The 'To Catch a Predator' sting that ended in suicide
Most people know the television series To Catch a Predator for exposing men whom they believed were sexual predators. However, not every sting went to plan. This was the case when the team caught Texas assistant DA Bill Conradt, who died by suicide as police attempted to arrest him. But what crimes was he accused of committing?
The Conradt case later raised tough questions about the relationship between television, law enforcement and the pursuit of dramatic footage. A lawsuit against NBC even reached the point where a federal judge ruled that a jury could potentially find the network responsible for reckless conduct.
Crime+Investigation examines what happened to Bill Conradt, and the legal questions his death raised about the ethics of televised sting operations.
Who was Bill Conradt?
Louis William 'Bill' Conradt Jr. was a 56-year-old assistant district attorney in Texas. He previously served as district attorney and had spent decades working in law. He was also accused of sexual misconduct.
In November 2006, Conradt became the subject of a To Catch a Predator investigation. The programme worked with internet watchdog group Perverted Justice and local police to identify adults allegedly seeking sexual contact with minors.
As part of the operation, adult decoys posed online as teenagers. One of them was posing as a 13-year-old boy when he began communicating with someone using the screen name ‘inxs00’. According to court records, the exchanges were sexual in nature.
Police traced the phone number connected to the account to Conradt. However, Conradt differed from many of the other men targeted by the programme in a crucial way. He never turned up at the sting house.
What was Conradt accused of?
The assistant district attorney was accused of attempting to solicit sex from a minor through online communications. At the time, Texas law made sexually explicit communications with someone under 14 a criminal offence, even if no physical sexual contact took place.
Authorities obtained an arrest warrant and a search warrant. However, crucially, Conradt was never charged in court and never convicted of the alleged offence.
The allegations against Bill Conradt were serious, but his death meant there was never a criminal trial in which the evidence could be tested.
Chris Hansen, the host of To Catch a Predator, alleged that child pornography was found on Conradt’s computer. However, this was never established through a criminal conviction.
What happened the day of the raid?
Conradt had not gone to the sting house, so Hansen asked police to go to him instead.
On 5th November 2006, police officers and a Dateline NBC camera crew went to Conradt’s home. Hansen and the production team were there to film the arrest.
The situation quickly escalated. When Conradt didn't answer the door, police called in a tactical team. More than a dozen officers eventually gathered outside the property, including members of a SWAT team carrying rifles.
Police entered the house through a rear door and encountered Conradt in a hallway. According to the federal court record, he said, ‘I’m not gonna hurt anyone.’
Bill Conradt then shot himself with a handgun. He was taken to the hospital by helicopter but died less than an hour later. The To Catch a Predator cameras continued filming, capturing the police operation and emergency response.
NBC later broadcast footage of the incident in a February 2007 episode.
Did the TV show contribute to Conradt’s death?
That question became central to a lawsuit Conradt’s sister, Patricia, filed against NBC Universal.
She argued that NBC had gone beyond simply reporting on a police investigation. The lawsuit alleged that the network had encouraged police to take part in a dramatic operation designed to create compelling television.
In February 2008, U.S. District Judge Denny Chin allowed several of the claims to proceed.
Importantly, the ruling did not establish that NBC caused Conradt’s suicide. Instead, Judge Chin said that, taking the allegations in the lawsuit as true at that stage, a reasonable jury could find that NBC had crossed the line from responsible journalism into reckless interference with law enforcement.
What happened to the lawsuit?
Patricia Conradt sued NBC for $105 million in 2007, arguing that the network had played an inappropriate role in the operation. NBC denied the allegations and defended its conduct.
Before the case could go to trial, NBC Universal and Patricia Conradt settled in June 2008. The amount was not disclosed. Because the case was settled, there was no final jury verdict determining whether NBC was legally responsible for Conradt’s death.
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