Canada Pig Farmer Serial Killer

Robert Pickton

Serial killer Robert Pickton, is a Canadian pig farmer and serial killer The detailed reasons for the judge s ruling cannot be reported in Canada because.

A pig farmer by trade, Robert William Pickton of The Supreme Court of Canada heard For further reading on Robert William Pickton and his serial killer.

Robert Pickton

Robert William Willie Pickton born October 26, 1949 of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada is a former pig farmer and serial killer.

Robert Pickton; Born: Robert William Pickton October 24, 1949 age 66 1 Port Coquitlam, British Columbia: Other names: The Pig Farmer Killer: Criminal penalty.

canada pig farmer serial killer

Robert William Willie Pickton born October 24, 1949 2 of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada is a former pig farmer 3 and serial killer convicted in 2007 of the second-degree murders of six women. 4 5 He is also charged in the deaths of an additional twenty women, 6 many of them prostitutes and drug users from Vancouver s Downtown Eastside, but these charges were stayed by prosecutors in 2010. 7 In December 2007 he was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years the longest sentence available under Canadian law for murder. 8

During the trial s first day of jury evidence, January 22, 2007, the Crown stated he confessed to forty-nine murders to an undercover police officer posing as a cellmate. The Crown reported that Pickton told the officer that he wanted to kill another woman to make it an even 50, and that he was caught because he was sloppy. 9

Background edit

On February 6, 2002, police executed a search warrant for illegal firearms at the property owned by Pickton and his brother Dave. He was taken into custody and police then obtained a second court order to search the farm as part of the BC Missing Women Investigation, when personal items including a prescription asthma inhaler belonging to one of the missing women were found. The farm was sealed off by members of the joint RCMP–Vancouver Police Department task force. The following day Pickton was charged with storing a firearm contrary to regulations, possession of a firearm while not being holder of a licence and possession of a loaded restricted firearm without a licence. He was later released and was kept under police surveillance.

On Friday, February 22, 2002, Pickton was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. On April 2, 2002 three more charges were added for the murders of Jacqueline McDonell, Diane Rock and Heather Bottomley. A sixth charge for the murder of Andrea Joesbury was laid on April 9, 2002 followed shortly by a seventh for Brenda Wolfe. On September 20, 2002 four more charges were added for the slayings of Georgina Papin, Patricia Johnson, Helen Hallmark and Jennifer Furminger. Four more charges for the murders of Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving and Inga Hall were laid on October 3, 2002, bringing the total to fifteen, making the investigation the largest of any serial killer in Canadian history. On May 26, 2005, twelve more charges were laid against him for the killings of Cara Ellis, Andrea Borhaven, Debra Lynne Jones, Marnie Frey, Tiffany Drew, Kerry Koski, Sarah de Vries, Cynthia Feliks, Angela Jardine, Wendy Crawford, Diana Melnick, and Jane Doe unidentified woman bringing the total number of first-degree murder charges to 27.

Excavations continued through November 2003; the cost of the investigation is estimated to have been 70 million by the end of 2003, according to the provincial government. 10 dead link Currently the property is fenced off, under lien by the Crown in Right of British Columbia. citation needed In the meantime, all the buildings have been demolished. Forensic analysis was very difficult because the bodies of the victims may have been left to decompose or allowed to be eaten by insects and pigs on the farm. During the early days of the excavations, forensic anthropologists brought in heavy equipment, including two 50-foot 15 m flat conveyor belts and soil sifters to find traces of remains. On March 10, 2004, it was revealed that human flesh may have been ground up and mixed with pork from the farm. According to the book On the Farm, by Stevie Cameron, he took orders from the public and bought and sold ground meat containing human meat. He also sold meat to businesses in the Fraser Valley that contained human meat; the province s health authority later issued a warning. Another claim made is that he fed the bodies directly to his pigs. 11

Preliminary inquiry edit

A preliminary inquiry was held in 2003, the testimony from which was covered by a publication ban until 2010. At the preliminary inquiry it was revealed that in 1997 Pickton had been charged with attempted murder in connection with the stabbing of a prostitute. The woman survived and testified at the 2003 preliminary inquiry that after driving her to the Port Coquitlam farm and having sex with her, Pickton slapped a handcuff on her left hand, and stabbed her in the abdomen. She also had stabbed Pickton. Later both she and Pickton were treated at the same hospital, where staff used a key they found in Pickton s pocket to remove the handcuffs from the woman s wrist. The attempted-murder charge against Pickton was stayed on January 27, 1998, because the woman had drug addiction issues and prosecutors believed her too unstable for her testimony to help secure a conviction. The clothes and rubber boots Pickton had been wearing that evening were seized by police and left in an RCMP storage locker for more than seven years. Not until 2004 did lab testing show that the DNA of two missing women were on the items seized from Pickton in 1997. 12

In 1999, Canadian police were tipped that Pickton had a freezer filled with human flesh on his farm. Although they interviewed Pickton and obtained his consent to a search of his farm, the police never conducted one. 13

Trial edit

Pickton s trial began on January 30, 2006 in New Westminster. 14 He pleaded not guilty to 27 charges of first-degree murder in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The voir dire phase of the trial took most of the year to determine what evidence might be admitted before the jury. Reporters were not allowed to disclose any of the material presented in the arguments.

On March 2, 2006, one of the 27 counts was rejected by Justice James Williams for lack of evidence. 15

On August 9, 2006, Justice Williams severed the charges, splitting them into one group of six counts and another group of twenty counts. 16 The trial proceeded on the group of six counts. The remaining 20 counts could have been heard in a separate trial, but ultimately were stayed on August 4, 2010. 7 Because of the publication ban, full details of the decision are not publicly available; but the judge has explained that trying all 26 charges at once would put an unreasonable burden on the jury, as the trial could last up to two years, and have an increased chance for a mistrial. The judge also added that the six counts he chose had materially different evidence from the other 20. 17

Much of the evidence heard during the voir dire phase of the trial in 2006 was never heard by the jury because of rulings by the trial judge. This evidence was covered by a publication ban up until August 4, 2010. 18

Jury selection was completed on December 12, 2006, taking just two days. Twelve jurors and two alternates were chosen. 19

The date for the jury trial of the first six counts was initially set to start January 8, 2007, but later delayed to January 22, 2007. 20 21

January 22, 2007 was the first day of the jury trial at which Pickton faced first-degree murder charges in the deaths of Marnie Frey, Sereena Abotsway, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe and Mona Wilson. The media ban was finally lifted and for the first time Canadians heard the details of what was found during the long investigation. In his opening statement, Crown Counsel Derrill Prevett told the jury of evidence that was found on Pickton s property, including skulls cut in half with hands and feet stuffed inside. The remains of another victim were stuffed in a garbage bag in the bottom of a trash can and her blood-stained clothing was found in the trailer in which Pickton lived. Part of one victim s jawbone and teeth were found in the ground beside the slaughterhouse, and a. 22 calibre 22 revolver with an attached dildo containing both his and a victim s DNA was in his laundry room. 23 In a videotaped recording played for the jury, Pickton claimed to have attached the dildo to his weapon as a makeshift silencer. 11

As of February 20, 2007, the following information has been presented to the court: 24

During Pickton s trial, lab staff testified that about 80 unidentified DNA profiles -roughly half male and half female have shown up on evidence.

The items police found inside Pickton s trailer: A loaded. 22 revolver with a dildo over the barrel and one round fired, boxes of. 357 Magnum handgun ammunition, night-vision goggles, two pairs of faux fur-lined handcuffs, a syringe with three millilitres of blue liquid inside, and Spanish fly aphrodisiac.

A videotape of Pickton s friend Scott Chubb saying Pickton had told him a good way to kill a female heroin addict was to inject her with windshield washer fluid. A second tape was played for Pickton, in which an associate named Andrew Bellwood said Pickton mentioned killing prostitutes by handcuffing and strangling them, then bleeding and gutting them before feeding them to pigs.

Photos of the contents of a garbage can found in Pickton s slaughterhouse, which held some remains of Mona Wilson.

In October 2007, a juror was accused of having made up her mind already that Pickton was innocent. The trial judge questioned the juror, saying It s reported to me you said from what you had seen you were certain Mr. Pickton was innocent, there was no way he could have done this. That the court system had arrested the wrong guy. The juror denied this completely. Justice Williams ruled that she could remain on the jury since it had not been proven she made the statements. 25

Justice James Williams suspended jury deliberations on December 6, 2007 after he discovered an error in his charge to the jury. 26 Earlier in the day, the jury had submitted a written question to Justice James requesting clarification of his charge, asking Are we able to say yes i.e., find Pickton guilty if we infer the accused acted indirectly. 27

On December 9, 2007, the jury returned a verdict that Pickton is not guilty on 6 counts of first-degree murder, but is guilty on 6 counts of second-degree murder. 28 A second-degree murder conviction carries a punishment of a life sentence, with no possibility of parole for a period between 10 to 25 years, to be set by the trial judge. On December 11, 2007, after reading 18 victim impact statements, British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Justice James Williams sentenced Pickton to life with no possibility of parole for 25 years the maximum punishment for second-degree murder, and equal to the sentence which would have been imposed for a first-degree murder conviction. Mr. Pickton s conduct was murderous and repeatedly so. I cannot know the details but I know this: What happened to them was senseless and despicable, said Justice Williams in passing the sentence. 29

British Columbia Court of Appeal edit

The B.C. Court of Appeal rendered judgment in June 2009 on two appeals, one brought by the Crown prosecution and the other brought by the defence.

Crown appeal edit

On January 7, 2008, the Attorney General filed an appeal in the British Columbia Court of Appeal, against Pickton s acquittals on the first-degree murder charges. 30 The grounds of appeal relate to a number of evidentiary rulings made by the trial judge, certain aspects of the trial judge s jury instructions, and the ruling to sever the six charges Pickton was tried on from the remaining twenty. 31 32

Some relatives of the victims in the case were taken aback by the announcement of a Crown appeal, especially because Attorney-General Wally Oppal had said a few days earlier that the prosecution would likely not appeal. 33 Although Pickton had been acquitted on the first-degree murder charges, he was convicted of second-degree murder and received the same sentence as he would have on first-degree murder convictions. The relatives of the victims expressed concern that the convictions would be jeopardized if the Crown argued that the trial judge had made errors. 34 Opposition critic Leonard Krog criticized the Attorney-General for not having briefed the victims families in advance. 35

Oppal apologized to the victims families for not informing them of the appeal before it was announced to the general public. 35 36 Oppal also said that the appeal was filed largely for strategic reasons, in anticipation of an appeal by the defence. The prosecution s rationale was that if Pickton appeals his convictions, and if that appeal is allowed, resulting in a new trial, the prosecution will want to hold that new trial on the original 26 charges of first-degree murder. But the Crown would be precluded from doing so unless it had successfully appealed the original acquittals on the first-degree murder charges, and the severance of the 26 counts into one group of six and one group of twenty. 37

Under the applicable rules of court, 38 the time period for the Crown to appeal expired 30 days after December 9, when the verdicts were rendered, while the time period for the defence to appeal expired 30 days after December 11, when Pickton was sentenced. 35 That is why the Crown announced its appeal first, even though the Crown appeal is intended to be conditional on an appeal by the defence. If the defence had not filed an appeal, then the Crown could have withdrawn its appeal.

Defense appeal edit

On January 9, 2008, lawyers for Pickton filed a notice of appeal in the British Columbia Court of Appeal, seeking a new trial on six counts of second-degree murder. 39 40 The lawyer representing Pickton on the appeal is Gil McKinnon, who had been a Crown prosecutor in the 1970s. 41

The notice of appeal enumerates various areas in which the defense alleges that the trial judge erred: the main charge to the jury, the response to the jurors question, amending the jury charge, similar fact evidence, and Pickton s statements to the police. 42

Decisions of the Court of Appeal edit

The British Columbia Court of Appeal issued its decisions on June 25, 2009, but some parts of the decisions were not publicly released because of publication bans still in place. 43 44 45

The Court of Appeal dismissed the defence appeal by a 2:1 majority. 46 Because there was a dissent on a point of law, Pickton was entitled to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, without first seeking leave to appeal. 47 His notice of appeal was filed in the Supreme Court of Canada on August 24, 2009. 48

The Court of Appeal allowed the crown appeal, finding that the trial judge erred in excluding some evidence and in severing the 26 counts into one group of 20 counts and one group of 6. The order resulting from this finding was stayed, so that the conviction on the six counts of second degree murder would not be set aside. 49

Supreme Court of Canada edit

On June 26, 2009, Pickton s lawyers confirmed that they would exercise his right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was based on the dissent in the British Columbia Court of Appeal. 50

While Pickton had an automatic right to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada based on the legal issues on which Justice Donald had dissented, Pickton s lawyers applied to the Supreme Court of Canada for leave to appeal on other issues as well. On November 26, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada granted this application for leave to appeal. The effect of this was to broaden the scope of Pickton s appeal, allowing him to raise arguments that had been rejected unanimously in the B.C. Court of Appeal not just arguments that had been rejected by the 2-1 majority. 51 52 53

On July 30, 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision dismissing Pickton s appeal and affirming his convictions. 54 The argument that Pickton should be granted a new trial was unanimously rejected by the Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada. 55

Although unanimous in its result, the Supreme Court split six to three in its legal analysis of the case. The issue was whether the trial judge made a legal error in his instructions to the jury, and in particular in his re-instruction responding to the jury s question about Pickton s liability if he was not the only person involved. Writing for the majority, Madam Justice Charron found that the trial judge s response to the question posed by the jury did not adversely impact on the fairness of the trial. She further found that the trial judge s overall instructions with respect to other suspects compendiously captured the alternative routes to liability that were realistically in issue in this trial. The jury was also correctly instructed that it could convict Mr. Pickton if the Crown proved this level of participation coupled with the requisite intent. 56

Mr. Justice LeBel, writing for the minority, found that the jury was not properly informed of the legal principles which would have allowed them as triers of fact to consider evidence of Mr. Pickton s aid and encouragement to an unknown shooter, as an alternative means of imposing liability for the murders. However, LeBel J. would have applied the so-called curative proviso 57 so as not to overturn Pickton s convictions. 56

Reaction and aftermath to the court proceedings edit

Discontinuance of prosecution of other counts against Pickton edit

B.C. Crown spokesman Neil MacKenzie announced that the prosecution of Pickton on the 20 other murder charges would likely be discontinued. In reaching this position, he said, the branch has taken into account the fact that any additional convictions could not result in any increase to the sentence that Mr. Pickton has already received. 58

Families of the victims had varied reactions to this announcement. Some were disappointed that Pickton would never be convicted of the 20 other murders, while others were relieved that the gruesome details of the murders would not be aired in court. 59

VPD management review of investigation edit

In 2010, the Vancouver Police Department issued a statement that an exhaustive management review of the Missing Women Investigation had been conducted, and the VPD would make the Review available to the public once the criminal matters are concluded and the publication bans are removed. In addition, the VPD disclosed that for several years it has communicated privately to the Provincial Government that it believed a Public Inquiry would be necessary for an impartial examination of why it took so long for Robert Pickton to be arrested. 60 In August of that year, the VPD released the Missing Women: Investigation Review. 61

VPD apology edit

At a press conference, Deputy Chief Constable Doug LePard of the VPD apologized to the victims families, saying I wish from the bottom of my heart that we would have caught him sooner. I wish that, the several agencies involved, that we could have done better in so many ways. I wish that all the mistakes that were made, we could undo. And I wish that more lives would have been saved. So on my behalf and behalf of the Vancouver Police Department and all the men and women that worked on this investigation, I would say to the families how sorry we all are for your losses and because we did not catch this monster sooner. 62

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry edit

After Robert Pickton lost his final appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada, the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry was called to examine the role of the Vancouver police and the RCMP in the disappearances and murders of women in the Downtown Eastside. Families of the missing and murdered women have been calling for public hearings since before Pickton was arrested and eventually convicted of six murders. 63 The Commission s final report submission to the Attorney General was dated November 19, 2012 and was released to the public on December 17. 64

Transfer to penitentiary edit

During a court hearing on August 4, 2010, Judge Williams stated that Pickton should be committed to a federal penitentiary; up to that point he had been held at a provincial pretrial institution. 59

Stay of final 20 murder charges edit

Pickton had faced a further 20 first degree murder charges involving other female victims from Vancouver s Downtown Eastside. 65 On February 26, 2008, a family member of one of the 20 women named as alleged victims told the media that the Crown had told her a trial on the further 20 counts might not proceed. 66

On August 4, 2010, Crown prosecutors stayed the balance of the pending murder charges against Pickton, ending the prospect of any further trials. 67 68

The 20 charges were formally stayed by crown counsel Melissa Gillespie shortly after 4 p.m. during a British Columbia Supreme Court hearing at New Westminster. 7

Most but not all of the publication bans in the case were lifted by the trial judge, James Williams of the British Columbia Supreme Court, after lawyers spent hours in court going through the various complicated bans. 69

On August 6, 2010, various media outlets released a transcript of conversations between an RCMP undercover operator and Pickton in his holding cell. While the RCMP censored the undercover officer s name throughout most of the document, his name was left uncensored in several portions of the document that the RCMP released to the public. This uncensored version was available to the public, through Global News, CTV News, and the Vancouver Sun, for about an hour before being pulled and re-edited. It is not known the extent of the damage this mistake caused the undercover officer. 69

Victims edit

On December 9, 2007, Pickton was convicted of second-degree murder in the deaths of six women:

Count 1, Sereena Abotsway 70 born August 20, 1971, 29 when she disappeared in August 2001her foster mom reported her missing on Aug. 22, 2001.

Count 2, Mona Lee Wilson 71 born January 13, 1975, 26 when she went to her doctors on Nov. 30, 2001 and was reported missing that night.

Count 6, Andrea Joesbury, 22 when last seen in June 2001 and was reported missing June 8, 2001.

Count 7, Brenda Ann Wolfe, 72 32 when last seen in February 1999 and was reported missing on April 25 2000.

Count 16, Marnie Lee Frey, 73 last seen August 1997and was reported missing on Dec. 29, 1997.Vancouver Police Missing Persons Case 98-209922.

Count 11, Georgina Faith Papin, last seen in January 1999 and reported missing in March 2001.

More victims edit

Pickton also stood accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of twenty other women until these charges were stayed on August 4, 2010.

Count 3, Jacqueline Michelle McDonell, 74 23 when she was last seen in January 1999. Vancouver Police Missing Persons Case 99-039699.

Count 4, Dianne Rosemary Rock 75 born September 2, 1967, 34 when last seen on October 19, 2001. Reported missing December 13, 2001.

Count 5, Heather Kathleen Bottomley 76 born August 17, 1976, 25 when she was last seen and reported missing on April 17, 2001.

Count 8, Jennifer Lynn Furminger, last seen in 1999.

Count 9, Helen Mae Hallmark, 77 last seen August 1997. Vancouver Police Missing Persons Case 98-226384.

Count 10, Patricia Rose Johnson, 78 last seen in March 2001.

Count 12, Heather Chinnook, 30 when last seen in April 2001.

Count 13, Tanya Holyk, 23 when last seen in October 1996.

Count 14, Sherry Irving, 79 24 when last seen in 1997.

Count 15, Inga Monique Hall, 80 46 when last seen in February 1998. Vancouver Police Missing Persons Case 98-047919.

Count 17, Tiffany Drew, last seen December 1999.

Count 18, Sarah de Vries, 81 last seen April 1998.

Count 19, Cynthia Feliks, 82 last seen in December 1997.

Count 20, Angela Rebecca Jardine, 83 last seen November 20, 1998 between - 4p.m. at Oppenheimer Park at a rally in the downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver Police Missing Persons Case 98.286097.

Count 21, Diana Melnick, 84 last seen in December 1995.

Count 22, Jane Doe charge lifted; see below.

Count 23, Debra Lynne Jones, 85 last seen in December 2000.

Count 24, Wendy Crawford, last seen in December 1999.

Count 25, Kerry Koski, last seen in January 1998.

Count 26, Andrea Fay Borhaven, 86 last seen in March 1997. Vancouver Police Missing Persons Case 99.105703.

Count 27, Cara Louise Ellis 87 aka Nicky Trimble born April 13, 1971, 25 when last seen in 1996. 88 Reported missing October 2002.

As of March 2, 2006, the murder charge involving the unidentified victim has been lifted. Pickton refused to enter a plea on the charge involving this victim, known in the proceedings as Jane Doe, so the court registered a not-guilty plea on his behalf. The count as drawn fails to meet the minimal requirement set out in Section 581 of the Criminal Code. Accordingly, it must be quashed, wrote Justice James Williams. The detailed reasons for the judge s ruling cannot be reported in Canada because of the publication ban covering this stage of the trial.

Pickton is implicated in the murders of the following women, but charges have not yet been laid incomplete list :

Mary Ann Clark 89 aka Nancy Greek, 25, disappeared in August 1991 from downtown Victoria.

Yvonne Marie Boen sometimes used the surname England 90 born November 30, 1967, 34 when last seen on March 16, 2001 and reported missing on March 21, 2001.

Dawn Teresa Crey, 91 reported missing in December 2000. Crey is the main subject of a 2006 documentary film about murdered and missing Aboriginal women in Canada, entitled Finding Dawn. 92 93

Two unidentified women.

After Pickton was arrested many people started coming forward and talking to police about what was going on at the farm. One of these witnesses that came forward was Lynn Ellingsen. Ellingsen claimed to have seen Pickton skinning a woman hanging from a meat hook years earlier; she did not tell anyone about this out of fear for her life. 94 Additionally, Ellingsen admitted that she blackmailed Pickton about the incident on more than one occasion.

August 2006 Pickton Letters edit

In August 2006, Thomas Loudamy, a 27-year-old Fremont, California resident, claimed that he had received three letters from Robert Pickton in response to letters Loudamy sent under an assumed identity.

In the letters, Pickton allegedly speaks with concern about the expense of the investigation, asserts his innocence, quotes and refers to the Bible, 95 96 praises the trial judge, and responds in detail to fictional information in Loudamy s letters, which were written in the guise of Mya Barnett, a down on her luck woman.

The news of the letters existence was broken by The Vancouver Sun, in an exclusive published on Saturday, September 2, 2006, and as of that date, neither law enforcement nor any representative of Pickton has verified the authenticity of the letters. The Sun, however, has undertaken several actions to confirm the documents authenticity, including:

Confirming that the outgoing stamps are consistent with those of the North Fraser Pretrial Centre NFPC, where Pickton is being held;

Confirming through a representative of Canada Post that the outgoing stamps are not forgeries; and

Confirming that the machine identifiable with a serial number included in the stamp used to stamp the envelopes is the machine used by the NFPC.

Loudamy claims not to have kept copies of his outgoing letters to Pickton, and as of September 4, 2006, no information on their existence has been forthcoming from Pickton or his representatives.

Loudamy has a history of writing to accused and convicted criminals, in some instances under his own identity as with his correspondence with Clifford Olson, and in others in the guise of a character he believes will be more readily accepted by the targets of the letters. Loudamy, an aspiring journalist, claims that his motivation in releasing the letters is to help the public gain insights into Pickton. 97

See also edit

List of serial killers by country

References edit

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20publication 20bans.pdf

1 dead link

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Subparagraph 686 1 b iii of the Criminal Code 2, providing that the court may dismiss the appeal where it is of the opinion that no substantial wrong or miscarriage of justice has occurred, despite any legal error at trial.

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2nd Pickton trial may not go ahead, families told. 2008-02-26. 

Crown Stays 20 Pickton Murder Charges. CBC News. Retrieved August 4, 2010. News.ca.msn.com. 2010-08-04. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

James Keller 2010-08-04. Pickton won t face 20 murder charges, but end of legal saga could yield answers. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 2010-08-04.  dead link

a b Chad Skelton 2010-08-04. Pickton won t face remaining 20 murder charges. The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2010-08-04. 

Fournier, Suzanne; Fraser, Keith; and Jiwa, Salim 2002-02-26. Daughter phoned daily for 13 years. The Province. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 

Fong, Petti and Kines, Lindsay 2002-02-26. Sister trapped by drugs, prostitution. Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 

Brenda Ann Wolfe-last seen Feb 1999. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Daughter phoned daily for 13 years. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Friscolanti, Michael 2002-04-03. Bright young woman among victims. National Post. Retrieved 2007-05-29. 

Bringng home Diane s life-Apr 5, 2002. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Crown adds three more murder charges against pig farmer-Apr 2, 2002. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Helen Mae Hallmark. Missingpeople.net. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Patricia Rose Johnson. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Alleged Pickton victim schooled in Comox Valley-Oct 2002. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Inga Monique Hall. Missingpeople.net. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Missing woman s DNA located, Police say Sarah deVries identified-Aug 8, 2002. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Pictures provide the clues to a daughter s lost life. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Angela Rebecca Jardine. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Diana Melnick. Missingpeople.net. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Debra Lynne Jones-last seen Dec 21, 2000. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Andrea Fay Borhaven. Missingpeople.net. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Cara Louise Ellis last seen in 1997. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Task force adds four missing women-Nov 20, 2003. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Canadian Press 2006-10-12. RCMP: Pickton suspect in death of Victoria woman.  

Yvonne Marie Boen-Mar 28, 2002. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

Pickton farm yields 23rd woman s DNA-Jan 16, 2004. Missingpeople.net. Retrieved 2011-02-10. 

de Vos, Gail January 11, 2008. FINDING DAWN. Canadian Materials Manitoba Library Association XIV 10.  

Welsh, Christine 2006. Finding Dawn. Documentary film. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 November 2009. 

King, Gary. 2009. Butcher. New York: Kensington Publishing.

Exclusive Pickton letters. Canada.com. 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-12-11. 

The Pickton Letters: In his own words. Canada.com. 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2007-12-11. 

Sun Exclusive: The Pickton Letters. Vancouver Sun. 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2007-01-22. 

Further reading edit

Stevie Cameron 30 May 2007. The Pickton File. Random House Digital, Inc. ISBN 978-0-676-97953-4. 

Stevie Cameron 25 October 2011. On the Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver s Missing Women. Random House Digital, Inc. ISBN 978-0-676-97585-7. 

External links edit

Missing Women Commission of Inquiry Oppal Report November 19, 2012

R. v. Pickton, Full text of Supreme Court of Canada decision available at LexUM and CanLII July 30, 2010

R. v. Pickton, decision of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia June 25, 2009 defence appeal

R. v. Pickton, decision of the Court of Appeal for British Columbia June 25, 2009 Crown appeal

R. v. Pickton, decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia December 13, 2007 ruling re: re-instructing the jury

R. v. Pickton, decision of the Supreme Court of British Columbia January 16, 2007 ruling re: media application to access and publish exhibits 1

Robert William Pickton Trial Information Court Services, Ministry of Attorney General

Covering The Trial: Former Sex Trade Workers Work As Citizen Correspondents For Orato

CBC Backgrounder

TruTV article on Robert Pickton

Vancouver Eastside Missing Women

BBC Article on Pickton 2007-01-21

Excerpts from The Pickton letters

Pat Casanova testimony, June 4–6, 2007

History of Sex Work in Vancouver downloadable PDF book written by sex workers

PDFs of the Pickton letters obtained by The Vancouver Sun.

Interviews and oral histories with victims families and community workers, part of research stored at Simon Fraser University Library.

Persondata

Name

Pickton, Robert

Alternative names

Short description

Date of birth

1949-10-26

Place of birth

Port Coquitlam, British Columbia

Date of death

Place of death

Retrieved from Robert_Pickton oldid 563721742

Categories: 1949 birthsLiving peopleCanadian cannibalsCanadian farmersCanadian people convicted of murderCanadian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonmentCanadian serial killersCrime in British ColumbiaCrimes against sex workersPeople convicted of murder by CanadaPeople from Port CoquitlamPrisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Canada.

REAL WORLD BIO

Name Robert William Pickton

Alias The Pig Farmer Killer

Willie

Gender Male

Birth Date October 26, 1949

Place of Birth Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Job Pig farmer

Salvage company proprietor

Pathology Serial Killer

Serial Rapist presumably

Modus Operandi Unknown see below

Type Missionary/Lust killer

No. of Victims 6-49

Status Incarcerated

I m a working guy, that s all I am.

Robert William Willie Pickton, a.k.a. The Pig Farmer Killer, is a Canadian serial killer currently on trial for several additional murders.

BackgroundEdit

Not a lot of details about Pickton s life prior to him becoming a serial killer are currently publicly known due to Canadian publicity laws regarding ongoing criminal investigations. What is known is that he was born in 1949 in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. His family has been pig farmers for three generations, but by the time of his arrest, Pickton had largely given up using the farm for actual farming and only raised a few pigs to sell to friends and neighbors. He and his two siblings, David Francis Pickton and Linda Louise Wright, inherited the family pig farm, where Robert later committed his murders. In 1994 and 1995, they sold parts of their inherited land, earning a total of 5.16 million. In 1997, Robert was charged with the attempted murder of a prostitute named Wendy Lynn Eistetter, having tried to stab her, but the case was dropped because prosecutors felt that the victim, who was a drug addict, was too unstable to give an accurate testimony, even though both the victim and Pickton, who suffered a stab injury during the encounter, were treated at the same hospital and a key to the set of handcuffs on Eistetter s wrist was found in Pickton s pocket. David, on the other hand, has a criminal record for a sexual assault in 1988 and has also been sued on three occasions for various traffic offenses.

Images of the Low Track neighborhood.

Though Robert was locally considered a quiet man, he and his siblings often hosted wild parties at a converted building near the pig farm called The Piggy Palace. In 1996, they also founded a non-profit charity organization called the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, the function of which was listed as to organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups. This came to an end after a New Year s Eve party on December 31, 1998, when the Pickton siblings were sued for violating zoning laws and legally forbidden from holding any more parties. The Piggy Palace Good Times Society was disbanded soon afterwards in January 2000 for failing to provide mandatory financial statements. Robert and David were also the proprietors of P B Salvage near Vancouver. In 1999, Canadian police received a tip that Robert kept human flesh in freezers on his property. Though a warrant was secured, no search was carried out.

Arrest and ConvictionsEdit

The Pickton farm being searched by police.

On February 5, 2002, Pickton was arrested when police, acting on a warrant for firearm violations, found personal belongings of a missing woman on the farm. A second court order was obtained to continue searching the farm as part of the BC Missing Women Investigation, which investigates the disappearances of women, many from Vancouver s Downtown Eastside, dating back to September of 1978, that of Lillian Jean O Dare Pickton would have been 28 years old at the time. Also known as the Low Track, it is the poorest neighborhood in all of Canada and is riddled with drug trafficking and prostitution. It also has the highest rate of HIV infection in North America. The woman whose possessions were found on the farm is one of the women whose disappearance was investigated by the task force, which is headed by officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police RCMP and the Vancouver Police Department.

As they searched the grounds, they found remains of some victims, such as skulls cut in half and stuffed with human hands and feet, DNA from 33 women, bloody clothing belonging to a victim, and a jawbone and teeth belonging to one victim. They also found a. 22 revolver with a dildo attached to its barrel. 357 Magnum rounds, two pairs of faux fur-lined handcuffs, a pair of night-vision goggles, and photos of a garbage can containing the remains of a victim. Pickton claimed that the dildo, which had the DNA of both him and a victim on it, had been meant to function as a makeshift suppressor. The gun also contained a spent cartridge. While in custody, Pickton told an undercover officer posing as a fellow inmate that he had wanted to kill one more in order to bring his victim count up to an even 50, suggesting that he is responsible for 49 murders. A video recording of the statement was later used as evidence in his trial, which began on January 30, 2006.

Graphic of Pickton s farm.

Pickton pleaded not guilty to 27 charges of first-degree murder, one of which was later rejected on the grounds of a lack of evidence. Because of the publication ban, not all the details are publicly known about the proceedings. The 26 charges were split so six of them, those of Marnie Lee Frey, Georgina Faith Papin, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury, Sereena Abostway and Mona Lee Wilson, were processed first; according to the presiding judge, it was because all 26 charges would put too much strain on the jury and because the evidence in those six counts was materially different from the other 20. On December 6, 2007, a jury found Pickton guilty of the six murders, which were reduced from first-degree to second-degree. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, which in Canada entails a possibility of parole in 25 years and is the highest possible punishment for second-degree murder, essentially earning Pickton the same punishment that he would have received for a first-degree conviction.

On August 4, 2010, the other 20 charges were stayed. Three appeals have been filed since to the British Columbia Court of Appeal. The first one made by the defense was rejected and the one made by the prosecution was allowed on the grounds that the trial judge had made a mistake in excluding some evidence and in splitting the charges. Pickton s defense then filed an appeal with the Canadian Supreme Court, which was rejected on July 30, 2009. He is currently incarcerated. A spokesman for the Crown stated that the other 20 charges are likely to be discontinued. The RCMP and Vancouver police have suffered some criticism for their way of handling the case, such as the two agencies withholding information from each other. The RCMP have been called arrogant in Canadian media and said not to work well in tandem with other investigative agencies, as exemplified during their turf war with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service during the investigation of the 1985 Air India bombing. The Vancouver police has also been criticized for not taking action sooner and not taking the disappearances of so many women seriously.

Modus OperandiEdit

Because the Pickton case is still under investigation, exactly how he killed his victims is not entirely known to the public, as is anything he might have done to them before he killed them. According to a witness on tape, Pickton had claimed that he brought his victims, who were prostitutes, to the farm, handcuffed them, raped them, killed them by strangling them, bled and gutted them, ran them through a wood-chipper and then fed their remains to his pigs. Another claim is that the victims were ground, the resulting mince mixed with the pork mince from the farm and the packages given to Pickton s friends and family. It was stated in a Biography Channel documentary about the case that Pickton would lure his victims to his farm using a simple ruse, such as pretending to buy sexual favors. During sex, he would become violent and accuse the victims of something, such as stealing from him, in order to build up his rage. He would then restrain them, kill them by strangling or shooting them and then butcher their bodies.

VictimsEdit

I was gonna do one more, make it an even 50. That s why I was sloppy, I wanted one more. Make make the big five-O.

Missing women in Vancouver including the ones victimized by Pickton.

Note: The below dates denote when the victims were last seen.

KnownEdit

Murders for which Pickton has been found guilty.

August 1997: Marnie Lee Frey

1999:

Unspecified date: Georgina Faith Papin

February: Brenda Ann Wolfe, 32

2001:

June: Andrea Joesbury

August: Sereena Abostway, 29

November 23: Mona Lee Wilson, 26

SuspectedEdit

Disappearances/murders which Pickton is currently on trial for or implicated in.

August 1991: Mary Ann Clark, 25

December 1995: Diana Melnick

1996:

Unspecified date: Cara Louise Ellis, 25

October: Tanya Holyk, 23

1997:

March: Andrea Fay Borhaven

April: Sherry Irving, 24

August: Helen Mae Hallmark

December: Cynthia Feliks

1998:

January: Kerry Koski

February: Inga Monique Hall, 46

April: Sarah de Vries

November 20: Angela Rebecca Jardine

January: Michelle McDonell, 23

December:

Tiffany Drew

Wendy Crawford

Jennifer Lynn Furminger

December 2000:

Dawn Teresa Crey

Debra Lynne Jones

March: Patricia Rose Johnson

March 16: Yvonne Marie Boen, 34

April: Heather Chinnock, 30

April 17: Heather Kathleen Bottomley, 25

October 19: Dianne Rosemary Rock, 34

Unspecified dates: Two unidentified victims

Unspecified date: An unidentified victim

NotesEdit

Pickton is not the only serial killer known to have disposed of his victims by feeding them to other humans and animals. Joe Ball, also known as The Alligator Man, is believed to have fed the remains of his victims to five alligators he kept on his property. While in Africa, travelling serial killer Carl Panzram shot a group of six men in a boat and then threw their bodies to wild crocodiles. Richard Kuklinski also claimed to have fed several still-living victims to wild rats. A German serial killer, Fritz Haarmann, also known as The Butcher of Hanover, would cut his victims bodies into strips of flesh and sell them as pork. According to some claims, Pickton ground the bodies of his victims into mince and sold the packages.

The Pickton case is not the only serial killer case involving missing women in British Columbia, Canada. British Columbia Highway 16, a.k.a. The Highway of Tears, has been the site of a number of murders and disappearances of young women, possibly dating back to as early as 1969. The exact number of potential victims is unknown, but may be as high as 43. And while foul play has never been conclusively proven, the so-called Salish Sea human foot discoveries are thought by some to be the work of one or more offenders.

On Criminal MindsEdit

The Season Four finale, the To Helland Back two-parter, was heavily inspired by the Robert Pickton case. The unsub, Lucas Turner, was also a pig farmer in Canada, targeted prostitutes and drug addicts in a poor neighborhood, killed them and fed them to his pigs. In the second part, Morgan criticizes an investigator for not treating the disappearances of so many prostitutes, drug addicts, and vagrants seriously, mirroring some criticism towards the Canadian investigators. Also, Floyd Feylinn Ferell s habit of cutting up his victims post-mortem and selling it to people as meat appears to be an obscure reference to the Pickton case. A scene where Wallace Hines feeds the pieces of a victim s head to unsuspecting restaurant customers in The Inspiration is also a possible allusion to the aforementioned rumor.

SourcesEdit.

Dec 09, 2007  A pig farmer accused of being Canada s worst serial killer A pig farmer accused of being Canada Canadian Pig Farmer Accused of Serial Killings.

canada pig farmer serial killer