Nut-Gate

July 9th, 2018

The Incident

While in North Carolina, Shanann, Bella, and Celeste have been alternating their time between the Rzucek house and the Watts house and are currently at the Watts house. Jamie is Chris’ sister and their mother; Cindy Watts is babysitting Jamie’s children on this day. Bella and Celeste are playing with their cousins without incident when their cousin Dilyn gets an ice cream cup out of the freezer. When Celeste see’s the ice cream cup she wants to have one too, Cindy Watts tells Celeste that (due to her allergies) she cannot have one and offered her something else. Celeste is not happy and as any three-year-old would, she has a screaming fit. Cindy Watts is trying to comfort her and tells her (because of her allergies) she can’t always get what she wants. Shanann hears this, charges down the hallway, yelling at Cindy, “You’re trying to kill my child!” Cindy and Shanann have a heated exchange of words in front of the children who are left terrified by the confrontation. Shanann calls her mother to pick her and the girls up because, “the house is unsafe, and they can’t be there.” While Shanann’s waiting to be picked up, to avoid further altercation, Cindy takes Jamie’s children and leaves her house.

The Feud Escalates

Shanann is furious and immediately goes to Facebook to vent and publicly rip into her mother-in-law. She texts Chris that his mom is, “reckless with Celeste’s life and just wants to upset her.” Shanann has no desire to repair the relationship; she vows his family would never see the girls again, demands Chris shun his family and continues to publicly demean Cindy Watts up until August 12, 2018. For his part, Chris seems to be in agreement with Shanann and admits that his mom, “truly screwed up in a huge way.” Chris’s parents already consider Shanann an abusive wife and after seeing all of Shanann’s rants on Facebook, they feel it’s better not to attended Celeste’s birthday party because of the escalating tensions. They block Shanann on Facebook and mail Celeste’s birthday present to the house. Shanann’s has Nickole A. return Celeste’s unopened present back to Cindy and Ronnie Watts.

The Tree Nut Allergy

According to Shanann, Celeste was diagnosed with several environmental and food allergies (tree nuts, almonds, cashews, nuts, peanut butter, kiwi, mold etc.) which understandably puts the family on high alert. In preparation for their trip home, Shanann sends her mom and Chris’ mom a list of approved, allergy-safe foods for Celeste. It’s worth noting that when it comes to allergy-safe foods, Shanann applies a double standard here. In several of her Facebook posts she states she doesn’t have nuts or any tree nuts in her home however, several of her posts show the opposite to be true.

Peanut Butter

Thrive Pro Bars

Shanann has several Facebook videos and posts with both of the girls eating Le-Vel Thrive Pro Bars; Bella’s favorite was Cookies ‘n Cream while Celeste’s favorite was Birthday Cake. Shanann stated the Thrive Pro Bars were Tree Nut free and while some of the ingredients have since changed and some Pro Bars are NOW Tree Nut free, in 2018 most Pro Bars contained Tree Nuts. Celeste’s favorite Pro Bar Birthday Cake has always listed Tree Nuts in the ingredients.

Fruity Pebbles

Shanann mentions several times that Celeste’s favorite cereal is Fruity Pebbles which contain Tree Nuts.

Bojangles Restaurant

Whenever Chris and Shanann are in North Carolina, they make a point to eat at their favorite restaurant Bojangles. Some of the food has come into contact with or contains Tree Nuts and peanuts.

Did Shanann Overreact and was it the Reason that Chris Snapped?

Chris has said that from the beginning of their relationship, Shanann drove a wedge between himself, and his family and Nut-Gate fractured an already fragile relationship with his parents. Shanann was furious and she was unrelenting with her demands for Chris to distance himself from his family. Chris complied but he resented Shanann for telling him that he and the girls could not see his family again. He was frustrated that instead of allowing things to settle down, Shanann continued to turn to Facebook to weaponize her anger towards his family. In December2019, the FBI asked Chris if Nut-Gate had an impact on his thoughts, feelings and emotions that led him to kill his family. While he never confessed what his motive was, he does admit it was one of the reasons-if not the catalyst that caused him to snap.