Chris Watts' alleged secret mistress has explained why she hid the truth about their relationship for years.
The 41-year-old murdered his pregnant wife, Shanann Watts, and their two young daughters, Bella and Celeste, in August 2018 before hiding the girls' bodies inside crude oil tanks and burying Shanann in a shallow grave.
After initially appearing on television pleading for his family's safe return, Watts later admitted to the killings and is now serving multiple life sentences without parole.
Now, a woman who claims she secretly dated Watts before the murders says she hid the true extent of their relationship from police because she feared it would be used against her during her own custody battle.
Chris Watts killed his wife and two daughters. Credit: Instagram
McMahon matched with Watts on Tinder
Amanda McMahon told the Daily Mail she met Watts on Tinder while she was navigating a difficult divorce and custody battle.
She originally described the relationship as a one-time encounter, but now claims they allegedly saw each other over several months.
"I was so fearful of having it blow up in my face... it had to do with substances. It had to do with reckless sex, reckless behavior," she said. "Disclosing that entire web... isn't something you want to put out in the public when your ex-husband will load it into a gun and use it as ammo."
According to McMahon, Watts introduced himself simply as "Chris" and claimed he was separated from the mother of his children, alleging she was using the kids against him during a bitter custody dispute.
The story immediately resonated with her as she was experiencing something similar herself.
McMahon said the pair arranged to meet in a Chick-fil-A parking lot before driving separately to her apartment.
Although she found the killer attractive, she now believes his friendly personality was little more than an act.
"Looking back on it, I could tell any kind of sweetness he had was very fake," she said. "I won't say forced, because he was able to turn on the charm for anything he needed... but something about him felt off."
McMahon alleged their first sexual encounter became disturbing almost instantly.
She claimed Watts suddenly became aggressive, pulling her hair and wrapping his hand around her throat during sex.
"He had just this animalistic fury come over him," she alleged. "He just went into like a zone. He just didn't look the same in his eyes... in the snap of a finger, he went from normal to crazy, like brutal, almost."
McMahon said she was frightened by how quickly his behavior changed.
"I remember just kind of being scared to really say anything," she recalled. "It happened way too fast, and it threw me off."
When detectives interviewed her after the murders, McMahon described Watts as being "really fast and aggressive," saying he pulled her hair, put his arms around her neck and attempted anal sex before she pushed him away.
She now says that account was truthful but incomplete.
Watts is currently serving five life sentences Credit: Colorado Department of Public Safety
McMahon claims the relationship continued for months
McMahon alleges Watts remained in contact with her between the spring of 2017 and early 2018.
She claimed they met several more times and had sex on at least two additional occasions.
She also alleged Watts regularly asked her for prescription opioid medication.
"I had my own prescription that he would essentially beg for things out of," she claimed. "It seemed he wanted to get away from something or numb himself... and honestly, I was trying to forget things too, so I understood where he was coming from."
She insisted she never used drugs alongside Watts and never witnessed him taking the pills she claimed to have given him.
McMahon also alleged that on one occasion he asked whether she had access to stimulant medication, including Adderall.
Chilling details in hindsight
One moment from their first meeting has become especially unsettling for McMahon.
She said Watts chose to watch Shutter Island, the Leonardo DiCaprio thriller in which a man kills his wife after discovering she murdered their children.
At the time, she thought little of it. However, in hindsight she found the choice deeply disturbing because Watts later falsely claimed to investigators that he strangled Shanann only after witnessing her kill their daughters, a version of events detectives quickly rejected.
McMahon also recalled Watts constantly criticizing Shanann throughout their alleged relationship.
"He would say the most awful things... talking her down and making her seem like a horrible, unstable person... say[ing] he wished she'd work and complain that he had to support her," she claimed. "Any shot you could take, he took... he just did not like that poor woman."
She said Watts frequently silenced his ringing phone whenever they were together, and she now believes the calls and messages were coming from Shanann.
McMahon also remembered seeing a picture of his daughters as the wallpaper on his phone, despite him rarely mentioning them or even telling her their names.
"He appeared normal... but there was something not right about him," she said.
Shanann Watts, 34, her daughters Bella, four, Celeste, three, and unborn son Nico are at their final resting place at Bethesda Cemetery. Credit: RJ Sangosti / Getty
'Everything out of his mouth is a lie'
McMahon said she recognized Watts immediately after seeing him on television appealing for information about his missing family.
She later spoke to police but claimed she downplayed their relationship because she didn't want to become publicly linked to the case.
Watts denied ever meeting McMahon, insisting his only affair was with co-worker Nichol Kessinger.
"Everything out of his mouth is a lie in some form," McMahon said.
Reflecting on the alleged encounter years later, she said Shanann's death by strangulation has left her wondering how close she may have come to suffering a similar fate.
"He's just sick," she said. "Maybe he was suppressing his urge to hurt her. And judging by how he was with me, I can see how he's capable of going into that animalistic mode."
McMahon told the outlet her alleged relationship with the convicted murderer has left her traumatized for years.
She claimed strangers continue to recognize her and she regularly receives abusive messages online because of her association with Watts.
She shared that the most troubling thing is reflecting on how her alleged experience mirrored the way Shanann was ultimately murdered.
"It's pretty terrifying," she said. "It got me thinking, if his M.O. is to just kill, it would've been easier to take me out to get that itch scratched.
"But I've had years to think about that, and obviously he wanted to have a new life... which is obviously more complex in that aspect," she added.
Asked what she would say if she ever came face-to-face with Watts again, McMahon said there is only one thing she wants to know.
"Was it worth it?" she questioned. "I don't think anything you can say to a monster like that will do any good. You've just got to wait and let them send him up to his creator and let him go with it."
Featured image credit: Colorado Department of Public Safety