Inside the Shocking Fallout: How To Catch a Predator’s Most Notorious Sting Let 24 Predators Slip Away Unseen
So, Dateline’s infamous To Catch a Predator finally hung up its bait-and-switch boots after a four-year rollercoaster that didn’t end with a bang — but with a shock that nobody saw coming. Imagine stepping into Chris Hansen’s trench coat, only to unravel a tale so dark and tangled it almost feels like a true crime soap opera. That’s exactly what Robert Pattinson tackles in the A24 flick Primetime, which dives headfirst into the murky waters of Murphy, Texas, where an assistant district attorney named Bill Conradt tragically took his own life amidst allegations that sound like they were ripped from a thriller script. Here’s the kicker — while the show prided itself on nabbing a hefty haul of predators, all 24 caught in Murphy somehow waltzed away free. Why? Well, it’s less about justice and more about a legal mess cooked up behind the scenes — and oh, did Dateline leave a few landmines in the process. If you’ve ever wondered how a groundbreaking sting operation can descend into chaos, this story might just haunt your late-night thoughts. Ready to peel back the curtain on one of TV’s most notorious flops gone wrong? LEARN MORE
After a controversial four-year run, Dateline’s segment To Catch a Predator came to an explosive end – and the final sting had deadly consequences. Robert Pattinson has stepped into the shoes of Chris Hansen in Primetime, which will tell the story of the show’s darkest moment.
The A24 film, which has now been released in US cinemas, also explores what transpired in the lead up to Murphy, Texas assistant district attorney Bill Conradt’s death by suicide after it was alleged that the district attorney had been sending explicit messages to who he thought was a teenage boy.
Primetime focuses heavily on Bill Conradt and the attempted capture of him as a ‘whale’ to try increase the popularity of the show. He is not the only predator Hansen and his crew caught in their highly criticised trip to Murphy however as 24 predators were arrested by police after showing up to bait houses run by To Catch a Predator.
A detail not include in the film however is that, following Conradt’s death, all 24 predators in Murphy walked free due to mistakes from Dateline.
Why did all 24 predators walk free after Conradt’s death?
Bill Conradt (Esquire)
The District Attorney refused to proceed with the prosecution of the 24 men caught by To Catch a Predator in Murphy as he felt the involvement of Dateline tainted the cases.
One case was not submitted to the DA, John Roach, but the other 23 cases were thrown out. Murphy count police had agreed to allow To Catch a Predator’s volunteer group ‘Perverted-Justice’ to undertake stings in the area and film the arrests of the predators.
Roach felt that the involvement of Perverted Justice, who were a civilian volunteer organisation who helped entrap predators using fake personas in chat rooms, had sullied the investigation. There were huge issues of jurisdiction as many of the chats did not involve anyone in the county, with Perverted Justice chatting from all over the US and several predators travelling from out of state to visit the bait house. This meant that the police had no jurisdiction in 16 of 23 cases.
Former District Attorney John Roach with his dog ‘Justice’ (Juan Figueroa/The Dallas Morning News via Getty Images)
He also stated that the involvement of Dateline had effected the integrity of the investigation, accusing the police department of failing to acquire warrants correctly in many of the arrests.
In other areas where To Catch a Predator worked with police there were strict legal guardrails separating Dateline and police, but according to a report into Conradt’s death from Esquire these completely collapsed in the Murphy investigation.
In a statement to NBC Roach said: “The fact that somebody besides police officers were involved is what makes this case bad.
“If professionals had been running the show, they would have done a much better job rather than being at the beck and call of outsiders.”
The local police Chief Billy Myrick was fired after defending his departments approach to the investigations.
Chris Hansen has said he has ‘no regrets’ about the investigation which saw 24 predators walk free and one die by suicide
Chris Hansen in To Catch a Predator (NBC)
Chris Hansen spoke recently to state that he has ‘no regrets’ about the investigation that led to Conradt’s death, saying that the production was ‘completely transparent about what happened’ from the point of his death.
He continued: “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 has slammed the film, with Pattinson telling LADbible in an exclusive interview he ‘hoped the presenter was going to like it’, adding: “The fact he’s still so culturally relevant 20 years after the original show, he knows how to move in these worlds… I think he understands the different amalgamations of your persona is an organic thing that keeps evolving.”
Unfortunately for the actor however Hansen wasn’t impressed, saying on his YouTube channel after watching the film last week: “It was so bizarre and so in-and-out of reality… Obviously, I’m not objective because the character is, you know, me, but it was so detached from reality or anything I’ve experienced then or now doing the investigations. I’m not sure what the point of it was.”
Primetime is available to watch in cinemas now in the US, and releases 30 October in the UK.
Additional words by Olivia Burke.
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