Drink about something
True crime and some fun banter adventures with music you don't want to miss!
Lindsey finds stories that are amazingly shocking enough that you just may need a drink after or during the tales of past crime trauma!
Drink about something
EPISODE 45: Chris Watts has the wrong way out! part 1
What transforms a quiet, shy mechanic into someone unrecognizable? Our deep dive into the Chris Watts case begins long before the headlines that shocked the nation.
Born in North Carolina, Chris Watts was the quintessential introvert—mechanically gifted but socially reserved. His world collided with Shanann Rusek's when a Facebook connection sparked an unlikely romance. Despite her initial disinterest, one tender moment during a lupus flare-up convinced Shanann she'd found her perfect partner. What followed was a whirlwind romance, marriage, and the creation of a picture-perfect family in suburban Colorado.
The stark contrast between their public image and private reality grew as Shanann became increasingly invested in her Thrive MLM business, documenting every aspect of their lives online despite Chris's discomfort with the attention. Family tensions, medical challenges with both children, and the strain of living beyond their means created fractures in their relationship that would eventually prove catastrophic.
As we conclude part one with the couple inexplicably planning for a third child despite their unstable situation, and a new woman named Nikki Kessinger appearing in Chris's professional life, the foundation has been laid for the shocking events to come. Don't miss part two this Friday, where we'll reveal how this pressure cooker of circumstances ultimately exploded with devastating consequences.
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Hello everybody, it's Drunk About Something. Happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, it's gonna be a crazy week. It is, I just know it, and I heard you have like the craziest story, like a two-parter coming up. So what made you feel old, though, miss Lindsay? Tell me.
Speaker 2:Well, actually there's two things, Okay. So number one was I was scrolling through TikTok. That's what I do when I'm done teaching the kid and have done my research for the day that I'm going to do.
Speaker 1:This is a strong, hard-ass, amazing woman. She teaches my R 11-year-old during the week at homeschool and she does a great job. I mean I help too. He just learned the 50 states of the United States. It's great. Go ahead, Sorry.
Speaker 2:No, it's okay After I've taught the kid, sorry, no, it's okay. Um, so, after I've done, after I've taught the kid, after I've done the research for the day and my typing that I'm gonna do, I lay down a doom scroll before I have to get ready for work. And there was a tiktok of the song black by pearl jam, which is my favorite, and it says in 1991, when this song came out, how Old Were you? I was nine years old and it is still a song that I listen to all the time. And yesterday, while Landon, my 20-year-old, was doing his cleaning, his house cleaning, he always blares some music. Lo and behold, he played Pearl Jam, yellow, leadbetter and Black, which are my top two, and I'm like, oh my God, like, yes, this makes me feel old, but at the same time it's beautiful. It's a beautiful moment, my kid, we had some good music.
Speaker 2:Lindsay Is enjoying one of my favorite bands, one of my favorite songs, two of my favorite songs, and that's just. Whew of my favorite songs, and that's just. But then, thursday night, one of my regulars, who is actually a woman that I lived with briefly when I was a teenager her sister and I were best friends and I was a little rebellious, little shit, and I left my parents house and I moved in with her and her sister, who was my best friend, and we used to tag team babysit her kids. So because she worked two jobs, the older sister did right, her name is uh dawn and her son that I babysat was there, full grown man, married, with a mustache full-on, full-ass, grown-ass and I was like holy shit, like that was made you feel old.
Speaker 1:As grown-ass man with a mustache, I used to help you.
Speaker 2:I know I changed your diapers and you know, and that was I mean honestly there. There's a little true crime case in this. So don had been when she was going through a divorce at this time when I lived with her from this kid's father who was english from england and she got granted sole custody but he was like in every other court, court ordered every other weekend, type dad. He took off with the little boy. What?
Speaker 1:Smashed him up. Yeah, and it was a kidnapping Like honestly, yeah, that was Not good, yeah, that was a wild time.
Speaker 2:It was a wild time and the little boy was about five when that happened, so it happened with my nephew. And he tried to take off to Turkey with him, which I guess America does not do Negotiations or anything with. So yeah, that was. That was a wild time that happened to one of my nephews.
Speaker 1:Remember when I was burying my grandma and he showed up for that funeral and I gave him that blanket, remember. Well, his dad took him to a reservation and nobody can fuck with you on a reservation. Nope, that is sovereignty land. You can't go on there. There's no government jurisdiction. But he, he was better off. He was better off not not speaking bad about my family, but he was better off getting taken to that you learn some traditions stuff.
Speaker 2:This woman was a single mom who did struggle. She worked two different restaurant jobs to support her family, but those kids turned out great, like both of the kids. There was a single mom who did struggle. She worked two different restaurant jobs to support her family, but those kids turned out great, like both of the kids. There was a boy and a girl that me and my best friend you know their aunts. We babysat and they turned out like they come and sit with me all the time.
Speaker 1:So obviously that's a common thing, though Really Like, because that happened in my circle, your circle, it's wild, holy shit.
Speaker 2:Speaking of the Navajo Nation, though, for real, but to a whole different continent. Lindsay, I heard that Gathering of Nations. That's scary as fuck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah. I heard that Gathering of Nations is going to be shutting down.
Speaker 2:What.
Speaker 1:That's what I heard. Like next year is going to be the last year of Gathering of Nations. I don't know if the world is changing so much.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, that's quite scary.
Speaker 1:There's so much money in that. We went to like how many casinos? We went to like three casinos while we were there. Right, we had the best time that weekend.
Speaker 2:It was very spiritually satisfying, miss Indian World.
Speaker 1:The pageant yes. And all the girls are lined up and we're like in line with all the girls that are lined up.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I am partial to the fancy dancers, men's fancy in the Native. American world. I'm partial to that. The smoke dancing too, that's another favorite we met a famous. He was a little person, but the fancy dancers there was so many and it was just like a blur of beautiful feathers.
Speaker 1:Gathering of Nations. What was that?
Speaker 2:There's so many that they have to go into the little hallways of that because it's at a basketball stadium.
Speaker 1:They have five categories, they have five different dances of that.
Speaker 2:If you have not been to a powwow or something like Gathering of Nations, go just once, just once, especially if you're a spiritual person, which that's the Super Bowl of powwows.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was invited to come sing there and hopefully we'll get the head singer for that drum group over here on our Native American history, because guess what?
Speaker 2:they were here first watch that stuff study that they were here.
Speaker 1:First learn that stuff yeah, go to a powwow, learn. Learn that indigenous human ass. If you live in the United States, you're supposed to know some shit about that. You know? And there's different pockets, different cultures, different. It's so diverse. Yeah, diversity in Native American.
Speaker 2:The talent that comes out of the drummers and the singers and the dancers is just absolutely magical. So I flew Lindsay out.
Speaker 1:We weren't, we weren't, we weren't together too long About a year and I was like Lindsay we're fixing to go to the gathering of nations in new mexico, pregnant with our child. I didn't know it yet and that was the whole reason why your your fear to fly in, because you had some stuff going on. You had a whole ass baby growing.
Speaker 1:We were so in love and I'm already an anxious person about heights and stuff, but we did our thing, and albuquerque is a hard spot to fly into, so you've done the worst the turb, the turbulence fucking hell. You've done the worst the turb, the turbulence Fucking hell.
Speaker 2:You've done the worst, so but do participate, please. Experience that Experience it yeah, learn it Do it and fight your fear of heights, because you experienced some really great things Across the globe, learn a little bit about the Native American culture.
Speaker 1:It's a great thing. It really is, I mean, and they were fighting against each other. I got a lot of crazy ass history, but I'm going to let Lindsay we'll talk about this later on. I'm gonna let Lindsay tell her podcast right, enough about that, so what?
Speaker 2:we're drinking about today is a man named Chris Watts, and this is a very, very big case. Most of our listeners will probably know who this individual is. I don't, and I watched this case unfold from the day it started. I was fully invested in this and I mentioned in our recap we were supposed to have a special guest today who was also very invested in this case, but her baby got the flu.
Speaker 1:So she couldn't come be here, yeah.
Speaker 2:She couldn't be here. But, stacy, you're here in spirit with us and I know you would have been a great guest on this podcast and she would have had a lot of insight, because she isn't, like I said, she's as much invested in this case as I am. She was a new mom when this case happened, so it was, it was very near and dear to her, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I'm starting to be a hard ass for, like everybody helping and sharing and building with us. And I'm starting to be a hard ass for, like everybody helping and sharing and building with us, and I'm sure she'll she'll do the same, oh yeah absolutely that's what we're about right now.
Speaker 2:So Christopher Lee Watts, who went by Chris, was born on May 16th 1985 in Fayetteville, north Carolina, to Ronnie and Cindy Watts, and he had an older sister named Jamie and she was about six years older than Chris. Chris was a quiet, shy kid I need you to put a pin in that and remember that throughout Very quiet, very shy, but he was very, very close with his father. They enjoyed all the sports. They went to baseball, basketball, football games together and they loved NASCAR, Like that was I. I mean, if you live in the south, go dj yes yeah, nascar is a thing.
Speaker 2:They went to over 200 races together, 200 you've been to one you took my boys and my father to one and that was vince vaughn and kid rock were there like it was the whole yeah yeah, it was great it was.
Speaker 1:It was a great time and we got to meet one of the one of the drivers. An iconic driver autographs the whole thing. So Chris is fine.
Speaker 2:Chris uh. He played many sports and uh throughout his childhood and won several trophies for his talent. Ronnie Chris's dad he taught Chris mechanics and Chris took to it like very quickly and became a master mechanic later in life. Jamie would say that she suspected him to be on the spectrum because he was so good and so focused at anything mechanical anything. And his shop teacher would say that he was in the top 10 of his best students that he ever had Ever.
Speaker 1:I've seen those Top 10.
Speaker 2:Yeah, In high school, chris was still very awkward and shy, didn't have many friends or girlfriends, despite the fact that many girls would be crushing on him. He was a good looking dude. He even had to be asked by the girl who he went to prom with because he was too shy to ask her. Super shy dude, right, remember that? Okay? In May 2003, chris graduated from Pine Forest High School and went on to NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville, north Carolina, and his dream was to become part of a NASCAR pit crew. That was his dream, right. He moved to Mooresville and got a job at a Ford dealership and rented an apartment with a roommate named Richard Hodges. He didn't party, he didn't drink, he just studied and stayed to himself.
Speaker 1:All this really hits home for me I know no, because in high school we had that whole.
Speaker 2:You were a shop guy, right? Well, yeah, you were in shop and music.
Speaker 1:I spent well. Yeah, I spent three years in auto mechanics and guess what I did? I did parts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what you do now.
Speaker 1:That's what I do now. So NADA, which was actually in Tennessee, nashville Auto Diesel Association NADA, everybody was aspiring to do that, which was actually in Tennessee, nashville Auto Diesel Association NADA, everybody was aspiring to do that, which was also just like where he went was for, like, nascar drag racing, the whole thing. I get you I'm already on full on level, dude, I'm excited about this story.
Speaker 2:Well, like I said, Chris didn't party, he didn't drink, he just studied. He stayed to himself and Richard said he was straight as an arrow Between work and school. Chris hardly ever visited home, which made his dad, who he had been very close with. It made him really sad and very depressed and he turned to cocaine to deal with that His dad did yeah.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:When his kid left home, dad was like I can't deal with life without him.
Speaker 1:They were so close, tight knit.
Speaker 2:So close.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:Remember that. Put a pin in that.
Speaker 1:And he was just like straight as an arrow, like I'm going to, he's trying to build his life. Yeah, I get it. I mean just super hyper fixated on being a full grown, which I mean to be honest, does sound like somebody that is on the spectrum.
Speaker 2:I have things that I hyper fixate on and then most the rest of life I'm very ADHD about. And you are the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm all over that You're the same.
Speaker 2:You hyper fixate on music and things like that, but everything else is, we're very functioning, autistic, adhd, adhders over here.
Speaker 1:So some things will amaze you, that I do the same as you and I'm just completely amazed.
Speaker 2:And then at the same time, we're just like why are you scatterbrained?
Speaker 1:I'm like why can't you?
Speaker 2:Jesse helps do the laundry and even though I've told him multiple times where certain things go, he cannot remember and he'll put them in a different drawer. So it's like an Easter egg hunt when I'm trying to find my workout shorts, but at the same time, that's just something that his brain can't retain.
Speaker 1:Well, not that anybody's less intelligent, it's just we have a lot of shit going on, you know. Yes, we do I get it?
Speaker 2:So much money was spent on this habit with Chris's dad that Cindy his mother thought that he was having an affair and supporting another family.
Speaker 1:That's how much money?
Speaker 2:he was spending. He was just hemorrhaging for cocaine, oh my God. But Chris and his family? They had an intervention and his dad just quit cold turkey and never took it up again. Well, kudos for that. Yes, great, great, because that's a hard habit to break well, yeah, but that's a, that's a.
Speaker 1:It was toxic. And then now you're, you need that awakening you know, yeah, your son's gone. Best friend, probably the, the bro, love of your life you're raising right being, you being.
Speaker 2:This is my boy. Jamie was Cindy's girl and Chris was Ronnie's boy.
Speaker 1:They had their niches, they had their bonding. Their whole ass thing is tough. Drugs are good.
Speaker 2:No, don't do drugs. In 2006, chris, he graduated from the NASCAR Technical Institute with honors and got a full-time job at the Ford dealership he had been working at already as a service technician, and he was making a really good living. Yeah, like mechanics, they make bank. Yeah.
Speaker 2:He still wanted to be part of the NASCAR pit crew and sent out tons of applications but only got one interview. That didn't really go well and he kind of gave up on that dream. Wow. So he worked really hard and he saved money for his future and he dated one woman. Chris wasn't really a dater. When he did get in a relationship it was kind of a big deal for him. Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Because, he was so shy.
Speaker 1:They had to come to him.
Speaker 2:The female had to initiate pretty much everything.
Speaker 1:Which is a deep-seated type relationship, whenever you know you're not pursuing and somebody pursues you. Women are deep-seated that way. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:It's a whole different level of holy fuckery so he dated one woman pretty seriously who was going through a divorce, but then she took off with another guy entirely.
Speaker 1:Oh, she was a floater yeah.
Speaker 2:She didn't like she was going through divorce. Chris was kind of her rebound and then she took off with this other dude, yeah. And shortly after this, his cousin Nicole. There will be a couple of Nicoles and one Nikki in this story, so I'll try not to confuse them. So his cousin Nicole told him that he should reach out on Facebook to her co-worker named Shanann Rusek, who was also going through a bad divorce, which I kind of find odd. Like, your cousin just got out of a relationship with a woman who had been going through a bad divorce.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that scenario is not cool for him and now you want him to talk to another woman going through the same thing.
Speaker 1:And he's probably destroyed Right At this moment already.
Speaker 2:And that's weird to me, but he did it. He reached out to Shanann, but it would be a few months before he got a response. Before he got a response, shanann Catherine Rusek was born January 10th 1984 in New Jersey to Frank and Sandy Rusek and had a younger brother named Frankie Jr, and Shanann had been named after the doo-wop group Sha-na-na. Oh, what did we watch last night?
Speaker 1:Oh, Grease, yes, sha-na-na played. What did we watch last night?
Speaker 2:oh, greece, yes, so if you have watched greece at the end at home. Johnny casino and the gamblers, which is the band on the american bandstand a little bit. That they do in that movie sha-na-na is the actual band yes, and they were a rock and roll and doo-wop group and what did we listen?
Speaker 1:listen to this morning.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then Jesse woke up and I was like this is great yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, you got me when I got you girl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, yeah. So Sean and I was a doo-wop and rock and roll group from the sixties and seventies and I love their music yeah.
Speaker 1:Every time that that comes on and I'm just like living in that moment. I'm like I wish, I wish I was born and you're like no, wait a minute, what did we?
Speaker 2:discuss. You were like we both have said this in our life that we were born in the wrong era. But no, we were not, Because you feel it for a second we were born in an era we had some of the best music growing up that's ever been made. We are able to appreciate past genres and our genres now. And what did I say? I was like you know what, If we had been born here, we may not appreciate the music that is being made now.
Speaker 1:the way that we do. You can't deny it. We've had some really amazing music.
Speaker 2:Because people that say that music nowadays ain't shit they're not looking in the right spots. Sorry, there are bands that have come out within the last 10 to 5 to 10 years that Jesse and I absolutely love Our icons, though Our icons are still headlining. Our icons are different, but I have new icons that are newer bands and like Wage War and Lorna Shore, slaughter to Prevail and Spirit Box are those human beings our age?
Speaker 2:yes, they are, but I'm just saying if we had been born maybe in a different time period, we may not be able to appreciate because, a lot of people get stuck in their decade oppression.
Speaker 1:Things have changed.
Speaker 2:There's some shitty things that happen in the past and we are people that have not been stuck in their decade. Oppression. Things have changed. There's some shitty things that happen in the past and we are people that have not been stuck in their decade. As we love 90s music, we were born in the 80s, raised in the 90s.
Speaker 1:Yeah and we don't even need to speak about woke, because we already just live it and we. It's right there. There's nothing to be, it's not, it doesn't need woke doesn't need to be a thing it's not a staple. Being yeahoke doesn't need to be a thing. It's not a staple, it's just being open-minded, being acceptable to change being acceptable to free thinking.
Speaker 2:It's just just love and accept love, no matter what, as long as it is legal and not pedophilic. We're a hundred percent against that Cause. Fuck pedophiles. Yeah, but anything else love is love and and we've bounced on this good music. So much.
Speaker 1:Good music is good music. Love is love as long as it's healthy that's all that it boils down to healthy and, uh, consensual on both parties, and well yeah legal, it's got to be healthy all around. Yes, so it doesn't you know?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So Shanann, she was not really a healthy kid and she needed a lot of medical care and she started having migraines at a very early age. So she struggles with health problems her whole life. She was also very insecure and she was bullied all the time. And it was so cute because her little brother, frankie, he was like her little protector and they became very close because of that. He wasn't much younger than her, so and he but he was the boy, she was the girl and he was like I'll fuck up these bullies for you, sis. You know they were very close. Frankie was her little bodyguard. You need that. Well, in 1999, frank, he moved the family to Aberdeen, north Carolina, to start a home improvement business, and Sandy, her mother, became a hairstylist and Shanann would go to Pinecrest High School, which specialized in arts and drama. There's a lot of pine high schools in North Carolina. He went to Pine Forest and Shanann went to Pine Crest.
Speaker 2:So we got the pines, in the pines, in the pines, where the sun don't ever shine. Yes, that is by Lead, belly right, Lead, better Lead.
Speaker 1:Belly Lead.
Speaker 2:Belly, I want to say, and that was a huge inspiration for Nirvana.
Speaker 1:Well, how in the fuck does Nirvana actually play?
Speaker 2:Kurt sings that song or Nirvana sings that song in their.
Speaker 1:Unplugged album, which is what the most famous album of Nirvana, which was none of their hits, none of their hits. He's like fuck all y'all, fuck MTV, I'm going to do this and I'm not going to play any of my hits, because fuck y'all.
Speaker 2:And he did that and I'm going to sing Lead Belly yeah.
Speaker 1:You can't do that now. I mean, how can you get away with that now?
Speaker 2:Somebody needs to do that now. They were oh, somebody can Chris Cornell. He was like he. I mean grunge was revolutionary period, it really did it, really did.
Speaker 1:It was a big, huge. Fuck you to the corporate.
Speaker 2:Well, and then you've got new metal, which was political, you know, fuck you to politics. And grunge was revolutionary and I just that's what I. We love those genres so much Grunge and new metal is our roots.
Speaker 1:I love you to death, and it swings both ways. It really does no matter what your political beliefs are and Korn was a fuck you to bully.
Speaker 2:I was a single say fuck that you don't get a fuck you.
Speaker 1:And Deftone says fuck you. When they played that fucking back to school song and they were like we want you to do that rap metal stuff.
Speaker 2:And he's like fuck you, dude, I'll make this song and that's why 90s music is iconic, because so much hidden.
Speaker 1:So much and, like some of your favorite songs are a big fuck you to the hell yeah, that's what we.
Speaker 2:Fuck politics. Fuck the man, fuck all everybody, fuck the producers. I'm gonna show up on wall street.
Speaker 1:Make a music video, right fucking now Fuck you. And they did it. You know Rage Against the Machine. I had to turn your posters upside down one time, one time.
Speaker 2:I love you. That's OK, yes, but you know what Chris Cornell stepped in and did fucking Audioslave and oh, it was so good and.
Speaker 1:Pearl Jam would show up and say fuck you too. They would show up to places like Lake City, Florida and play five against one would be their band, but it's actually Pearl Jam. Yeah, because fuck you to the corporate fucking bullshit. You don't have to spend one hundred fifty dollars a ticket to see Pearl Jam. You can come to a small dive bar somewhere.
Speaker 2:Well, eddie Vedder fought very hard against Ticketmaster, yeah.
Speaker 1:So Ticketmaster needs to go down.
Speaker 2:You know who else. He fought very hard for. Damien Echols from West Memphis, three. Okay, so we're going to get back to this story. So Shanann, she joined the drama class at Pinecrest High School and she wasn't really great at acting, but she thrived in organizing stage. She was I don't even want to say OCD, because that disorder goes beyond just being clean and organized. She was just a very organized type A person.
Speaker 1:So she's straight and narrow too, she's doing her fucking thing too Hyper fixated getting her fucking job done, growing up becoming a full ass career woman Hyper fixated getting her fucking job done, growing up becoming a full ass career woman.
Speaker 2:Well, at this stage, you know in this, at this high school, she formed some great friendships and that boosted her confidence and she would participate in a production of Little Shop of Horrors and Godspell and was members of high school clubs like the Yearbook Club.
Speaker 2:Well, she started dating a guy named Leonard King. By the time Shanann graduated, her and Leonard were already engaged and planning for the future. They married when Shanann started college and he joined the military in hope of getting his law degree, because, you know, the military will help you get your education.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, do that. If you need to help, just do it.
Speaker 2:Well, unfortunately, she would never finish college and her and Leonard's marriage ended in just a couple of years. Shanann became a manager over a cell phone store in Fayetteville and then became the bookkeeper of the same owners of this company, and they would create this company called the Dirty South, which was a custom auto fittings and wheel company, and she was great at it. So here we come, she's, she's. She's young, she's got money flowing in, okay, well, she ended up working at two locations of the of this company, which was in Fayetteville and Charlotte. Her and Leonard are still married, but she stopped coming home even after starting marriage counseling. She was just like I'm kind of done, bro.
Speaker 2:So she and Leonard officially divorced in 2007 and she moved to Charlotte and enrolled at Queens University to study psychology. By the time she was 25, she was making 500 grand a year, fuck, and had a mini mansion built for herself which cost almost $400,000. Do it which I mean? Now, this same house. I'm going to show you pictures of all this later on. This same house would be at least 2.5 million to build now.
Speaker 3:For sure.
Speaker 2:But then she got really sick. Her hair started falling out, she lost a lot of weight in a short period of time and was having a hard time getting out of bed, and after going to the doctor and getting tons of tests done, she was diagnosed with lupus and fibromyalgia and endometriosis in 2010.
Speaker 2:Just a fucking freight train of fuckery Right and then she got on medication which gave her flu like symptoms, and then she gained a bunch of weight. This is an ongoing thing with Jesse and I when we're a couple of the apps that we pay for that we watch shows on, still have ads, and we always see how many side effects come from the medication that's supposed to cure one thing you were taking something I was like but you know there's those side effects.
Speaker 1:She's like, yeah, but they're not bothering me, but I'm like the side of fucking fix. We just watched the fucking thing and bitched about all the side effects the same thing that you're taking. Why is there so many sides? So many can't create good fucking drugs nowadays. I mean, we're beyond all that.
Speaker 2:They have cures for every fucking thing well, she went through a deep depression and quit the Dirty South. Now Chris had already sent her one Facebook request, then he sent her another and she finally decided to reply. They decided to go on a date, and the first few dates were kind of awkward. He liked her, but she really wasn't feeling it. And then they went on a date to Myrtle Beach, where Shanann had a lupus flare up and he was super sweet about it and let her lay on his lap for several hours, even though he had to pee the whole time got him.
Speaker 2:This is when she knew that he was the man of her good dreams.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, dudes like that, like both both sides they're looking for somebody they can really connect with and be like workable through all the hard times because they both have, they're both in there, they're kind of interpointed toward their selves to try to be successful and amazing human beings. So if they can find a partner to be that and and grow together with, and to be comfortable around because he's super introverted and he embraced that right off rip which Myrtle Beach is kind of. You know. It's magical.
Speaker 2:It's fun? Not really. I didn't care for it, me neither. I'll never go back. We didn't want to go.
Speaker 1:We loved the pirate show.
Speaker 2:I did. We had a great time at the Margaritaville there. Yes, a great time at the margaritaville there. Yes, and it was really cool because they had the big glass, the whole margarita. Food poisoning at the wicked tuna? Oh yeah, you did, but I don't. I don't want to blame that restaurant. I just think I have a sensitivity to mercury and fish, so raw fish is just not something that I can intake as, and I did raw tuna sushi um, but we did the thing.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was yeah, and I got violently ill.
Speaker 2:So I got violently ill and I don't want to blame the restaurant, because I think maybe I just have a sensitivity to mercury, because I had the raw tuna sushi, which I love, and it just it didn't agree with me that day Because Landon ate the rest of it.
Speaker 1:You got to know and.
Speaker 2:I was ill, but Landon was fine.
Speaker 1:Maybe it was too much. Yeah, maybe it was just too much. Yeah, I get it. We had a good time, though. It was fun. It was a fun trip.
Speaker 2:And I love seafood and sushi, but sometimes, if I eat too much of it, I do feel nauseous and I think that's just me, and it'll take a couple of months for me to want it again, because I do get.
Speaker 1:It was like South Carolina's version of Daytona.
Speaker 2:It, is it literally is yes.
Speaker 1:A hundred percent. I mean Dolly has put a lot into that area and some of the shows and some of the stuff. She's really helped it out.
Speaker 2:That pirate show was so fun and the food there was so good.
Speaker 1:They had like a crab bisque with cheddar bay biscuits and I could. I'd still dream about that shit. It was so good.
Speaker 2:Everybody in this show Silas did the whole pirate experience. He got to get dressed up.
Speaker 1:Jesse paid for that in advance and he peed on himself before we went in Cause he was such a little feller he like like we had him in a diaper he took a nap. He took a nap.
Speaker 2:Because Jesse had to do a geocache before we got to the show.
Speaker 3:I had to, I mean geocaching was fun, but Silas fell asleep.
Speaker 2:We had spent the morning at the beach in the little water park that was attached to the hotel.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he was tired. We were going it was like a quick throw together type little mini vacay and it was good, very mini yeah.
Speaker 2:Six hours away from us. We hopped up there, so half of that was driving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, did the whole thing we looked over Silas had done, peed through his little diaper and we're like I'm going to buy you this cool shirt. So walked him in there, got him a cool shirt.
Speaker 2:Then we Cleaned him up, yeah.
Speaker 1:Did the whole thing. And then he got. He had his little pirate shirt and he was still wearing that not too long ago. Yeah, fuck, that was really cool.
Speaker 2:He kind of grew like overnight.
Speaker 1:Now he's a behemoth, little 11 year old that can beat my ass. Shit Behemoth. He's bastard big and I love him to death. God. He whoops my ass so much.
Speaker 2:Well, shanann, after Chris, is the love of her life now, okay. Well, she went back to work for the Dirty South part time and she took up photography and did some work as a nanny.
Speaker 1:Which is good. She's latching back onto life, right she's doing.
Speaker 2:After figuring out she's gotten all these autoimmune diseases, but she's fighting it.
Speaker 1:She's got a partner now and he's supporting tough.
Speaker 2:Like I, I have endometriosis problems.
Speaker 1:I mean one of my best friends, damn one of my best friends a couple.
Speaker 2:Two of my regulars that I've had over the years in the restaurant business have had lupus and they've talked to me about what they go through and it's terrible. And then one of your best friends from high school, yeah, way way back Suffers from it and I mean it's just, it's tough. Yeah, it's a lot to overcome. Well, one of the couples that she did nanny work for, gina and Charlie Dietz, and this made me think of the Dietzes from. Beetlejuice.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:She became very close with Gina and Charlie Okay like super close with Gina and Charlie Okay Like super close and her and Chris also. At the same time they get closer and closer. And he was a great boyfriend. He helped her organize all her medicine, went with her to doctor's appointments and doted on her constantly Like in one of the documentaries that I watched, like he went to her a colonoscopy with her within like weeks of dating. That's a big deal. I don't even know if I want you to go to a colonoscopy with me now, 13 years later.
Speaker 3:You know that's personal.
Speaker 1:But you know me, Lindsay.
Speaker 2:I mean because for a colonoscopy, first of all, you got to shoot your brains out ahead of time. Yeah, I'm about to get cleaned out, then you've got to go get a camera stuck up your butthole.
Speaker 1:We're that old Lindsay. Does that make you feel old? Because?
Speaker 2:I'm getting the tube soon too. They were in their 20s. Oh no yeah, they were in their 20s at that age.
Speaker 1:But at this age you better be coming with me, because I've got to drink that shit. Dude, can I tell a quick story about my co-worker?
Speaker 2:Go ahead, I'm going to circle where I'm at.
Speaker 1:He got his done and they do. They give you this stuff that you have to drink and it's full on. You're getting rid of everything right, Everything All over his wife at night while he was sleeping.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, see, you can't do it before bed.
Speaker 1:You need to do it early in the morning and clean out during the day. Yeah, maybe he thought he could hold it, but like, yeah, so that's the kind of love that they got.
Speaker 2:I mean you and I would too. But at the same time, imagine you're in your 20s and you're freshly dating someone, and they go to a colonoscopy appointment with you. That's love bitch.
Speaker 2:Like that's love like because we're facing that now in our 40s so, and she was facing that I'm gonna wait a couple more years, and then we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna we'll teammate and teamwork, all of that all of our physicals, because neither one of us like the doctor but, um, but I don't mind going with you at all, right, if I can.
Speaker 1:I especially I.
Speaker 2:I have a phobia of even making the appointments. That's a struggle for me. I got you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're going to make it happen.
Speaker 2:Well then, in November 2010, Chris and Shanann became Facebook official. That's all that matters anymore, right? It's when you become Facebook official. Yeah, and Chris moved in with her and shared the household expenses. Let's, let's remember, she has built a a four hundred thousand dollar house for herself. She's done great, but she got sick. So now she's struggling. But Chris has moved in, he's going to, he's going to help her out. He even had saved around eleven thousand dollars and handed it right over to her to put in the bank, like here you go.
Speaker 1:That's the kind of person he is. Yes, he's ready. He's ready to create life, be successful and then find that right person. He wasn't looking for that right person until then.
Speaker 2:Right, because he was very shy and introverted yeah.
Speaker 1:And then now, here it is, and he was just focused on his mechanical work. He's just focused on his mechanical work. He's full on in. It's happening yeah.
Speaker 2:Well then they had a cookout with both of their parents and Chris's sister, jamie, and it didn't go well. Chris's parents didn't like Shanann or her parents, like, right off the rip, cindy. Chris's mom didn't understand how she was living in such a nice house without a full-time job and thought that Sandy Shanann's mom was a little too outspoken. Jamie also shared these thoughts and was sure Shanann was living beyond her means. Chris's mom was also judgmental of Shanann having been married before, so there was a lot of tension.
Speaker 1:Oh, they're thinking too much about their little golden boy over here.
Speaker 2:And this tension will continue throughout.
Speaker 1:Oh, fuck yeah Lindsay.
Speaker 2:Well, in February of 2011, Gina and Charlie Dietz, the Dietzes. They decided to move to Bloomfield, colorado, and this made Shanann very sad, as she had grown very close with them and their child, and as soon as Gina gets to Bloomfield, they are. She and Shanann are already planning a visit and Gina tells her that the fresh Colorado air would be so good for her lupus. So Shanann and Chris get into a regular routine as a couple and it was soon noticed that she was the dominant one and Chris just kind of went along with whatever Shanann wanted, which works for them. That works for a lot of couples.
Speaker 1:Right, he didn't have a lot of background contrast, other than a shitty thing that happened before that, you know, with another married woman.
Speaker 2:And Shanann. Like the other woman, he never even brought home to meet the family or brought into his family. Shanann was the first woman that he ever introduced to his family as a 24-year-old man.
Speaker 1:As far as relationships go, he doesn't have a lot of big contrasts, so there's a weird balance there and now he's full on devoted. Just he dove all the way in on this one so far.
Speaker 2:Well, at this stage in her life, shanann was more extroverted and he was more of the introvert more extroverted and he was more of the introvert. Well, they rented a beach house for a family vacation and Chris bought a $10,000 ring and asked Frank's permission to marry Shanann, and Frank gave his blessing. Chris proposed they're now engaged. Okay, so in November 2011, they fly to Colorado to have a visit with the deets and spend time with them, and while they are there, they make the decision to move to Colorado. The plans were that Chris would stay with the deets and Shanann would go back to Carolina to put the house on the market and be there to do all of that.
Speaker 1:OK, so they're finalized to close it out, right?
Speaker 2:Chris's parents were pissed knowing that this was all Shanann's idea. Ok, well, shanann really didn't care. She's like you know what. This is a decision that he and I made together. We're going to move to.
Speaker 1:Colorado. She feels like he's done that in full confidence of of just setting his life they go and visit.
Speaker 2:They go and visit gina and charlie and they love the area. I mean, honestly, colorado is beautiful, colorado is beautiful. I I understand completely. I don't believe that that was just shenan's idea. I I believe that Chris was also like but you've got to look back into the what his dad was hanging on to when he left for college.
Speaker 1:I mean, his dad's like really close, he's wanting his boy there. So it's destroying a family. You know they really wanted him to finish up his things, grow up and be near them, be in their life closer. Now he's going over there, but there's, but it's almost there's.
Speaker 1:there's healthy to be that close to your, oh yeah like being loving your kids and being with your kids is not unhealthy, but you've got to let them be themselves yeah, let them fly, especially if they're they're going to aspire to be into that level of success. I mean, it seems like they're.
Speaker 2:They're really getting some shit together, you know well, shenan, she put her house on the market and then her and Chris planned out their engagement party. Well, shanann, she entrusted Jamie, which is Chris's sister, to mail out the invitations and order strictly gluten free food from the caterers, because gluten can make fibromyalgia, endometriosis and lupus all flare up. Yeah, but that didn't happen. Jamie did not do these things and at her own engagement party, shanann got sick from the food and most of the invitations actually didn't get sent out, and I think that's really fucking bitchy on Jamie's part. Chris's family is kind of toxic. I'm just going to go ahead and say that Right off the rip.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're kind of over the top and clingy to the golden boy.
Speaker 2:It's almost like they. Because they hate Shanann from the get-go, they judge her immediately upon her house, everything.
Speaker 1:You've got to accept and embrace your children's children. But they ditched her for no reason.
Speaker 2:So what she's got? A fucking mini mansion. Is that any of your goddamn business? Absolutely not.
Speaker 1:Right? No, no, not at all At all. You know you should support and appreciate that, because there's no fucking reason that I see right now at this moment, other than the woman has a couple of physical problems, but he's supporting it.
Speaker 2:Right and she didn't. She didn't ask for that. She didn't ask for that shit to start attack these autoimmune diseases, to attack her fucking body.
Speaker 1:Right, she didn't ask for that. He's really. He is literally reaching out on his second prospect toward a relationship.
Speaker 2:Second period in his life, that's it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so there's no contrast. There's nothing for him to balance out between that. He's going to support her, which is beautiful Loves her. That's beautiful.
Speaker 2:Loves her a lot.
Speaker 1:Dude come on.
Speaker 2:Well, this caused a lot of fights and Chris said fuck you. To his family and wouldn't take their calls or respond to their texts and told them to leave him the fuck alone.
Speaker 1:They're in lies Exactly what I talked about. Yep.
Speaker 2:So in Colorado Chris gets a job at the Longmont Ford dealership and he lived with the Dietzes for six months before Shanann was able to join him. Gina said that he was quiet most of the time and he was super sweet with her kids. Well, she had one kid when they moved out there and then she had another baby and he worked hard and put up money for their new home in Colorado, shanann. She sold the house for about 41 grand more than she had paid for it and left the furniture and set out to join Chris in Colorado and she also joined him at the Longmont Ford dealership as a salesperson.
Speaker 1:A beautiful come up. They got their set up. Nothing wrong with one of those.
Speaker 2:She joins him as a salesperson and she kills it. She sells more cars than any other salesperson that is in their employment.
Speaker 1:Extroverted, really fucking. You know just enthusiastic. She knows how to make money. She knows how to talk to people. He's probably one of the top mechanics there too. Like fuck yeah dude Perfect.
Speaker 2:So employees at the dealership would describe their relationship as Chris being the passive one and Shanann was aggressive and not aggressive and not aggressive and like toxic aggressive. She was just pushing her narrative.
Speaker 1:She pushed the narrative. She's working it.
Speaker 2:She definitely wore the pants and she managed the finances and Chris was cool with all of that. They found a house in Frederick, colorado, which was about 340 grand in October of 2012. Which was about $340,000 in October of 2012. And on November 3rd 2012, they exchanged their nuptials and Chris's family was not in attendance. So they married in Charlotte, north Carolina, and they had their honeymoon in Myrtle Beach. They intended to go somewhere else, but it was going to cost a lot of money, so they did the responsible thing. They just did a little small honeymoon in Myrtle Beach. They intended to go somewhere else, but it was going to cost a lot of money, so they did the responsible thing. They just did a little small honeymoon in Myrtle Beach, and then they returned to Colorado.
Speaker 1:And his parents did not attend.
Speaker 2:His parents did not attend, his grandmother did not, his mom not, his dad not his sister Grandma attended and she did like the dance with him and stuff like that, and I watched her, I watched it. It seemed like a very lovely wedding.
Speaker 1:Good, she showed up, she was there, it's good.
Speaker 2:So they move into their house. They moved into this little small town. It's about the size of the town we live in. We have a population of like 12,000. This town had a population of 8,000. So a little bit less than us, but it was a growing town. They loved it, like you could literally see the Rocky mountains from their house, love the area, nice. And they had their first baby, bella Marie Watts, on December 17th 2015. That's our grand baby's birthday. Oh yeah, our boy grandbaby, yeah.
Speaker 1:Little catfish.
Speaker 2:At this time, shanann was a little catfish. He loves to swim. He is such a little catfish, he's a cool cat. Yes, all of our babies are water babies, but he is like In it the whole time.
Speaker 2:The whole time. So Shanann was now working at the Pediatric Call Center at a children's hospital in Aurora, colorado. Gina had helped her get that job as she was a nurse there. Gina was in the medical field and they also. After Bella was born, they made their peace with the Watts family, with Cindy and Ronnie, and Jamie Watts family with Cindy and Ronnie and Jamie. Shanann had also been posting about their life quite frequently on Facebook and Instagram and that would in the future become several times a day. You can literally. Well, not now, but when all this happened, you could go to her. I mean, she put her whole life out there.
Speaker 2:It was thick. It was thick Now. This would be the beginning of the strain on the relationship. A lot of her posting. Chris was introverted and he didn't. He went along with it because he loved her, but he's he was still very shy.
Speaker 1:Right that was uncomfortable for his life to be out in public right.
Speaker 2:It was very difficult for him, okay, and it was also said that shenan was very orderly and clean. But chris was the one doing most of the cleaning and shenan doing the ordering. But chris never complained. He did not complain. He her. He would do anything, she would ask. And Chris also seemed to be literally the perfect father, doing everything he could for Bella, doting on her the same way he had doted on Shannon, like that was his baby girl. In 2014, chris started a job as an oil field contractor for Anadarko Petroleum and that job was found by Shanann and it paid way more money because she helped him find that job, because he was suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. Being a mechanic, his hands would start cramping up. Yeah, that's a big thing it's a thing, mechanics, yeah and he didn't have to deal with that.
Speaker 2:So was he like.
Speaker 1:Was he like commuting between here and there in oklahoma? Yeah it was like a where anadarko was it in oklahoma?
Speaker 2:like the old company based out of no, there was. There was offices in colorado now and the site that he would work at was about a 45 minute commute.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah okay, I just didn't know if that was oklahoma-based company, because when you, when you drop, that was like that sounds like Oklahoma.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have sites everywhere.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, all right.
Speaker 2:He tested wells and did general maintenance for this company and he had a little crew underneath him. He was like the leader of a crew, that's good. So brother Frankie, shanann's brother, he came to stay with them for a while and to and he wanted to move to Colorado and tried to find work in the area and he helped Shanann with the baby. But he couldn't find work. So he did move back but after observing Chris and Shanann's relationship he was kind of concerned about how much of a yes man that Chris was.
Speaker 1:That concerned Brother Frankie a little bit Just kept keeping his head down and doing whatever to make everybody happy around him, exactly, and then everything was all maybe imploding inside, I don't know oh, I'm all over, you know yeah you know how it is when you bottle up your feelings the bottlage
Speaker 2:yeah lindsey, keep going, don't do it, don't bottle up, I'm just gonna go ahead and say that off the rip, oh well, on on July 17th 2015, chris and Shanann welcomed Celeste, catherine, or Cece, into the world. That would be their second baby girl. Ok, frank and Sandy, which is Shanann's parents. They moved in with a couple at this point to help out with Bella and whatever Shanann had needed to get through the pregnancy safely, right, because she was still battling health issues.
Speaker 1:They both have issues now and they're shaking and moving and I need to make this very clear.
Speaker 2:When you have a lupus, fibromyalgia and endometriosis, it's very hard to not only conceive but to carry a child to full term. So they were concerned for their daughter. They wanted to move in and help out. Shanann and Chris had a very large basement, so that's where they stayed and they lived with them for about 15 months and this arrangement actually turned out to be super stressful for Chris Well, especially for Chris and he says that Shanann and her mother argued constantly and Chris felt as though he was walking on eggshells all the time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he's a yes man and he doesn't want drama around him.
Speaker 2:He does not want drama, don't let that.
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no, no, no, because he's. For an introvert drama is there's a salad beginning here, okay.
Speaker 2:I didn't know when you were going to start noticing yeah, there's a salad for me. We got that fruit salad.
Speaker 1:Fuck's sake, dude well now crazy.
Speaker 2:Shenan, bella and cc all had some medical issues and this caused Shanann to work less and now they were only bringing in around 90K combined a year and this was not enough to cover their mortgage and credit card bills. So they had to file bankruptcy for almost $400,000. Wow, $70,000 of that had been credit card debt from the wedding and baby needs, but also they were living beyond their means yeah.
Speaker 2:When they filed they only had around 800 in their checking account and 10,000 in savings. Jesse, you and I make just a little above that together a year and we have more than that, but we also don't have a $400,000 house at all and we're both kind of well.
Speaker 1:I mean it's healthy. You know, as far as, like our, we splurge when we can we buy things when we can, but we don't.
Speaker 2:So it was said that Shanann had like, even in her, her first house, top of the line furniture, everything where we're more like Sheen and Amazon and Bell's Outlet shoppers.
Speaker 1:We want to be comfortable, and if we want something in our means, we're going to do it. Yeah yeah, it's not unhealthy.
Speaker 2:Our most expensive purchases, like this year, have been like because we're now hosting the holidays for our family, so we bought like a set of fold out chairs. Yeah, we've had to get some new furniture and home shit, you know we had to get new home shit, right yeah. But it's still like we got Walmart furniture that we have to build ourself. Well, jesse has to build. I love you, you know. So I mean we're not living beyond our means period.
Speaker 1:And I don't mind doing projects, I don't mind.
Speaker 2:Right, you know it's a thing. Well, after completing an online credit course ordered by the judge, their debt was discharged, but they still had HOA dues. So remember that, put a pin in that. Okay, they had HOA dues because they did live in a kind of like a community, like my parents live in, where they have like a clubhouse and a pool and you know things that everybody in the neighborhood can get together and take advantage of and experience and have fun with and it's not for outsiders. But you got to pay the dues to be able to use those amenities.
Speaker 1:So, on top of you know, the kids, the drama, the health issues, everything's kind of being set up towards something that they can't control or maintain.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, a lot of that debt was also medical bills. Right yeah, everything's just building up, which is weird to me because I would think, with Chris working for a very large petroleum corporation and Shanann working for a children's hospital, they would have good insurance. But I don't know. I couldn't find anything on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Think about the time period right there. I mean it was it's tough, it's really is.
Speaker 2:Well, even if I mean at the same time, even if you do have insurance, like I have insurance, and when Silas broke his arm, insurance covered a lot of that, but I still had to pay out about 800 and cash.
Speaker 2:Right In medical, which was, I mean it was substantial for us in our pocket, cause the hospital the hospital took my insurance but the orthopedic did not, so I had to pay, which fortunately he did not have to be casted, he just was able to wear a sling because it was more of a shoulder injury and you can't cast the shoulder area.
Speaker 1:You got to just stabilize it and that's it, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I didn't have to pay out a lot, but it was still like 800 more dollars.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Just to get a sling and a visit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, A little bit more strain just got dropped in on the whole thing and then I see a lot of that dropped in on them and their relationship right now Like and then I see a lot of that dropped in on them and their relationship right now Like they should have pulled up stakes, probably the swallowing disorder that Victoria Goodwin had.
Speaker 2:That's what little Cece had.
Speaker 3:Oh, their baby was having issues too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she was having issues swallowing.
Speaker 3:I forgot the name of it.
Speaker 2:You can look it up. It's a rare swallowing disorder. That's weird that we had a case just talking about that and now I'm on this.
Speaker 1:One had no idea that there was like, yeah, so blessed to have kids that you know are healthy, are healthy Goodness.
Speaker 2:Well, chris, he was absolutely blindsided by all of this debt because Shanann had handled all the finances and he had no idea of the position they were in, and this caused a little more strain on the relationship. Yeah, but in early 2016, shanann signed up for an MLM called Lavelle or Thrive, which was a series of weight loss patches and protein shakes, and she got into this company early on, so she was able to actually really do well with it. Now, later on, chris will say that she had kind of done a lot of MLM things and and around this time remember me, this was when MLMs were kind of coming back around big, like I did the essential oil and the jewelry one.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 3:You get wrapped up in that.
Speaker 1:She had done.
Speaker 2:she had done the same exact jewelry, one that I did, which was the premier jewelry which I literally just signed up to get recovered losses from that company because it went under. But she did the it Works which I actually purchased products from that company and guess what? It did not work. That was the one, remember, where there was the whole thing, where you could get wraps where you put on your stomach, and then you were like I'm going gonna do this at home and I'm gonna do saran wrap and all this crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like this is the same thing as you, but doing it. But it dehydrates your body and that's how you lose exactly what it's doing but the greens powder that I got from that company seemed to work as like a clean out, so I did like it, but it was too expensive, it just too expensive.
Speaker 1:It's a bait and switch thing. It's going to flush you out and once you get done with that, then okay, the bloat's gone, all this is gone, but what?
Speaker 2:happens after that? What happens after that? Now, you're dehydrated.
Speaker 1:Now you're back to you, right, and then it just builds back. It's not good.
Speaker 2:Well, the best thing about these products, the Thrive products, was that they actually worked. Chris had more energy than he had ever had in his life and he lost a total of 60 pounds using these products. And these products also helped with Shanann's lupus and fibromyalgia symptoms. They gave her because when you have lupus and fibromyalgia flare-ups, you're in a lot of pain. You don't want to get out of bed.
Speaker 1:You're looking for anything to help you out, and that seems like a good thing for them.
Speaker 2:Well and Shanann, she would gain a new set of friends and got quite a few people to sign up under her, which is how an MLM works, and this she included her whole family and she lots of friends, and her online presence would increase.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I could see the whole MLM thing being like a pyramid scheme too, though. Oh yeah, you could wrap up $20,000 in each one of those that you endeavor in real quick. Well, that could be stressful.
Speaker 2:Like I said, she got into this company early on and that's, honestly, the only way you're ever going to make money in an MLM.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to be at the bottom of the pyramid you got to be well at the top. Yeah, the top, the bottom, whatever it's building up above you, you got to be at the top of the pyramid where people are under you to build that pyramid.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes. However, which way the pyramid and unfortunately, like when I got involved in a couple mlms, there was the people that I went under already had their mark on this little small town that we live in and I couldn't make shit. No, you know. So I mean yeah, which I don't appreciate from the people, because I was related to the person that got me involved trying to get you and, yeah, that helped them out.
Speaker 1:But here I have invested this money in and now everybody I'm reaching out to has already been reached out by to buy you the same fucking and I'm like yeah, and I and I was embarrassed, honestly right, and it's almost like the thing with the rainbow, you know, it's like people have those and they're trying to push them on you too, and which is a great product, but when you live in a small town like us, the person that's trying to get you involved already has the market on everybody around here. You're kind of getting everybody else, and Shanann lived in a small town so she probably had that grip on everybody in her area. She already. She doesn't.
Speaker 2:She was at the top and she ends up like she ends up doing very well and so multiple posts and videos. She she does that every day. She posts about Chris's weight loss progress and she starts like a vlogging type videos of her everyday life being a mom where she's able to excel now in her daily chores because of these products. Thrive literally became their life and Chris was thriving at Anadarko. Chris didn't really like the attention but he went along with it for Shanann he wanted to support her and he was. There was a big difference in his body. I mean, you can look at videos and see the transformation. He was always a good looking dude, but he was a big dude. He was like 245 out of shape. He goes on these products and they're giving him the energy to not only do his long day at work but come home and work out as well, like he's. He's doing like pushups with the girls on his back, like super cute shit.
Speaker 2:Okay, so she made some money and she earned herself a new car. Well, it was okay. Okay. So through her post, she's basically saying that she earned a car credit through the Lavelle Thrive Company, earned a car credit through the Lavelle Thrive Company, but actually what happened was she got like $800 towards a new car, but she still she still asked Chris to trade in his Mustang and that was like his dream car, to be able to buy this Lexus for herself On salad. Yeah, and she only got. I mean, yeah, it was a car credit that you put towards. So she put $800 towards a new Lexus, but if you look at her videos, it looks like as though thrive has purchased this whole fucking car for her. No, they're making payments on this Lexus on top of their already crippling debt that they've went into bankruptcy for.
Speaker 1:Outside, outside the box. Quit painting outside the lines here. It's not going to work Right.
Speaker 2:And this company also earned vacations for her and Chris. And I'm going to tell you right now you still have to pay for those vacations at some point or another. They're rubbing you in everywhere, when I was in a couple of our, especially the jewelry MLM that I was in. I was asked to go on a few, but you still have to put money towards it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, bullshit sales point. Yeah, yeah, you're using that to push your whole fucking narrative to get somebody else underneath of you. You know Well, I you get free vacations. Come on, sign up for this. Yeah, nothing beats a.
Speaker 2:Jet 2 holiday and right now you can get 50 pounds off her purse and all the debt, Right, Debt and again. So we've now filed bankruptcy but there is a new form of debt accumulating. Okay, Well, on one vacation to Punta Cana Chris's parents joined the Russex at the Watts house so they could kind of tag team babysit the girls. But that didn't go well at all, Like the Russex who were living in the basement said that the Watts basically took over the girls, took them upstairs and didn't communicate with them. There wasn't a co-grandparenting situation going on there.
Speaker 2:It was just an existing situation, right, and Shanann was constantly contacted to intervene, which caused more strain. You got, I mean and this is started from the very beginning, the Watts hate Shanann, they hate her. And now you've got both your parents trying to coexist in this house while you're on vacation. Chris's family, they kind of they're kind of problematic. I'm just going to go ahead and say that they're going to be problematic till forever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm seeing, though, that they're looking at their golden child's being destroyed by this outspoken woman that is dragging him down.
Speaker 2:Maybe not, he's not being dragged down. Maybe debt wise, debt wise.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, that's what I'm saying, but he's still doing very well. Earlier there was no reason, so, shanann, I'm going to go ahead and say this.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry for anybody that gets offended by this, but this is my honest, humble opinion, doing very thorough research on this case. Shenan was in charge of finances and she wasn't good at it right, she faltered, she wasn't good at it. They're making a good living, but they're not making a living to appease to the lifestyle that she wants to live.
Speaker 1:No, she's kind of undermining all their stuff that they're building Right, jesse and.
Speaker 2:I together make a little above what this couple was making and we're still just average Joes living in an average three bedroom, two bath house in a small town. We get to go on a couple of cool vacations a year. We don't really thrift, but we bargain shop yeah we're head above water.
Speaker 1:We're not.
Speaker 2:We're not Best of the best type shit yeah, no. So this causes more strain on the relationship, where Chris goes along with what Shanann does and says, but he still loves his family, but he's keeping all of that bottled in, okay. So then they decide to enroll both the babies in a very expensive preschool so that Shanann could be more productive with Thrive, and this costs about $25,000 a year. Shit, yeah. What did we do?
Speaker 3:Home school.
Speaker 2:Well no, what did we do when we decided we would save 500 a month? We started working different shifts. You work day shift, I work night shift. It works for both of us. I'm happier in the shift that I work now and we saved 500 a month in daycare expenses. And we, like I, homeschool right now and we could be shelling out all this money towards a private school. Yeah, but what's the point? I'm here all day anyway.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Why not communicate?
Speaker 1:and make it work for you Exactly, and we still get plenty of time, plenty of us time. We're doing our things you know, it's good.
Speaker 2:Well and medical issues still attack the girls and shenan. And then shenan has to have a very expensive neck surgery due to her lupus. At one point, well, thrive was still thriving for the family and she had even signed chris up as a promoter and got customers under him and posted on his personal social media to keep boosting sales for their family and they're raving about the products and they get even more customers and she gets to the point at level 40K, which means she's making $40,000 in commission, and she gets Chris at 12K, which means just under his name he's making a $12,000 commission.
Speaker 1:At this point, On their side project, where they still have careers going on Right right, exactly.
Speaker 2:Well, she's pretty much doing this all the time. She's still working at the Children's Hospital at this point, but she will give that up later on, oh goodness. But some people start getting annoyed at her constant online presence and would start to block her, and most of these would be Chris's co-workers and they would kind of give him shit about it and he didn't like that and he didn't really want to be in this Thrive Spotlight. But he went along with it to make Shanann happy. It was financially helping her and their family and he had gotten into amazing shape with the help of these products and, like I said before, he had been around 245 pounds out of shape and was now around 185 pounds. He was running, he was lifting weights, he's energetic.
Speaker 2:It's working for him Right right, and Shanann posted constantly about how blessed she was to have such an amazing husband and what a wonderful father he was.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's all rainbows and sunshine.
Speaker 2:Rainbows and sunshine period and there are the most adorable pictures and videos of him and the girls, beautiful pictures of the whole family. They never seemed to fight and when they did it was over kind of quickly. Like one neighbor said, they were literally in their front yard screaming at each other and the next minute they were hugging. And I don't want to say that that's unhealthy, because you and I kind of have that dynamic. We can get very heated, speaking our piece, but then we realize that the love for each other is bigger than the argument we're having Right Over something stupid when me you let go so fast and I hold.
Speaker 1:Love for each other is bigger than the argument we're having right over something where me you let go so fast and I hold in a little bit and then eventually I'll do you let go, but just let me deal with that on my own, and you understand that. Yeah, so people are different, though I mean everybody's different. Yes, you gotta let it work out on its own, you don't, don't?
Speaker 2:and I think don't plug, don't keep this dynamic. I think that shann was like holy shit, people are watching us. We got to make up right now when Chris was like OK, I don't even want to be having this fucking fight at all.
Speaker 1:I just want everything to be chill and good. Exactly, hold my head down and make everybody happy.
Speaker 2:And people that were closer with Chris thought he was such a good dude for being bossed around as much as he was and for doing anything Shanann asked at the drop of the hat and he would. In actuality, most of everything was an online persona, and resentment within Chris was boiling and bottling up.
Speaker 1:He's a fucking pressure cooker Shit.
Speaker 2:I can feel it just in what you're telling me right now. It's literally like a fucking Instapot right now.
Speaker 1:He is 500 degrees right now, bottled up.
Speaker 2:Well, chris would continue with the Thrive products and he would lose a little bit more weight and he turned the basement into a home gym. Shanann would post videos of him working out and he even got like he was a super, super huge Metallica fan. Oh, rock and roll, rock and roll. And he got this big Metallica tattoo on his back. And then she surprised him with Metallica tickets and a t-shirt to wear to the show. So it was in Colorado. It was probably a red rock, I mean, I'm just saying I don't know, I don't, I didn't Google it how close that was to where they were, but it was a show in colorado. She filmed his response and he was genuinely ecstatic. Like then, she'll post. She posts videos of him rocking out at the actual show. Dude loved metallica. You can see it in his face. He was like you and I were when we saw Metallica for the first time, like it's in our DNA.
Speaker 1:Right, Like we're 80s babies, man. I feel like, okay, well, the music and the working out and his health and trying to, that's his getaway, you know. But she's like plugging, plugging, plugging, plugging. He doesn't really want that attention.
Speaker 2:And also I'd never tried the Thrive products. So all I can relate to is like when I was on Adipex. Adipex gives you, because it's a super high caffeine-based product, so it gives you, like this bubbling energy. You're able to work out, you're able to be productive at home and it makes you a little bit more extrovert than normal Because you're like I want to talk now because I got this bubbly. Well, he starts doubling up on these patches and it reminded me of when.
Speaker 2:So I, when I first got on Adipex, I was going to through my OBGYN, who was also specialized in weight loss I started going to a different doctor because that doctor was in some legality troubles. It ended up being nothing, but he was. So I went to a different doctor for that same medication. They ended up prescribing me two a day and the level that's like drinking four energy drinks a day, almost. So you're like there is no amount of productivity that you can do to exasperate that level of energy that your body is experiencing. So just like we talked about in Johnny Cash, where he would be prescribed those diet pills and he was taking way more than was prescribed and he would tear up whole fucking wings of shit because he didn't know what to do with his body Couldn't get it out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's where we're at with Chris, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's starting it, he's over doing it. Now it's a thing, right, but it's not his fault.
Speaker 2:Shanann is it's not. Shanann is telling him it's OK.
Speaker 1:Right? Well, she's using him as proof to sell her fucking product and build it Right, right, right.
Speaker 2:She's using.
Speaker 1:Yes, not good.
Speaker 2:Well, shanann, she would end up quitting her job at the Children's Hospital to focus on Thrive full time and she would attend more Thrive parties and seminars and she would start doing more and more without Chris but still posted about him and their love and their children constantly. Well then there would be even more medical issues with the girls and that would put more of the strain on the relationship. It turned out like Cece had like a nut allergy, so you know there was EpiPens involved now and the stress of making sure you buy the right foods and things like that. It's a stressful situation.
Speaker 1:One more thing piled up on every fucking thing.
Speaker 2:But when I mean when this happens in your family, you find a way to get through it. The babies can't help it and they need their mom and dad. You've got as mature adults, you've got to figure out a balance there and you've got to talk about it and you've got to be healthy in communication. And you got to talk about it and you got to be healthy in communication. A woman named Nikki Kessinger joined the team at Anadarko in the health and safety department and it was said that she was a head turner and I think this was only because she was the only female in a team of men, because when I saw pictures of her I'm like she just kind of looks like a wish version of Shanann. Honestly, okay, not that great.
Speaker 1:But around a bunch of roughneck old guys. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and she also caught the eye of Chris and on August 3rd 2017. Okay, so we're up to 2017. She actually Google searched Chris and a month later, she Google searched Shanann. So put a pin in that. Okay, just remember that. Okay, on Mother's Day, 2018, chris made this really nice plaque and he listed all of their special dates in their marriage, like their anniversary, the girls' birthdays, and it was really thoughtful and sweet, and Shanann would post about this on the socials and in the same week, they decided that they were going to try for baby number three. Okay, no, not okay.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'm just saying, saying like they have a lot of problems.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I literally said talk about how irresponsible that is yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they have a lot of shit on their amazing husband, an amazing father.
Speaker 2:Shenan is a great mom, but she's got health issues. She's not very good with money. No, she's invested all of her time into an mlm that can crash at any time you're right, full-on I mean and she's literally quit her guaranteed money job to focus on this mlm. Like I said, that can crash at any good, not good no I'm sorry, I think this is very fucking irresponsible. Yeah, very.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right, you're right, I shouldn't have said that. I mean I'm not saying, but I'm looking at the whole thing. I mean I'm there, it's not they're.
Speaker 2:I think this is very fucking irresponsible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, very irresponsible. Yeah, you're right, you're right. I shouldn't have said that. I mean, I'm not saying but I'm looking at the whole thing. I mean it's not.
Speaker 2:They're in a mortgage they can't afford.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:They're in a lifestyle they can't afford period. They brought two kids into this already and Chris is being the yes man and going along with everything. But at as being the yes man and going along with everything but at the same time he's starting to get resentment. He's already pissed, first of all, that she has financially ruined him. He's not really digging being in the spotlight on all these videos that she is posting daily. She puts. I mean, when this case first came out, I literally got to know this family through her personal Facebook page that I did stock because it was brand new.
Speaker 1:It was still out there like a fucking full-on pressure cooker, like he is fixing it. Oh, not good, okay, not good. I'm on team lindsey over here. This is not really that great it's gonna be. Oh, you're building. Why are you building?
Speaker 2:well, I intended for this to be a one-parter. Jesse printed out my script and said bitch, this is a lot. No, he didn't say bitch, but he said uh, this is a lot. And I didn't know how much it was. So he brought me the script home. So we are going to end there for this episode right here, right right here they're trying for baby number three it's not no. With a lot of financial strain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of resentment financial decisions, a lot of bad decisions and two little girls with uh cc the most has the most health problems.
Speaker 2:But that just comes out like. I went through a period where my kids were sick all the fucking time, like and you can't help it, especially when they started daycare, oh my God, and I was very afraid that I was going to lose my job that I had at the time. It's not the company that I work for now, which is a little more flexible, which is the reason why I am a career server? Because it was easier for me to be able to work around my kids' health issues when I was younger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can keep on tracking, because being a server, you can just hit up somebody else and be like, hey, can you cover my shifts?
Speaker 1:A decent coworker.
Speaker 2:You can be like, hey, can you cover this, or as long as you call out two hours ahead of time, you're not going to get punished or penalized. And if there is an emergency and they call you and be like, hey, you got to come get your kid, you're not going to be in trouble as you would be for a nine to five type job.
Speaker 1:Something like my position.
Speaker 2:Like your position. They're not.
Speaker 1:They're not fucking happy. If you have anything going on in life, you can't live.
Speaker 2:Which, at the same time, is why I can understand why Shanann would want to put all her eggs in that MLN basket. Because the freedom, even though she has not they are now paying for daycare services, she's if they, if they need her to come get these kids or her kids for any kind of medical issue or you know, or even just having a little stomach bug, she can go right there and get them instead of having to jeopardize her job.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but she's setting them up for failure left and right. She is setting her family up for failure and then wanting to have another child too.
Speaker 2:I do agree with that.
Speaker 1:You've got to dig out of the hole first and get your shit right before you can keep fucking adding more to the pile. And he is fucking fixing to explode. I can't wait for the next part of this. You guys hang on and I'm going to play a band.
Speaker 2:And what band are you going to plug today?
Speaker 1:Before I do that, lindsay so far, so far, so far, so far.
Speaker 2:And for those of you that do know this case, please be understanding that Jesse has no idea the outcome of this, so just keep that in mind. Yes, and we do have a little Florida thunderstorm brewing up. You might hear that in the background.
Speaker 1:So there might be some thunder, but so far you're fucking entertaining over there. Miss podcast, podcast over there. So yeah, you're, you're doing the damn thing. I want to play some music.
Speaker 2:Oh, I'm excited I want to hear I'm ready, you are. Do I have the notes you are?
Speaker 1:ready, I am ready. We're gonna get this crack. And I I was reaching out for bands over the you, over the past, whenever we started all this, but a band called Temptrist that I wanted to play. They're from Australia, from Melbourne.
Speaker 2:Let me go ahead and find them, yeah.
Speaker 1:Touring band. They've been around the globe Some good-ass rock and roll. I want to play this song, so follow Temptrist and, yeah, check them out. Rock out Horns up. This song is called eternal death machine. Oh yes, so excited to play it. Whoo, here we go.
Speaker 4:Is this the place where dreams come to die? Dreams come to die If we have no choice. Do we follow their lies? Follow their lies, just take a number and stand in line. Stand in line. You'll find a place in the grand design Grand design.
Speaker 3:So you go for human greed. Live forever, never free. Thank you. All they need is that eternal dance machine. All they want, all they need Is that eternal dance machine. All they want, all they see, is that eternal dance machine. It's a broken machine. It's a broken machine. We'll be right back guitar solo Into production. They dehumanize.
Speaker 4:Dehumanize Program compliance are best mechanized. Thank you mind. All they want, all they need.
Speaker 3:Is that eternal death machine. All they want, all they need Is that eternal death machine. All they want, all they need Is that eternal death machine, eternal death machine, eternal death machine, eternal death machine, death machine, death machine, death Machine, death Machine, death Machine, death Machine, death Machine, death Machine.
Speaker 1:Wow, lindsay what a band. What a band. What a band. Big old school metal like the Roots, that is fire, bloody Roots.
Speaker 2:The Roots have came out If y'all listen to Sirius.
Speaker 1:XM yes. Octane, Octane yes.
Speaker 2:Well, I listen to the metal.
Speaker 1:Liquid Metal. Liquid Metal yes, the Roots.
Speaker 2:Bloody Roots. So that's, you only know what I'm talking about. But so that was Temptris, which is spelled T-E-M-T-R-I-S.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:And they are an Australian metal band with elements of traditional power and thrash metal Power thrashy for sure. And they have released seven studio albums. Yeah, follow them right now.
Speaker 1:I'm not really sure, but I think they were playing with Chris and Prophets of Demise somewhere.
Speaker 2:That's where I discovered them, Sorry buddy Chris Rourke is the drummer for Prophets of Demise. Yeah, so they're global, so follow them also we have featured them on our band as well, and Temptress, thank you On our podcast, on our band as well, and Temptress On our band, on our podcast.
Speaker 1:So much Temptress. Thank you, keep on rocking girls.
Speaker 2:Yes and y'all had like the long banging ass song.
Speaker 1:Like I was over here Pumping our fist, so my blood sugar was a little low, so I'm like eating almonds and cashews while I'm like banging my head. Really good stuff, though. Love it. Keep, keep on rocking in the free world.
Speaker 2:Keep on rocking in the free world. Yes, good stuff. So I've finished my drink, Jesse.
Speaker 1:So now is the time, the sad time, that we're wrapping all this up, we're going to say bye.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean all of this is building up, we're going to be right back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we got another one. Yeah, I need to get another drink. We need to have a little nosh. Yeah, we're gonna do the second half and we're gonna do friday yeah or friday?
Speaker 2:holy shit, lindsey, this is gonna be.
Speaker 1:You're fixing to unload on this next half whoa man, the band was amazing.
Speaker 2:Oh my god, yes, is building. I love me some thrash metal.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, me too, me too old school stuff Well.
Speaker 2:I love me some Metallica and.
Speaker 1:I was in the pocket right there. That could have been one of the big four Temptress.
Speaker 2:I love Metallica and Megadeth. Those are my two favorite of the big four.
Speaker 1:That's right in the pocket, right there. Love it, love it. So you're building, building.
Speaker 2:And I'm thinking to be puddling. I'm gonna close this bitch. On the next part of this, you're gonna start slaying.
Speaker 3:I am gonna start slaying like slayer, stop saying that at rockville.
Speaker 1:Come on, let us sleep literally okay so no I love.
Speaker 2:I absolutely love our rockville experience every year.
Speaker 1:I love it.
Speaker 2:We love our camping, we love our time, but God damn, quit it At the fucking Slayers. But luckily this past year you and I were both exhausted enough.
Speaker 1:We just went out.
Speaker 2:At the end of the night we were out. We didn't give a fuck.
Speaker 1:Now we would get up to go pee a couple of times. Stop the fucking Slayer at 2. Just Slayer at 2. Just stop at 2.
Speaker 2:2 am Fucking. Slayer needs to go to bed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at 2 am God damn, I'm not bitching, I'm not bitching. Hey, do your own thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we love it, we love our Rockville family, we love our Rockville experience. But if we're camping, stop the.
Speaker 1:Slayer at 2. Come on y'all, come on asleep. Anyway, we'll be out.
Speaker 2:We're old, we're old, we are out. So we'll see you guys this friday.
Speaker 1:Keep on fucking rocking part two of chris rots. Yes, rots, chris chris watts watsons just what I think it's kicked in for you there, lynn, it has yeah, we, we.
Speaker 2:It's time to get a little food in my belly and we will see you guys for part two.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:We love you so much. Bye, bye.
