I’m not sure how many of you have heard about this case. This is one of the ugliest cases in Canada’s history. Here is some of the information from the web.
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** Robert William “Willie” Pickton (born October 24, 1949) of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia is a Canadian pig farmer and serial killer convicted of the second-degree murders of six women.He is also charged in the deaths of an additional twenty women,many of them prostitutes and drug users from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
During the trial’s first day, January 22, 2007, the Crown stated he confessed to forty-nine murders to an undercover police officer posing as a cell mate. 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”.
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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.
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On April 2, 2002 three more charges were added for the murders of Jacqueline McDonell, Diane Rock and Heather Bottomley.
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A sixth charge for the murder of Andrea Joesbury was laid on April 9, 2002 followed shortly by a seventh for Brenda Wolfe.
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On September 20, 2002 four more charges were added for the slayings of Georgina Papin, Patricia Johnson, Helen Hallmark and Jennifer Furminger.
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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, and making this the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history.
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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 Devries, Cynthia Feliks, Angela Jardine, Wendy Crawford, Diana Melnick, and Jane Doe (unidentified woman) bringing the total number of first-degree murder charges to 27.
orensic analysis is 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 flat conveyer 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. This pork was never distributed commercially, but was handed out to friends and visitors of the farm. Another claim made is that he fed the bodies directly to his pigs
Pickton’s trial began on January 30, 2006. He pleaded not guilty to 27 charges of first-degree murder in the British Columbia Supreme Court.
January 22, 2007 was the first day of the jury trial where Pickton faced first-degree murder charges. 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 of the victim’s jaw bone and teeth were found in the ground beside the slaughter house and a .22 calibre revolver with an attached dildo containing both his and a victim’s DNA was in his laundry room. In a video taped recording played for the jury, Pickton claimed to have attached the dildo to his weapon as a makeshift silencer.
As of Feburary 20, 20007 the following information has been presented to the court:
- 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. However, defence lawyer Peter Ritchie said the jury should be skeptical of Chubb and Bellwood’s credibility.
- Photos of the contents of a garbage can found in Pickton’s slaughterhouse, which held some remains of Mona Wilson.
On December 9th, the Jury returned their verdict that Pickton is not guilty on 6 counts of first-degree murder, but is guilty of 6 counts of second-degree murder. Meanwhile, Pickton still faces a further 20 murder charges involving other female victims from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
The verdict was given yesterday.This is injustice. He should have been hung. After all these evidences and his own confession to 49 murders, he is NOT charged with first degree murder! I’m short of words here. I’m scared to step outside of my home alone. I can’t believe I was working two blocks away from the Court where Pickton was present =O I really hope someone shots him in his head or grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr SIGH
tru dat