TruTV will air special on Rouse killings

A television special on the 1980 murders of Bruce and Darlene Rouse airs tonight on TruTv, formerly known as the CourtTv network.

The special, called "House of Secrets," was filmed this summer and includes archive footage from the scene of the June 5, 1980, shotgun murders of the couple in their house outside Libertyville. The program features interviews with those involved with the case and dramatic recreations of some of the more important moments in the investigation.

Included in the show are interviews with Lake County Undersheriff Charles Fagan, Chief Deputy Michael Blazinic, former state's attorney's office investigator David Ostertag, Deputy State's Attorney Jeff Pavletic and others involved in the investigation and reporting of the crime.

The couple were murdered by their then 15-year-old son, William Rouse, who confessed to the killings in 1996 while in police custody in Key West, Fla., on bank robbery charges.

The show will feature the first television showing of segments of Rouse's videotaped confession, given to Fagan and a Florida investigator. In it, Rouse said he killed his parents because of ongoing conflict with his mother over his drinking and drug abuse.

Rouse, who was convicted in August 1996 and sentenced to 80 years in prison, squandered his share of his parent's $1 million estate and wound up a derelict living in Florida prior to his arrest.

The special is part of the network's "Dominick Dunne: Power, Privilege and Secrets" series, which returns to the air tonight.

Dunne is a former reporter for Vanity Fair magazine and other publications who rose to fame with his coverage of the O. J. Simpson and Scott Peterson murder trials in California.

Pavletic, a native of Libertyville and the lead prosecutor on the Rouse trial, said Thursday the case affected him personally and professionally.

"I was going to college in Texas when I heard of the murders," Pavletic said. "Little did I know that I would someday be involved in sending the person responsible for this crime to prison."

The program is set to air at 9 p.m., on TruTv, which still may be listed in television guides as CourtTv.