A suspected paedophile has killed himself moments after admitting to viewing gruesome child pornography to a predator hunter who confronted him at his home.
Donald Letcher, 60, was seen on camera describing his TV habits in great detail to Predator Poachers’ Alex Rosen.
Rosen convinced him to admit to his crimes after showing up at his home in Canova, South Dakota.
She then called the police, but before they could arrest Letcher, he returned home and shot himself in the head.
“The officer turns his back, Letcher walks into the house and we hear a bang,” Rosen told the talk show host. Breanna Morello.
Alleged paedophile Donald Letcher (right) killed himself during a confrontation with predator hunter Alex Rosen (left) moments after admitting to viewing appalling child pornography.
“I didn’t really register what it was because it wasn’t a loud gunshot, I think he had a .22 and then the cop kicked the door down.”
Rosen’s team captured the aftermath on camera, as police were seen frantically trying to gain entry to the property.
“The cameraman walks through the building and sees him with a hole in his head bleeding. A few hours later he was airlifted to the hospital where he was pronounced dead,” Rosen added.
The paedophile hunter said he first connected with Letcher via the messaging app Telegram, where the suspect was “acting quite sexually” and requesting nude photos from what he believed to be a 12-year-old girl.
Rosen said he got Letcher to admit to viewing child pornography involving children from a young age in an attempt to secure a conviction, as state law was unclear about soliciting pornography from a fictitious child.
He was unaware that Letcher had previously been convicted of two counts of sexually abusing his girlfriend’s nine-year-old daughter in Bridgewater in 1995.
However, the charges were dropped on a technicality and Letcher was exonerated a year later.
But that was not his only brush with the law and in 2022 Letcher was convicted of running over a six-year-old girl.
Letcher shot himself in the head at his South Dakota home before police could arrest him.
Letcher was sentenced to just 25 days in jail for the offense, which occurred while he was drunk at the wheel.
Rosen posted her interaction with the pervert on X, where the video has been viewed more than 18 million times.
“I firmly believe that all human lives have value, except those of pedophiles,” wrote one viewer.
“All’s well that ends well #Justice,” another person added.
But the clip has also sparked negative reactions.
“The fact that there wasn’t an actual child he was talking to and he was tricked into thinking he was talking to someone who was actually a decoy, they’re now going to be charged with something for his death,” one person responded to the post.
“Alex should be arrested,” another wrote in response to a post about Letcher’s suicide.
“I hope you morons get charged,” wrote a third person.
During an interview with Morello, Rosen revealed that he was detained by police after the incident, but was eventually released.
Rosen’s team captured the aftermath of the operation on video and shared it on his X profile.
He was then inundated with critics claiming he should be arrested for his role in Letcher’s death.
He remains confident in his behavior and claims that Letcher has no one to blame but himself.
“It couldn’t have happened to anyone worse,” he told Morello. “I know it’s still a human life and all that, but when we say death penalty for pedophiles we mean it.”
“Someone has to be the one to experience it, so to hell with him.
“There’s really no valid reason to attack us for approaching an individual in this manner. We never approach anyone unless we have reasonable grounds to believe they’re harming children.”
He added that even though he was talking to a decoy, Letcher was still “being a predator” by requesting explicit photos from what he thought was a minor.
“If he likes torturing children, fuck him,” Rosen said.
Rosen’s group is just one of many involved in anti-pedophilia activism and covert operations like the one carried out against Letcher.
Rosen was detained by police, but said he was eventually released and remained steadfast in his actions.
Rosen told talk show host Breanna Morello that he has no regrets about his behavior.
Some have suggested that their tactics actually hamper police work and potentially violate human rights and privacy due to the fact that they often livestream their efforts online.
Although such vigilantism is not illegal, activists can be charged if they break the law in the course of their actions.
In 2021, Illinois pedophile hunter Kyle Swanson was charged with felony counts of unlawful restraint and obstruction of justice for his undercover operations.
The charges were eventually dropped, but the case highlights the potential legal problems these activists may face.
