Chris Watts mistress feared his animalistic fury before murders
Chris Watts' former mistress Amanda McMahon says his "animalistic fury" during intimacy left her "scared," and that he slurred pregnant wife Shanann as a "gold digger" months before the August 2018 murders of Shanann and daughters Bella and Celeste in Colorado. Her account, reported by Oxygen from a Daily Mail interview, adds fresh detail to one of the most closely followed cases in true crime and unsolved mysteries.
Key Takeaways
- Amanda McMahon says Chris Watts showed "animalistic fury" during intimacy and she was "scared to really say anything."
- She says Watts demeaned Shanann Watts, calling her a "f—king psycho" and a "gold digger."
- They connected on Tinder, first met at a Chick-fil-A parking lot, and watched Shutter Island at her home.
- McMahon says she downplayed their relationship to authorities in 2018 amid a custody battle.
- Watts pleaded guilty in November 2018 and is serving life without parole in Wisconsin.
What did Amanda McMahon say about Chris Watts before the murders?
McMahon told the Daily Mail that "something about him felt off," adding she could tell any sweetness he showed "was very fake." She said he could "turn on the charm" when he needed to, but the act never fully convinced her.
During intimate moments, she described "just this animalistic fury" coming over him. "He just went into like a zone. He just didn't look the same in his eyes," she said. He went "from normal to crazy, like brutal, almost," leaving her afraid to speak up.
How did Chris Watts and Amanda McMahon meet?
According to McMahon, the pair began messaging on Tinder in April or May 2017, then swapped numbers and met weeks later in a Chick-fil-A parking lot. Watts had claimed he was separated from Shanann; McMahon says he instead called her his "baby mama" rather than his wife.
At that first meeting, they watched Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island at her home before having consensual sex. McMahon says she kept seeing him and had sex with him at least two more times between late spring 2017 and early 2018, then cut contact in March 2018 after changing her phone number.
What texts did Chris Watts send Amanda McMahon?
McMahon shared screenshots with the Mail, including a chat where she wrote "Morning bud" and Watts replied, "What's new pretty lady? When can we eat tacos together?" After she agreed that eating together "sounds like a plan," he answered, "This could get out of hand. I like it."
She says during their trysts Watts "would say the most awful things" about Shanann, casting her as unstable and complaining he had to support her. "Any shot you could take, he took...he just did not like that poor woman," McMahon said. She described Watts as "sick," while admitting he largely seemed normal: "there was something not right about him."
In 2018 she initially framed the relationship as a brief encounter to police, later saying she feared a public disclosure during her custody fight. Watts murdered Shanann, who was pregnant, and daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, in August 2018. He pleaded guilty that November and is serving life without parole at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.