The Chris Watt Phenomenon

Killers begging for their victim’s safe return on TV

By DamilolaPublished 3 years ago • 5 min read

American murder: The family next door, took the world by storm. Documentaries are fan favourites on Netflix, and if you’re like me and you find yourself down the rabbit hole of YouTube crime documentaries and crime series every night, this documentary will make you very excited. The first time I actually came across Chris Watt’s case was on a YouTube channel that analyses the behaviour of suspects in police interviews from a psychological point of view. Their body languages, the time between responses and behaviour when the detectives leave the room are used to decipher if the suspect is guilty or not.

I remember watching Chris Watt’s case and being initially confused as to if he was truly behind his wife and kids’ disappearance. He played the role of a grieving father and husband so well, complete with tears and worry, that I began to sympathise with him and deemed him innocent. You can only imagine my surprise when he started confessing to the killing of his family, especially when he went into the details of how killed his children and stuffed their bodies into oil tanks whilst they begged for their lives. Something that stuck out to me in this case, apart from the motive for murder, the betrayals and senselessness of his actions, is how far Chris Watt went to fool the whole nation into thinking he’s a victim. A man who has just lost his family who he loved very very much. He granted multiple interviews, crying and begging for his wife’s return on TV. We’d never know if the tears were fake or out of regret, but something I’ve noticed is common in these kind of cases, is the killers’ Oscar-worthy performances during TV interviews or even phone calls to the victim they already know is dead.

Chris Watt begging for his wife’s return

So here are 3 other crime documentaries with the same behaviour. You don’t need a Netflix subscription to watch them and they’re short enough to have an hour of indulgence into the world of crime during your lunch break or a movie night.

The Tara Grant case

Tara Grant, a successful consultant from Michigan was married to Stephen Grant a stay-at-home dad who is interested in politics. Working in Puerto-Rico during the week and flying home during the weekends, Tara Grant spent the majority of her time away from her family due to work commitments. As a result of this, reports say her husband felt emasculated by the fact that his wife worked a lot, and despite his interest in politics he had to be a stay-at-home dad. They hired a German au-pair to work alongside Stephen in taking care of the kids, with Stephen eventually taking a fancy to the young nanny.

Over time, Stephen alleged Tara’s work schedule involved her having extra-marital affairs with her boss and on many occasions confronted her about it. On the 14th of February 2007, Stephen reported his wife missing. He stated she had been missing for 5 days but since that wouldn’t be her first time, he hadn’t thought of reporting her disappearance to the police.

Stephen reportedly called Tara a few times leaving voicemails asking her to call back. On the day of her disappearance, he claimed she was last seen getting into a dark-coloured car after an argument. He goes on TV multiple times just like Chris Watt begging for his wife’s safe return each time until the investigators zoomed in on him after his strange behaviour, lack of cooperation and accusations of harassment. What they find is shocking and it turns out that Stephen had actually strangled and murdered Tara whilst their kids slept in the next room. He also dismembered her body in the most gruesome way possible and scattered her remains. This story is one filled with betrayal, sex and deceit. Stephen’s performance on TV? Oscar-worthy.

Stephen Grant crying for his wife’s safe return

Where to watch- Youtube

Link - https://bit.ly/31B38IO

The Katrina Smith case

In Illinois, Todd sends a message to his wife’s cell phone wishing her good luck with her interview. Turns out Katrina had been missing since the moment she had gone for this “interview” on the 22nd of October. Just like in the previous cases, Todd Smith goes on TV to make pleas for his wife’s return and cries for her to come back home. He actually made TV appearances every day for 17 days after she had gone missing. You might initially watch this and think he’s a grieving husband waiting for his wife to come back home, but what investigators later found out is shocking. There were a few suspects initially, which included a man called Guy Gabriel, a co-worker with who Katrina had been having an extramarital affair. It turns out that Katrina had informed Todd of a divorce and he had sent letters to her begging her to stay with him with subtle hints such as “love you to death” and “I’ll do anything.”

During the investigation, detectives also found out that he had changed his name from Todd Raprager to Todd Smith after being convicted of arson as a teenager for trying to burn his family house down whilst his family members were in it. He was living a complete double life and his wife knew nothing of it. He had also been tracking his wife for three years on a tracking device which in a twist of fate had actually tracked him from the scene of the murder. Despite his tears and constant appearance on TV begging for his wife’s return, Todd Smith had actually beaten his wife to death and dumped her body in a river.

Todd Smith’s tearful pleas for his wife’s safe return

Where to watch - Youtube

Link - https://bit.ly/3u4JgtZ

The Lauren Giddings Case

Lauren Giddings, a 27-year-old law student who had recently graduated goes missing. Whilst reports from family members stated she hadn’t been in fear of her safety, Lauren was actually being stalked by another law graduate, Stephen Mcdaniel. His stalker had actually gone on TV during her search to speak of her character, describing her as personable and very nice. He had lived across the street from her and reportedly asked her on a date, which she declined due to the fact that she was involved with someone else at the time. Stephen McDaniel even joined in the search for her, after she had been missing for 4 days.

She was later found in a trash can, and Stephen McDaniel’s reaction on learning of the discovery of her body was very peculiar to the investigators dealing with the case. That in addition to his possession of keys to her apartment, flash drives containing her personal photos, and her underwear which he had stolen, led investigators to zoom in on him very quickly. He later pleaded guilty to murder and made a confession detailing the day of the murder in court.

Whilst this is different from the 3 cases above because it’s not a case of spousal murder, this case is similar due to the killer being on TV, pleading for her return. To make things worse, he actually realised he was going to be in a lot of trouble when the journalist interviewing him had informed him a body had been found, the body which he assumed he had disposed of perfectly.