Chris Watts' mistress breaks her eight-year silence in explosive The Trial USA podcast: Hear her chilling side of the story

By DAILY MAIL INVESTIGATIONS TEAM Published: 05:09, 29 July 2026 | Updated: 05:09, 29 July 2026 For nearly eight years, Amanda McMahon's role in the Chris Watts case consisted of only a few lines in police records. She told cops their relationship was nothing more than a brief fling, and investigators moved on. But now, she is telling a very different story. In an exclusive interview for DailyMail+, McMahon revealed the affair lasted for months, not days, and shared disturbing new details about Watts' behavior that she now believes foreshadowed the murders of his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two young daughters. On the latest episode of Daily Mail's award-winning Trial USA podcast, host Kayla Brantley is joined by investigative reporter Luke Kenton to discuss his explosive sit-down interview with McMahon, one of several women Watts secretly pursued before murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters. The episode is the first of an exclusive four-part series, marking the eighth anniversary of the 2018 killings that shocked the nation. Reporter Luke Kenton discusses his interview with Amanda McMahon (pictured), one of several women Chris Watts pursued before murdering his wife and children. LISTEN: The Trial USA is available now, wherever you get your podcasts Watts strangled Shanann Watts, 34, at their Colorado home on August 13 before driving his daughters, Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3, to a remote oil field, where he smothered them and concealed their bodies in oil tanks. He buried Shanann in a shallow grave nearby. As investigators unraveled the case, they discovered Watts had been leading a double life. His coworker, Nichol Kessinger revealed she was having an affair with him in the weeks leading up to the murders. Prosecutors argued he murdered his family to start a new life unburdened by his wife and children. Watts is now serving a life sentence.  After Watts' arrest, McMahon told investigators she had a 'fast and furious' one time fling with Watts in the spring of 2018. However, she has now revealed that wasn't strictly true, telling Kenton that the pair had actually carried out an eight months-long affair, beginning with a Tinder swipe in April or May 2017. McMahon told Kenton that things turned unsettling almost from the outset of her physical relationship with Watts. During their first encounter, she said he became 'extremely rough' and didn't ask before choking her. She told Kenton that Watts falsely claimed he had separated from Shanann and referred to her only as his 'baby mama,' and recalled the several times Watts vilified his wife, calling her a 'gold digger,' 'psycho,' and blaming her for making his life miserable. McMahon revealed to the Daily Mail that Watts frequently vilified Shanann (right) and only referred to her as his 'baby mama'  Kenton's exclusive interview features throughout the episode as McMahon recounted how Watts became 'extremely rough' during their first sexual encounter, choking her without warning and displaying what she described as an 'animalistic' change in demeanor. Kenton explained on the podcast that a recurring theme throughout the interview was Watts's apparent 'lust for violence,' with McMahon later wondering whether he was directing toward her the anger he harbored for Shanann. McMahon also described to Kenton the harrowing moment she realized she had been sleeping with a killer, months after their affair had fizzled out. Catch the full interview with McMahon, plus analysis from Daily Mail's premier crime reporters, by searching for Trial USA wherever you get your podcasts    All four episodes are available to Crime Desk subscribers today. Non-subscribers can listen to episode one now, with new episodes each week. Start a subscription with a free 7-day trial at thecrimedesk.com