Peter Beckett, born 1961, in an old photo from his days as a city councilor in New Zealand.

Image Credit: New Zealand Herald (with permission)

A newly released true crime documentary series centred around a Kamloops trial is gaining traction among Canadian viewers.

Three days after its Nov. 11 release In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery is the most popular Amazon Prime series in the country.

A former Kamloops This Week reporter, credited as an associate producer on the series, said it was a really long time coming and he's glad to see viewers are tuning in to the final product.

"The feedback I've heard from people has been good. It's really neat to see that it's doing well on the Amazon rankings. As a fan of true crime... it's really neat to be on the other side," Tim Petruk, who now works for Castanet Kamloops, told iNFOnews.ca.

The three-part series follows the story of Peter Beckett, a New Zealand man who was accused of killing his Canadian wife while on vacation. Laura Letts-Beckett died in 2010. Beckett was tried twice and fought a successful appeal. The case's time in BC courts came to a close in 2021 when the Crown decided not to try Beckett a third time.

While vacationing in the BC Interior, the husband and wife were boating on Upper Arrow Lake. She drowned in the lake and Beckett was accused of killing her, but his version was that her death was accidental. The first trial ended with a hung jury and the second ended with a conviction that was later overturned.

The body of Laura Letts-Beckett was pulled from Upper Arrow Lake near Revelstoke in 2010. Her husband was nearly tried three times for her suspected murder.

Image Credit: Facebook

BC-based film director Trish Neufeld led the project and Petruk gathered his notes after reporting on the story for years. He delivered an account of Beckett, a unique and colourful character, along with his trials that took surprising twists over the years.

Petruk said he was in contact with the filmmakers for years even before the trial had finished.

Now that In Cold Water is finished and streaming, he'd like to take part in another similar project and said he has a couple irons in the fire.

"I think because of its place geographically, crazy things happen (in Kamloops) because a lot of people come through," he said. "It's an interesting place to be a crime reporter. I think it's probably pretty fertile ground for true crime projects, and I hope I'm able to be a part of it."

As for Beckett, his time in the Canadian court system has come to a close and he's moved to South America. Whether there will be another chapter for him isn't clear, but Petruk said it's not likely to be one that continues here.

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