Earlier this week, "American Murder": The Family Next Door (opens in new tab), a documentary about the 2018 Watts family murders in Frederick, Colorado, appeared on Netflix. From never-before-seen police footage to home videos and social media posts from Shannan and Chris Watts, true crime enthusiasts are fascinated by the many new details about this tragic case. But even though Chris confessed to the murder of his pregnant wife and two children and was subsequently sentenced to multiple life sentences, the armchair detectives have much to ponder in the form of unanswered questions and unresolved details that were not addressed in the documentary.

While we may never get definitive answers to the more subjective questions surrounding the case, such as why Chris did what he did, there are still plenty of new details about the case and the people involved for amateur detectives to uncover. Perhaps most poignant is "Who is Nicole Kessinger, who was Chris' girlfriend at the time of the murder, and where is she now?" Here is everything we know about Kessinger, from her involvement in the murder investigation to her possible current whereabouts.

Kessinger, a geologist and Colorado native, was working in the environmental division of Anadarko Petroleum when he met Chris, then an operator for an oil and gas exploration company; they first met in June 2018, barely a month before Chris murdered his wife and two daughters on August 13 They began dating in early July of Kessinger told the Denver Post (opens in new tab) in November 2018 that he did not know that Chris and Shannan were still married, and that he told her they were separated and divorce proceedings were nearing an end.

Kessinger claims that the lies continued throughout their short-lived romance: she said Chris told her the divorce was finalized in late July and then asked her to help him find a suitable apartment for him and their young daughters. She described Chris as "soft-spoken" and a "good listener."

After Shan'an, 4-year-old Bella, and 3-year-old Celeste went missing on August 13, Kessinger said she learned on the news that Chris had lied about the marriage. After questioning him about his wife and her disappearance in lengthy phone calls and text messages that night and the next day, Kessinger told the Post that Chris seemed too calm, unemotional, and "off" about the missing family members to share what she knew, and local She urged him to reach out to police and the FBI.

"He started telling me so many lies that I finally told him I didn't want to talk to him again until I found his family," she told the outlet.

Just hours after Kessinger met with investigators on August 15, Chris was arrested for the murders of his wife and daughters. He failed a lie detector test and later confessed to the crime.

In a November 2018 interview, Kessinger said he had no doubt that Chris was guilty of the murders. He said, "He's a liar. He lied about everything." If he could lie to me and hide something that big, what else could he have lied about?"

Kessinger did not testify in court at Chris' trial and has not been heard from since his 2018 interview with the Denver Post. Don't expect to hear from Kessinger anytime soon: according to a recording of the interview obtained by the Daily Mail (opens in new tab), she expressed fear that her name would be "slandered" in an interview with police, saying, "It's hard to make public appearances sometimes for two or three years. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes difficult for me to be in public sometimes for a couple of years."