Was a convicted wife killer wrongfully sentenced?

The Michael White case continues to spark outrage more than 15 years after he was convicted of killing his pregnant wife and dumping her body in a ditch, but Canadian journalist Byron Christopher says the anger might be misplaced due to misleading information.

"There are so many red flags with this story," Byron tells CTV News on Thursday.

The parole board granted White, 45, a six-month extension on his day parole from the Beaver Creek Institute in Gravenhurst, Ont. earlier this month, as the public questions why the man convicted of second-degree murder and indignity to a body should be granted any freedom.

He was sentenced in 2006 to life in prison with no chance of parole after his wife Liana White, four months pregnant with their second child, was stabbed to death in July 2005.

Christopher says homicide detectives in Edmonton, Alberta, led the public to believe White found his wife's body during the search.

"So why wouldn't they [the public] be outraged?" he asks.

The national award-winning investigative reporter has followed the case of the convicted murderer from the beginning and says based on evidence he’s collected over the years, something doesn’t sit right with him.

Christopher says White did not find his wife's body. "That was quite misleading, and it came out at trial."

He says the area where the body was eventually found was checked several days before by Michael White's search team of roughly a dozen people with no success.

He adds the police search coordinator directed White's team to search the area a second time, "and bingo! There's the body lying in full view at the top of a shallow ditch. So that's where the story comes out that White led searchers to the body. In fact, he did not."

According to Christopher, it's possible White was wrongfully convicted.

"It's not unusual, unfortunately, to be wrongfully convicted of murder in Canada. I mean, there are almost two dozen proven cases of that. When you think of it, it's amazing, isn't it?" he notes.

"I can't speak for White's innocence or guilt," Christopher adds. "I'm here talking to you about facts that have been uncovered by a number of people."

In 2020, White was granted unescorted day parole at a halfway house in the Barrie, Ont. area.

For its decision to extend day parole, the board considered White's supportive relationships, including his daughter, family and fiancée. He got engaged last December, and the panel says she has a "full appreciation" of his history.

White has long maintained his innocence.