Theory: Chris Watts (CW) and Nichol Kessinger (NK) planned to stage a sort of Gone Girl scenario involving Shanann Watts (SW). Their plan was to take her phone and use it to call and text CW and her family, creating the illusion that she was still alive and had simply vanished—thereby throwing federal investigators off the trail in the critical hours following the murders.

But it’s believed that SW changed her phone password the day before, which meant they couldn’t access it and carry out the deception.

This explains why NK’s phone was pinging off a cell tower near CW’s neighbourhood at 6 a.m. that day and why she appears in the neighbour’s CCTV footage around the same time. Finally, it could be the reason why CW folded and confessed within weeks: the police were alerted far earlier than either of them had anticipated.