The real-life story of the Watts family murders in ‘AMERICAN MURDER: THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR’ is YemmeYbaba’s Movie of the Week

Senior Editor October 6, 2020

It’s all eyes on Netflix’s true crime film American Murder: The Family Next Door.

The film explores the real-life story of Shanann and Chris Watts.

In 2018, Shanann, who was pregnant at the time, and her two young daughters went missing from their home and the family’s story become worldwide news when the case began to unravel.

Directed by Jenny Popplewell, the doccie tells the story of the Watts family murders in 2018. It uses archival footage including social media posts, law enforcement recordings, text messages and home video footage to depict the events that occurred.

The Watts family murders happened in 2018, in Frederick, Colorado, US. Chris Watts admitted to killing his pregnant wife Shanann Watts by strangulation and their daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste, by smothering them with a blanket. He pleaded guilty to multiple counts of first-degree murder as part of a plea deal when the death penalty was removed from sentencing. He was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, three to be served consecutively and two to be served concurrently.

American Murder: The Family Next Door is currently showing on Netflix.

Watch the trailer below to get started…