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Robert William "Willie" Pickton (born 1950) is a pig farmer from the city of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada who has been charged with the first degree murders of twenty-six women, and is implicated, as of January 28, 2004, in the murders of up to five more, many of them prostitutes from the Downtown Eastside district of the city of Vancouver. The British Columbia Crown Attorney has indicated it plans to bring at least seven more murder charges against him in the coming year, and new DNA evidence continues to be unearthed at his farm.

During the first day of his trial, 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".

Background

Pickton and his brother David Francis Pickton ran a registered charity called the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, a non-profit society whose official mandate was 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." According to investigators, the "special events" convened at Piggy Palace – a converted building at the hog farm – were drunken raves that featured "entertainment" by an ever-changing cast of Downtown Eastside prostitutes."

Pickton first came to the attention of police in 1997 when he was charged with attempted murder. The charges were subsequently dropped. Later, police would search the farm, but find nothing.

On February 5, 2002, police executed a search warrant for illegal firearms at the property owned by Pickton and his two siblings. He was taken into custody and the farm was sealed off by an investigation team that included police and members of the RCMP task force on missing women, when personal items (including a prescription asthsma inhaler) belonging to one of the missing women was found. 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. On February 22, Pickton was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Three months later, three more charges were added, and shortly after that a sixth and seventh. In October, four more charges were added, bringing the total to fifteen, and again in May 2005, twelve more charges were added, bringing the total to 27.

Excavations have stopped, but were ongoing for almost two years; the cost of the investigation is estimated to have been $70 million by the end of 2003, according to the provincial government. Currently the property is fenced off, leined by the Province of BC. In the meantime, all the buildings have been demolished. Forensic 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 large construction machinery, 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. This pork was never distributed commercially, but was handed out to friends and visitors of the farm.

Trial

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, located in New Westminster. The voir dire phase of the trial took most of the year to determine what evidence may 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.

On August 9, 2006, Justice Williams trimmed the charges again, from 26 to just six counts; the remaining 20 counts have not been dismissed, however, and the crown can seek another trial for them at a later date. 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 than the other 20.

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

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.

Warning: Some readers might find details to follow in this story disturbing.

January 22, 2007 was the first day of the jury trial where Pickton faces 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 horrors of what was found during the long investigation. In his opening statement, Crown counsel Derrill Prevett told the jury of evidence that was found during the search of Pickton's property. Skulls cut in half with hands and feet stuffed inside. Remains of another victim stuffed in a garbage bag in the bottom of a trash can and her blood stained clothing found in the trailer Pickton lived in. Part of one of the victim's jaw bone and teeth were found in the ground beside the slaughter house and a revolver with an attached sex toy containing both his and a victim's DNA was in his laundry room.

Victims

Pickton is charged with the murders of the following women:

• Count 1, Sereena Abotsway (born August 20, 1971), 29 when she disappeared in August 2001
• Count 2, Mona Lee Wilson (born January 13, 1975), 26 when she was last seen on November 23, 2001. Reported Missing November 30, 2001.
• Count 3, Jacqueline Michelle McDonell, 23 when she was last seen in January 1999.
• Count 4, Dianne Rosemary Rock (born September 2, 1967), 34 when last seen on October 19, 2001. Reported missing December 13, 2001.
• Count 5, Heather Kathleen Bottomley (born August 17, 1976), 25 when she was last seen (and reported missing) on April 17, 2001.
• Count 6, Andrea Joesbury, 22 when last seen in June 2001
• Count 7, Brenda Ann Wolfe, 32 when last seen in February 1999 and was reported missing in April 2000
• Count 8, Jennifer Lynn Furminger, last seen in 1999
• Count 9, Helen Mae Hallmark, last seen August 1997.
• Count 10, Patricia Rose Johnson, last seen in March 2001
• Count 11, Georgina Faith Papin, last seen in 1999
• Count 12, Heather Chinnock, 30 when last seen in April 2001
• Count 13, Tanya Holyk, 23 when last seen in October 1996
• Count 14, Sherry Irving, 24 when last seen in 1997
• Count 15, Inga Monique Hall, 46 when last seen in February 1998.
• Count 16, Marnie Lee Frey, last seen August 1997.
• Count 17, Tiffany Drew, last seen December 1999
• Count 18, Sarah de Vries, last seen April 1998
• Count 19, Cynthia Feliks, last seen in December 1997
• Count 20, Angela Rebecca Jardine, last seen November 20,1998 between 3:30- 4p.m. at Oppenheimer Park at a rally in the downtown Eastside of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
• Count 21, Diana Melnick, last seen in December 1995
• Count 22, Jane Doe (remains found but not identified)—charge lifted; see below
• Count 23, Debra Lynne Jones, 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, last seen in March 1997.
• Count 27, Cara Louise Ellis aka Nicky Trimble (born April 13, 1971), 25 when last seen in 1996. 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 aka Nancy Greek, 25, disappeared in August 1991 from downtown Victoria
• Yvonne Marie Boen (sometimes uses the surname England) (born November 30, 1967), 34 when last seen on March 16, 2001 and reported missing on March 21, 2001.
• Dawn Teresa Crey, reported missing in December 2000
• Two unidentified women

August 2006 'Pickton Letters'

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, 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, 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.

References

1. "Indictment document".
2. CBC.ca: Pickton butchered 6 women, Crown tells jury Accessed January 22 2007
3. "They got me as a fall guy". National Post.
4. "Pickton trial to start Monday". CBC. 2006-01-30. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
5. "1 of 27 murder charges against Pickton thrown out". CBC. 2006-03-02. Retrieved 2006-10-01.
6. "Pickton to be initially tried on 6 counts of murder". CBC. 2006-08-09. Retrieved 2006-10-01.
7. "Jury selected to hear Pickton murder trial". CBC. 2006-12-12. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
8. "Two trials for Canada pig farmer". BBC News. 2006-09-09. Retrieved 2006-09-09.
9. "Pickton trial to be delayed two weeks". CanWest Interactive. 2006-12-18. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
10. "Prosecutors: Pig farmer confessed to 49 killings". CNN. 2007-01-22. Retrieved 2007-01-23.
11. "Sun Exclusive: The Pickton Letters". Vancouver Sun. 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2007-01-22.

External links

• CBC Backgrounder
• Crime Library's article on Robert Pickton
• Vancouver Eastside Missing Women
• BBC Article on Pickton (2007-01-21)
• Excerpts from 'The Pickton letters'

• Current events
• 1950 births
• Living people
• People from Port Coquitlam