Amanda McMahon says Chris Watts sent her texts and acted aggressively during their affair before he murdered Shanann, Bella and Celeste in August 2018. She says the messages came after the two began talking on Tinder in April or May of 2017, adding a first-person timeline to a case that ended with multiple life sentences at Dodge Correctional Institution in Wisconsin.
McMahon says Watts called her a “pretty lady,” and she says he used “baby mama” for Shanann. She also says they exchanged phone numbers after messaging on Tinder, then met for the first time at a Chick-fil-A car park after a few weeks.
Chris Watts and Tinder in April
McMahon says the first in-person meeting led to a simple sequence: she and Watts went to her home, watched Shutter Island, and had consensual sex. She says the relationship lasted several months, and that it ended before Watts killed Shanann, Bella and Celeste in August 2018.
Her account adds detail to the period before the murders because it places Watts in repeated contact with another woman while he was still presenting himself as available. McMahon says the relationship began with messages on Tinder in April or May of 2017, then moved to phone contact and an in-person meeting.
Amanda McMahon in the car park
McMahon says Watts changed during sex. She described him as going “in the snap of a finger, he went from normal to crazy” and said she became “scared to say anything” when he got aggressive. That is the sharpest detail she has given about how the affair felt from her side.
Watts previously told investigators that Shanann had learned about the affair and told him she would not allow him to see their children. He was found guilty of killing Shanann, and of smothering Bella and Celeste in August 2018. He also said Bella’s last words were “Daddy, no!” and said he hears that line each time he closes his eyes.
The new account does not change the outcome of the case, but it narrows the timeline around Watts’ private life before the killings. The remaining question is what exactly he texted McMahon in the messages she says she is sharing.
