In 2020, there will be no shortage of true crime podcasts (open in new tab), documentaries (open in new tab), and dramatizations. When the world is on fire, it is strangely comforting to be distracted by the trials and tribulations of complete strangers. When the world is on fire, it is oddly comforting to be distracted by the trials and tribulations of complete strangers. Fortunately, for armchair investigators looking to bite into a new case, the next engrossing true crime will soon be available on Netflix's American Murder: (Open in new tab) a documentary film about the 2018 Watts family murders.

"American Murder" will be available on September 30 and will use home videos, social media posts, text messages, and police footage to piece together the investigation into the August 2018 murders of Shan'Ann Watts, her daughter Bella, and Celeste. Although this is not an unsolved crime, Watts' husband Chris eventually confessed to the murders and is currently serving five life sentences in a Wisconsin maximum security prison. The documentary promises to provide viewers with a 360-degree view of virtually every detail, from the ups and downs of the Wattses' relationship to the failed polygraph test that ultimately led to Chris' arrest. Here is everything we currently know about "American Murder:" The Family Next Door

Netflix released the official trailer for the documentary on September 18. In just less than two minutes, the trailer shows what appears to be a security tape of Shan'an coming home from a business trip hours after she was killed, a text message Chris sent to his wife's cell phone after she disappeared to allay his suspicions, a recording of a concerned friend calling the police, and Shan'an's The video shows her saying that the encounter got her out of "one of the darkest periods of my life." It gets more intense from there: actual footage of police searching the Watts home, questioning Chris, and conducting evidentiary polygraph tests is interwoven with home videos of the seemingly idyllic Watts family.

On August 13, 2018, when Shan'ann Watts, 34 years old and 15 weeks pregnant, missed her OB/GYN appointment and failed to show up for work, her friend Nickole Atkinson visited the Watts home in Frederick, Colorado, where Shan'ann and her children were missing, Nickole filed a missing persons report with the local police. Shan'ann's husband, Chris, then 33, initially maintained his innocence and cooperated with the investigation, but after failing a lie detector test, he was arrested on August 15 and later confessed to killing his wife and two daughters and hiding their bodies in an oil storage facility where he worked.

At his trial in November 2018, Chris pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced to five life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 48 years for illegally terminating Shan'an's pregnancy and an additional 36 years total for tampering with the bodies of three people. He is currently incarcerated in a maximum security facility in Waupun, Wisconsin.

The following year, in a civil trial brought by Shan'an's family, Chris was ordered to pay $6 million in damages to the family (open in new tab).

Prior to the Netflix adaptation, the case was featured in two Lifetime films earlier this year: a documentary called Beyond the Headlines: The Watts Family Tragedy and a dramatized TV movie called Chris Watts Chris Watts: Confessions of a Murderer. Shan'an's family was not involved in the production of the latter film and criticized it, claiming that they were concerned that inaccuracies in the dramatization would lead to a spike in online harassment regarding the case.

Key names known from the investigation include Chris Watts, Shan'an Watts, and daughters Bella (4) and Celeste (3). Additionally, Shan'ann was 15 weeks pregnant at the time of her death, and the couple had planned to name their third child Nico; Shan'ann and her children were first reported missing by her friend and colleague, Nickole Atkinson. Also, although not mentioned in the trailer, Chris had a mistress, Nicole Kessinger, who testified to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation that Chris' behavior had changed in the days leading up to the murder.

In addition to the subjects of the investigation, some of the biggest names in nonfiction film are behind the scenes of this documentary. American Murder was directed by Jenny Popplewell, director and executive producer of the popular TLC show My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. The executive producer is James Marsh, who won an Academy Award for directing the 2008 documentary "Man on Wire" and also directed the 2014 documentary "The Theory of Everything."