US3 min(s) read
Published 12:48 05 Aug 2026 GMT
Almost eight years after Colorado father Chris Watts shocked the nation by murdering his pregnant wife and their two young daughters, a woman claiming to be his secret second mistress has opened up about the killer's disturbing behavior in the buildup to the fateful day.
Amanda McMahon, who met Watts on the dating app Tinder in 2017, revealed horrifying details about their short-lived affair and his bizarre sexual requests.
McMahon told The Daily Mail that while Watts initially presented himself as a charming, soft-spoken guy who was separated and finalizing a divorce, his entire persona changed drastically when they were intimate.
The murderer enjoyed aggressive sex
Describing their encounters, McMahon recalled that Watts enjoyed 'rough' and 'forceful' sex, describing an 'animalistic fury' that would suddenly come over him.
She said: "In the snap of a finger, he went from normal to crazy - like brutal, almost," adding that he appeared to 'zone out into a different person' with eyes that looked entirely different.
She noted a terrifying moment when he placed his hand around her neck, prompting her to 'freak out'.
Beyond his aggressive physical behavior, McMahon disclosed that Watts routinely badmouthed his pregnant wife, Shan'ann, whom he made out to be an ex.
According to McMahon, Watts called Shan'ann a 'f***ing psycho' and a 'gold digger,' complaining bitterly about having to support her and claiming she was financially unstable.
McMahon recalled: "He would say the most awful things … talking her down and making her seem like a horrible, unstable person.”
While McMahon told police that she only had sex with Chris once, she recently admitted that their time together lasted much longer than she originally let on.
According to McMahon, she lied to cops out of fear that her ex would find out.
She said: “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.
“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.”
She now claims that they saw each other for several months and that their relationship began around April or May 2017, but it ended when Watts began pursuing his co-worker Nichol Kessinger.
In August 2018, just a year after his relationship with McMahon, Watts strangled his wife Shan'ann, 34, who was 15 weeks pregnant with their unborn son, Nico.
Sickeningly, he also smothered their daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, before disposing of their bodies at the oil site he worked at.
Learning of the horrific murders left McMahon understandably horrified.
She admitted: "It made me feel betrayed. It made me feel nasty. It made me feel dirty."
McMahon also confessed she never would have become involved with him if she had known he was living at home with a pregnant wife and young children.
Watts eventually pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to multiple consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.
