Did this chef feel the heat and turn to murder?
Standing over the cooker, chatting to a reporter, Antonio Watts-Richardson, known as Blair Watts, was in his element.
It was February 2022 and Watts, then 32, waxed lyrical about his small-town restaurant, Birdie’s, in Spring City, Pennsylvania.
Smiling for the cameras, he told the local TV station about his love of cooking.
Homemade comfort food like fried chicken and cheeseburgers dripping in barbecue sauce.
‘It’s love, a hug, enjoyment. Good food and good vibes that’s what we stand for,’ he gushed, explaining how his grandma inspired him to become a cook.
‘I was always watching her make everything,’ he said, grinning.
When Birdie’s – named after his grandma – had to close shortly after, Watts began making plans for a grand reopening.
Joined forces with close friend Jennifer Brown.
That summer, the pair cooked up plans to open Birdie’s Kitchen in the neighbouring town of Phoenixville.
Jennifer and Watts drew up their own contract.
A single mum of two boys, Jennifer agreed to invest $14,000 to the joint venture.
Only, in the lead-up to the planned January 2023 opening, problems arose.
Costs of suppliers added up, and Watts was refused the lease.
Disappearance
Then, on 4 January 2023, Jennifer didn’t show up to collect her youngest son, then 8, from the school bus. It was out of character. Her boy had special needs, and Jennifer was described as a loving, devoted mum by everyone who knew her, Concerned, Watts reported her missing.
He told police he’d looked after Jennifer’s 8-year-old the previous night. Picked him up from the school bus and took him home for a planned sleepover with his three kids. To ‘give Jennifer a break’. Her son had stayed overnight with Watts and his family before.
He’d then put the youngster on the bus going back to school that morning.
Detectives found Jennifer’s keys, wallet and work phone in her car still parked outside her home.
But her personal phone was missing.
While police investigated, Jennifer’s friend Tiffany Barron looked after her son.
‘She is a doting, I call her, helicopter mom. She loves her son. She would never leave her son,’ said Tiffany.
Two weeks after her disappearance, on 18 January, a warehouse worker found Jennifer’s body.
She was buried in a ‘hastily dug’ shallow grave in a wooded area behind an industrial facility less than two miles from her home. Her family and friends were heartbroken, the community shaken.
She had three broken ribs.
The coroner ru
