Chris Hansen Details the Shocking Moment Suspect Killed Himself During Arrest on NBC’s ‘To Catch a Predator’

Host of To Catch a Predator, Chris Hansen details the episode that left a suspected predator dead and landed NBC in a huge lawsuit.

Speaking with Sgt. Sean Larkin on the Thursday episode of their podcast Coptales & Cocktails, Hansen detailed the story that still haunts him.

Larkin said, “There was an Assistant District Attorney, if I’m correct, that was down in Texas. Basically put himself in a position –”

Hansen jumped in saying, “He had two different chats with two different decoys online and he never showed up to the sting house. This is in Murphy, Texas.”

Hansen was referring to an operation conducted in Murphy, Texas in November of 2006. 25 men were caught in the sting as they made arrangements to meet up with decoy ‘underage children’ at a sting house outfitted with police and NBC’s cameras.

One of the men involved in the investigation, Louis “Bill” Conradt Jr., killed himself as the cops arrived to arrest him the following day when he failed to show up to the sting house.

He continued, “The cops go out to arrest him.”

“As they would anybody else,” Larkin added.

“Now, they were doing this as a courtesy as opposed to making a big show out of it and arrest him at the DA’s office the next day. I had no control over it. I would have preferred, television-wise, they go into the DA’s office the next day, cause that’s a big show. It wasn’t my call.” Hansen said.

“That’s big on TV!” Larkin added.

“So, we’re in the street, they go in. Break down the door, he doesn’t answer and they get to the hallway and he’s got a pistol pointed to his head,” Hansen recalled.

As the officers entered, Hansen said the suspect said, “Guys, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“He shoots himself in the head and he later dies,” Hansen said. “There’s a helicopter in the backyard, it’s horrible. You never want to see anybody do that under any circumstances and it’s jarring, and it’s dark. It’s sad for a lot of reasons.”

“Ultimately, his sister sued NBC for millions and millions of dollars. The case was settled, for a lot of different reasons,” he continued. “I’m sad for the sister, I truly am but the reason more likely than him being worried about Dateline being involved was that ultimately when they did the forensic examination of his laptop they found multiple images of child porn.”

“Also what was found on that computer was evidence that helped convict Conrad’s boss, the DA of that county, for financial mismanagement of the office and theft of money,” Hansen added. “He ended up doing federal time. He’s the one who got on TV and criticized everybody involved in the investigation and then he then goes to federal prison!”

“Who’s the bad guy there?” Hansen asked.

Larkin jumped in to say, “There are people who are doing things wrong, they get caught, but they want to blame it on the show. It’s a lack of accountability — that’s a problem in society in general right now!”

“It is,” Hansen agreed. “But there’s an overcorrection sometimes.”

Listen via Coptales & Cocktails.