coming up -- and gabriel isn't the only one with doubts. it's what she yearns for most these days. the best thing we can be is striving to be at our best. -no, no. Join Facebook to connect with Gabriel Ratt and others you may know. she was bragging about how much money she made, and she said "i'm not wendy anymore." >> by then, wendy's disappearance became news all over prince george. stand living in this kind of doubt any longer? there had been no satellite watching denis on that august day back in 1997. yes, three wendys. wondering what was going to happen, what's going to take place. >> but anna's father, denis, it seemed, had never given up. but then police showed him the video. it was his first offense so he only got probation. >> what does that do inside when you hear that? don't have much left. >> what? Search the history of over 797 billion It'd take an elaborate, undercover mission to finally crack this case. Due to a planned power outage on Friday, 1/14, between 8am-1pm PST, some services may be impacted. it was 2003. six years since her mother vanished from her life. which left wendy's husband, denis. her abandoned van wasn't far from the highway. i won these bluetooth headphones for $20. they took a while to find the place. >> i'm going to tell you honestly what happened. but that's not catchy, is it? and that's what we deliver. boomer naturals, you and your family deserve the best. he changed so much. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents. >> there. call the number on your screen, or visit healthmarkets.com. here's what's happening. for all those years he told her, the police just wouldn't leave him alone. >> that's true, but isn't the truth more important? the family finally found her, living in a tent in new hampshire. so i couldn't make a reported yet. i'd never seen her yell at him like that before. >> if her father didn't want to go police, anna decided, then she would. what about the jones family, the neighbors who wendy helped evict from their property? if only she could speak to the spirits the way her mom once did. the emissaries of divine light. one who did it. >> they always promised me it wasn't. though it was hardly a surprise police would look at the husband. but nonetheless, that's what i had. >> wendy became a dedicated wife, teacher, artist, mother. Thirteen years after his wife disappeared, a Prince George, B.C., man has been sentenced to life in prison for her murder, but the couple's adult children remain conflicted about her death. >> he said he did it between the house and the garage. clear lakes reflecting the blue skies above. Snapped Georgina Misener. >> the proof -- first, she says, the chilling details of his alleged cold-blooded murder. >> i thought -- i thought he was hiding something. 555 Followers, 615 Following, 901 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Gabriel Ratt (@grattehandy) grattehandy. that's universal. and now her dear brother refusing to share her outrage. >> and what idea did you develop about wendy? my emotion went into finding her. i don't believe in twice. denis was asked to threaten a man. >> it wasn't just, how's anna, what's gab doing now, it was always anna and gab. so you asked him about it? >> then three months into the operation, the sting was primed. >> that was just four months before she vanished leaving nothing but a van in the local parking lot. >> did the lie detector test, and i passed it. they're unsure of the procedure. >> the look in his eye on that tape was -- >> that's all you needed? the way they talked to each other, the way they behaved, you know, it almost didn't feel like husband and wife. finally, i was tired of this file shuffle. >> there was the van sitting under a street lamp in a grocery store parking lot. available at boomernaturals.com, cvs stores, and cvs.com. >> the first inkling of something wrong, something off, when was phone rang after lunch. >> translator: in the head. you don't have remains. she was so angry. >> maybe it was shawna who got on that bus, or perhaps oshawna? >> it was such a whirlwind. and his meeting with the crime boss, he said, was a chance to finally make the investigation stop. inside everything looked normal, so anna drove the van home. Storyline Wendy Ratte, a free-spirited mother of two, goes missing; police discover she had a bitter feud with a neighbor before she went missing. me, i'm happy to live with a question mark. all auctions start at $0 and everything must go. >> he says, i'm earning some money. so on. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! >> i think that she had the capacity to pick up and go. in the beginning there was wilderness, vast and lovely and a happy little family, a bring and sister who loved each other and loved their mom and dad. >> but there was something anna didn't know. i was so excited. i guess i look pretty ridiculous. 16-year-old anna, daddy's girl, began to see the tarnish in her father's halo. he had absolutely no reason, he said, to hurt wendy or have anything to do with her disappearance. The 1997 murder of a Prince George woman and the subsequent conviction of her husband for second-degree murder 13 years later could be featured on a U.S. network television show. >> so he threw everything into the pot. i always felt that my bring connected with her more. meantime government in new mexico are stepping up requirements. >> the next day, denis and the kids filed a report with the rcmp, the royal canadian mounted police. >> sure. Accident, Suicide, or Murder Hollywood Horror. Sign Up for Free. that was never diagnosed. what it took for her to forgive him hurt him deeply. approached denis in prince george. i'm 15 years old and expecting everything to come and be norm normal. they scare me. it had been years since she took the van to run errands for her husband and never return, but the pain of her parents failed to return. so two wendys? this was a person in your community. the joy of movement. and it hadn't been. and so, of course, he did. you know what's good about this? he created the suspicion himself, of course, when he illegally cashed wendy's unemployment insurance checks, and his gambling habit almost bankrupted the family, led to those terrible fights just months before wendy disappeared. of all the lies you could have said for why, you had to involve me again. so denis did what he always did when times were rough. progressive is always here for you with round-the-clock service. the beatings, the staged kidnappings, the fake blood pacts. after trying other medications. the undercover detectives had him just where they wanted him. >> could this beloved teacher have had multiple personalities? >> and then we find that he was actually deceptive. It'd take an elaborate, undercover mission to finally crack this case. >> the day after his meeting with mr. big, denis took two other undercover officers to the scene of the crime. >> we were talking about the phone, and he said they want me to take a lie detector test. Box 500 Station A Toronto, ON Canada, M5W 1E6. >> when "dateline" continues. i thought, great, he got a job. >> uh-huh, yep. four months into the investigation of wendy ratte's disappearance, no sign of wendy. here's what's happening. >> it felt like my world came unhinged. why would he kill her? >> judy told me, "we don't understand. >> and i hear this story and think for crying out loud, she's done it again. he had to leave right after his testimony. she was always so gentle with them, soft spoken. so i think that went on to the visa, as well. >> for me as a reporter, it became sickening after a while to hear the police issue another release that another girl had gone missing. June 14, 2013. DATELINE SUNDAY PREVIEW: The Perfect Guy 00:58 DATELINE FRIDAY PREVIEW: The Bad Man 00:58 Remembering Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin 02:50 DATELINE FRIDAY. they found absolutely nothing to corroborate his story. but new ways of working demand a new type of network. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. >> it was very hard. could she have abandoned the children who loved her so much? >> mm-hmm. >> i definitely would have heard it. to find out what happened, an elite group of detectives launched an elaborate mission. you get a sense that you know these people when you're looking for what happened to them? >> so gabriel wondered what hard evidence had police found that proved his father was guilty of murder. i want you to take this as a job interview, okay? there was a time in her life when she did -- i don't know if you want to call it disappear, but she lost contact with her family. wendy found work off and on as a substitute teacher at the local high school. >> denis' defense lawyer hammered undercover detectives about the lack of physical evidence and pointed out lies denis had told mr. big and his gang. when we understand what's possible, we won't settle for less. they told me that they know it that my father did it and they are 100% certain of it. >> mm-hmm. >> you couldn't not look at it as a possibility. why wouldn't you say, oh, well, of course, i didn't do it, you know, i was just trying to get in with this organization. i'm craig melvin. it took everything for me to do it. they created from scratch a fake criminal organization complete with detectives posing as, crooks. >> that was a lie, of course. >> just as our very approach, she began screaming obscenities and shouting and behaving in a menacing, hateful way. i remember her yelling. >> his failings had been put on display. and although the rcmp did not find any physical evidence to corroborate denis' confession to mr. big and his gang, it turned out they did have evidence that was perhaps much more compelling, and they got it after denis ratte was arrested. intentionally misspelling the family name, exchanging the rattes for the rats. have they phoned the police? there's no shortage of other theories in the case, though theories like rumors are easy. right after denis was sentenced to 15 years to life, he suddenly turned to anna. >> very hard. was it someone who had done her harm? just wipe, and rinse. >> and it was on one of those smoke-filled nights, sometime around february 1997, six months before wendy disappeared when hunched around the poker table, in the company of high roller, denis found himself staring at a hand that spelled salvation, with $25,000 in chips sitting on the table. and waited to see what the machine would say. coming up -- a missing persons case like no other because who actually disappeared? and reliable coverage, nationwide. >> the moment had come. denis lied to mr. big. i didn't do it." she was the brains of the operation. have a good weekend unless have you other plans. >> yes. certainly there was some differences. now back to "dateline". >> you shot her where? >> when "dateline" continues. they might not have looked at him twice. denis took a job at a local lumber mill. >> she waved a quick goodbye at the door, walked down the stairs and out the door. she was shocked to learn that the confession was the only thing the cops had to convict her brother of killing his wife. >> some days she would be so happy, and other days the world would just weigh down on her. >> tonight they have brought me out to kil, MSNBC November 14, 2020 12:00am-2:00am PST. there is the gamblers/desperate hand, the voice, the presence summoned from beyond, and the audacious undercover caper, all to solve an 11-year-old mystery and put under the light of intense personal scrutiny a most unlikely villain, who depending on who you choose to believe may not be a villain at all. it took the jury just two hours to find denis ratte guilty of second-degree murder. 615 following. >> during one of his delivery trips to vancouver, denis stopped to see his son gabriel, now 26 and a college student once more. >> or is it that you cannot. if you lie, there could be very devastating consequences. >> straight out? >> but she wasn't the first to vanish. they said they needed to see him right away. >> translator: okay. the first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Police investigated: a bitter feud with a neighbor, a possible serial killer. >> translator: i said it there? they're quite adamant. and also past the sights of unsolved mysteries -- >> you say there are six active investigations -- cbc news -- >> more missing women on the highway of tears. >> but anna had a sense, she said, a nagging feeling that it wasn't just grief that kept denis from being the strong, dedicated father she had known. >> coming up, anna gets word there might be witnesses who know what really happened to wendy. being honest. In 2020, the NBC Dateline episode featured the case of the gruesome 2003 rape and murder of Katie Sepich by Gabriel Adrian Avila, for which he is serving a 69 years jail sentence. might be angry with me for the results of where this trial led. after wendy fell to the ground, he said, he quickly wrapped her body in a black tarp. >> we had five polygraph operators read those charts. while it's capable of exposing the guilty, it can also induce innocent suspects to falsely confess to a crime they didn't commit. they said they had never heard of her. "This story will be as valid if you tell it a year from now or two years from now," he said. was she dead? please know that i'm here for you. she wanted to have a good time. -no. his son gabriel was one of just two witnesses the defense presented to the court. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. >> then there were the clothes denis said wendy wore. dealdash.com, the fair and honest bidding site. >> was wendy another victim, or could she have been targeted by neighbors she tangled with? pronamel intensive enamel repair. by nightfall, there was still no sign of wendy. in a story as unlikely and romantic as anna and gabriel had ever heard. >> all leading up to a sit-down with a man they called "mr. >> i think he didn't see what i saw. >> but there crime organization was designed for him. >> i spoke to him in french about how i loved him, first of all. he was looking for someone, he said, but didn't know his way around town. back to vancouver to his college graduation that very same day. >> oops. they just didn't make any sense. >> when "dateline" continues you clean dishes as you cook. >> it wasn't physical evidence, correct, yeah. they seem -- seemed real at the time. >> i always thought of my family and my parents as being perfect. sounds like you've been shopping for health insurance. i really don't. >> he was fed up, over it? now, what could that be? four months after wendy. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems, such as eye pain or vision changes, or a parasitic infection. >> our family thought that he was a very good influence on her and the fact that she chose to take a chance and take her away was nothing short of amazing. >> translator: yes. >> you were close to your mother? >> sure, and if your physicality and your ability to provide for your family are taken from you, that's got to be hard on the ego. When Wendy Ratte, a free-spirited mother of two, goes missing, police go under cover to crack the case. but when i spoke to the woman, she actually said no, i wouldn't be able to say that at all. at the edge of the wilderness, far from her connecticut past, a small house a few miles outside of prince george, british columbia. >> when "dateline" continues. >> translator: you have killed your friend? last august, did you murder wendy? >> they're still my family. >> he got a little desperate and started gambling more and more to try to get money for the family. the undercover canadian investigator posing as the crime boss wanted denis to feel comfortable, so he spoke french, denis' mother tongue. >> the case of the disappearance of wendy ratte was at a dead end. >> translator: the last one, i didn't -- >> translator: honesty. it happened in a drama class. >> when i heard that mum had to change bank accounts into her name, she had to protect the family's income, that was the first waver i had with my father's character. he said, "these people don't want to go to the police. He confessed to his crime upon finding his DNA while he was serving a 9-year jail sentence at the New Mexico Corrections Sytem in 2006. she took the kids and went to visit her old friend, lois. the highway of tears. >> so much of my life had been devoted to finding the truth, and now i had the truth. The horrendous crime occurred on the night of August 31, 2003. 2022. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. i was nervous. A crew from the U.S. network television show Dateline NBC is in Prince George gathering footage and interviews for an episode on the 1997 murder of a Prince George woman and the subsequent. >> but the gun barrel, the bits and pieces of things, the stash places, the driver's license and. -keep it coming. for some, that's all that's needed. >> just at a loss. a brother and sister were prepared to fight for what they believed was right even if that meant losing each other. not the sort of thing they were inclined to take lying down. right now we're going to see who are you as a person. disappeared, he volunteered to take the test. On tour View all. >> i knew when he was talking about mom's murder that it was true. she was everybody's mom, and she just disappeared. the family was overjoyed. >> gabriel is a father himself now. Wendy Ratte was 47-years-old when she disappeared while shopping in downtown Prince George in August of 1997. he was the rock that i had. Uploaded by so roll up those sleeves. you had to make a decision, and that was the decision you made? he was calm. we have a bond as brother and sister that was very strong as children, and it will always be there. good. 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. >> when "dateline" continues want to brain better? >> translator: she didn't suffer. >> and then finally she and the family seemed to find it. >> just be honest. he was left high and dry without being able to work anymore. the only income came from wendy's work as a substitute. we'll get through it. he wasn't there. she was bragging about how much money she made. >> when "dateline" continues. a body occasionally turning up beside the road. so he says, i made up a story that i thought they would find me some kind of alibi or something, he says, and they'll fix it so that the cops would get off my case. no one knew what i was talking about. -are you ok? there was no gunshot. we couldn't track her. >> translator: in the back of the head. it turned out they hadn't found anything. >> this is the difficulty with missing person files. it was a sweet wedding, happy and a little sad too. it's truly phenomenal. that's shawna. he even transport guns, or so he thought. that's not going to swim about in your brain. but no, said thomas, false alarm. who are these people? like a play or a movie with at its dark heart something quite unspeakable. just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. >> what that told investigators. a macbook pro for under $16. we looked at that angle. >> i broke down. desperate for money, he turned to small-time crime, did a bit of drug dealing, got caught. >> and this is "dateline." >> and i told him right away, "i want the truth, whatever it is. hours later, wendy was nowhere to be found, and her daughter anna, now a teenager, was worried. denis never suspecting it was all an act. >> translator: that's what we're going to do. he could have said, ah, i thought i was talking to a crime boss. , >> then there was that religious group she'd been so into the years earlier. Police investigated: a bitter feud with a neighbor, a possible serial killer. the case of her mother's disappearance wasn't cold at all. Dateline Latest Episodes NEW S31 E19 | 02/26/23 The Window NEW S28 E29 | 02/24/23 Before Daylight S31 E18 | 02/17/23 Footprints in the Snow S31 E17 | 02/10/23 Who Killed Mindy Morgenstern? now 20 and living with a boyfriend hundreds of miles from prince george, she was determined to keep the search for her mother alive. >> i know my father. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. >> translator: yes. it's all that's left of our perfect family is the two of us. >> he was a proud man who didn't like his dirty laundry aired, and she just had to everyone they knew. >> you didn't have the physical evidence that would back up his confession in the undercover operation. >> we had to look at all, possibilities. now suddenly worried, denis, just as planned, had no one else to turn to except his new friends. today, we are redefining how we do things. now they know i didn't do it, and they're leaving me alone. >> i cannot see him the way he left her doing that. -sorry. and against all odds, said denis' sister, deanne, the wayward marriage of the preacher's daughter and illiterate dropout worked. >> interesting that getting the truth isolates you from the people you love. >> a month before she, disappeared, wendy decided she needed some distance from denis. and brand new cars for less than $900. they're going distrust you, but don't take a lie detector test. he skpaifr he exchanged stolen diamonds. we all see it. what did you put on top? our neck gaiters, face masks, and one-piece shield masks are certified 99.99% anti-microl with nano-silver technology. "In telling the story like this, you really tell it through the characters who are involved, and if we can't secure the character's participation, then we can't tell the story," he said. >> just disappeared from her life. i didn't know -- this is like three years' buildup of just holding it in. and gambled too much and started losing money. >> she began screaming obscenities and shouting. that might have been the whole story really except, well, every drama needs a catalyst, right? i know she'd spent some time in new mexico when she was getting her teaching degree, and she loved it. >> you looked out there and you saw everybody else who -- in the family who disagreed with you. he had found a newfound family that respected him, that thought he was intelligent. To connect with gabriel Ratt ( @ grattehandy ) grattehandy were the clothes denis wendy... After lunch and started gambling more and more to try to get money for the rats said `` 'm! 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