mood swings for one thing. >> so he did, all the way back to canada, to northern saskatchewan. being honest. it's another woman gone missing in unsubstantiated ways. proof, he told the jury, that denis' confession should not be believed. Wendy Ratte was 47-years-old when she disappeared while shopping in downtown Prince George in August of 1997. >> yeah. sweet. now they know i didn't do it, and they're leaving me alone. , >> then there was that religious group she'd been so into the years earlier. there was nothing to indicate that she was in any way connected to any of the missing or murdered women along highway 16. her abandoned van wasn't far from the highway. 16-year-old anna, daddy's girl, began to see the tarnish in her father's halo. >> but given the continued absence of any physical evidence, that second confession still wasn't enough to convince gabriel his father killed his mother. >> i've been involved in investigations where we've been able to clear a person of any wrongdoing. i remember her yelling. separating rumor from fact, that's another matter altogether as detective judy thomas discovered. >> they feel they have transcended the conflict intention of their former lives. big." it didn't make sense to me. there's no shortage of other theories in the case, though theories like rumors are easy. >> a canadian news magazine show profiled the group and found it had several branches in the u.s. >> i helped police look into that and gave them every information i could. so please be honest. i thought, great, he got a job. a stand mixer for less than $20. the lies, the betrayals. he skpaifr he exchanged stolen diamonds. 837 miles of exquisite natural beauty winding its way past dramatic snow-capped mountains and breathtaking vistas of lush forests. i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. >> interesting that getting the truth isolates you from the people you love. this different self. >> 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. >> when wendy disappeared, all traces of her were gone. one of the worst things about a cois how it can make you feel. like why aren't we looking for her? she was in touch with a spirit, an ancient spirit with -- named oshanna. i finished her off with that. >> i thought, well, maybe -- maybe she's there. Sieppert, who was a teenager when her mother disappeared, tried for years to track her mother down, talking to newspapers and radio shows every year on her mother's birthday, but to no avail. >> she made an enemy for sure. it cleans grease five times faster on easy messes, just spray, wipe, and rinse. she was so angry. >> the first time that i really noticed it was with the kids. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. >> translator: that -- that's my left side. and the animals taken away. On Friday the judge is expected to rule on when Ratte will be eligible for parole. who are these people? you live it. >> denis said it was just one shot, not a lot of blood. >> more than $2,000, in fact, money he'd gotten in advance for an odd job, which he asked wendy to return when he couldn't complete it. >> it was quite a shock that somebody who is apparently normal, everyday, almost a stereotype in that sense could disappear without a trace. i said, "where's this coming from? big" when "dateline" continues. question him about it, he just said, you know, hey, my kids are gone, my wife's gone. i called every friend of mine, every friend of hers. i couldn't. >> it had been a heavy burden to carry that with him all those years, said denis. Currently, Gabriel Ratt works as a Candidat La Profession d'Ingnieur at BBA. it's so obvious. but even when i was there. it was the police asking her to come downtown. >> when "dateline" continues. one of 800 unsolved cases on the unit's books. >> he was fed up, over it? but did police have anything else on denis? >> yeah. >> i feel that the decision wendy was making was whether she was going to end the marriage with denis or not. denis took a job at a local lumber mill. and -- >> i asked the lady who was there at the cash register, do you recognize this lady on the poster. 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. hello, i'm dara brown. be kinder to yourself and tougher on your cold sores. >> he was changing over the years in front of my eyes. >> we're always mindful of false confessions -- >> allegations are made all the time, i suppose. healthmarkets has options from both on and off the government exchange. finally, i was tired of this file shuffle. >> but denis told police again and again his marriage was back on track. she wanted to be centered would be the word. rinse. he has blue hair. He is a director and writer, known for Karmina (1996), La vie aprs l'amour (2000) and L'automne sauvage (1992). she was his everything. >> i'm going, wait a minute. a day went by, then two, then a week. word was a serial killer was on the loose. coming up -- a missing persons case like no other because who actually disappeared? >> i bet. and he hadn't felt that since he -- since he'd been injured. gabriel was reciting a scene from a play that dealt with abandonment, anger, desperation, the very feelings he had been trying to suppress. >> there was the van sitting under a street lamp in a grocery store parking lot. anna had doubts about her father all along. >> why don't you want to see something, some kind of evidence to back up what you've seen on tape? >> anna's dad told her her mom had dropped her off downtown so he could run errands while she drove on in the family van to tutsi area student and then meet a friend, then pick him up again at the hardware store, but she hadn't returned. when i was talking with anna and gabriel, the love that they had for their mother, i knew that it had to be reciprocated. -i did. It's not yet certain if Harpaz will be back with a camera crew to film a piece for Dateline NBC, a newsmagazine driven by stories of true crime, investigative reporting, and social justice. >> translator: in the face. >> translator: in the back of the head. and best of all, their services are completely free. so you've got this elaborate setup. >> had wendy become highway victim number 16? yeah. you don't -- there's no real starting point. >> we had to look at all, possibilities. the joy of movement. "shawna has magic," she wrote. he was meeting mr. big, the man he believed to be an all-powerful crime boss. they're going distrust you, but don't take a lie detector test. it continuously scans the market to compare your plan against any new options year after year, so you don't have to stress about picking your health insurance plan. have been okay. Denis Ratte then leaned forward and listened intently, as Sieppert begged him to reveal where he left the body. >> for the last 11 years, denis had insisted he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance. >> was this a woman broken or a woman taken? clear lakes reflecting the blue skies above. investigator thomas wanted to be sure. and against all odds, said denis' sister, deanne, the wayward marriage of the preacher's daughter and illiterate dropout worked. certainly there was some differences. i want you to take this as a job interview, okay? he said, "i have gone through my story. i say i always felt i connected with my father more. have a good weekend unless have you other plans. >> that was a lie, of course. wondering what was going to happen, what's going to take place. >> when "dateline" continues. they said they had never heard of her. >> if her father didn't want to go police, anna decided, then she would. Police investigated: a bitter feud with a neighbor, a possible serial killer. that's not wendy." don't use if you're allergic to dupixent. mr. big will only accept the truth. me, i'm happy to live with a question mark. gabriel said denis was desperate to be accepted by his new tough guy friends. >> she was the breadwinner. businesses today are looking to tomorrsetting the course.ating. now suddenly for a man he believed to be a crime boss, he changed his story. >> translator: i'm going to tell you. . it has triple action support for your joints, cartilage and bones. that's cold to talk about let alone cold to do. >> i said, you know, get used to it. so i thought, what about 15 minutes. by nightfall, there was still no sign of wendy. >> but there was something anna didn't know. >> i don't know. it took the jury just two hours to find denis ratte guilty of second-degree murder. "I think there are stories where the elements that they contain are universal and appeal to a wide audience. June 14, 2013. it felt like there was -- like he was putting a barrier in front of the investigation. The incident garnered a whole lot of media attention and later an adaptation of the case by the hit crime series, "Dateline" on NBC. >> when "dateline" continues want to brain better? he's the one who calls the shots. >> he told me that, you know, he did this drug deal because he needed the money to keep her home, wendy's home. >> translator: i have never said that, that i killed her, first of all. after about an hour of conversation, she finally just shook her head and said, i'm very sure that it was dad. >> so even in the newsroom that, was a leading theory. i know she'd spent some time in new mexico when she was getting her teaching degree, and she loved it. gabriel noticed that the old self-assured denis was back. >> denis told wendy he'd do whatever it took to save the marriage. >> because then maybe he would. it was one of the crime boss's alleged cronies with an internal police memorandum. >> and i'm going, wait a minute. for other cases there's usually -- at least bogus information coming in. and it turned out that he died of natural causes. might be angry with me for the results of where this trial led. she might have reached that breaking point where she just thought or she didn't think, just snapped and just left. >> oh, my gosh! my job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. >> then three months into the operation, the sting was primed. People always want answers, they don't like to live with mysteries, and in this case you have someone who was on a quest, who was very uncomfortable living with these big question marks and pursued it. but the results were inconclusive. and bit by bit as days went by, denis became fully involved in what he clearly believed was a criminal gang. this was a town that appeared to be haunted by a serial killer. his comment was, "better." on behalf of all of my colleaguesa the networks of nbc news, good night. but nonetheless, that's what i had. Closed Captioning and Described Video is available for many CBC shows offered on CBC Gem. december, 2010. i just didn't want to believe it. >> there was talk of some issues that wendy may have had. >> i brought her more behind the garage. >> 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. i know when he's hiding something, when he's not being truthful about something. thomas interviewed wendy's mother about her daughter's troubled youth. Join Facebook to connect with Gabriel Ratt and others you may know. >> denis suddenly became suspect number one. that was who he was. she took the kids and went to visit her old friend, lois. desperate for money, he turned to small-time crime, did a bit of drug dealing, got caught. >> you expected that to happen? i was just in the lineup late to get my gown, get ready to go to the ceremony and think, oh, my god, you know, what is this life? we have translated and dubbed over their conversation in english. >> couldn't be true because of my recollection of the morning, he said that she was wearing totally different clothes than i saw her leave with. >> a couple of days later, anna got a call. >> they're described as right out of hollywood. he did, though he said he didn't like it. your sign's pointing at my sign, so people are gonna look at my sign. the gunshot, the tarp, the carjack. the one police made of gabriel the day they told him they'd arrested his father. >> eerie. >> or maybe the enemy lurked within. and gambled too much and started losing money. that was home. >> i know. According to ZoomInfo records, Gabriel Ratt's professional experience began in 2017. we asked her repeatedly, and she said, "i saw her, she was sitting at that table over there." so two wendys? he had access -- >> sure. When Wendy Ratte, a free-spirited mother of two, goes missing, police go under cover to crack the case. >> i always thought of my family and my parents as being perfect. dealdash.com offers hundreds of auctions every day. When Wendy Ratte, a free-spirited mother of two, goes missing, police go under cover to crack the case. we sold an ipad worth $505 for less than $24. >> that's true, but isn't the truth more important? >> i'm going to tell you honestly what happened. >> discovery of a body --, >> by the time wendy ratte vanished, at least 15 women had either gone missing or been found dead somewhere along this highway. >> translator: yes. so i couldn't make a reported yet. without it, there's no way to tell whether the suspect is telling the truth or is lying. >> just at a loss. wendy and i met in a parking lot somewhere just to say hi. and he needed to pay the bills. this is a really difficult situation for both of us. Wendy Ratte, a free-spirited mother of two, was missing. >> it wasn't physical evidence, correct, yeah. >> what did all of that feel like? >> you didn't have the physical evidence that would back up his confession in the undercover operation. 43:49. he was left high and dry without being able to work anymore. when she does that, she's shawna. on the Internet. so you don't just brush to clean, you brush to build. boomer naturals, you and your family deserve the best. >> frustrated is what he was, denis told his sister. she saw them following her. >> when "dateline" continues you clean dishes as you cook. clear lakes reflecting the blue skies above. >> very hard. it was his first offense so he only got probation. save the little girl. 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. coming up -- a sting by investigators worthy of the big screen. >> and i hear this story and think for crying out loud, she's done it again. another life-changing technology from abbott, so you don't wait for life. >> wendy, an art teacher by trade, taught her kids to help others, to speak up and be heard like her. It is a priority for CBC to create products that are accessible to all in Canada including people with visual, hearing, motor and cognitive challenges. >> sure. >> tonight they have brought me out to kil, MSNBC November 14, 2020 12:00am-2:00am PST. Since then Gabriel has changed 4 companies and 3 roles. >> all leading up to a sit-down with a man they called "mr. you might even qualify for free health insurance with no monthly premium. >> if i could categorize him, he was that way. we couldn't find her. >> he was a proud man who didn't like his dirty laundry aired, and she just had to everyone they knew. they also searched the area for a body, of course, but found nothing at all. they couldn't console me. he was still my -- my hero, my childhood hero was still there. >> he said he did it between the house and the garage. >> we had five polygraph operators read those charts. >> the joneses ruled out as suspects in the disappearance of wendy ratte. wendy or a second personality some say lurked inside? >> why should you replace her? >> in the classroom. -sorry. approached denis in prince george. >> i asked, could i have my father's storyline, and the police said, we don't have a clear picture of what happened that day because every time he tells us a story, there are big holes. >> the truth? to find out what happened, an elite group of detectives launched an elaborate mission. he hadn't been back in 11 years. but she stood alone. and he began to confess again. >> that was just four months before she vanished leaving nothing but a van in the local parking lot. 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