The U.S. network television show Dateline NBC will air an episode this Friday on the 1997 murder of a Prince George woman and the subsequent conviction of her husband for second-degree murder 13 years later.
The show is set for 8 p.m. on King 5.
On Aug. 18, 1997, Wendy Ann Twiss Ratte, 44 at the time, was reported missing and the family's van was found parked at a supermarket, now Value Village.
The case had languished for years but in 2008, Denis, her husband, became the subject of an elaborate undercover operation, known as a Mr. Big sting, in which police officers posed as high-level criminals to gain the suspect's trust.
Police got Ratte to tell them details about the killing, and after his arrest, Ratte confessed, but recanted at trial.
A jury found Ratte guilty of second-degree murder in November 2010 and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison before eligibility for parole. The last of his legal options hit a dead end in May when the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed his application to appeal the verdict.
Dateline NBC producer Izhar Harpaz and cameraman Simon Doolittle were in the Prince George area earlier this year collecting footage and interviews.
In February, CBC's The Fifth Estate aired an episode on the same case.
