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World's Most Evil Killers S06E02 Robert Pickton
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CreativityTranscript
00:02March 22nd, 1997, downtown Eastside, Vancouver, Canada.
00:10Her street name was Stitch.
00:13She was working the corner of Cordova and Princess Avenue.
00:18A 31-year-old mother of two with a serious drug habit.
00:24Selling her body was the quickest way to the next high.
00:30They were doing the best they could
00:32with the circumstances in their lives at the time.
00:36An old pickup truck approached.
00:39The driver flashed some cash and Stitch got in.
00:43A straightforward transaction, barter, money for sex.
00:47The driver was 47-year-old Robert Willie Pickton,
00:51who drove Stitch 17 miles east to his pig farm.
00:55Her gut instinct was just telling her, don't go.
01:00Don't go out there.
01:01They had sex in his filthy trailer.
01:04Then Stitch asked if she could use the phone.
01:07He attacks her.
01:08He puts her handcuff around her left wrist
01:10and stabs her in the abdomen.
01:13She's spirited and she fights back.
01:16A proper fight ensues.
01:19She's stabbed, he's stabbed.
01:21Blood is all over the trailer.
01:24Stitch escaped with four stab wounds.
01:28She was critically injured, but alive.
01:31Pickton had been sloppy.
01:33This one had got away.
01:38Over the next five years,
01:40at least 49 other women wouldn't be so lucky.
01:44making Robert Pickton
01:48one of the world's most evil killers.
02:131990s Port Coquitlam, Vancouver.
02:17Robert Willie Pickton had spent his entire life
02:20living and working on the family pig farm.
02:25This is a man who is not integrated into society.
02:30He's a man who lives in a trailer in the midst of his farm,
02:33who is trained as a butcher,
02:36who, in a way, rejects society.
02:39His only sexual outlet
02:42was with women working the streets
02:44of downtown Eastside, Vancouver.
02:48Women who sold sex for survival.
02:53The kind of dynamics of the drug addiction
02:56and the poverty
02:57and then the risky nature of some of their customers
03:00made them more vulnerable to violence,
03:04either from single individuals or serial predators.
03:09Pickton was one of those predators
03:12who hunted women relentlessly.
03:15Pickton was targeting sex workers
03:18because sex workers are easy to access.
03:21They're going to readily get into your car.
03:24They are going to readily go somewhere with you.
03:27They are there to be treated how you want to treat them.
03:31They are worthless, you know, they are less than human.
03:34The pig farm gave him the perfect cover for his depravity.
03:40Women would disappear and hardly anyone noticed.
03:45For society to allow that to continue
03:48for at least a decade unfettered at this farm
03:52that was surrounded by dozens of houses,
03:55it's mind-boggling and it's awful.
04:06This killer's story begins in 1949.
04:12Robert Willie Pickton was born on October 24th
04:17to Leonard and Helen Louise,
04:19a family of pig farmers in Port Coquitlam
04:22on the outskirts of Vancouver.
04:25He was one of three children.
04:29He was the elder of two brothers.
04:31They had an elder sister called Linda
04:34who'd been sent away
04:36and they didn't think a girl
04:38should be brought up on a pig farm.
04:40And so Linda was dispatched to Vancouver,
04:43which was about 17 miles away.
04:45The boys were brought up on the farm.
04:48Pickton's mother was very much a workaholic.
04:52She was a very industrious woman
04:54and this had a significant impact on her children
04:58because they had to work in this family business.
05:01So the children didn't really get much of a chance
05:04to be children, to be carefree,
05:07to run around and play with their friends
05:09and that kind of thing.
05:12She was the decisive force in the family.
05:15Leonard was more remote.
05:18Some said he was abusive to the boys.
05:20I think he was probably just a Victorian father
05:23in a rather old-fashioned sense.
05:26The boys were really less important
05:30to their mother than the pigs.
05:33They were certainly not treated particularly well.
05:36There was some suggestion
05:38that he was always striving for approval
05:42from his parents and from his brother
05:44and that he was a fairly weak, young boy
05:48with not a lot of confidence.
05:50He struggled in school.
05:52He struggled to make friends.
05:54And he very much relied on his brother David
05:57for many things in life.
06:00Pickton was known by the other children at school
06:03as somebody with incredibly poor personal hygiene.
06:07And this is something that his family
06:09were not particularly stringent about either.
06:13So it was normal in this household
06:15to perhaps not wash and not look after yourself
06:19and not change your clothes as much as other people did.
06:22This is something that would have really excluded him
06:25from his peer group.
06:26He's that kid that smells.
06:28He's that kid that's not like us.
06:37He has a prized calf that he considers a pet.
06:43He's a child and he's considering this as his pet.
06:47This isn't livestock.
06:50He comes home from school one day
06:52and finds out his dad has slaughtered his pet calf
06:55and he's just devastated.
07:02He has learned that I am not going to get close
07:06to anything anymore.
07:07I'm not going to love or care for anything
07:09because when I do that, that is going to get taken away.
07:17The boys learned to drive on the farm
07:20when they were still children.
07:22One day, Pickton's brother Dave
07:25accidentally hit a young boy on a road close to the farm.
07:29He ran to find their mother.
07:33She disposed of the victim's body in a lake
07:35before he'd even died.
07:38Now, this is a really significant thing to witness,
07:40to see as a young person
07:43because this shows you how not to do things.
07:47It also sends a message out to him
07:49that other people's lives are not valuable.
07:52Pickton was somebody who was used to death.
07:54He was surrounded by it on the farm,
07:57in the slaughterhouse,
07:58but this was the death of animals.
08:00When we're looking at the hit and run,
08:02this is a human being
08:03and the fact that his mother shows such contempt
08:07for the life and for the dignity of a human being
08:09is a message that is going to stick with him.
08:13All of these things are playing a role
08:16in shaping his value system.
08:19As a teenager, Pickton spent over six years
08:23as a butcher's apprentice.
08:26By 1970, at the age of 21,
08:30he was working full-time on the family pig farm.
08:34In 1978, his father died,
08:37followed by his mother a year later,
08:40leaving the family estate to their children.
08:45Robert Willie Pickton was the only one
08:48of the three siblings who had any interest
08:50in keeping the business running.
08:56This farm was not an idyllic, beautiful pasture.
09:00It was just absolutely cluttered
09:04with old, broken-down vehicles
09:06and garbage and debris
09:08and outbuildings that were stuffed full
09:12of all sorts of, you know, derelict things.
09:17And amidst all of this,
09:19Willie Pickton lived in a very run-down trailer
09:22by himself.
09:24I think it would be fair to say
09:26that Willie Pickton
09:27wasn't very attractive to women.
09:29I'm not entirely surprised.
09:31He was a messy, ugly man who stank.
09:36There's no two ways about it.
09:38He's said to have put butter in his hair
09:40to smooth it back.
09:44If you look at any picture of him,
09:46he was grubby, stubbly, rather ugly.
09:50It wasn't anybody's idea of a boyfriend.
09:54He wasn't a man for relationships.
09:56He was a loner in every way and knew it.
09:59In 1994, the Pickton farm
10:03on the outskirts of Vancouver
10:05was prime real estate.
10:07The brothers sold some of their land
10:10for around $2 million.
10:13For Pickton, if he wanted a woman,
10:16he now had more than enough money
10:18to pay for her.
10:321995, downtown Eastside, Vancouver.
10:37Known as the poorest postcode
10:40in urban Canada.
10:42It was here that Willie Pickton
10:45found what he was looking for.
10:49Lotrack is literally the cheapest area
10:51of the city.
10:52Vancouver, at that time,
10:54had a number of strolls
10:55for street sex trade workers,
10:57and some were very expensive,
10:59and others were very cheap.
11:00And these were the cheapest.
11:02These were drug-addicted women.
11:04Many of them were engaged
11:07in very risky behavior
11:08because of the nature of the area
11:10and the type of customers
11:11they would get.
11:13This was survival sex work.
11:16These women were, you know,
11:17they weren't out there
11:18because they enjoyed it.
11:20They weren't out there
11:21because it was a choice
11:23for many of them.
11:24They were out there
11:25to survive
11:27and to make enough money
11:29most of the time
11:30to feed an addiction
11:32or just to survive.
11:36Normally, prostitutes
11:37who are very worried
11:38about money,
11:39because time is money,
11:40are not willing
11:41to go great distances
11:42to engage in a sex act.
11:44But Pickton was actually
11:45reasonably wealthy,
11:46and he was able
11:48to convince them
11:49because, again,
11:50they were drug-addicted,
11:50and he offered them money
11:52and was able to get them
11:53to come back to his farm.
11:56That was his sexual outlet
11:59because he was paying them.
12:01It was a straightforward transaction,
12:04barter, money for sex,
12:06whatever kind of sex it would be.
12:14In 1996,
12:16the younger Pickton brother, Dave,
12:18established a nightclub
12:19close to the pig farm
12:22called Piggy's Palace,
12:24Good Time Society.
12:27Piggy's Palace was sort of
12:28a nicely built,
12:29illegal after-hours speakeasy
12:32or bar
12:33where we're frequented
12:34by people in that area.
12:37But that was his brother's property,
12:40not his property.
12:42And they would invite
12:44all manner of people to these.
12:45At one point,
12:46it was estimated
12:47they had 2,000 people
12:48at a rave
12:50on their farm.
12:53It was a good time city.
12:56We're all going to enjoy ourselves.
13:00There was a lot of anecdotal
13:02talk of sex parties,
13:05drug parties,
13:06parties where a lot of sex workers
13:08would be brought to the farm
13:11to party later,
13:12kind of at an after-hours kind of club
13:14in Pickton's trailer.
13:17There's probably quite a lot
13:18of all manner of things
13:20going on.
13:21It was the first time,
13:22I think,
13:23that Willie Pickton
13:24had felt integrated.
13:26He was in his late 30s.
13:28He suddenly discovered,
13:29oh, I've got friends,
13:31you know,
13:31pleased to see me.
13:33And I think it gave him
13:35something extra.
13:36All those people
13:37who turned up
13:38to the raves
13:38and the dances
13:39and the New Year's Eve party
13:41at Piggy Palace,
13:43they must have thought
13:45Pickton was
13:46pretty all right.
13:48Otherwise,
13:49why would they have gone?
13:53On the 22nd of March, 1997,
13:57Pickton was cruising
13:58the downtown Eastside
14:00when he saw
14:01a 31-year-old sex worker
14:03whose street name
14:05was Stitch.
14:08She had a fairly,
14:09fairly heavy cocaine addiction
14:11at the time.
14:14They made a deal
14:15for $100 for sex,
14:18which is an astronomical sum
14:21for the women
14:22in the downtown Eastside
14:23for any of the sex workers there.
14:27A lot of the women
14:28don't like to leave
14:28the downtown Eastside.
14:29They're nervous,
14:30and rightfully so.
14:32But she thought,
14:33you know, $100,
14:34like, that's a lot of money.
14:38Her gut instinct
14:39as they were driving
14:40out to Port Coquitlam
14:42in Pickton's pickup truck
14:43was just telling her,
14:46don't go.
14:47Don't go out there.
14:49And she said
14:50she was sitting in the truck
14:50and she was sort of
14:51looking down at her feet
14:52and he was driving
14:53and he wasn't talking.
14:54He was very quiet.
14:56And she started to think
14:57that she wanted to jump out
14:59when the vehicle slowed down.
15:03Pickton brought Stitch
15:04to his trailer
15:05on the pig farm.
15:08Sex truly takes place,
15:10but then she asks him
15:12for the phone book.
15:18He attacks her.
15:19He puts the handcuff
15:21around her left wrist
15:22and stabs her in the abdomen.
15:25She's spirited
15:26and she fights back.
15:28A proper fight ensues.
15:31She's stabbed.
15:32He's stabbed.
15:33Blood is all over the trailer.
15:37But at that point,
15:38he seems to kind of black out
15:40and she has an opportunity
15:41and she's out the door
15:43and down the steps
15:44and she is running
15:45a couple hundred metres
15:47out to the main road.
15:48She was able to get away from him
15:51and ran through the farm
15:53and onto the nearest road
15:56where she stopped a car
15:58coming down the street.
15:58And you can imagine
15:59she was naked
16:01with one handcuff
16:03dangling from one wrist
16:04and completely covered in blood
16:06and screaming for her life.
16:09They called 911 on the cell phone.
16:11An ambulance met them shortly
16:12down the road
16:13and she was placed in the ambulance,
16:16taken off to the hospital.
16:17And she almost died
16:18on the operating table
16:19a couple of different times
16:20before they actually
16:21managed to save her.
16:25As Stitch fought
16:27for her life in surgery,
16:29Picton arrived
16:30at the same hospital
16:31seeking treatment.
16:34As he was attended to,
16:36an orderly found
16:37a key in his pocket.
16:39It unlocked the handcuffs
16:41still attached to Stitch.
16:44Picton was charged
16:45with attempted murder,
16:47assault
16:47and the forcible confinement
16:49of Stitch.
16:51But sadly,
16:52for her
16:54and for the case,
16:56she had a severe
16:58addiction problem
16:59and eventually
17:00the prosecution
17:01withdrew the case
17:03against Picton
17:04because she wasn't capable
17:05of giving coherent evidence.
17:07And eventually,
17:09the case was dismissed.
17:12Picton had got away
17:14with attempted murder.
17:17It reinforces for him
17:18his beliefs
17:20about these women,
17:21that they are low status,
17:22that they are low value,
17:23that if you hurt them,
17:24there aren't going
17:25to be any consequences
17:26for you.
17:27So they're fair game now.
17:29Stitch had escaped
17:31the pig farm alive.
17:33She was one
17:34of the lucky ones.
17:36Other women
17:37working the downtown
17:38Eastside
17:39weren't so fortunate.
17:41They had disappeared.
17:44Detective Inspector
17:45Kim Rosmo,
17:47a geographic profiling expert
17:49with the Vancouver Police,
17:51was assigned
17:52to investigate.
17:54I was able
17:55to obtain data
17:56going back
17:57about 20 years
17:58on the number
17:59of unfound
18:00missing persons,
18:02particularly women,
18:02from the area
18:03of interest,
18:04which is our
18:04Skid Road area.
18:05And the answer was
18:07we would have
18:08zero, one, or two
18:10at the most
18:11cases
18:12in a year
18:12until we hit 1995.
18:15Then we began
18:16to see a spike
18:17that carried on
18:19and depending
18:19on where you
18:20draw the cutoff
18:21it was 27
18:21or 28 cases
18:23which was way
18:24too many
18:24compared to
18:25what we've seen
18:26in the past.
18:27This was,
18:29to put it scientifically,
18:30a statistically significant
18:31spatial-temporal cluster
18:33meaning something
18:34was happening
18:35and the next question
18:37would be,
18:38you know,
18:38what is happening?
18:39Why?
18:39What's the cause
18:40of this?
18:42On August 30th,
18:441997,
18:46Lynn and Rick Frey
18:48were at home
18:48in Campbell River
18:49on Vancouver Island,
18:52waiting for a phone call
18:54from their daughter,
18:56Marnie.
18:57It was her 24th birthday.
19:01She called that morning
19:03and said,
19:03oh,
19:03do you know
19:03what day it is?
19:04And I was like,
19:05yeah.
19:05She goes,
19:06well,
19:06it's my birthday,
19:07maybe I'll come home.
19:08I said,
19:08great,
19:09I'll come and get you.
19:11And she said,
19:11no, no, no,
19:12I won't come home today,
19:13maybe tomorrow.
19:14I'm going to go
19:14to a party tonight.
19:17She was a fairly quiet girl,
19:20you know,
19:20just a typical girl,
19:22kind of a little bit
19:23maybe tomboyish.
19:24She's like the outdoors.
19:26She'd always go fishing,
19:27hunting with me,
19:28cutting wood,
19:29stuff like that,
19:30you know,
19:30like kids like to do.
19:33Very,
19:33very much in the nature,
19:36an animal lover,
19:37and animals loved her.
19:40She was already
19:41doing the drugs
19:42prior to leaving here,
19:44but I didn't realize
19:45at the time
19:46it was as bad as it was.
19:48And she,
19:49you know,
19:50would come home
19:50and she looked like
19:51she was just tired.
19:52She didn't look like
19:53she was all stoned
19:55and needed a rest.
19:57So then,
19:58she stayed in Vancouver
19:59and every couple of months
20:01I'd go get her
20:01and bring her home
20:02and try to convince her
20:03to come back to Campbell River
20:05and there's no way
20:06she was coming back here.
20:10And I know for a fact
20:12if Marnie never got
20:14into the drug scene,
20:15she would have never
20:15ended up on that farm.
20:17And that's the only reason
20:18she went there
20:19was because it was
20:20free drugs
20:20and free alcohol
20:21and it was party time.
20:23It was her birthday.
20:26Marnie Frey
20:27became another
20:28missing statistic
20:29from the downtown
20:31Eastside.
20:421997,
20:43downtown
20:43Eastside,
20:45Vancouver.
20:46Between 1995
20:48and 1997,
20:50at least a dozen women
20:51had gone missing,
20:53an unusually high number
20:54for the area.
20:56Any effort
20:57to explain that cluster
20:59had to account
21:00for the following.
21:01Why was this occurring now
21:03and hadn't occurred before?
21:05Why was it occurring
21:06in Vancouver
21:07but not in other
21:08Western Canadian cities?
21:10Why were we not
21:11finding any bodies?
21:13And finally,
21:14why was it only
21:15happening to women,
21:16not to men?
21:17In 1998,
21:19at least nine more women
21:21disappeared
21:22from the area.
21:24The Vancouver Police
21:26Missing Persons Unit
21:28had two or three
21:30officers in it
21:31trying to deal with
21:32not just the cases
21:34on the downtown Eastside
21:35but every person
21:36reported missing
21:36from the city
21:37of Vancouver.
21:39For all intents
21:40and purposes,
21:41these cases
21:42were not being
21:43investigated.
21:44Everyone took
21:45the position
21:45that the victims
21:48were sex trade workers,
21:49that they must
21:50be transient,
21:51that they must
21:52have just picked
21:53up and moved on.
22:01On the pig farm,
22:03life carried on
22:04as normal.
22:05It was a busy place
22:06for the Picton brothers.
22:10Dave was
22:11more social.
22:13He ran the businesses
22:14more and Robert
22:16was more of an employee.
22:19Outwardly,
22:19it seemed as though
22:21Dave controlled Robert
22:22to a large degree
22:23but those that were
22:25quite close to both
22:26of them said
22:27that a lot of times
22:28it would actually
22:29be the other way
22:29around.
22:31There was a lot
22:32of people coming
22:33and going on the farm,
22:34people who would
22:34come to pick up
22:36pork from the pig
22:37business,
22:38just a lot of people
22:40coming and going
22:41from that property.
22:45Running the pig farm
22:47was a bloody business.
22:49Picton would slaughter
22:50and butcher his pigs
22:52on site.
22:54He disposed
22:55of the carcasses
22:56at a meat rendering
22:57plant,
22:58where small local
23:00suppliers disposed
23:02of animal waste
23:03with no supervision
23:04or paperwork.
23:08He seemed
23:09to have a fairly
23:09big heart
23:10in terms of
23:11people he would
23:12try to help out.
23:12If someone had been
23:13released from jail
23:14and was looking
23:15for work,
23:16he took in a lot
23:17of people to work
23:18for cash
23:19under the table
23:20on the farm.
23:21Some of those people
23:21would stay
23:22on the farm with him.
23:23Sometimes he had
23:24a spare room
23:25in his trailer
23:25that people could stay in.
23:27He helped a lot
23:28of his friends
23:28financially.
23:31In 1999,
23:32one of the friends
23:34Willie Picton helped
23:35was Lynn Ellingson.
23:37Lynn was a crack addict
23:39who lived and worked
23:40on the farm
23:41for several months.
23:43The job gave her
23:45a place to stay
23:46and ready cash
23:47to satisfy her drug habit.
23:54Ellingson knew
23:55Picton regularly
23:56brought sex workers
23:57back to the farm.
23:59She was also aware
24:01that women continued
24:02to disappear
24:03from the downtown
24:04east side.
24:06But it became
24:07very clear
24:08when you started
24:09looking into
24:09the backgrounds
24:10of these women
24:10that they were
24:11entirely not transient,
24:13that they had
24:15very small worlds
24:16that they lived in.
24:17They worked
24:19a certain section
24:20of a street.
24:20They picked up
24:22their social assistance
24:23checks on the same day.
24:25They always picked up,
24:27you know,
24:27their methadone
24:28or their harm reduction
24:29drugs on the same day.
24:30They always maybe
24:31phoned their mom
24:32on Mother's Day
24:33or their daughter
24:34to wish her
24:34a happy birthday.
24:35And in every single
24:36one of these cases,
24:38that regular routine
24:40by these women
24:41just stopped.
24:42It just stopped.
24:43And when you started
24:45to look into it,
24:46it became clear
24:46that these women
24:47had not picked up
24:48and moved on,
24:49that they were
24:49actually missing.
24:51So there were
24:52a number of problems,
24:53but probably the biggest
24:54was the fact
24:56that no bodies
24:56had been found.
24:58That's how a murder
24:59investigation
24:59typically proceeds.
25:00A body's found,
25:01it's analyzed,
25:02there's forensics
25:03that are obtained,
25:04possibly DNA,
25:05but there had been
25:06no bodies,
25:06which was very problematic
25:09and very challenging.
25:11No hard evidence
25:13made it easy
25:14for people
25:15to make decisions
25:16that focused
25:17on other crime problems.
25:18You combine this
25:20with budget cuts
25:21that the police agencies
25:22were facing
25:23and other murders
25:25that took up
25:26time and attention
25:27and this,
25:28like some other cases,
25:30just kind of fell
25:31between the cracks,
25:32even though
25:32the available intelligence
25:34and evidence
25:35pointed towards
25:36a serial killer.
25:42On March 2nd, 1999,
25:46Picton was cruising downtown
25:48when he saw
25:4934-year-old Georgina Pappin
25:51working on the streets.
25:55Picton paid her well
25:56to get in the truck
25:57and return to the farm
25:59with him,
26:01where they were joined
26:02by Lynn Ellingson.
26:06The three of them
26:07parted hard.
26:10Ellingson got high
26:11and fell asleep.
26:17When she awoke,
26:19there was a light on
26:20in the slaughterhouse.
26:23She went to investigate.
26:27Lynn looked through the door
26:29and saw a dead woman.
26:33Picton was gutting her
26:34like a pig.
26:37The woman looked like
26:39Georgina Pappin.
26:42Picton turned to Ellingson,
26:45threatening,
26:46if you say a word
26:48about what you've seen,
26:49you'll end up like she is.
26:53He's effectively
26:55butchering his victims.
26:58Time after time,
26:59he would kill a sex worker.
27:02He would have sex with them
27:03and then he would kill them
27:05and then he would
27:08dismember them.
27:12Lynn kept her word
27:14and did not report
27:15what she'd seen
27:16to the police.
27:17But she did tell
27:19some of her friends
27:20and they didn't stay quiet.
27:23One of them
27:24called the police.
27:25Right away,
27:27we wanted to investigate this.
27:28What happened there
27:29was they brought
27:31Lynn Ellingson in
27:31for an interview,
27:32completely unprepared.
27:34They were unprepared.
27:35They spent virtually
27:3712 minutes with her
27:38to talk to her
27:40about this information.
27:43Ellingson gave the police
27:45nothing
27:45and was soon released.
27:49Once she had been questioned
27:50in this interview,
27:51she went to him
27:52and she said,
27:53you need to pay me more now
27:54because I want to take a cruise
27:57and the police
27:58are breathing down my necks
28:00so you need to pay me more.
28:06Women continued to disappear.
28:0931-year-old Brenda Wolfe
28:11was known as a street enforcer.
28:13She protected the women
28:15working the downtown Eastside.
28:19Brenda had been an addict
28:21who worked the streets
28:22before turning her life around.
28:25She went missing
28:26in February 1999.
28:30The fact that police
28:31didn't have any leads
28:32would have made Picton
28:34feel invincible.
28:35He would have been following
28:36these stories
28:37in the local media.
28:38He would have been
28:39watching the local news
28:40and scanning the local papers
28:41to see if there was
28:42anything about it in there.
28:44And when he realized
28:45that there wasn't,
28:46that reinforces his views
28:48about sex workers.
28:50These women don't matter.
28:51They're low status.
28:52They disappear
28:54and nobody really gives a damn.
28:58The victims of serial killers
29:00are more likely to be
29:01people on the fringes
29:02of society,
29:04marginal groups,
29:05and in particular,
29:06prostitutes.
29:07So,
29:08while serial killers are rare,
29:10this was hardly
29:11a surprising conclusion.
29:13And given the data,
29:14there wasn't really anything else
29:15that could explain
29:17the problem
29:18of the missing women.
29:21The way he treated
29:22these victims
29:23as if they were
29:24pieces of meat
29:25really is outstanding
29:27for me.
29:28Here's somebody
29:29who treats
29:30the bodies of their victims
29:32as if they are
29:32the bodies of dead animals.
29:35This is the contempt
29:36that he feels
29:37for people.
29:38So, this is pure evil.
29:40The decision,
29:41the choice
29:41to do this
29:42time and time
29:43and time again.
29:45This horrible-looking man
29:47with greasy hair,
29:49stubble,
29:50who stank all the time,
29:53was in fact
29:55butchering,
29:56and that's the only word
29:57for it,
29:58entirely innocent women.
30:00There is something
30:02profoundly chilling
30:04about that
30:05because he showed
30:06no sign whatever
30:08of wishing to stop.
30:10With no bodies
30:11or evidence,
30:12Picton had
30:13no reason
30:14to stop.
30:24Downtown Eastside,
30:26Vancouver.
30:27With limited
30:28official response,
30:29family and friends
30:31took the initiative
30:31to search
30:32for the missing women.
30:34Lynn and Rick Frey
30:36had not spoken
30:37to their daughter,
30:38Marnie,
30:39since the day
30:39of her 24th birthday
30:41over three years ago.
30:45So I'd go to Vancouver
30:47and it's about
30:48a 45-minute drive
30:49from where my parents
30:50live,
30:50and I'd drive
30:51to Vancouver
30:51and park the car
30:53and go looking for her.
30:54And I'd walk up
30:55and down the streets,
30:56looking back alleys,
30:57you know,
30:57anybody on the street
30:58that was not doing
31:00the floppy chicken
31:00or, you know,
31:02too stressed out
31:03on drugs,
31:03I'd ask them
31:04if they'd seen her.
31:05And I have a picture
31:06of Marnie,
31:06man,
31:07and I'd say
31:08her name was Kit,
31:09or Kit Kat,
31:10because they didn't
31:11know her by Marnie.
31:13The Freys
31:14weren't the only people
31:15searching for loved ones.
31:17By January 2001,
31:20the number of missing women
31:22had risen to over 60,
31:24yet still no bodies
31:25or remains
31:26had been found.
31:27But this number
31:30could no longer
31:31be ignored.
31:34Finally,
31:35in April,
31:36the Vancouver PD
31:37and the Royal Canadian
31:39Mounted Police Force
31:40launched a joint
31:42Missing Women's Task Force.
31:45A $100,000 reward
31:47for information
31:49was posted,
31:50and the task force
31:52received over 12,000 calls.
31:56One of the problems
31:57with such an investigation
31:58is information overload.
32:00But one of the names
32:01that came up,
32:02and I heard about it,
32:03was Willie Pickton,
32:04a pig farmer
32:05who lived out
32:06in the suburbs
32:07of Vancouver
32:08in Coquitlam,
32:10or Port Coquitlam,
32:11and he had attacked
32:13a prostitute
32:14from the downtown
32:15Eastside earlier on
32:17and had been charged
32:18with attempted murder.
32:20So he was a suspect.
32:22And that was
32:23the only entry
32:24on Pickton's
32:25criminal record
32:26that I saw
32:27when I was
32:28alerted to him
32:29as a suspect,
32:30and I ran him
32:31through the police computer,
32:32and all I saw
32:33was attempted murder
32:35and assault,
32:37forcible confinement,
32:39and charges were stayed.
32:41So that's what prompted me
32:43to start to explore
32:44him as a suspect.
32:46Because of his attack
32:48on Stitch,
32:49the police had brought
32:50Pickton in
32:51for questioning.
32:53No, no, no.
32:55I don't drink,
32:56I don't smoke,
32:56I don't use drugs,
32:58and everybody's
32:59hugging your eyes
33:00are still
33:00broken bloodshed.
33:01I turned around,
33:02I didn't take
33:03the knife away from her.
33:04I did not take
33:05the knife away from her.
33:06I aimed it to her,
33:07and I knifed her twice.
33:08I didn't do that.
33:09I admit I did that.
33:11That's one thing
33:12I shouldn't have done.
33:13You've never taken
33:14any of the prostitutes
33:15back to your trailer?
33:17Not since this incident,
33:18no.
33:19But before that incident?
33:21No.
33:22He'd cooperated,
33:23and they found
33:24no reason
33:25to detain him further.
33:27Nobody has any evidence
33:28to the contrary yet.
33:29No one has done anything
33:31to rule Pickton out.
33:32And that was always
33:33my assertion
33:34from the beginning,
33:34is that
33:35he's our best
33:37suspect
33:38until either
33:38we have a better one
33:39or we
33:40categorically
33:42rule him out.
33:44In June 2001,
33:4722-year-old
33:48Andrea Josbury
33:50was in a methadone
33:51program,
33:52close to kicking
33:53her drug habit.
33:55Her pharmacist
33:57reported her missing
33:58when she stopped
33:59collecting
34:00her prescriptions.
34:03These people
34:04were mothers,
34:05they were daughters,
34:06they were sisters.
34:07They were people
34:08who could have
34:09turned their lives
34:09around,
34:10and had this man
34:11not taken away
34:12that opportunity
34:13to do so,
34:14many of them
34:14would have done.
34:1931-year-old
34:20Serena Abbotsway
34:22was a popular
34:23character
34:23on the streets.
34:25A few weeks
34:26after Andrea,
34:28Serena
34:28also vanished.
34:32In November
34:332001,
34:35Picton stopped
34:36on the corner
34:37of Main
34:37and Hastings
34:38to talk
34:39to 26-year-old
34:40Mona Wilson.
34:43He offered her
34:44free dope
34:45and booze
34:46if she came out
34:47to the farm
34:48with him.
34:52When they arrived,
34:54Picton led Mona
34:55to a camper van
34:56behind the barn.
34:58They had sex,
35:00then argued.
35:04Picton pulled out
35:05a .22 caliber revolver
35:07and shot her
35:08in the head.
35:13He took her body
35:14and dumped her
35:15in a trash can.
35:23When the police
35:24finally realized
35:25that there could
35:26be a problem here
35:27and they began
35:27looking for possible
35:29suspects,
35:30including Picton,
35:32as bad as this
35:34was in the beginning,
35:36they eventually
35:37did a really good job
35:37on trying to piece
35:39the bits and pieces
35:40together.
35:42Once it became
35:43confirmed that we
35:45actually had
35:46a series of murders.
35:51On February 1st,
35:532002,
35:54the Missing Women's
35:55Task Force
35:56caught a break.
35:58A truck driver
36:00who'd worked
36:00on the Picton farm
36:02told the police
36:03there was an illegal
36:04firearm
36:05in Willie Picton's
36:06trailer.
36:09A search warrant
36:10was quickly obtained
36:11and a young rookie
36:13policeman turned up
36:14at the farm
36:15unannounced.
36:17He got into
36:18Picton's trailer
36:19with the search warrant
36:21and came across
36:22very quickly
36:23not guns,
36:24but identification
36:25with women's names
36:27on them.
36:27They radioed
36:29the Missing Women
36:29Task Force
36:30who just
36:31immediately said
36:33get off the property,
36:35shut it down,
36:36control the scene,
36:38but don't spend
36:39one more minute
36:40inside that trailer.
36:41In Canadian law,
36:43you can't go on
36:44a fishing trip
36:44on someone's property.
36:46If your purpose
36:47is to be there
36:48to find a handgun,
36:49you can't all of a sudden
36:50take a serial killer
36:51investigation
36:51and run with it.
36:52You have to back out
36:53and get a proper warrant
36:55specific to what you found.
36:57A new warrant
36:59was obtained
36:59and detectives
37:01entered the trailer.
37:03They found identification
37:04with women's names
37:05on it,
37:06transit cards,
37:08notebooks
37:09with women's names
37:10on it.
37:11They found garbage bags
37:13full of women's clothes
37:14in a closet
37:15in his trailer.
37:18His trailer
37:19was just literally
37:19strewn
37:20with the personal
37:21effects of women.
37:26Within a few
37:27days on February 5th,
37:292002,
37:31the Picton pig farm
37:32became the largest
37:33crime scene
37:34in Canadian history.
37:37Robert Willie Picton
37:39was detained
37:40and brought in
37:41for questioning
37:42by the police
37:43while a search
37:44of the farm
37:45got underway.
37:47The discovery
37:48of all those remains
37:50all over the place
37:53must have been
37:54truly horrifying.
37:55I can't believe
37:56that the officers
37:58who actually searched
37:59could have thought
38:00that they were going
38:01to be dealing
38:02with someone
38:02who'd killed
38:03on this kind of scale.
38:11what girls
38:12that you remember
38:15have ever been
38:16up to your place?
38:18I don't know.
38:19There's so many people
38:20coming out
38:21in the police,
38:21I don't know.
38:22Has she ever been
38:22to your place?
38:23Her name's Mauna.
38:25She's pretty.
38:26I like the same.
38:27Picton told the police
38:29nothing,
38:29so they changed tactics.
38:31Picton is put
38:32into a cell
38:33while on remand
38:35with an undercover
38:37policeman
38:38and proceeds
38:40to brag
38:41about what he's done.
38:45He's prompted
38:46by the undercover
38:47officer.
39:02Picton's jail confession
39:04to the murder
39:05of 49 women
39:06had to be corroborated
39:08with hard evidence.
39:10Forensic investigators
39:12continued meticulously
39:14searching the pig farm.
39:15By February 22nd,
39:192002,
39:20there was enough
39:21evidence to identify
39:22remains of Mauna Wilson
39:24and Serena Abbotsway.
39:27Picton was charged
39:28with their murders.
39:31Two months later,
39:33another five counts
39:35of murder
39:36were added.
39:37The Canadian police
39:39forces spent
39:4070 million Canadian dollars
39:41on searching the farm.
39:43they had
39:45archaeological experts,
39:47more than 100.
39:48They dug a huge area.
39:50All it did
39:51was to confirm
39:52what they by then
39:53already knew,
39:55that Picton
39:57was killing
39:57on an industrial scale.
39:59On March 11,
40:012004,
40:02Canadian health officials
40:04made a shocking statement.
40:06As a result
40:08of information
40:08that we recently
40:10received from the RCMP,
40:11we have reason
40:13to believe
40:13that there is
40:14a strong possibility
40:15that some
40:17of the product
40:17from the Picton farms
40:20and how much
40:21the RCMP
40:22do not know
40:23may still be sitting
40:24in some people's
40:26freezers
40:26in the lower mainland.
40:28Cross-contamination
40:28could mean
40:29that human remains
40:30did get into
40:32or contaminate
40:33some of the pork meat
40:34that was produced.
40:40After 22 months,
40:42the forensic investigation
40:44of the pig farm
40:45revealed identifiable
40:47remains
40:47of 20 more women.
40:50Picton was charged
40:51with 27 counts
40:53of first-degree murder.
40:56The trial began
40:58on January 2, 2007,
41:01with Picton pleading
41:02his innocence.
41:05You know,
41:06the trial judge
41:06had a very fine line
41:07to walk here.
41:09He didn't want
41:10to allow
41:11any evidence
41:12that was going
41:12to permit
41:14Canada's worst
41:15serial killer
41:16to walk.
41:16So he had
41:18to find a way
41:19that he was going
41:19to be able
41:20to avoid future appeals,
41:22to not have
41:23charges thrown out.
41:25The judge
41:25reached an agreement
41:27with Picton's
41:27defence team
41:28to sever the charges
41:30and split the trial
41:31into two.
41:33The first trial
41:34would focus
41:35on the six women
41:36where fully identifiable
41:38remains had been found.
41:40The second trial
41:42would focus
41:43on the 20 women
41:44where only partial evidence
41:46was available.
41:48One count of murder
41:49was dismissed.
41:53One of the witnesses
41:54for the prosecution
41:56was Picton's
41:57former friend,
41:58Lynn Ellingson.
42:01who said
42:02she walked
42:03into the slaughterhouse
42:04late one night
42:05and testified
42:08that she saw
42:09what appeared
42:09to be a human body
42:12on the slaughterhouse
42:13table.
42:14And it was
42:15very chilling
42:16testimony
42:17in the trial
42:18that was,
42:21I'm sure,
42:22very important
42:23for the jurors
42:24to hear.
42:27On December
42:28the 9th,
42:292007,
42:30after a very
42:30long trial,
42:32the jury
42:32returned
42:34a very interesting
42:36verdict.
42:37They find
42:38Picton
42:39not guilty
42:40of first-degree
42:41murder,
42:42but guilty
42:43of second-degree
42:44murder.
42:45Now,
42:46I've always
42:47wondered
42:47whether or not
42:49that jury
42:50felt
42:51that Picton
42:52was not
42:53working alone,
42:54that that
42:55was the reason
42:56they didn't
42:56convict him
42:57of first-degree
42:57murder,
42:58because he
42:58ticked
42:59every single
43:00box.
43:01Picton
43:02was sentenced
43:03to life
43:03in prison
43:04to serve
43:0525 years
43:06without the
43:07possibility
43:08of parole.
43:11the Supreme
43:12Court of
43:13Canada
43:13denied
43:14his right
43:15to appeal,
43:16and the
43:17government
43:17of British
43:18Columbia
43:18made the
43:19decision
43:20not to
43:21proceed
43:21with the
43:22remaining
43:2220 counts
43:23of first-degree
43:24murder.
43:27Logically,
43:28it made
43:28sense,
43:29but I can
43:30tell you
43:30emotionally,
43:32it was
43:32devastating
43:33to the
43:33families
43:34of those
43:3420 people,
43:35who for
43:37years,
43:38generations,
43:38generations,