Key Points
To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen stands by the show’s decisions surrounding the episode that ended in Bill Conradt’s death.
Conradt died by suicide in 2006 as law enforcement entered his home, with investigators from the Dateline segment waiting outside.
“It was unfortunate that somebody chose to take his life rather than face criminal consequences,” Hansen said.
Chris Hansen isn’t losing sleep over To Catch a Predator‘s most controversial episode.
Amid renewed interest in the Dateline NBC segment, which is the subject of the Robert Pattinson-fronted thriller, Primetime, the former host is addressing the case of Louis William “Bill” Conradt Jr., who died by suicide while Hansen and his film crew waited outside his home to film his arrest.
“There are certain things you can’t control,” Hansen told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Sep. 9. “Obviously, you don’t want anybody taking their own life, but that was a decision made by that individual.”
As for how he expects Primetime will portray the incident, Hansen speculated, “They’ll ramp it up in the film, I’m sure, and make it more dramatic than it really was.”
Chris Hansen visits SiriusXM studios on January 16, 2024
Credit: Jason Mendez/Getty
The infamous episode captured communications between 56-year-old Conradt and Perverted Justice, a civilian watchdog group that posed as underage teens to lure predators to a sting house where they would be confronted by Hansen and then arrested by police. But Conradt, who worked as a chief felony assistant district attorney in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, did not take the bait and never arrived at the house.
Conradt’s absence led police — and the To Catch a Predator team — to make an unusual move and surround his house in Terrell, Texas on Nov. 5, 2006, rather than wait any longer on his arrival. A SWAT team then entered Conradt’s home and he shot himself in the head as officers approached. He died shortly thereafter.
“It was unfortunate that somebody chose to take his life rather than face criminal consequences. You can draw your own conclusions as to why,” Hansen said. “They found child pornography on his computer. He had sexually explicit conversations with two different decoys posing as 13-year-old boys.”
He continued, “I can’t speak for the police, but they decided to arrest him, apparently concerned about the possible destruction of evidence. He chose to take his life rather than face the consequences. We reported what we knew the next day on the Today show and continued to be transparent throughout the story.”
The veteran journalist also firmly denied that producers made the decision to surround Conradt’s home.
“We were covering what the police were doing. We didn’t have a role in the decision,” Hansen stated. “The police decided to do it, and we covered it like any other arrest we would cover in the course of reporting the story.”
Asked whether he’s had sleepless nights or any second thoughts in the aftermath of the episode, Hansen answered, “No. We continued to conduct investigations after that.”
Chris Hansen on ‘To Catch A Predator’
Credit: NBC
In the years since Conradt’s death, others who worked on the show have expressed regret over how the situation played out. Dan Schrack, who posed as one of the 13-year-old boys that Conradt believed he was communicating with, appeared in last year’s Predators documentary, in which he said, “You could offer me $10 million to film that episode in Texas again. I wouldn’t take it.”
Elsewhere in the doc, former detective for the Murphy Police Department Walt Weiss said he considers the sting “a stain on my soul.” He added, “They went over there and did that at that house because it would do something for the show, not something for society, not something in the interest of law enforcement.”
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While airing, To Catch a Predator courted controversy for its hidden-camera approach to capturing alleged pedophiles. The show’s ethics and journalistic standards were a source of constant debate as its popularity grew, pulling in millions of loyal viewers. The debates ramped up following the death of Conradt, whose sister, Patricia, filed a $109 million wrongful death lawsuit against NBC. The network ultimately settled the case out of court for an undisclosed amount.
To Catch a Predator, and the death of Conradt, will be reexamined in Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime, which made its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival last week, and arrives in theaters on Sept. 25.
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