with us as always. have a good weekend unless have you other plans. on behalf of all of my colleaguesa the networks of nbc news, good night. e networks of news, good night it was like being in a nightmare. because mom was never late. mom didn't miss appointments. she didn't just disappear. >> a mother of two disappears. >> she waved a quick good-bye, walked down the stairs and out the door. >> but she wasn't the first to vanish. this was a town that appeared to be haunted by a serial killer. >> it became sickening to hear that another girl had gone missing. >> was wendy another victim, or could she have been targeted by neighbors she tangled with? she made an enemy? >> she made an enemy for sure. >> or maybe the enemy lurked within. some said wendy had a history of emotional troubles. >> she began screaming obscenities and shouting.

>> could this beloved teacher have had multiple personalities? >> he said that's not wendy, that's shawna. >> was this a woman broken or a woman taken? to find out what happened, an elite group of detectives launched an elaborate mission. >> they're described as right out of hollywood. the staged kidnapping, the fake blood is truly phenomenal. >> all leading up to a sit-down with a man they called "mr. big." a high stakes gamble to reveal the truth on tape for the children left behind. >> what was it like to hear that? >> shattering. >> the story you're about to witness is all too real, though it may seem perhaps implausible,

like a play or a movie with at its dark heart something quite unspeakable. the actors are the family, divided across a thin line separating truth and deception. 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. but in the beginning? 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. >> i always thought of our family as a perfect little family. it didn't matter where we lived, as long as we were together.

that was home. >> this is anna siefert who at the time was anna ratte. home was a country cabin surrounded by trees and mountains of british columbia, canada. this is her little brother, gabriel. >> i always thought of my family and my parents as being perfect. >> especially when you saw the dysfunction in families around you. >> yeah, like parents get divorced? it didn't make sense to me. like how would you deal with that? >> and their parents? in a story as unlikely and romantic as anna and gabriel had ever heard. this shy, rustic french canadian laborer, denis ratte, who fancied himself a gambler, and wendy, the sweet, wild girl who strayed so far from her middle class roots in the connecticut suburbs. they met at a hotel in reno, nevada, of all places. >> and he hardly knew a word of english and she hardly knew a word of french. >> and yet they hit it off.

when it came time for him to leave, she said "take me with you." >> so he did, all the way back to canada, to northern saskatchewan. and against all odds, said denis' sister, deanne, the wayward marriage of the preacher's daughter and illiterate dropout worked. >> what i really liked about them is they seemed to be more friends than lovers. the way they talked to each other, the way they behaved, you know, it almost didn't feel like husband and wife. >> and the kids? anybody could see how close they were. >> it wasn't just, how's anna, what's gab doing now, it was always anna and gab. >> as their friend lois cook could plainly see, denis was fiercely protective of all of them. >> i would trust him to do the right thing and keep me safe. >> he was going to protect his family and protect his kids. >> were you a daddy's girl? >> yeah, i was. he was the rock that i had. he was calm. he was patient.

i always considered him about as close as a hero as i girl could get. >> the strong, silent hero who preferred long solitary walks in the woods to social gatherings. except for poker. there was usually a game in town. the family could certainly use the cash, and denis figured he was pretty good. >> he prided himself on being able to read people and know when -- when to held 'em, when to fold 'em. i guess he sort of could because he was winning quite a bit. >> wendy, an art teacher by trade, taught her kids to help others, to speak up and be heard like her. >> well, i think you're a little too domineering for me now. maybe tomorrow we can talk about that. >> okay -- >> in this video, she organized a peace project that taught student, including her own son, about conflict resolution and respect. >> that's just the ideal of what

she tried to do in her everyday life. >> you were close to your mother? >> very. she was incredibly nurturing, and i think what she succeeded in doing is that she raised a good son and a good man to live in this world as a sane person. >> wendy wanted her children to have the emotional stability she couldn't seem to manage even in her solid middle-class upbringing. she was open about it, too. how she was constantly seeking something missing. how as a teenager she ran away from home, experimented with drugs. how her parents sent her to a psychiatric hospital back in connecticut. >> she wanted to have a peaceful part of her. she wanted to be centered would be the word. but isn't that life? isn't that something common to all of us? >> nor did her quest seem to be over. she was drawn to spirituality and for a time to a little known religious group who called itself the emissaries of divine light. >> i remember her saying that she felt -- she felt at home there.

she did that, though. she religion bounced searching for somewhere to belong. >> and then finally she and the family seemed to find it. a place to belong. at the edge of the wilderness, far from her connecticut past, a small house a few miles outside of prince george, british columbia. denis took a job at a local lumber mill. wendy found work off and on as a substitute teacher at the local high school. that might have been the whole story really except, well, every drama needs a catalyst, right? one day in 1995, denis returned from work at the sawmill and told him family how a log hit his shoulder, knocked him out cold. when he tried to return to work, tough as he was, he just couldn't. >> it turned out he had a lot of nerve damage down the right side of his body. he was left high and dry without being able to work anymore. >> denis could no longer be the family's strong, stable protector.

>> once he lost his job, i think it was up to her to figure out, okay, like how do we make everything work. >> then it was a hot morning in august 1997 when everything stopped working. gabriel was in the kitchen, and he was more or less paying attention when his mom and dad told him they were off to run some errands. >> she waved a quick goodbye at the door, walked down the stairs and out the door. >> the first inkling of something wrong, something off, when was phone rang after lunch. >> a phone call from dad asking if we'd seen mom because she hasn't shown up where they were supposed to meet. >> 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. as each hour crawled by that

afternoon, anna's worry grew. by nightfall, there was still no sign of wendy. coming up, where was wendy? >> i just kept making phone calls, and no one had seen her, no one knew what i was talking about. >> when "dateline" continues. so, uh, yeah, just a silly mistake. i guess i look pretty... ridiculous. [ chuckles ] no one looks ridiculous, bob. progressive is always here for you with round-the-clock service. just so you know, next time, you can submit a claim with our mobile app. good. thanks again for -- for rushing over. are you kidding? this is what 24/7 protection looks like. okay. -you smell like fish. -sorry. i was talking to jamie.

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it was late summer, a hot morning in saskatchewan when wendy and denis ratte drove off to run some errands. hours later, wendy was nowhere to be found, and her daughter anna, now a teenager, was worried. >> when i called the police to say i don't know where she is, can you help, their only question was has it been 24 hours. and it hadn't been. so i couldn't make a reported yet. >> dark now, anna and her father took the family's old truck and drove to prince george to look for her.

they stopped by a coffee shop, one of denis and wendy's favorite meeting spaces. no wendy. but as anna looked around, her eye caught something familiar. >> there was the van sitting under a street lamp in a grocery store parking lot. i was so excited. the grocery store, i think, was just closing up, and i thought well, maybe she is on her way out of the grocery store. so i went and knocked on the door, and they said no, there is nobody here. >> the van, a white plymouth voyager, had picked up a dent neither one of them remembered on the driver's side door. weird. the van was locked, but denis had an extra key. inside everything looked normal, so anna drove the van home. >> that night and the next morning, i just kept making phone calls. i called every friend of mine, every friend of hers. i called every number in the directory that she had. no one had seen her. no one knew what i was talking about. >> what did all of that feel like?

>> it was like being in a nightmare because mom was never late. mom didn't miss appointments. she didn't just disappear. >> the next day, denis and the kids filed a report with the rcmp, the royal canadian mounted police. they created a missing persons poster, a photo of wendy smiling, happy, her hazel eyes magnified by supersized glasses they plastered around town. a day went by, then two, then a week. >> i just kept waiting for her to walk through the door. >> you expected that to happen? >> i didn't know what else to do. for me it was, she's going to come back, right? i'm 15 years old and expecting everything to come and be norm normal. one of my really vivid memories is we went to see a movie together because we felt like let's have a little distraction from this trauma. so i remember standing in line to go to the cinema, just

feeling awful, feeling the weight of what's happening and having it feel so odd that we're doing that. like why aren't we looking for her? >> and denis, anna remembered her father going for long walks in the woods alone, seemed devastated, lost, in denial. >> he broke down for the first time. i'd never seen real emotion come from him before. >> by then, wendy's disappearance became news all over prince george. >> i came into contact as a news reporter covering the disappearance itself. >> frank peebles of the "prince george citizen." >> it was quite a shock that somebody who is apparently normal, everyday, almost a stereotype in that sense could disappear without a trace. she was everybody's mom, and she just disappeared. >> a disturbing echo of other stories peebles knew all too well. >> this town is used to

disappearances. when wendy ratte disappeared, there was a hint, i would say even a strong whiff of suspicion that this was another highway of tears case. >> highway of tears? now, what could that be? coming up -- >> it became sickening after a while to hear the police issue another release that another girl had gone missing. >> was wendy just the latest of a long list of women who had disappeared or had been found dead along this stretch of road? >> you couldn't not look at it as a possibility. it's another woman gone missing in unsubstantiated ways. >> when "dateline" continues. -are you ok? -i did. but even when i was there. i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. so, i talked to my doctor and learned... humira is for people who still have uc or crohn's symptoms

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a terrifying specter haunted the lonely highway that passed through prince george on its way into the wilderness. the highway of tears. 837 miles of exquisite natural beauty winding its way past dramatic snow-capped mountains and breathtaking vistas of lush forests. clear lakes reflecting the blue skies above. 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. >> 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. word was a serial killer was on the loose. >> for me as a reporter, it became sickening after a while to hear the police issue another release that another girl had gone missing. >> had wendy become highway victim number 16? her abandoned van wasn't far from the highway. >> you couldn't not look at it as a possibility. it's another woman gone missing in unsubstantiated ways. for some, that's all that's needed. in many ways it's perfectly valid. >> but as reporter frank peebles dug into the story, he found another so far unsubstantiated theory making the rounds around town. >> i know that the police spend a lot of time thinking about and investigating the jones theory. >> the jones family. once neighbors of the rattes, not exactly friends. in fact, just four months before she disappeared, wendy complained very publicly about

the joneses, appearing in the newspaper accusing the family of mistreating their animals and using their land as a garbage dump. >> she was able to get a fairly big news story happening which made the city react and get them kicked off the property. and the animals taken away. >> it was not only damaging for the joneses, it was humiliating. not the sort of thing they were inclined to take lying down. >> allegedly there were threats made from the joneses to the rattes. >> the jones family matriarch sent a scathing letter to the "prince george citizen," bad-mouthing wendy and her family. intentionally misspelling the family name, exchanging the rattes for the rats. >> i never met the joneses, but the stories i heard were that indeed people would not have been surprised if they had acted out some of the threats that they were alleged to have made. >> oh, and there was no question, said gabriel, his mom did feel threatened by the joneses.

they did not make their anger secret. >> they would hoot and holler as they were passing. that's one of the examples of her community activism. having a bad neighbor and -- >> and doing something about that. fearlessly it appeared because she must have known they would not like this, obviously. >> yeah. and they might have -- she made about a enemy for sure. >> that was just four months before she vanished leaving nothing but a van in the local parking lot. a van with a dent in the door that nobody could remember seeing before. >> it was a pretty sizable dent. so what was it? could it have maybe been some kind of a sign of a struggle? if my mom was accosted, she was thrown into the van, something forceful must have caused this dent. >> and you know how people are they talk. and the longer wendy stayed missing, the more they talked about the joneses. >> so even in the newsroom that

was a leading theory. that's one of your clear first steps in any disappearance or murder case is what's the motive. and the joneses could have a motive. >> there was a grudge. certainly there was some differences. and it certainly was in the media. we looked at that angle. >> prince george detective judy thomas was leading the police inquiry into wendy's disappearance. this early in the investigation, any lead was welcome. what became your focus? >> this is the difficulty with missing person files. you don't -- there's no real starting point. you don't have a scene. you don't have remains. and it makes it difficult. >> thomas decided to focus her investigation closer to home. she discovered that none of wendy's clothes or personal things were missing from the house except for her passport. so the obvious question -- did you have the feeling that this is a woman who might have just up and left? >> we had to look at all

possibilities. you have to keep an open mind when you start on these investigations because we had at that point very limited information on who wendy was. >> where do you start? maybe a phone call to wendy's family back in the states. >> and i hear this story and think for crying out loud, she's done it again. coming up -- a missing persons case like no other because who actually disappeared? wendy or a second personality some say lurked inside? >> we asked them, what is going on? he said, that's not wendy. that's shawna. when she does that, she's shawna. >> i met shawna. she was driving a very fast, very expensive car. she was bragging about how much money she made, and she said "i'm not wendy anymore." >> when "dateline" continues. try new vicks vapocool drops in honey lemon chill

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hello, i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. president-elect joe biden is the apparent winner in georgia, hooking the state for the first time since 1992 as north carolina was called for president trump. the final states to be called in the 2020 election. biden now has 306 electoral votes to trump's 232. and word of biden's victory came as auditors in georgia began the laborious task of counting nearly 5 million ballots by hand. the vice president won the state by more than 14,000 votes. now back to "dateline." wendy ratte. the sweet free spirit of prince george, british columbia, had vanished from her life as slick as a magic acted. her passport nowhere to be found. and as unlikely as it seemed, police had to consider could,

would a dedicated wife and mother of two simply skip town, run away from her own family? which brings us to the greyhound bus station a few blocks from the place wendy's van was found abandoned. gabriel was putting up a missing persons poster there. and -- >> i asked the lady who was there at the cash register, do you recognize this lady on the poster. she did say that she recognized my mom. and i was taken aback. you do? she said, yes, very certainly. we asked her repeatedly, and she said, "i saw her, she was sitting at that table over there." >> what does that do inside when you hear that? >> it's hope, you know. >> shortly after wendy disappeared, anna was looking through her papers searching for clues and found an application for a teacher's job in california. >> i thought, well, maybe -- maybe she's there. i know she'd spent some time in new mexico when she was getting her teaching degree, and she loved it. well, maybe she went there. ♪

>> then there was that religious group she'd been so into the years earlier. the emissaries of divine light. could she have up and joined them? >> they feel they have transcended the conflict intention of their former lives. >> 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. and would often ask, how much did you look into this because i knew there was an american sect. >> but still, why would her own kids think it possible she'd abandon her own family without so much as goodbye? the reason for that was history. she had done it before. >> just disappeared from her life. >> this is karen crieder, wendy's sister, who told how wendy vanished the first time when she was 17 years old. the family finally found her

living in a tent in new hampshire. >> just as our very approach, she began screaming obscenities and shouting and behaving in a menacing, hateful way. and she was not a person i'd ever met, and we knew she was not well and needed care. and forcibly took her and put her in the hospital. >> doctors thought wendy suffered from drug-induced manic depression. but karen said they didn't have time to make an official diagnosis. that's because wendy turned 18, checked herself out, and disappeared again. this time for almost two years. >> when wendy disappeared, all traces of her were gone. she did not call anybody. we couldn't find her. we couldn't track her. >> she showed up suddenly apparently seeking refuge from an abusive relationship she was in at the time and then was gone again. >> there was a clear disengagement from reality. she didn't understand that her

disappearances were hurtful to her family members. didn't get that at all. >> so it went on and on until one day she turned up and announced she was getting married to denis. the family was overjoyed. >> 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. >> wendy became a dedicated wife, teacher, artist, mother. but there were always issues. mood swings for one thing. >> some days she would be so happy, and other days the world would just weigh down on her. >> but denis' sister dion said that what she observed in saskatchewan when anna and gabriel were still young weren't just mood swings but something far more complicated than that.

>> the first time that i really noticed it was with the kids. she was always so gentle with them, soft spoken. and all of a sudden she was very cold and very abrupt with them. and i started noticing denis when this would happen, denis would take her away. he'd say, "oh, we're going for a walk now." when they got back, she was back to normal. and finally we asked him, you know, "what is going on?" finally he said, you know, "that's shawna. that's not wendy." he said, "when she does that, she's shawna." >> wait, did wendy suffer from multiple personality disorder? that was never diagnosed. the stories were all anecdotal. but -- >> i met shawna. wendy and i met in a parking lot somewhere just to say hi. she was driving a very fast, very expensive car. she was bragging about how much money she made.

she was uninterested in anybody else besides herself. and she said, "i'm not wendy anymore." >> shawna seemed to have been around off and on for quite a while. she even called herself that in a letter she wrote her parents when she was just 23. "shawna has magic," she wrote. so two wendys? >> wendy was the good mother, conservative, hard worker, wanted to save the world. while shawna was the wild child. she didn't want to be tied down. she wanted to have a good time. she felt restrained by the bonds of marriage and family. >> maybe it was shawna who got on that bus, or perhaps oshawna? yes, three wendys. she came to light sometimes at seances with anna and gabriel. >> i don't know if they were real or not real.

they seem -- seemed real at the time. she was in touch with a spirit, an ancient spirit with -- named oshanna. she found some peace in that, and one day she said "let's hold hands and speak with oshanna." >> i remember her transforming into this character. this different self. it was a surprise to me. i didn't know she did this. she was a completely different person. she wasn't responding in the way my mother usually does. >> so everybody was looking for wendy, said gabriel, when really, maybe they should have been looking for one of the shawnas. >> i think that she had the capacity to pick up and go. she might have reached that breaking point where she just thought or she didn't think, just snapped and just left. >> then one day after a month of rumors and unsubstantiated theories followed one after the other, there was a break.

wendy had been getting unemployment insurance. and two of her checks had been cashed at an atm in full view of the bank's surveillance camera. coming up -- another potential clue is about to surface from wendy's past. a crucial moment when a high-stakes gamble went very wrong. >> she was so angry. she just vibrated. >> what that told investigators. when "dateline" continues. s.

a month into the investigation, police thought they were a big step closer to solving the mystery surrounding wendy's disappearance. someone cashed in her unemployment checks at an atm. was it wendy? was it someone who had done her harm? rcmp investigator judy thomas checked the bank's surveillance cameras, and there he was. denis ratte, wendy's husband. so you asked him about it? >> and he admitted it. >> straight out? didn't try to lie? >> i don't think he could lie about it when you have a picture of him cashing the check at an atm. >> there is that. did he have an explanation that made any sense? >> yeah. he explained the fact that his wife had disappeared, there was no money coming in. and he needed to pay the bills. it made me wonder about his character. >> denis suddenly became suspect number one.

though it was hardly a surprise police would look at the husband. in fact, in the very first week of the investigation, thomas had questioned him three times. >> i introduced myself as a police officer coming to talk to him. and i said, "how are you doing?" his comment was, "better." >> better? >> it struck me odd right at the beginning. >> did he seem nervous, upset? >> he didn't strike me as overly concerned. not distraught by any means. >> frustrated is what he was, denis told his sister. >> i said, you know, get used to it. you're the husband. they're going to look at you. because 99% of the time, the husband did it. >> didn't help that from one interview to the next, denis appeared to change vital information about the day his wife went missing. >> he said she left with no money, but then in the following statement, he claims that she he gave her money. >> 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 struck me there as going -- >> why didn't he tell me that the first time? >> yes, because it was specifically asked did wendy have money on her. >> you wouldn't think he'd forget about $2,000. >> $2,000, exactly. >> in the fall of 1997, as investigators interviewed more and more people that knew the family, they discovered that ever since the mill accident that denis had lost his job two years earlier, the perfect little family had not been quite so perfect after all. >> well, that was really hard for him, as you can imagine. he liked being the man of the house. >> 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. >> oh, yeah. >> very hard. >> it was very hard. >> and especially hard on the family's finances. their visa card was almost maxed out. the only income came from wendy's work as a substitute

teacher, not exactly a lucrative profession. so denis did what he always did when times were rough. he played poker. >> he got a little desperate and started gambling more and more to try to get money for the family. and gambled too much and started losing money. and money they didn't have. >> 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. >> maybe it's every gambler's excuse. my hand was so good that no one was going to beat it. >> so he threw everything into the pot. >> uh-huh, yep. he bet the highest he could. and yeah, he lost it. so i think that went on to the visa, as well.

and he was terrible. >> mom was very vocal. i remember her yelling. she was so angry. she just vibrated. >> vibrated? >> mom was emotional. i'd never seen her yell at him like that before. she talked about how much she loved dad but was so angry with him, wasn't sure she could forgive him. that it was betrayal, and you put years of devotion into someone, to be cut down like that. >> "your father's addiction is ruining us" wendy told anna, and as was wendy's way, told everyone else who cared to listen too. 16-year-old anna, daddy's girl, began to see the tarnish in her father's halo. >> 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. >> a month before she

disappeared, wendy decided she needed some distance from denis. she took the kids and went to visit her old friend, lois. >> i feel that the decision wendy was making was whether she was going to end the marriage with denis or not. but she knew how much denis loved his children and how much the children loved denis. >> so she decided to give denis one last chance. she went back to prince george, had a heart to heart with him and then called lois. >> when she phoned, she said, "i had a talk with denis. i've decided we're going give it another try." that phone call was happiness with a lot of relief in it. but my sense was if denis betrayed her trust again, it was over. she was finished. >> denis told wendy he'd do whatever it took to save the marriage. but anna could clearly see that wendy's very public complaints

about his failings had been bothering him a lot. >> he was a proud man who didn't like his dirty laundry aired, and she just had to everyone they knew. >> his failings had been put on display. >> and they had never been before. what it took for her to forgive him hurt him deeply. >> but denis told police again and again his marriage was back on track. he had absolutely no reason, he said, to hurt wendy or have anything to do with her disappearance. police said, "prove it." >> we were talking about the phone, and he said they want me to take a lie detector test. i said denis, you're the husband. they're going distrust you, but don't take a lie detector test. they scare me. don't do it. >> denis did not listen to his sister. four months after wendy

disappeared, he volunteered to take the test. how did he seem going in? >> a lot of people are nervous whether they come in. they're unsure of the procedure. >> right. pretty scary, i think. >> if i could categorize him, he was that way. wondering what was going to happen, what's going to take place. >> there was a polygraph question that had to be asked. last august, did you murder wendy? denis ratte answered with conviction, "no, i did not." and waited to see what the machine would say. coming up -- the investigation is transformed when detectives run up against a fresh and frustrating piece of evidence. did it seem to you at the time, hey, this is -- this can't be? >> i remember having a thought of, it's not what i would have expected. >> when "dateline" continues. helps you brush in vital minerals to actively repair and strengthen enamel. so you don't just brush to clean, you brush to build. pronamel intensive enamel repair.

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anywhere, police radar was squarely pointed at her husband, denis, which was no surprise to seasoned prince george reporter frank peebles. >> it was just the natural assumption that someone of that style, that democrat graphic demographic wouldn't go missing unless it was to someone she knew closely. >> denis, of course, had proclaimed his innocence. took a lie detector test to prove it. there's no shortage of other theories in the case, though theories like rumors are easy. separating rumor from fact, that's another matter altogether as detective judy thomas discovered. she chased down the leads. first, the highway of tears. for years, women had been going missing out here. a body occasionally turning up beside the road. a horrifying surprise for passersby. but thomas has investigated those cases and expected no such surprise in wendy's case, was sure of it, in fact.

wendy just didn't fit the profile. >> some of the victims we see are hitchhikers, also involved in drugs and organized crime or some of the folks that are sex trade workers. >> so you were able to dispense with that one pretty quickly? >> uh-huh. there was nothing to indicate that she was in any way connected to any of the missing or murdered women along highway 16. >> so said judy thomas, no highway of tears. but wendy could still have left prince george of her own accord. there was, after all, that sighting at the greyhound bus station. but no, said thomas, false alarm. >> with various files, you get a lot of people saying, oh, i saw this person. they're quite adamant. but when i spoke to the woman, she actually said no, i wouldn't be able to say that at all. we flagged bank accounts, credit cards, social insurance numbers. we put wendy on a canada-wide data base. we checked the airlines, the border crossings, there was just nothing. ♪

>> what about the religious group, the emissaries of divine light, that wendy had been drawn to years before? >> we checked into that and met with dead ends. they said they had never heard of her. >> reports that wendy was mentally ill, that it wasn't her but her alter ego that may have left town? thomas interviewed wendy's mother about her daughter's troubled youth. >> we spoke at length. she told me all about wendy and her background and growing up. >> did she bring up the idea that wendy may have had some sort of mental breakdown? >> there was talk of some issues that wendy may have had. we looked into medical records and there was nothing recent. 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. but that's in a person's youth which is much different than when you're married with children. >> thomas interviewed several of wendy's closest friends. all told her the same thing -- wendy was first and foremost a

mother. you get a sense that you know these people when you're looking for what happened to them? >> you certainly develop an idea of who that person could be. >> and what idea did you develop about wendy? >> for wendy, very caring, loving mother. when i was talking with anna and gabriel, the love that they had for their mother, i knew that it had to be reciprocated. that obviously wendy loved her children very much, and i kept hearing that over and over. that she would not leave her children. >> right. that was a central fact in your mind? >> yeah, definitely. >> so runaway wendy? investigator thomas decided no. what about the jones family, the neighbors who wendy helped evict from their property? they would have had the motive to hurt her. >> you look at the full circumstances of it. that family had moved four months i believe prior. the main person that they alluded to wasn't even in the area. and there was nothing else to

support that. >> the joneses ruled out as suspects in the disappearance of wendy ratte. which left wendy's husband, denis. 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. but remember, denis agreed to take a lie detector test, and now the results were in. >> the polygraph operator came back and told denis that he found him to be truthful. >> you hear right, truthful. letting him go as a suspect must have been difficult. did you say this can't be, or -- >> it -- i remember having a thought of hmm, it's not what i would have expected.

>> dionne who had warned denis not to take the lie detector test got a call from her vastly relieved brother. >> did the lie detector test, and i passed it. he said "see, told me not to do it. it i did it, and it paid off. now they know i didn't do it, and they're leaving me alone. see, i was right." i said, "okay, you were right. you win." >> the case of the disappearance of wendy ratte was at a dead end. >> judy told me, "we don't understand. for other cases there's usually -- at least bogus information coming in. there was nothing coming in." >> was her mom alive? was she dead? could she have abandoned the children who loved her so much? it's a very personal thing the way humans react to trauma. for three years after his mother disappeared, gabriel's way was to forget, force it out of his head. he went to vancouver, registered for college, tried to go on with life. >> i didn't give it a lot of

thought, to the point where i tried to remember her face and i couldn't. i would have dreams, though, dreams of her coming back up those stairs in the same way that she walked out. >> anguish like that couldn't stay hidden for long. it happened in a drama class. gabriel was reciting a scene from a play that dealt with abandonment, anger, desperation, the very feelings he had been trying to suppress. >> i broke down. i was balling. >> in the performance? >> in the classroom. they couldn't console me. i was on the ground. i was heaving. i didn't know -- this is like three years' buildup of just holding it in. i just quit school because i felt like this is too much right now. >> my brother was lost. i say i always felt i connected with my father more. i always felt that my bring connected with her more. i feel a lot of guilt for not being able to have replaced her. >> why should you replace her? >> because then maybe he would

have been okay. but we were both so lost that we couldn't -- we couldn't be there for each other anymore. >> coming up, anna gets word there might be witnesses who know what really happened to wendy. >> who are these people? have they phoned the police? >> when "dateline" continues. available over the counter. voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. voltaren. the joy of movement. my job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. i'm having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. so we're using a speakerphone in the store. is that a good idea? one of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. you're looking for a grout brush, this is -- garth, did he ask for your help? -no, no. -no. we all see it. we all see it. he has blue hair. -okay. -blue. progressive can't protect you from becoming your parents,

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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. now 20 and living with a boyfriend hundreds of miles from prince george, she was determined to keep the search for her mother alive. >> everything else i did was just mechanical motion.

my emotion went into finding her. >> and she began to believe she was quite alone. that the rcmp had let the case go cold. >> they always promised me it wasn't. they promised they want still looking. but nobody would be working on it. finally, i was tired of this file shuffle. i went to the media to say don't forget. this was a person in your community. don't forget. >> she came in carrying this folder of news clippings and possible leads that were connected to her mother. i had talked to many families of many disappeared people over the years, and i could see the light in her eyes that way. this was one of those people who was not going to let this go. >> but anna's father, denis, it seemed, had never given up. not only on never finding his wife again about on himself. >> he was changing over the years in front of my eyes.

this calm, patient, sturdy, steady person was emotional. >> falling apart. >> and angry. he was a mess. i saw him at the food banks. i saw him with girlfriends that he had to pay for. i saw his demeanor change from a proud, working man to a street thug. >> denis was in a downward spiral. desperate for money, he turned to small-time crime, did a bit of drug dealing, got caught. he was lucky. it was his first offense so he only got probation. >> he told me that, you know, he did this drug deal because he needed the money to keep her home, wendy's home. he said, "if i keep the house, she'll have a home to come home to." >> denis lost the house. six years after wendy disappeared, he was living in an apartment in the seediest part of town, collecting bottles to make ends meet. >> it was a blow that he'd gone that low, but when i tried to

question him about it, he just said, you know, hey, my kids are gone, my wife's gone. don't have much left. >> 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. was it possible, she wondered, that it was guilt? >> i thought -- i thought he was hiding something. >> what would he know? >> i don't know. he said, "i have gone through my story. if you need to hear it, go see the police. ask them to tell you the story." >> he was fed up, over it? >> he said, "i'm done. i'm not talking it it anymore." i understand about being fed up. i couldn't imagine how it would feel to be the one investigated. but i also believe in truth. if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to hide. >> but when anna kept pushing, her dad snapped back, said that he was conducting his own investigation.

his target? suspects police had already eliminated, the jones family. >> he said that day that she disappeared, friends of his saw the family from down the street that she had had kicked out. she saw them following her. i said, "where's this coming from? who are these people? have they told the police?" he said, "these people don't want to go to the police. they're afraid of this family." i couldn't understand that he would be okay with not telling the police. >> if her father didn't want to go police, anna decided, then she would. >> 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. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> just at a loss. it felt like there was -- like he was putting a barrier in front of the investigation. >> but there was something anna didn't know. the case of her mother's disappearance wasn't cold at all. in fact, police were actively investigating her father.

four years after denis passed his lie detector test, the rcmp reviewed it. standard practice in unsolved cases. but this time with a quite unexpected outcome. >> the polygraph operator rereads his charts. >> sure. >> and then we find that he was actually deceptive. >> deceptive, meaning according to the police polygrapher, that denis ratte lied when he claimed he had nothing to do with wendy's disappearance. investigator thomas wanted to be sure. >> we had five polygraph operators read those charts. every one of them read to be deceptive. >> right. >> but a failed lie detector test was not enough evidence to arrest denis, let alone charge him with a crime. >> it was hard for me not to tell anna. i couldn't. you have to balance the integrity of the investigation. you don't want it jeopardized.

>> so all thomas could do was file the results away and try to find more evidence against denis. but as the years slowly ticked by one by one, nothing. finally in 2007, a decade now since wendy vanished, thomas decided that if she wanted to get closer to denis to find out what he knew once and for all, she would need some help. >> that's when we looked at passing it off to the unsolved homicide unit. >> vancouver's e-division to be exact. the premier cold case unit in british columbia. get ready for an undercover mission unlike any you have ever seen. coming up -- a sting by investigators worthy of the big screen. >> they're described as right out of hollywood. the staged kidnapping. the fake blood is truly phenomenal. >> mean the man they call "mr.

big" when "dateline" continues. big" when "dateline" continues

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it was a sweet wedding, happy and a little sad too. wistful when anna, the bride, danced with her father. it was 2003. six years since her mother vanished from her life. her father insisted he had nothing to do with it. and tender moments like these, anna said, reminded her how much she yearned for the bond they once had. >> i had to believe him. he was still my -- my hero, my childhood hero was still there. >> but she was sliding. sliding into a darker understanding of her father. until the day in late 2007 when anna met reporter frank peebles at a downtown cafe. >> there's no one else in the room at the time.

we were talking quietly. after about an hour of conversation, she finally just shook her head and said, i'm very sure that it was dad. and the wrench in her eyes when that came out was something i -- i don't think i can ever forget. >> by then, the rcmp's lead investigator, robert burret of the unsolved homicide unit in vancouver, was in charge of the case. one of 800 unsolved cases on the unit's books. >> upon our review, we came to the same conclusion as judy did, that denis ratte was the suspect in his wife's disappearance. >> there wasn't quite enough to charge him. >> yes. and we decided an undercover operation may be the best to move this forward. >> an undercover operation? >> yes. >> the undercover operation the unsolved homicide squad came up with was so elaborate and ambitious, it might seem, frankly, unbelievable. they created from scratch a fake criminal organization complete with detectives posing as

crooks. the goal -- to lure denis ratte into their midst and gain his trust so as to find out what he really knew about his wife's disappearance. >> the rcmp have conducted over 350 of these investigations. >> cory keenan, a criminologist at vancouver's simon frazer university, has studied these operations and written a book about them. >> they have creatively fashioned a backdrop that simulates a real-world criminal environment. so much so that fiction is often difficult to differentiate from reality. >> the rcmp would not discuss the specifics of the undercover operation that targeted denis ratte. but "dateline nbc" reviewed an rcmp summary of the mission. june 2008 an undercover officer

approached denis in prince george. he was looking for someone, he said, but didn't know his way around town. denis agreed to help him. about a week later, another question -- would denis like to make some money on the side delivering bags mostly, their contents unknown. no problem, said denis. and bit by bit as days went by, denis became fully involved in what he clearly believed was a criminal gang. after a couple of months by august, he was helping to smuggle illegal cigarettes and kohl. he skpaifr he exchanged stolen diamonds. he even transport guns, or so he thought. >> over time the target is led to believe that he is an up-and-comer in the criminal organization. >> then it got more serious. denis was asked to threaten a man. he did, though he said he didn't like it. and he guarded a hotel room door as an undercover officer savagely beat a woman.

denis never suspecting it was all an act. >> these undercover officers, they're amazing actors. and they're described as right out of hollywood. the types of scenarios that they do. the beatings, the staged kidnappings, the fake blood pacts. it's truly phenomenal. >> denis bonded with his crime buddies over meals in fancy restaurants and evenings in strip clubs. the pay was good, too, about 12 grand in three months, a little more than he earned in years, he told his sister, without divulging too much. >> he says, i'm earning some money. i'm not eating at the soup kitchen anymore. i thought, great, he got a job. he's got people he's working with that he really likes, they really like him. >> during one of his delivery trips to vancouver, denis stopped to see his son gabriel, now 26 and a college student once more. gabriel noticed that the old self-assured denis was back. >> i saw that glint in his eye where he felt proud of himself again.

and he hadn't felt that since he -- since he'd been injured. >> then three months into the operation, the sting was primed. the real police showed up again in denis' life, told him the investigation had been reopened, he was the prime suspect. and, by the way, he failed that lie detector test all those years ago. now suddenly worried, denis, just as planned, had no one else to turn to except his new friends. the undercover detectives had him just where they wanted him. time for mr. big. >> mr. big is the commanding, all-powerful boss of the criminal organization. he's the one who calls the shots. if he likes you and wants to bring you in, he can make your criminal problems go away. >> and denis, his crime buddies assured him, had all it took to been what the organization valued the most, honest and loyal.

that's a common safeguard of the mr. big technique, said keenan. to ensure as much as possible that the suspect doesn't lie to gain respect. >> just be honest. if you're honest, things will be great. you'll thrive. if you lie, there could be very devastating consequences. mr. big will only accept the truth. >> the truth? so far whenever undercover officers had asked denis about his missing wife, about a dozen times or so, he didn't waver from the story he'd stuck to for more than a decade. he had nothing to do with it. september 27, 2008. a hotel room in winnipeg. lead investigator rob burret monitoring the video in a nearby room. so you've got this elaborate setup. what are you trying to get? >> i've been involved in investigations where we've been able to clear a person of any wrongdoing. so it's not just there to try to find a person guilty. it's there to seek the truth.

>> the moment had come. time for denis to come clean. coming up -- his back against the wall, what would denis say to mr. big? >> i'm going to tell you honestly what happened. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues these are real people, not actors, who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema, you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help heal your skin from within with dupixent. dupixent is the first treatment of its kind that continuously treats moderate-to-severe eczema, or atopic dermatitis, even between flare ups. dupixent is a biologic, and not a cream or steroid. many people taking dupixent

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hello. i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. the number of coronavirus cases has climbed upward to 170,000, pushing the peak ahead of the thanksgiving holiday. experts warn it could climb to more than 400,000 by march 1st. meantime government in new mexico are stepping up requirements. you'll stay at home except f essential businesses and bars and restaurants will offer orders for takeout only.

now back to "dateline". i want you to take this as a job interview, okay? >> yeah, okay. >> that's a job interview. we are going to put everything on the table. >> sure. >> okay? >> denis ratte had come to the moment of truth. he was meeting mr. big, the man he believed to be an all-powerful crime boss. his audition, he believed, for membership, for trust, for help from mr. big. the royal canadian mounted police disguised the identities of the undercover voice on this video. >> i'm going to help you or i'm not going to help you, okay? right now we're going to see who are you as a person. >> first, mr. big told denis he'd have to come clean about his past. especially about the mystery of his wife's disappearance.

that is, of course, if he knew anything about it. the undercover canadian investigator posing as the crime boss wanted denis to feel comfortable, so he spoke french, denis' mother tongue. we have translated and dubbed over their conversation in english. >> there are three things i want -- loyalty, truth, honesty. >> translator: the last one, i didn't -- >> translator: honesty. being honest. >> translator: honesty, honesty, okay. >> then a knock on the door. it was one of the crime boss's alleged cronies with an internal police memorandum. read it, said mr. big, as denis listened. >> our primary suspect and only suspect, husband denis ratte, had just about finished their investigation. they're waiting for satellite results from the u.s. >> satellite results? >> that was a lie, of course. there had been no satellite watching denis on that august day back in 1997. >> they're 100% sure he's the

one who did it. >> for the last 11 years, denis had insisted he had nothing to do with his wife's disappearance. now suddenly for a man he believed to be a crime boss, he changed his story. >> translator: okay, man. what do you have to say? >> translator: i'm going to tell you. i'm going to tell you. i'm going to tell you honestly what happened. the honest truth. i never told it in my life. i ain't happy about it, but i did it. yeah. okay? not happy i did it, but i still did it. everything worked perfect. with a rifle, one shot, you know, nice and easy. >> you shot her where? >> translator: in the head. >> translator: where? >> translator: in the back of the head. i was nervous. i guess, around here. >> he shot wendy, denis told mr.

big, that morning at their house in prince george. she was feeding the ducks, her back to him, when he took aim with a .22-caliber rifle. >> translator: right or left side? >> translator: i got to put myself back there. >> eerie. seeing a husband trying to relive the moment when he said he murdered his wife. >> translator: okay, you -- you move over there like that. yeah. yeah. cuz i remember turning. yeah. and that's your left side, right? >> translator: that -- that's my left side. >> denis said it was just one shot, not a lot of blood. after wendy fell to the ground, he said, he quickly wrapped her body in a black tarp. and that's when he noticed she was still moving. >> translator: i took a bumper jack, right? those old jacks you used to put under a vehicle. >> translator: yeah, okay, okay, yeah. >> translator: there was a big thing with a cover on. i didn't want to leave a mark, right?

i finished her off with that. >> translator: okay, where? >> translator: in the face. >> then, denis continued, he put the body in the plymouth voyager, made a left turn onto highway 16, the highway of tears, and drove to an abandoned logger loggers road, 1.5 hours away. there was a swamp there. >> translator: i made sure, you know, the body -- >> translator: what did you put on it? what did you put on top? >> translator: there was mud, right? and there was a stick. >> translator: okay. >> translator: you know, i stirred it around, and it slipped. oops. >> denis told mr. big he drove back to prince george, got rid of the gun and his wife's i.d. along the way, and left the van in this grocery store parking lot. then he wandered around for a bit before he called anna to report her mom was missing. later that night, he came back

with anna to the coffee shop so that she would discover the van. >> right after the curb there, the house is right there. >> the day after his meeting with mr. big, denis took two other undercover officers to the scene of the crime. of course, he believed he was talking to fellow gang members. >> after you shot her, what happened then? >> i brought her more behind the garage. >> you just shot the once, right? >> once. i don't believe in twice. >> then denis' criminal friends asked him to take them to where he dumped wendy's body. they told him they needed to make sure there was no evidence left. they took a while to find the place. he hadn't been back in 11 years. finally, he was sure. >> i walk there, right in there. everything makes sense. >> and as they continued searching the area -- >> oh, my gosh. >> what? >> i'm putting my gloves -- it's black -- that's the tarp. that's a piece of the tarp.

>> a couple of days later, anna got a call. it was the police asking her to come downtown. >> and they sat me down and said, we've just arrested your father for the murder of your mother. >> what was it like to hear that? >> shattering. i broke down. but at the same time, it's like i knew. i just didn't want to believe it. the signs were all there. he changed so much. and just hearing it made it kind of official that the person i held so dear wasn't there anymore. >> not a big surprise really. anna had doubts about her father all along. but her brother, gabriel? well, that was a different story altogether. >> i can't imagine how it --

anyone would say it's 100% certain that my dad did it. coming up -- and gabriel isn't the only one with doubts. a confession is one thing. but did police have anything else on denis? >> i'm going, wait a minute. they found absolutely nothing to corroborate his story. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues want to brain better? unlike ordinary memory supplements- neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference.

gabriel was at work when the call came. the police. they said they needed to see him right away. >> it was a big mystery until they brought me in. they put me in a room with a camera, and that's when they broke it to me. they told me that they know it that my father did it and they are 100% certain of it. >> and your very first reaction was what? >> it felt like my world came unhinged.

like it was a dream. like reality had ceased to be. >> and right then and there, the police asked gabriel to record a message to his father. and so, of course, he did. >> i spoke to him in french about how i loved him, first of all. and i told him, you know, if this happened, i just want to know more. so please be honest. please know that i'm here for you. >> then with a heavy heart, gabriel called wendy's family in the states. but instead of anger he was surprised to encounter skepticism. >> i didn't believe it. all of us, i think, saw him as someone who would die to protect his family. that was who he was. that was his source of pride. and at that point, it was the only sense of pride he had left. >> the only way gabriel thought he could make sense of it all was to confront his father in jail.

>> and i told him right away, "i want the truth, whatever it is. i want you to tell me the truth." he told me, "no, no, no. there's no way. i didn't do it." >> so gabriel wondered what hard evidence had police found that proved his father was guilty of murder. it turned out they hadn't found anything. >> oh, my gosh! that's a piece of the tarp. >> no -- >> a day after denis led undercover detectives to the scene of his alleged crime, they returned to pick up that piece of tarp and sent it to the lab for analysis. but the results were inconclusive. they also searched the area for a body, of course, but found nothing at all. not so much as a bone. >> it's not unusual for us to over that kind of time frame because of animal activity and things of that nature not to find either any remains or very few remains. >> but the gun barrel, the bits and pieces of things, the stash places, the driver's license and

so on. none of that showed up. >> because it had been over ten years. i think it's reasonable to expect that a lot of those items would have just disappeared. >> you didn't have the physical evidence that would back up his confession in the undercover operation. >> it wasn't physical evidence, correct, yeah. >> yeah. >> and i'm going, wait a minute. they found absolutely nothing to corroborate his story. >> it was painful for diane to watch the video of her brother's confession in the pretrial hearing. she was shocked to learn that the confession was the only thing the cops had to convict her brother of killing his wife. that's when she became convinced. denis lied to mr. big. his confession was false. >> oops. >> the proof -- first, she says, the chilling details of his alleged cold-blooded murder. they just didn't make any sense. >> i cannot see him the way he left her doing that. and not -- especially not with his kids in the house. there's no way he would have taken that kind of chance.

i asked, you know, do you hear gunshots all the time. he said, no, and especially not first thing in the morning outside my window. there was no gunshot. >> he said he did it between the house and the garage. >> you would have heard that surely. >> i definitely would have heard it. >> then there were the clothes denis said wendy wore. a little sweater and jogging pants. >> 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. >> and something else bothered him. something that he told his crime bud wles they asked whether he was capable of murder. >> earlier on in the mr. big sting, he confessed to killing a man with rat poison. and it turned out that he died of natural causes. >> so it was -- >> never happened. >> it was a fake confession. >> it was. >> why lie? gabriel said denis was desperate to be accepted by his new tough guy friends. and if he lied about one murder,

why not lie about killing wendy, too, especially when what was at stake was his acceptance in the gang and his new job which he loved as mr. big's loyal foot soldier. >> all i remember is the glint in his eye when he told me he was working again and how proud he looked. perhaps a regular crime organization wouldn't have even brought him in, you know. they might not have looked at him twice. >> probably. >> but there crime organization was designed for him. >> he made a lot of money, first of all. he had more money than he'd made in a long, long time. he had found a newfound family that respected him, that thought he was intelligent. he didn't want to lose that. >> but perhaps the most convincing argument diane heard was from denis himself when she went to see him in jail. for all those years he told her, the police just wouldn't leave him alone. and his meeting with the crime boss, he said, was a chance to finally make the investigation stop.

>> translator: we're going to talk to each other, and we're going to work out these problems. we're going to fix them, okay? >> okay. >> translator: that's what we're going to do. we're going to fix them. >> he said, i couldn't just tell them i did nothing. then they can't help me. 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. he had such a miserable, lonely life that i believe he -- at that point would have said almost anything. >> rumors of suspects nabbed by a mr. big sting had every right to cry foul said criminologist cory keenan. >> a technique's ingenuity is also an achilles' heel. while it's capable of exposing the guilty, it can also induce innocent suspects to falsely confess to a crime they didn't commit.

so the litmus test to me is corroboration. without it, there's no way to tell whether the suspect is telling the truth or is lying. >> but anna watched the tapes, too, and she said she could tell. >> i know my father. i know my father's mannerisms. i know when he's hiding something, when he's not being truthful about something. >> and unlike diane and gabriel, unlike her mom's family in the states, anna was convinced her father was guilty as charged. >> i knew when he was talking about mom's murder that it was true. that's what he had done. >> they've just about finished their investigation, and they're waiting for satellite results from the u.s. >> satellite results? >> that's when he folded. and i saw the look in his eye. i'm caught. i saw the "i'm caught" look in his eye. >> the gunshot, the top, the carjack, her brother gabriel said it was all a lie. but anna had another word for it

-- >> that's cold. that's cold to talk about let alone cold to do. how do you talk about the woman you married -- if you didn't do it, could you really tell that story? >> or could he or would he tell it again? coming up -- whatever denis was or was not about to say, did it really make sense that he would hurt wendy? >> she was the breadwinner. she was the brains of the operation. why would he kill her? >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues you clean dishes as you cook,

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denis ratte caught by an elaborate undercover sting, a confessor to murder, sat in jail while outside his two children, anna and gabriel, battled over whether he belonged there. anna thought the confession finally proved it. her father was guilty. but she stood alone. most of her family sided with gabriel. there was no evidence, said denis' sister. and no motive.

>> she was the breadwinner. she was the brains of the operation. she was his everything. he lost the house, he lost kids had, he lost his whole life. why would he kill her? >> in his confessions, denis said he had a reason that would seem so twisted neither police nor anyone else believed it. wendy, remember, was said to have a split personality, and denis claimed on the day he killed her, he knew wendy's alter ego shanna was going to sexually assault anna, and, of course, he couldn't let that happen. >> translator: i had no choice. save the little girl. save my little girl. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> i was disgusted. of all the lies you could have said for why, you had to involve me again. >> it was all too much for anna. the lies, the betrayals. and now her dear brother refusing to share her outrage.

he wants very much to think that your father's not guilty. >> i know. and i can't blame him. >> you think he's living in la-la land? >> i think he didn't see what i saw. he wasn't there. i was up to my neck in investigation trying to find mom. and i can absolutely understand wanting to be blind to -- to the truth because i was there too. >> you know, i don't want to speak badly about my sister. i really don't. but she -- because of her activism in trying to find my mother for so many years, it was a lot easier for her, i think, to put everything aside and create an easy solution. me, i'm happy to live with a question mark. i'm not going to pretend it's anything else. >> why don't you want to see something, some kind of evidence to back up what you've seen on tape? >> the look in his eye on that tape was -- >> that's all you needed? >> that's what i needed. >> or is it that you cannot

stand living in this kind of doubt any longer? you had to make a decision, and that was the decision you made? >> absolutely not. i saw the truth on his face in that tape. >> the man who ran the undercover sting, lead investigator robert burret, insisted his team took all precautions to make sure denis did not lie when he met with mr. big. >> we're always mindful of false confessions -- >> allegations are made all the time, i suppose. >> correct. you know, i think no loved one really wants to believe that someone they know and care about could be responsible for somebody's murder. >> in fact, the mr. big undercover technique has been repeatedly upheld by canada's supreme court. 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.

>> by that point in time, denis ratte's read all his rights that he's provided under the canadian law. he had access -- >> sure. he could have said, ah, i thought i was talking to a crime boss. i thought i was lying to him. >> absolutely. >> and he didn't. >> no, he didn't. >> whether denis was arrested, he had no idea he'd been caught in a sting and that his confession to mr. big was on tape. but then police showed him the video. >> translator: does there come back to you? is it coming back to you, denis? >> at first for almost an hour, denis seemed to be in denial. >> translator: i have never said that, that i killed her, first of all. >> translator: yeah, but, denis, we know that you killed her. >> translator: no, i never said it. >> translator: you said it there, denis. >> translator: i said it there? >> translator: yes. >> that's when the investigator decided to show another tape. the one police made of gabriel the day they told him they'd arrested his father.

>> translator: so essentially, your son is asking you to tell the truth. >> and then a couple of minutes later, a silent nod from denis. and he began to confess again. the same details. the gunshot, the tarp, the carjack. >> translator: she didn't suffer. >> translator: she didn't suffer. >> translator: no. >> translator: it was fast? >> translator: it still hurts. >> it had been a heavy burden to carry that with him all those years, said denis. >> translator: you know, it's hard. you know, someone who looks at you and -- i've always loved my wife. i still love her even. we were friends, okay? >> translator: you have killed your friend? >> translator: yes. it took everything for me to do it. i even cried when i did it. >> there. he admitted it. and this time -- >> translator: check the tapes. it's all true. >> translator: it's all true what you told them? >> translator: it was all true. >> translator: you didn't tell any lies at all?

>> a confession is the strongest evidence anybody ever gets, and, you know, it generally does the deed. >> mm-hmm. >> and that was a pretty detailed confession, not just once but twice. >> and that's the one i don't understand more than anything. i've asked him more than once, why did you confess when you knew you were in front of a police officer? 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. and you know, he didn't have much of an answer. so if there's an ounce of -- of me not believing him, it's there. this is the biggest weak not in the story. >> but given the continued absence of any physical evidence, that second confession still wasn't enough to convince gabriel his father killed his mother. is it possible, though, that you're liing in denial? >> no. you're not the first person to ask me. >> i bet.

>> i definitely thought about it, right? but i think i'm very balanced about it. i can be swayed by the evidence whether it is going to be for or against my dad. so show me the evidence. >> were denis' two confessions evidence enough? a jury was about to decide. a brother and sister were prepared to fight for what they believed was right even if that meant losing each other. coming up -- anna and gabriel face off in court. >> what was it like to testify in the trial? it was hard. >> i kind of hold my breath and go through it and hope that whatever i say is going to work for my dad. >> when "dateline" continues. to. hope you got dental. and that's why i love healthmarkets, your insurance marketplace. they guarantee you won't find a lower price anywhere for the plans they offer, so you're not just picking by chance.

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december, 2010. 13 years after wendy ratte disappeared. in a prince george courtroom, the battle lines were drawn. but this case wasn't only the crown versus denis ratte. it was brother against sister on the witness stand. what was it like to testify at the trial? >> it was hard. >> you looked out there and you saw everybody else who -- in the family who disagreed with you. >> they're still my family. >> mm-hmm. >> it was tough for all of them. they all felt i should have been with him more, siding with him more. but i had to make it clear that someone has to defend mom. >> denis ratte pleaded not guilty and recanted the confessions he made both to mr. big and to the police after his arrest. his son gabriel was one of just two witnesses the defense presented to the court. >> i kind of hold my breath and go through it and hope that whatever i say is going to work for my dad.

and i'm utterly aware that i'm the only person there who is speaking in favor of my dad. >> denis' defense lawyer hammered undercover detectives about the lack of physical evidence and pointed out lies denis had told mr. big and his gang. proof, he told the jury, that denis' confession should not be believed. and after four weeks, the end to the 13-year-old mystery was finally at hand. it took the jury just two hours to find denis ratte guilty of second-degree murder. >> so much of my life had been devoted to finding the truth, and now i had the truth. it's not the truth i wanted. but nonetheless, that's what i had. i'm happy i have it. >> interesting that getting the truth isolates you from the people you love. >> that's true, but isn't the truth more important? it doesn't matter that my family

might be angry with me for the results of where this trial led. the truth is all that matters. and that's how mom led her life. >> anna knows all too well the truth will never replace her mother's soothing voice. it's what she yearns for most these days. if only she could speak to the spirits the way her mom once did. >> because i think maybe then i could hear her. maybe then she could speak to me. if i open up enough, she'll come talk to me. but not today. >> and there was one last moment of melodrama. right after denis was sentenced to 15 years to life, he suddenly turned to anna. >> as she was leaving, he said to her, keep looking for your mother.

>> gabriel was not there for the guilty verdict. he had to leave right after his testimony. back to vancouver to his college graduation that very same day. >> it was such a whirlwind. 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? where are my parents to watch this, you know. >> his father was in prison, and his mom -- well, his mom -- do you really believe in your heart that there is a possibility that your mother is still out there somewhere? that she -- she's still alive? >> that's the part of me that is the dreamy, hopeful, optimistic side. you hear the odd story once in a while of someone returning after 25 years of absence. you do hear it. it does happen. so, man, whenever i do hear one

of those, i just -- my heart fills with optimism. >> there hasn't been a happy ending for anybody -- >> no. >> -- except your sister anna thinks it's the right ending. >> it's hard being on the other side of this with her because i'd love to have a better relationship with her. we try to talk with each other every once in a while. and it's kind of a thing where she says, i can't believe you can't see it. it's so obvious. he's guilty. and i say, how on earth could you think that? there's no evidence. and we just go back and forth like that. it's impossible to get around. >> gabriel is a father himself now. a daughter. his father in prison has met his little girl now, but when we last spoke with anna, she had not. >> we love each other very much. we have a bond as brother and sister that was very strong as children, and it will always be there. this is a really difficult situation for both of us.

we'll get through it. it's all that's left of our perfect family is the two of us. we can't let that go. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." >> i was tied up and tortured. these people almost murdered me. >> i was terrified. >> your mother just fighting for her child. that's universal. >> she survived a harrowing ordeal in one of the most dangerous places on earth. >> tonight they have brought me out to kil