Mollie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Tomorrow, the autopsy of Mollie Tibbetts should be completed. They should have the cause of death. They should have the definitive

identification that it`s her, as opposed to the clothing that they recognized was hers, and they should be able to determine if, in fact,

Mollie was sexually assaulted before she was murdered. Mollie was last seen going out for her evening jog, just a simple bit of exercise in small-

town Iowa. She was dog sitting for her boyfriend at her boyfriend`s house when she vanished without a trace. We`re going to stay on top of the

breaking developments in this case as well.

Between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. last Monday, some kind of mass calamity happened in Shanann and Chris Watts` home. And you would think that any

attack that results in the death of a mother and both of the babies, well, it would cause some kind of evidence to be obvious of a violent struggle,

three violent struggles, but police say that is not what they saw when they went into that home. We`re going to break down the timeline of what Chris

Watts says happened in their home and what it could mean to the investigation.

[18:20:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. WATTS: Guess what, girls? Mommy has a baby in her belly!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Again!

BANFIELD: The Colorado father accused of murdering his wife and two kids will be in court minutes from now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The only thing you heard from Chris Watts were the, "yes, sirs."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you understand?

WATTS: Yes, sir.

S. WATTS: Yes? Are you really excited? Oh, my goodness!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: We`re still talking about the Watts family murders. The Watts family seemed to be such a perfect little foursome with a little baby boy

on the way and a beloved dad and husband who clearly was adored by the woman behind the camera, but investigators say Chris Watts was cheating on

that wife, Shanann, before they say he killed her. They also say he killed those adorable little girls, and they say he dumped their bodies at an oil

site and came back to their Colorado neighborhood, saying everyone was just missing, and had begged us to help him return his family back safely to

him.

[18:25:17] Chris Watts has his very own version of the story, allegedly saying it was his wife who did the killing of the daughters before he, in a

rage, killed her. And the videos that you see on Facebook make it very hard to believe either of them would kill, but Chris Watts is the one who`s

now charged with all of the murders in a death penalty state. My panel is still with me.

Jenna Ellis, I think it`s critical at this point to go over the timeline of Chris Watts` exact story. It begins on August 13th. That is when Shanann

is dropped off from her work trip. It`s very, very, very late at night or early in the morning, however you look at it. 1:48 a.m., Shanann returns

from the business trip. Take me from there.

JENNA ELLIS, ATTORNEY AND HOST, KLZ RADIO: Yes, so, according to the arrest affidavit, the timeline is that at 1:48 a.m. on August 13th, Shanann

returns home from the business trip. Then, according to Chris, in the affidavit, at 4:00 a.m., he tells his wife that he wants a separation and

walks downstairs. Then at sometime early in the morning, he says that he hears or sees on the baby monitor Bella sprawled out on the bed and then

his wife, Shanann, strangling Cici. So, he goes upstairs, and then in a fit of rage, strangled her. Then at 5:27 a.m. that same day, a

surveillance camera captures Chris Watts with his truck backed up into the driveway. He loads the truck, and then he leaves for work.

And so, what`s important to remember here, Ashleigh, is that this timeline is taken from the police affidavit in support of warrantless arrest.

Generally, under Colorado law, this affidavit would not be admissible in court, and so, the timeline of this is going to, if we go to trial, would

have to come out in some other fashion and have either Chris explain it, if he testifies, or have the officers explain how they reached to that

timeline.

BANFIELD: Well, let me be real clear here, these are Chris` words to the police. This is the stuff that Chris confessed to. So, Rachel Kugel, real

quickly, a warrantless arrest, I get it. I have it right here. It`s actually called a warrantless arrest affidavit, but does that mean you

can`t use the confession in court? Because that sounds like a pretty solid post of evidence to me.

KUGEL: Yes, no, I think what she was saying is you couldn`t use the actual document of the warrantless arrest in court. You definitely can use the

confession in court, and clearly, there`s been a confession in this case.

BANFIELD: Unless something crazy comes up and they say, well, I didn`t get my Miranda rights and --

KUGEL: Listen, they are going to litigate that, right? Any good defense attorney`s going to litigate that, but yes, a confession absolutely could

come.

BANFIELD: There was something that my team and I, after all this broke last night and we were just left slack-jawed there was something really

intriguing that we all came up with, and that is because we have watched so many of the videos of this family on Facebook and everywhere else on social

media for clues, for any kind of clue, what possibly could have been going wrong. Is there anything in these videos to tell us anything? And you

know what? It turns out, there is. There`s something really big. There`s actually something massive in the videos that may just lend a hell of a

clue as to what happened in that house that night and whether Chris Watts` story is complete garbage or if there`s a modicum of truth to it, because

someone was in that house listening, and her name was Alexa. And if you know anything about Alexa, she listens to everything. And how do we know

that they have an Alexa device in the house? Because we saw it in the videos. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. WATTS: Hey, guys. Black label got me dancing in the kitchen while I`m cooking dinner. Feeling amazing, day two. Alexa, turn it down. Day two.

Alexa, turn it down. Alexa, turn it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: There`s an Alexa device in the kitchen, and Alexa listens to everything we say, and did you know that Alexa actually records and keeps

what we say? There`s some pretty intriguing material here to sort through, and there is some pretty intriguing back evidence of other cases where this

has actually been an issue, but before you think, well, maybe, maybe that Alexa`s new and maybe they only used it once or twice -- they used that

Alexa a lot. And you know how we know that? Because we watched the videos, and we found that even these little girls, three and four years

old, knew how to use Alexa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa, can I have Elsa, please?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What should I ask?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa, can I have Elsa?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Marc Saltzman, you`re a technology expert. Explain to me how Alexa just might be the linchpin and the actual witness to what really

happened in the house that night.

MARC SALTZMAN, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: So after you say the wake word, which is her name, then she, this device, this Amazon Echo or other similar device

records everything you ask her or tell her, and it saves it in the cloud on Amazon`s servers. Now you, as an Amazon Echo owner, can go in and delete

that data, if you want. You can do it on the app or you can do it on the website.

But it`s all kept because it helps make the experience better for the customer. As you can hear there with the little girls talking to it,

they`re not quite as articulate, but Alexa may understand these girls over time through artificial intelligence, and they start customizing it.

Once you delete it all, you start from scratch as if you bought this device out of the house. So the authorities could.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: Go back to those files and get everything that they`ve been saying to Alexa over the months or years. It`s all there in the files,

unless you`re clever enough to go in and delete it, which of course, if the police do, they would see that it were recently deleted. More important to

the fact, though, here, to what`s Germane to this case is you have to wake Alexa up in order for her to begin the recording.

But can I also ask you this, because I have one of these devices. Sometimes I say things that aren`t Alexa, and she starts recording. There

are a lot of wake up triggers for Alexa that sound sort of like Alexa, and sometimes nothing like Alexa.

SALTZMAN: Yeah, so that`s true. Sometimes the device, this smart speaker or a smart screen thinks it hears the wake word, and it starts recording.

Once it realizes you don`t want her, then she shuts it back down again. And if you look back in that log, that file log, it will say something like

unknown request, because you just let it go.

You didn`t mean to call her up. But if the authorities did want to listen to what happened that night or in the days leading up to it, providing that

the husband, the wife, or the kids said her name first, they will know four things. When something was said, because it`s all stamped by time, what

device was used, and the location, because they may have more than one.

It may be a living room Alexa or a bedroom Alexa. It will know what was asked, and it will also know -- yeah, what was said and who asked, because

it also keeps a voice recording. So it could be the husband or the wife or the kids.

BANFIELD: Let me bring in Tom Fuentes real quickly. Tom, I know this is really new technology. A lot of people don`t even know what these devices

are. And this is a town, Frederick, Colorado. I don`t know the police force. I don`t know how many murder cases they`ve had. I don`t know how

many of them know to look for an Alexa.

It just looks like a speaker if you`re doing a forensic examination of the house. Do you know for a fact that this is now sort of 101 in crime

fighting, look for the recording device, look for the Alexa, or does somebody have to bring it to their attention?

TOM FUENTES, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, FBI: Well, I think the police would be aware of that, Ashleigh. And I think that it would go with

looking for a surveillance camera, see if the house has a security system or any other recording, telephone recorders, you know, like the old days

of, you know, your call is recorded on the little cassette player.

But in this case, an issue I would have is if they`re in the kitchen alerting or awakening Alexa for some command, if they were having these

discussions upstairs in a bedroom or in the living room, let`s say, would Alexa even be able to hear it, or do they have to -- what is the proximity

to the device they need in order to have a clear recording?

BANFIELD: I have a good answer for that, screaming. Screaming goes a long way through a house. And you know what else? Sometimes it goes through

the walls of a house. Sometimes neighbors can hear screaming as well. Many times, that`s what we`ve heard from witnesses. I heard the screaming

in the middle of the night. I didn`t know what it was.

Well, guess what, if what Chris Watts says is true, there had to have been a calamity befalling in that household. Because if he really witnessed the

murder of his two daughters at his wife`s hands, and flew into a rage and killed her, don`t you think there might be some screaming? Don`t you think

there might be some defensive yelling?

[18:34:58] Don`t you think there would be a lot of noise those neighbors might have heard? We went and spoke to them today. You`re going to hear

what they said.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00] BANFIELD: They apparently had a whole summer planned with trips across the country to see family, and then, of course, that little

baby boy was on the way. But clearly, those plans will not pan out, now that dad is charged with killing the entire family. At first, Chris Watts

said they were just missing before police say he admitted to killing his wife, but only because he says she killed the kids.

So how does such a seemingly perfect family end up in oil tanks and handcuffs and in a shallow grave? The panel is still with me. It must

have been terribly noisy that night in the house. Imagine if Chris Watts` story is true. He`s watching his two baby girls being murdered by his

wife, and in a fit of rage, he kills her, too. Just imagine the noise, the yelling, the screaming, thrashing about.

Imagine all of that noise at 4:00 a.m., when Chris Watts says it all went down. The neighbors might hear something, especially neighbors who wake up

early for a routine. I want to bring in my producer, Talia Tirella, who is out there in Frederick and has been knocking on doors, and has some pretty

interesting information. Talia, what have you found out?

TALIA TIRELLA, PRODUCER, CRIME AND JUSTICE: So Ashleigh, this morning, I (Inaudible) drove through the Watts family neighborhood. I was knocking on

doors. I talked to a neighbor who lives right next door to them, and she told me two pretty interesting things. And I`ll kind of go in

chronological order here with what she told me.

She says that the night before, that Sunday night. Around 7:15, she was on her back deck. She had some family over. They were hanging out. She

noticed Chris Watts was in the Watts family backyard, and he was barbecuing, you know, doing some grilling. But what stood out to her was

she didn`t hear any noise, any children calling for their dad, anything like that.

The second thing she told me that really stood out was she noticed this neighbor goes to the gym every morning at 5:30 a.m. She was about to leave

her house at 5:15 that Monday morning. And she says she saw Chris Watts` company truck parked in (Inaudible). She thought it was strange because,

you know, she`s up at that hour every weekday to go to the gym, and she has never seen that truck with its lights on at that hour.

BANFIELD: Parked out front, not in their driveway, not backed into the garage, parked out front with its lights on at 5:30 a.m., very curious.

But she sure didn`t say she heard any screaming, yelling, or calamity. She sure didn`t hear anything like that. Talia, stand by for a moment. I want

to play something. This is videotape of Chris Watts at a different time, but not that long ago.

We found this actually, amid the various offerings of the internet. Probably video he wishes didn`t exist right now, because it`s him talking

about questioning your relationships. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to ask yourself three questions when you`re in a relationship. Do I have a desire to keep this relationship going? Do I

have a moral obligation to stay in this relationship? Or is it a necessity for me to stay in this relationship? According to my research, sometimes

the necessity can be children. Sometimes when you have children and your relationship starts to deteriorate, a child could help repair it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Sometimes when a relationship is deteriorating, a child can help repair it. They had a child on the way, and he, by admission, was having

an affair. Coming up after the break, a clinical psychologist is going to weigh in on that little nugget.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[18:45:00] UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have two types of deterioration. You have sudden and you have gradual. Sudden would be an example of

infidelity, when somebody is not faithful to their partner, the partner`s realized that the relationship cannot be sustained. Gradual would be if

you met somebody at work or a new friendship has occurred and you, as it goes on, you see that, OK, maybe this relationship has more potential than

the relationship I have with my partner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That`s Chris Watts from back in 2012. A video he probably wishes didn`t exist, because word for word, he`s saying you have two types

of deterioration of a relationship. You have sudden and you have gradual. Sudden would be an example of infidelity, if someone is not faithful to

their partner. And lo and behold, Chris Watts admitted he wasn`t being faithful to his partner.

But not until he was pressed, and not until after he lied to the police about it, that according to the police affidavit that basically was filled

with bombshells, not the least of which is that he says he killed Shanann, but only because she was killing the kids, unbelievable. After all of that

terrorizing behavior, that calamity in the household, what did he do next?

[18:50:11] He just took their bodies to the oil field, buried her, and dumped his babies in oil, pretty remarkable story. Seth Meyers is a

clinical psychologist. Can you read anything into that video, and into the video you saw today of him staring straight ahead emotionless in court?

SETH MYERS, CLINICAL PYSCHOLOGIST: Right. Well, the way he presented in both, it`s very sterile. It`s very clinical, not at all emotional. What I

think is important from a psychological perspective, if we just look at the charges that he`s charged with killing, you know, his wife and his

daughters, this is what we call Familicide, where you kill multiple members of your family.

Now sometimes in Familicide, the motive is intense shame. They feel they cannot be the provider. They have let their family down, and they get rid

of the family because they can`t handle those feelings. Sometimes it`s a little more cold-blooded. Sometimes it`s a little more psychopathic. The

person simply wants a new life, so, you know, which is the case here. I am sure a lot of, you know, the audience has some thoughts on that.

BANFIELD: Yeah. I just found it to be so disturbing to see a man staring straight ahead in court, not hanging his head, not showing desperation or

devastation that his children were murdered, if his story is true. He just witnessed both of his children being murdered. And in a rage, committed

murder himself. That`s not what we`re seeing.

We`re just seeing the guy staring straight ahead. Hold the thought for a moment, because Dr. Morrone, as a medical examiner, I am so curious. Those

autopsies were completed on the wife and children days ago. I think by Saturday they were completed. Why on Earth would they be holding the

details back?

WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER AND FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, they`re going to also want to do some trace and chemical analysis. That has to go

out to labs. The actual cause of death has already been determined because the charges are out. There is homicide. Now they have to determine

whether it was asphyxiation or strangulation.

And sometimes that also means microscopic examination of the tissues, which takes many days after the gross autopsy.

BANFIELD: Well, let`s hope that we ultimately get that information. And officially so, as difficult as that is, because let`s not forget who we`re

talking about here, two little girls, three and four years old, who were submerged in oil, allegedly by their own dad. He admits it all. He threw

their bodies into an oil tank and he buried his wife.

You`ve heard a lot about Shanann and the two girls over the last week, but it`s the small moments that usually say the most. We`re going to take a

closer look at Shanann and her daughters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:00] BANFIELD: Before we go tonight, we want to take a moment to tell you a little bit more about Shanann Watts and her two little girls.

And it`s no exaggeration to say that Bella and Cece were the light of Shanann`s life. And in a way, they were unexpected miracles. Shanann had

lupus and she was told she would not be able to have children.

But boy, did she prove all the experts wrong. Four-year-old Bella was her constant companion, a sensitive and sweet little girl who went everywhere

with her mommy. Cece, who had just turned three years old in July, was a bundle of energy, just always zipping here and zipping there and rocking

the pig tails. Being a mom was the priority of Shanann`s life. And she practically glowed when she talked about her girls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bella walks around very shy. She`s like -- she has a mixture of myself and Chris in her. Like she`s an introvert, but she`s

also branching out of her shell a lot sooner than I ever did in my life. You know she is becoming more confident. Cece is definitely confident.

That child is fearless, has confidence through the roof.

She has that side of me when it comes to going after whatever you want. She definitely gets that from me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And this young mom embracing all the joys and all those headaches of parenting two young kids, with looking forward to and dreaming

of the day they were going to meet their little brother, who she was planning to name Nico. And look how excited they were to hear it. But

that they were also brutally killed and disposed of like trash is unimaginable. It`s the horror of this crime that rocks us all, equaled

only by the anguish that her family is now feeling.

The next hour of CRIME AND JUSTICE continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANANN WATTS, WIFE OF CHRIS WATTS: We`re not promised tomorrow, you know. We`re not promised anything.

JOHN CAMPER, DIRECTOR, COLORADO BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: We have been able to recover a body that we`re quite certain is Shanann Watts` body.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody is like, what about the husband? What about the husband? What about the husband?

AMANDA THAYER, FAMILY FRIEND OF THE WATTS FAMILY: He didn`t seem like the type of guy to injure a fly, let alone his entire family.

BANFIELD (voice-over): A superstar dad in torment.

CHRIS WATTS, HUSBAND OF SHANANN WATTS: I don`t know -- I don`t know where my kids are. I don`t know where Shanann is.

BANFIELD (voice-over): Until he got charged with their murders.

JUDGE MARCELO KOPCOW, 19TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT OF COLORADO: The maximum could be death. The sentence is death. Do you understand?

BANFIELD (voice-over): Cops say he killed them all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has mentioned, you know, about them having problems.

BANFIELD (voice-over): Taking their bodies to his work site and dumping his own daughters in oil.

BELLA WATTS, DAUGHTER OF CHRIS WATTS: My daddy is a hero. He helps me grow up strong.

BANFIELD (voice-over): So why did he tell loved ones a different story?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just kept saying he didn`t know where she was, that she was on a playdate.

BANFIELD (voice-over): And why is he now blaming the mother?

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Chris claims he went into a rage seeing his wife perform such actions and --

BANFIELD (voice-over): Was there something in that house --

S. WATTS: Feeling amazing. Day two. Alexa, turn it down.

BANFIELD (voice-over): -- that could help explain who killed the kids?

S. WATTS: He is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had texted her good morning that morning and she hadn`t opened it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is not like her at all. She`s a very responsible and conscientious young woman.

BANFIELD (voice-over): A college girl disappears while she`s watching her boyfriend`s dog.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She jogged down the street, up the hill, and it like really hit me. And it`s like I haven`t seen that runner since then.

BANFIELD (voice-over): Investigators spend a month looking for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We hope this is some sort of a big misunderstanding and that she`s going to pop up.

BANFIELD (voice-over): But they just found a body.

RICK RAHN, SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, IOWA DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION: Tells that he sees Mollie running and was able to come upon

her, approach her.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How this could happen in a place like Brooklyn, Iowa.

BANFIELD (voice-over): Is it the girl they`ve been looking for? And if it is, how did she end up dead?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Good evening, everyone. I`m Ashleigh Banfield and welcome to our third hour of this special edition of CRIME AND JUSTICE.

When you walk into a courtroom accused of murder, you feel ashamed. With every person in the courtroom questioning whether you really did or didn`t

do the crime.

But you walk into a courtroom accused of murdering your entire family and dumping their bodies in one of the most horrific and filthy ways and --

well, you can only imagine.

You could bet that every single eye in that courtroom is boring into you. You can probably feel all the suspicion, all the fear, all the heartbreak,

and it might just be enough to make you hang your head in shame.

That is exactly not what Chris Watts did today, the Colorado man charged with murdering his own entire family and then pretending they were all just

missing, off somewhere.

No, Chris Watts decided to stare straight ahead, not an ounce of emotion on that face. Even though police say he admitted to killing his pregnant wife

and said that he buried his work wife -- his work -- his wife at his work site and dumped his little girls` body in an oil tank until they slipped

under the thick, black grease.

The very same man who starred in countless family videos on Facebook, seemingly adored by those two little girls and seemingly beloved by that

wife.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. WATTS: We`re having daddy just wiped off?

B. WATTS: Daddy, get that cup (ph).

C. WATTS: You want to reach that cup (ph).

B. WATTS: Yes.

C. WATTS: OK, I`m just going to check my heart rate, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: It`s really hard to what those better days. But were they? Were they better days? Was that all an act? Was that family as happy as

they appeared on video, or was there something bubbling beneath the surface that never saw a camera?

[19:05:00] And what about the accusation from the man who says he witnessed his own daughters being murdered and flew into a rage and killed his wife

because of it? What kind of emotion should he have had? What kind of emotion is reasonable?

I want to bring in my panel now. CNN correspondent Scott McLean; radio host and attorney for KLZ 560, Jenna Ellis; CRIME AND JUSTICE producer

Talia Tirella; technology expert Marc Saltzman; medical examiner and forensic pathologist, Dr. William Morrone; CNN`s senior law enforcement

analyst and former FBI assistant director, Tom Fuentes; and clinical psychologist, Dr. Seth Meyers; along with defense attorney, Rachel Kugel.

I want to begin with you, Scott McLean, on that alarmingly emotionless court appearance today. I can`t imagine what it was like in that courtroom

as the family members of Shanann were forced to look straight at the man who`s accused of wiping out his entire family.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Ashleigh. So Chris Watts shuffled into that courtroom shackled at the feet, shackled at the hands,

he sat down. As you said, he sat emotionless.

But it was Shanann Watts` father and her brother who sat in the front row of that courtroom. And her father was audibly sobbing in that front row,

really unable to control his emotions. And you can understand why.

Not only is he now sitting here with the deaths of his two grandchildren, his own daughter, but on top of all of that, he`s also looking at the man

who has confessed to killing his daughter and now is accusing her of killing those grandchildren. So you can imagine the emotions, Ashleigh.

I want to point out one other thing, and that`s this video has surfaced from 2012. We`ve got it confirmed with two neighbors who say that it is,

in fact, Chris Watts in that video. It`s of him giving a presentation at a community college in North Carolina, and ironically, it`s about

relationship deterioration and repair.

He goes on at length for about eight or nine minutes about how relationships break down, how you might be able to repair them. He said,

often times, kids, actually, are something that can help repair a relationship.

Clearly, not the case in this particular instance because he said that he woke up on the morning of August 13th and actually wanted to separate from

Shanann. At least that`s what he`s telling police at that point.

And then he capped off that presentation, Ashleigh, with this quote. He said, relationships are hard, but they`re worth it in the end.

BANFIELD: Yes.

MCLEAN: So a lot of people here in Colorado are asking the question, what the heck was going on in that relationship?

BANFIELD: No kidding. And you know what, Scott, in a little bit down the line, later on in this program, I`m going to actually run some of those

videos. But not before we get to the just sort of perplexing court appearance today and what it looked like and what it sounded like for

anybody who was in that courtroom.

And while you`re watching this, I want you to really think about, for the moment, the people most affected by this. Yes, you`re following the case.

Yes, you`re astounded by what`s happened in this Colorado murder mystery. Yes, it`s upsetting and, yes, it is gripping.

But you aren`t the family of Shanann Watts. The family of Shanann Watts was front row in that courtroom, and they had to set their eyes upon this

man for the first time since all of this news broke.

Children are missing, Shanann is missing. Shanann and the children have been found. He is arrested for their murder. And then he confesses that

he did it, but only part of it. That he only killed Shanann out of rage because she, herself, is a child killer.

So just imagine what it`s like for Shanann`s father and her brother to face the man who not only killed their loved one but now accuses their loved one

of being a child killer. You could cut the tension with a knife. And as Scott just reporter, you could hear the sobs.

I want to play this moment for you. And as I do, see if you can figure out any clues as you look at the accused.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOPCOW: Mr. Watts, let me explain to you what you have been formally charged with and what the possible penalties are.

Count 1 alleges that on or about August 13, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, after deliberation and with the intent to cause

the death of a person other than himself, caused the death of Shanann Watts, in violation of Colorado Revised Statues 18-3-102, Subsection 1,

Subsection 8. And that crime is classified as murder in the first degree, a Class 1 felony. Do you understand?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

[19:09:50] KOPCOW: Count 2 alleges murder in the first degree, also a Class 1 felony. And it reads that between and including August 12, 2018,

and August 13, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, after deliberation and with the intent to cause the death of a person other than

himself, caused the death of Bella Watts in violation of Colorado Revised Statute 18-3-102, Subsection 1, Subsection 8. Do you understand?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

KOPCOW: Count 3 alleges murder in the first degree, a Class 1 felony. And specifically, it alleges that between and including August 12, 2018 and

August 13, 2018, Christopher Lee Watts, unlawfully, feloniously, after deliberation and with the intent to cause the death of a person other than

himself, caused the death of Celeste Watts in violation of Colorado Revised Statutes 18-3-102, Subsection 1, Subsection 8. Do you understand that?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

KOPCOW: Count 4 alleges murder in the first degree, a Class 1 felony. It alleges that between and including August 12, 2018 and August 13, 2018,

Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly caused the death of Bella Watts, a child who had not yet attained 12 years of age, and

the defendant was in a position of trust with respect to the victim, in violation of Colorado Revised Statutes 18-3-102, Subsection 1, Subsection

F. Do you understand that?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

KOPCOW: Count 5 alleges murder in the first degree, a Class 1 felony. It alleges that between and including August 12, 2018 and August 13, 2018,

Christopher Lee Watts unlawfully, feloniously, and knowingly caused the death of Celeste Watts, a child who had not yet attained 12 years of age,

and the defendant was in a position of trust with respect to the victim, in violation of Colorado Revised Statutes 18-3-102, Subsection 1, Subsection

F. Do you understand that?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

KOPCOW: With regard to these first five counts, the minimum sentence that the court could impose, if convicted, is life imprisonment in the Colorado

Department of Corrections and the maximum could be death. The sentence is death. Do you understand that?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Seth Meyers, as a clinical psychologist, it is probably small consolation to that sobbing family that he is shackled at the feet and

shackled at the hands and will likely not see the light of day again.

But at the same time, I want you to look at the face of that defendant. Is that the face and the emotion of a man who, according to his own admission,

suggests he just saw his two daughters murdered and then, in a rage, murdered his own wife and then buried all their bodies in a filthy way? Is

that the emotion you would expect?

DR. SETH MEYERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Right, no. It`s concerning that you see no emotion. I also think it`s very interesting that when he

answers the judge, he speaks so quietly that you can`t even really hear him. So I detect a lot of anger in that, a lot of resistance to authority.

BANFIELD: You know, there`s other emotion that I think is going to play wildly in the months and years to come in the prosecution of Chris Watts.

And that is if his allegation is that he flew into a rage when he saw his wife murdering his two daughters, what kind of relationship could she have

had with those daughters?

If her social media is any indication, I think you should be prepared for a star witness to make its way into all of the litigation. And that`s the

videotapes on Facebook. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. WATTS: What do we do every day? We say, I am loved.

B. WATTS: I`m in love.

S. WATTS: I am beautiful.

B. WATTS: I am beautiful.

S. WATTS: I am special.

B. WATTS: I`m special.

S. WATTS: I am healthy.

B. WATTS: I`m in healthy.

S. WATTS: I am blessed.

B. WATTS: I am blessed.

S. WATTS: I am strong.

B. WATTS: I am strong.

S. WATTS: Yes. I am gifted.

B. WATTS: I`m gifted.

S. WATTS: I am smart.

B. WATTS: I am smart.

S. WATTS: I am confident.

B. WATTS: I am confident.

[19:15:01] S. WATTS: I am perfect.

B. WATTS: I am perfect.

S. WATTS: What else are you?

B. WATTS: I don`t know.

S. WATTS: Yes, you do.

B. WATTS: No, I don`t. I really don`t.

S. WATTS: Are you mommy`s special little girl?

B. WATTS: Yes.

S. WATTS: Yes. Yes, you are. Say everybody --

B. WATTS: Everybody.

S. WATTS: -- make a vision board.

B. WATTS: Make a vision board.

S. WATTS: Good girl. Look at me. Look at me. I love you.

B. WATTS: I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Rachel Kugel, I love you. That`s what she said to her daughter.

RACHEL KUGEL, LAWYER AND FOUNDER, KUGEL LAW FIRM: It`s so painful to watch.

BANFIELD: This is just one of so many videos that show the unbelievable dedication this woman had to her children. She quit her job so she that

she could take another job and work from home because she said she loved giving baths to the children while she did her conference calls.

KUGEL: If the defense team chooses to try and really go with this story, that she had something to do with the deaths of those children, then that

opens the door to all kinds of videos like this coming in, being shown to a jury.

And don`t forget, you know, we`ve seen it in many other cases. Jurors do not accept very easily that mothers, in particular, can kill their

children.

BANFIELD: And what kind of effect is it going to have when that father and his son, Shanann`s brother and Shanann`s dad, show up in court -- my

presumption is every day -- with the daggers in the eyes of that brother?

KUGEL: Yes. And I think that`s exactly why they have to pull it together to be able to do that for their daughter and be present.

BANFIELD: It`s such a distressing story. We`re going to continue following this because there is just so much left to tell. There are so

many more mysteries still in this story.

We are also following another story, breaking news tonight out of Iowa, where the month-long search for missing coed, Mollie Tibbetts, has

tragically now come to an end. This, after a massive search.

The authorities said that they found a body this morning, and they do believe that it is Mollie. An autopsy is officially scheduled for

tomorrow. And eventually, we will learn when and how Mollie actually died.

But it was surveillance video that helped lead authorities to this man, a suspect named Cristhian Rivera, who has now been charged with first-degree

murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAHN: A first-degree murder charge was filed today in connection with the disappearance of Mollie Tibbetts, who was last seen jogging in Brooklyn,

Iowa on July 18, 2018. A complaint in affidavit names Cristhian Bahena Rivera, age 24, who resides in rural Poweshiek County, and he has been

charged with murder in the first degree.

Dozens of law enforcement officials from local, state, and federal agencies were involved in the investigation after the disappearance of Mollie

Tibbetts. A body was discovered early this morning in a farm field southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa.

The identity has not been confirmed. However, we believe it to be the body of Mollie Tibbetts.

A complaint and affidavit which will be provided to you will provide the details and -- of allegations against Mr. Rivera. Charges were filed in

the Poweshiek County District Court. The case will be prosecuted by the Iowa Attorney General`s Area Prosecution Division. And first-degree murder

carries a penalty of life without the possibility of parole.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Police say they think 24-year-old Rivera followed Mollie Tibbetts on July 18th and then abducted her, blotting out a very promising

life. Mollie was studying psychology. Her father says she wanted to get a PhD and eventually write books.

Between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. last Monday, something massive happened in Shanann and Chris Watts` home.

You would think that any kind of an attack as Chris describes that resulted to the death of mother and two kids, well, it would be plenty noisy and

would yield a lot of evidence of a violent struggle. But the police say that`s not what they saw when they went in. We`ll break it down, next.

[19:19:14] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

S. WATTS: Guess what, girls? Mommy has a baby in her belly.

CELESTE WATTS, DAUGHTER OF CHRIS WATTS: Again?

S. WATTS: How big (ph) is that Chris?

BANFIELD (voice-over): A Colorado father accused of murdering his wife and two kids will be in court minutes from now.

HARTUNG: The only thing you heard from Chris Watts were the "yes, sir."

KOPCOW: Do you understand?

C. WATTS: Yes, sir.

S. WATTS: Yes? Are you really excited? Oh, my goodness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: We`re still talking about the Watts family murders. The Watts family seemed to be such a perfect little foursome with a little baby boy

on the way. And a beloved dad and husband, who clearly was adored by the woman behind this camera.

But investigators say Chris Watts was cheating on that wife, Shanann, before, they say, he killed her. They also say he killed those adorable

little girls. And they say he dumped their bodies at an oil site and came back to their Colorado neighborhood saying everyone was just missing and

then begged us to help him return his family back safely to him.

[19:25:11] Chris Watts has his very own version of the story, allegedly saying it was his wife who did the killing of the daughters before he, in a

rage, killed her.

And the videos that you see on Facebook make it very hard to believe either of them would kill. But Chris Watts is the one who`s now charged with all

of the murders in a death penalty state.

My panel is still with me.

Jenna Ellis, I think it`s critical at this point to go over the timeline of Chris Watts` exact story. It begins on August 13th. That`s when Shanann

is dropped off from her work trip.

It`s very, very late at night or early in the morning, however you look at it. But 1:48 a.m., Shanann returns from the business trip. Take me from

there.

JENNA ELLIS, HOST, 560 KLZ THE SOURCE: Yes. So according to the arrest affidavit, the timeline is that, at 1:48 a.m. on August 13th, Shanann

returns home from the business trip.

Then, according to Chris, in the affidavit, at 4:00 a.m., he tells his wife that he wants a separation and walks downstairs.

Then at sometime early in the morning, he says that he hears or sees on the baby monitor Bella sprawled out on the bed and then his wife, Shanann,

strangling Cece. So he goes upstairs and then, in a fit of rage, strangles her.

Then at 5:27 a.m. that same day, a surveillance camera captures Chris Watts with his truck backed up into the driveway. He loads the truck and then he

leaves for work.

And so what`s important to remember here, Ashleigh, is that this timeline is taken from the police affidavit in support of warrantless arrest.

Generally, under Colorado law, this affidavit would not be admissible in court.

And so the timeline of this is going to -- if we go to trial, would have to come out in some other fashion and have either Chris explain it if he

testifies or have the officers explain how they reached that timeline.

BANFIELD: Well, let me be real clear here, these are Chris` words to the police. This is the stuff that Chris confessed to.

So, Rachel Kugel, real quickly, a warrantless arrest, I get it. I have it right here. It`s called a warrantless arrest affidavit. But does that

mean you can`t use the confession in court? Because that sounds like a pretty solid piece of evidence to me.

KUGEL: Yes. No, I think what she was saying was you couldn`t use the actual documents of the warrantless arrest in court.

BANFIELD: Yes.

KUGEL: You definitely can use the confession in court. And clearly, there`s been a confession in this case.

BANFIELD: Unless something crazy comes up and they say, well, I didn`t get my Miranda Rights, and they set this, you know --

KUGEL: Well, they will -- listen --

BANFIELD: Sure.

KUGEL: They`re going to litigate that, right?

BANFIELD: Yes.

KUGEL: Any good defense attorney is going to litigate that.

BANFIELD: Yes.

KUGEL: But, yes, that confession absolutely can be used.

BANFIELD: So there was something that my team and I -- after all of this broke last night and we were just left slack-jawed, there was something

really intriguing that we all came up with.

And that is because we have watched so many of the videos of this family on Facebook and everywhere else on social media for clues, for any kind of

clue, what possibly could have been going wrong. Is there anything in these videos to tell us anything?

And you know what, it turns out there is. There`s something big. There`s actually something massive in the videos that may just lend a hell of a

clue as to what happened in that house that night and whether Chris Watts` story is complete garbage or if there`s a modicum of truth to it.

Because someone was in the house listening, and her name was Alexa. And if you know anything about Alexa, she listens to everything. And how do we

know that they have an Alexa device in the house? Because we saw it in the videos. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

S. WATTS: Hey, guys. Black Label got me dancing in the kitchen while I`m cooking dinner. Feeling amazing, day two.

Alexa, turn it down. Day two -- Alexa, turn it down.

Alexa, turn it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: There`s an Alexa device in the kitchen. And Alexa listens to everything we say. And did you know that Alexa actually records and keeps

what we say?

There`s some pretty intriguing material here to sort through, and there is some pretty intriguing back evidence of other cases where this has actually

been an issue.

But before you think, well, maybe that Alexa is new and maybe they only used it once or twice, they used that Alexa a lot. And you know how we

know that? Because we watched the videos and we found that even these little girls, 3 and 4 years old, knew how to use Alexa.

[19:30:08] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. WATTS: Well, OK, all of that? Alexa, can I have (ph)? Alexa --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa, can I have Elsa --

ALEXA: What should I ask?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa, can I --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Alexa.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say it louder?

ALEXA: How can (INAUDIBLE) to your shopping list.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Marc Saltzman, you`re a technology expert. Explain to me how Alexa just might be the lynch pin and the actual witness to what really

happened in the house that night.

MARC SALTZMAN, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: So after you say the wake word, which is her name, then she -- this device, this Amazon Echo or other similar

device, records everything you ask her or tell her. And it saves it in the cloud on Amazon`s servers. Now you, as an Amazon Echo owner, can go in and

delete that data. If you want, you can do it on the app or you can do it on the Web site. But the -- it`s all kept because it helps make the

experience better for the customer. As you can hear there with the little girls talking to it, they`re not quite as articulate but Alexa may

understand her -- these girls over time through artificial intelligence. And they start customizing it. Once you delete it all, you start from

scratch as if you bought this device out of the house. So, the authorities could -- yes?

BANFIELD: Go back to those files and get everything that they`ve been saying to Alexa over the months or years. It`s all there in the files

unless you`re clever enough to go in and delete it, which, of course, if the police do, they would see that it were recently deleted. More

important to the fact though here, to the -- what`s Germane to this case is you have to wake Alexa up in order for her to begin the recording. But can

I also ask you this, because I have one of these devices. Sometimes I say things that aren`t Alexa, and she starts recording. There are a lot of

wake up triggers for Alexa that sound sort of like Alexa and sometimes nothing like Alexa.

SALTZMAN: Yes, so that`s true. Sometimes the device, this smart speaker or a smart screen thinks it hears the wake word and it starts recording.

Once it realizes you don`t want her, then she shuts it back down again. And if you look back in that log, that file log, it will say something like

unknown request because you just let it go, you didn`t mean to call her up. But if the authorities did want to listen to what happened that night or in

the days leading up to it, providing that the husband, the wife, or the kids said her name first, they will know four things, when something was

said because it`s all stamped by time, what device was used, and the location because they may have more than one, it may be a living room Alexa

or a bedroom Alexa. It`ll know what was asked, and it`ll also know -- it`ll also know what -- yes, what was said and who asked because it also

keeps a voice recording. So both the -- it could be the husband or the wife or the kids.

BANFIELD: Let me bring in Tom Fuentes real quickly. Tom, I know this is really new technology, a lot of people don`t even know what these devices

are. And this is a town, Frederick, Colorado. I don`t know the police force, I don`t know how many murder cases they`ve had, I don`t know how

many of them know to look for an Alexa, it just looks like a speaker if you`re doing a forensic examination of the house, do you know for a fact

that this is now sort of 101 in crime fighting? Look for the recording device, look for the Alexa, or does somebody have to bring it to their

attention?

SALTZMAN: Well, I think the police would be aware of that, Ashleigh, and I think that it would go with looking for a surveillance camera, see if the

house has a security system, or any other recording, telephone recorders, you know, like the old days of, you know, your call is recorded on the

little -- on a cassette player. But in this case, an issue I would have is, if they`re in the kitchen alerting or awakening Alexa for some command,

if they were having these discussions upstairs in a bedroom or in the living room, let`s say, would Alexa even be able to hear it, or did they

have to -- what is the proximity to the device they need in order to have a clear recording?

BANFIELD: I have a good answer for that. Screaming. Screaming goes a long way through a house. And you know what else? Sometimes it goes

through the walls of a house. Sometimes neighbors can hear screaming as well. Many times that`s what we`ve heard from witnesses, I heard the

screaming in the middle of the night. I didn`t know what it was. Well, guess what, if what Chris Watts says is true, there had to have been a

calamity befalling in that household because if he really witnessed the murder of his two daughters at his wife`s hands and flew into a rage and

killed her, don`t you think there might be some screaming, don`t you think there might be some defensive yelling? Don`t you think there`d be a lot of

noise, those neighbors might have heard? We went and spoke to them today. You`re going to hear what they`ve said.

[19:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:03] BANFIELD: They apparently had a whole summer planned with trips across the country to see family, and then, of course, that little baby boy

was on the way. But clearly, those plans will not pan out now that dad is charged with killing the entire family. At first, Chris Watts said they

were just missing before police say he admitted to killing his wife. But only because, he says, she killed the kids. So, how did such a seemingly

perfect family end up in oil tank and handcuffs and in a shallow grave?

The panel is still with me. It must have been terribly noisy that night in the house. Imagine if Chris Watts` story is true, he`s watching his two

baby girls being murdered by his wife, and in a fit of rage he kills her, too. Just imagine the noise, the yelling, the screaming, thrashing about.

Imagine all of that noise at 4:00 a.m. when Chris Watts said it all went down. The neighbors might hear something, especially neighbors who wake up

early for a routine. I want to bring in my producer Talia Tirella who is out there in Frederick and has been knocking on some doors and has some

pretty interesting information. Talia, what have you found out?

TALIA TIRELLA, HLN CRIME & JUSTICE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, Ashleigh (INAUDIBLE) exactly right, this morning, I went through the Watts family

neighborhood. I was knocking on doors. I talked to a neighbor who lives right next door to them. And she told me two pretty interesting things.

And I`ll kind of go in a chronological order here with what she told me. She says that the night before, that Sunday night, around 7:15, she was on

her back deck, she had some family over, they were hanging out. She noticed Chris Watts was in the Watts family backyard and he was barbecuing,

you know, doing some grilling. But what stood out to her was she didn`t hear any noise, any children calling for their dad, anything like that.

The second thing she told me that really stood out was she goes to -- this neighbor goes to the gym every morning at 5:30 a.m., she was about to leave

her house 5:15 that Monday morning, and she says she saw Chris Watts` company truck parked in the street on the lawn. She thought it was strange

because, you know, she`s up at that hour every weekday to go to the gym, and she has never seen that truck with its lights on at that hour.

BANFIELD: Parked out front, not in their driveway, not backed into the garage, parked out front with its lights on at 5:30 a.m. Very curious.

But she sure didn`t say she heard any screaming, yelling, or calamity, she sure didn`t hear anything like that. Talia, stand by for a moment, I want

to play something. This is videotape of Chris Watts at a different time, but not that long ago. We found this, actually, amid the various offerings

of the internet. Probably video he wishes didn`t exist right now because it`s him talking about questioning your relationships. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WATTS, MURDER SUSPECT: You have to ask yourself three questions when you`re in a relationship, do I have a desire to keep this relationship

going? Do I have a moral obligation to stay in this relationship? Or, is it -- is it a necessity for me to stay in this relationship? According to

my research, sometimes a necessity can be children, sometimes when you have children and your relationship starts to deteriorate, a child can help

repair it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Sometimes when a relationship is deteriorating, a child can help repair it. They had a child on the way, and he, by admission, was having

an affair. Coming up after the break, a clinical psychologist is going to weigh in on that little nugget.

[19:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

C. WATTS: You have two types of deterioration. You have sudden and you have gradual. Sudden would be an example of infidelity. When somebody is

not faithful to their partner, the partner realizes the relationship cannot be sustained. Gradual would be if you met somebody at work or a new

friendship has occurred and you -- as it goes on, you see that OK maybe this relationship has more potential than the relationship I have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: That`s Chris Watts from back in 2012. A video he probably wishes didn`t exist. Because word for word, he`s saying you have two types

of deterioration of a relationship. You have sudden, and you have gradual. Sudden would be an example of infidelity, if someone is not faithful to

their partner. And lo and behold, Chris Watts admitted he wasn`t being faithful to his partner, but not until he was pressed and not until after

he lied to the police about it. That according to the police affidavit that basically was filled with bombshells, not the least of which is that

he says he killed Shannan but only because she was killing the kids. Unbelievable.

[19:49:58] After all of that terrorizing behavior, that calamity in the household, what did he do next? He just took their bodies to the oilfield,

buried her and dumped his babies in oil. A pretty remarkable story. Seth Meyers is a clinical psychologist. Can you read anything into that video

and in the video you saw today of him staring straight ahead emotionless in court?

DR. SETH MEYERS, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: Right. Well, the way he presented in both, it`s very sterile, it`s very clinical, not at all emotional. What

I think is important from a psychological perspective, if we just look at the charges that he`s charged with killing, you know, his wife and his

daughters, this is what we call familicide where you kill multiple members of your family. Now, sometimes in familicide, the motive is intense shame,

they feel they cannot be the provider, they have let their family down and they get rid of the family because they can`t handle those feelings.

Sometimes, it`s a little more cold-blooded, sometimes a little more psychopathic, the person simply wants a new life. So, you know, which is

the case here? I`m sure a lot of, you know, the audience has some thoughts on that.

BANFIELD: Yes. I just found it to be so disturbing to see a man staring straight ahead in court, not hanging his head, not showing desperation or

devastation that his children were murdered if his story is true. He just witnessed both of his children being murdered and in a rage, committed

murder himself. That`s not what we`re seeing. We`re just seeing the guy staring straight ahead. Hold the thought for a moment because Dr. Morrone,

as a medical examiner, I`m still curious, those autopsies were completed on the wife and children days ago. I think by Saturday, they were completed.

Why on earth would they be holding the details back?

DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER & FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: Well, they`re going to also want to do some trace and chemical analysis. That

has to go out to labs. The actual cause of death has already been determined because the charges are out. There`s homicide. Now, they have

to determined whether it was asphyxiation or strangulation. And sometimes that also means microscopic examination of the tissues, which takes many

days after the gross autopsy.

BANFIELD: Well, let`s hope that we ultimately get that information and officially so, as difficult as that is, because let`s not forget who we`re

talking about here, two little girls, 3 and 4 years old, who were submerged in oil, allegedly by their own dad. He admits it all, he threw their

bodies into an oil tank and he buried his wife. We`ve heard a lot about Shannan and the two girls over the last week, but it`s the small moments

that usually say the most. We`re going to take a closer look at Shannan and her daughters.

[19:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Before we go tonight, we want to take a moment to tell you a little bit more about Shannan Watts and her little girls. And look, it is

really no exaggeration to say that these kids, Bella and Cece were the light of Shannan`s life. And in a way, they were unexpected little

miracles, too. Because Shannan had lupus and she was told she wouldn`t be able to have kids. But she proved all the experts wrong in the way that

she would. 4-year-old Bella was her constant companion, a sensitive, sweet little girl. Bella went everywhere with her mom. And little Cece with the

squiggly pigtails, she had just turned 3 years old in July. And she was a bundle of energy, always zipping here and there, just cute as a button.

Being a mother was the priority of Shannan`s life. And she practically glowed when she talk about her girls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNAN WATTS, MURDER VICTIM: Bella walks around very shy. She`s like -- she has a mixture of myself and Chris and her, like she`s an introvert but

she`s also branching out of her shell a lot sooner than I ever did in my life. I love that, you know, she`s becoming more confident. Cece is

definitely confident, that child is fearless, has confidence through the roof. She has that side of me when it comes to being, you know, willing to

just go after whatever you want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: And this young mother embracing all the joys and all the headaches of parenting two young kids, she was looking forward to dreaming

of the day she would meet their little brother whom she was going to name Nico that they were all brutally killed and disposed of like trash is

unimaginable. It is the horror of this crime that rocks us all, equalled only by the anguish that her family must be feeling now. We`ll see you all

back here tomorrow night at 6:00 Eastern. Thank you very much for watching. "FORENSIC FILES" begins right now.

END