A channel detector includes a belief propagation detector that is coupled to a channel and adapted to receive a channel output and to generate tentative bit decisions based in part on the channel output. The channel detector further includes a causal and anti-causal channel output module coupled to the belief propagation detector and adapted to generate causal and anti-causal channel outputs based on the tentative bit decisions. The channel detector also includes a noise prediction module coupled to the causal and anti-causal channel output module and adapted to predict noise samples based on a difference between the channel output and the causal and anti-causal channel outputs. Further, the channel detector includes a noise prediction module adapted to whiten the channel output with the predicted noise samples and to return the whitened channel output to the belief propagation detector to generate new tentative bit decisions.