Whatever Happened To The Watts Family Home?
Friends called them a perfect family: Christopher and Shanann Watts, two North Carolinians who found each other through adversity, married, and made a happy home in Frederick, Colorado. According to The Coloradoan, the Wattses had lived in Frederick since 2013 with their daughters. Shanann worked for Le-Vel starting in 2016, and Chis worked for Anadarko Petroleum as of 2015. They brought in a collective six-figure income, and they had strong ties with their neighbors.
They did have complications in their life. The same year Chris started his oil job, the couple filed for bankruptcy. In 2018, they faced a lawsuit from their homeowners' association. Per "Prime Crime," Dr. Katheriine Kuhlman said Chris' parents disapproved of Shannan. But no one who knew the Wattses would have predicted that on August 13 of that year, Chris would strangle his pregnant wife in their home after an argument about his affair and a possible divorce (per Realtor). Afterward, Chris killed their two daughters; per the New Zealand Herald, one of them had seen Chris attacking Shannan.
Chris attempted to cover his tracks, but his story soon fell apart, in part due to neighbors who picked up suspicious activity outside his home on their surveillance camera. He was charged with and convicted of murder, and as of 2020 he was serving five life sentences in Wisconsin. His five-bedroom home in Frederick was foreclosed and put up for auction. But the crimes that went on inside were so repellent that no one wanted to bid. Two years after the murders, the house was still legally Chris Watts' property.
The house didn't find a buyer for four years
The Watts family purchased their home for $399,954 in 2013, and it faced an uphill battle to find a new owner (per Realtor). Its value had reached $648,100 by 2020, but the crimes associated with it turned away potential buyers. That children had been murdered only made it more difficult to interest anyone. Appraiser Orell Anderson told Realtor that to get a buyer, up to a 25% discount could be necessary.
The U.S. Sun said the house finally sold in 2022 for $600,000. It was bought by the Miller family from LoKation Real Estate, and the agent was quick to celebrate a sale that would "put love, family, and laughter back into this house." Fresh controversy preceded the Millers' buying the home — The Sun reported earlier that year that the house had been listed by Rocket Homes under a false address without front view photos. The same listing required any potential buyers to have ready proof of funding before getting a tour to avoid true crime aficionados looking to visit a grisly crime scene.