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Fred dinenage
(narrates): March 22, 1997,

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downtown eastside
Vancouver, Canada,

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her street name was 'stitch'

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she was working
the corner of Cordova

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and princes Avenue.

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A 31-year-old mother of
two with a serious drug habit,

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selling her body
was the quickest way

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to the next high.

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They were doing the best

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they could with the circumstances
in their lives at the time.

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An old pickup truck approached,

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the driver flashed some
cash and stitch got in.

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A straightforward transaction,

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a barter, money for sex,

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the driver was 47-year-old
Robert 'Willy' pickton

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who drove stitch seventeen
miles east to his pig farm.

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Her gut instinct,
was just telling her,

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"don't go, don't go out there."

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They had sex
in his filthy trailer

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then stitch asked if she
could use the phone.

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He attacks her.

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He puts a handcuff
around her left wrist

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and stabs her in the abdomen.

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She's spirited and
she fights back.

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A proper fight ensues.

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She's stabbed, he's stabbed.

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Blood is all over the trailer.

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Stitch escaped with
four stab wounds,

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she was critically
injured but alive.

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Pickton had been sloppy,
this one had got away.

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Over the next five years
at least 49 other women

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wouldn't be so lucky,

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making Robert pickton

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one of the world's
most evil killers.

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(Theme music)

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1990's port
coquitlam, Vancouver,

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Robert 'Willy' pickton
had spent his entire life

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living and working
on the family pig farm.

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This is a man who is
not integrated into society.

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He's a man who lives in a
trailer in the midst of his farm,

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who is trained as a butcher,
who in a way rejects society.

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His only sexual outlet was
with women working the streets

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of downtown eastside, Vancouver.

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Women who sold sex for survival.

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The kind of dynamics
of the drug addiction

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and the poverty,

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and then the risky nature
of some of their customers

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made them more
vulnerable to violence

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either from single
individuals or serial predators.

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Pickton was one
of those predators,

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who hunted women relentlessly.

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Pickton was
targeting sex workers

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because sex workers
are easy to access.

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They're going to
readily get into your car,

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they are going to readily
go somewhere with you.

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They are out there to be treated

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how you want to treat them.

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They are worthless, you
know, they are less than human.

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The pig farm gave him the
perfect cover for his depravity.

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Women would disappear
and hardly anyone noticed.

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For society to allow
that to continue

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for at least a decade
unfettered at this farm

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that was surrounded
by dozens of houses,

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it's mind boggling.

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It's awful.

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This killer's story
begins in 1949.

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Robert 'Willy' pickton
was born on October 24

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to Leonard and Helen Louise,

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a family of pig farmers
in port coquitlam,

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on the outskirts of Vancouver.

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He was one of three children.

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He was the elder
of two brothers.

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They had an elder
sister called Linda,

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who had been sent away,

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and they didn't think a girl
should be brought up on a pig farm

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and so Linda was
dispatched to Vancouver,

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which is about 17 miles away.

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The boys are brought
up on the farm.

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Pickton's mother was
very much a workaholic,

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she was a very
industrious woman.

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This had a significant
impact on her children

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because they had to
work in this family business.

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So, the children didn't really get
much of a chance to be children,

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to be carefree, to
run around and play

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with their friends
and that kind of thing.

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She was the decisive
force in the family.

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Leonard was more remote,

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some said he was
abusive to the boys,

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I think he was probably
just a victorian father

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in a rather old-fashioned sense.

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The boys were really less
important to their mother than the pigs.

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They were certainly not
treated particularly well.

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There was some suggestion
that he was always striving

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for approval from his
parents and from his brother,

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and that he was a
fairly weak young boy

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with not a lot of confidence.

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He struggled in school, he
struggled to make friends.

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He very much relied
on his brother David

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for many things in life.

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Pickton was known
by the other children

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at school as somebody

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with incredibly poor
personal hygiene,

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and this is something
that his family were...

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Were not particularly
stringent about either.

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So, it was normal in this
household to perhaps not wash

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and... and not
look after yourself

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and not change your clothes
as much as other people did.

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This is something that would
have really excluded him

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from his peer group.

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He's that kid that smells,
he's that kid that's not like us.

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He has a prized calf
that he considers a pet.

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He's a child, and he's
considering this as his pet.

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This isn't livestock.

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He comes home
from school one day

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and finds out his dad
has slaughtered his pet calf

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and he's just devastated.

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He has learned

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that I am not going to get
close to anything anymore.

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I'm not going to love
or care for anything

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because when I do that,
that is going to get taken away.

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The boys learned
to drive on the farm

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when they were still children.

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One day pickton's brother
Dave accidentally hit a young boy

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on a road close to the farm,

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he ran to find their mother.

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And she disposed of
the victim's body in a lake

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before he'd even died.

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Now, this is a really
significant thing

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to witness to see
as a young person,

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because this shows
you how not to do things.

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It also sends a
message out to him

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that the other people's
lives are not valuable.

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Pickton was somebody
who was used to death,

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he was surrounded by it on
the farm, in the slaughterhouse,

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but this was the
death of animals.

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When we're looking
at the hit and run,

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this is a human being.

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And the fact that his mother
shows such contempt for the life

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and for the dignity
of a human being

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is a message that is
going to stick with him.

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So, all of these things
are playing a role

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in shaping his value system.

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As a teenager pickton spent

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over six years as a
butcher's apprentice.

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By 1970 at the age of 21
he was working full time

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on the family pig farm.

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In 1978 his father died,

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followed by his
mother a year later,

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leaving the family
estate to their children.

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Robert 'Willy' pickton

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was the only one
of the three siblings

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who had any interest in
keeping the business running.

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This farm was not an
idyllic beautiful pasture.

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It was just absolutely cluttered
with old broken-down vehicles

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and garbage and
debris and outbuildings

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that were stuffed
full of all sorts of,

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you know, derelict things.

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Amidst all of this,

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Willy pickton lived in a very
rundown trailer by himself.

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I think it would be fair
to say that Willy pickton

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wasn't very attractive to women.

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I'm not entirely surprised.

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He was a messy,
ugly, man who stank.

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There's no two ways about it.

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He's said to have put butter
in his hair to smooth it back.

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If you look at
any picture of him,

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he was grubby,
stubbly, rather ugly.

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He wasn't anybody's
idea of a boyfriend.

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He wasn't a man
for relationships.

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He was a loner in
every way and knew it.

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In 1994, the pickton farm
on the outskirts of Vancouver

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was prime real estate.

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The brothers sold
some of their land

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for around $2 million.

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For pickton, if he
wanted a woman,

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he now had more than
enough money to pay for her.

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1995 downtown
eastside Vancouver,

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known as the poorest
zip code in urban Canada,

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it was here that Willy pickton
found what he was looking for.

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Low track is literally the
cheapest area of the city.

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Vancouver at that time
had a number of strolls

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for street sex trade workers

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and some were very expensive,
and others were very cheap,

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and these were the cheapest.

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These were drug addicted women.

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Many of them were engaged
in very risky behaviour

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because of the
nature of the area

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and the type of
customers they would get.

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This was survival sex work.

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These women were, you know,

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they weren't out there
because they enjoyed it.

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They weren't out there

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because it was a
choice for many of them.

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They were out there to survive

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and to make enough money
most of the time to feed

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an addiction or just to survive.

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Normally prostitutes were
very worried about money

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because time is money,

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are not willing to go great
distances to engage in a sex act.

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But pickton was actually
reasonably wealthy,

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and he was able to
convince them because again,

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they were drug addicted
and he offered them money

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and was able to get them
to come back to his farm.

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That was his sexual outlet

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because he was paying them.

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It was a straightforward
transaction,

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a barter, money for sex,
whatever kind of sex it would be.

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In 1996, the younger
pickton brother Dave

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established a nightclub
close to the pig farm,

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called piggy's palace
good time society.

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Piggy's palace
was a nicely built,

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illegal after hours,

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speakeasy or bar where
were... were frequented

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by people in that area,

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but that was his brother's
property, not his property.

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And they would invite all
manner of people to these.

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At one point, it was estimated
that they have 2,000 people

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at a rave on their farm.

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It was good time city, we're
all going to enjoy ourselves.

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There was a lot of
anecdotal talk of sex parties,

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drug parties, parties where a
lot of sex workers would be...

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Would be brought to
the farm to party later,

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kind of, in an afterhours,
kind of, club in pickton's trailer.

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There was probably quite
a lot of all manner of things

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going on it was
the first time I think

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that Willy pickton
had felt integrated.

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He was in his late 30s.

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He's suddenly discovered,

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"oh, I've got friends
pleased to see me."

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I think it gave him
something extra.

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All those people who
turned up to the raves

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and the dances and
the new year's Eve party

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at piggy palace,

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they must have thought
pickton was pretty alright.

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Otherwise, why
would they have gone?

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On march 22, 1997,

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pickton was cruising
the downtown eastside

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when he saw a 31-year-old sex
worker whose street name was 'stitch'.

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She had a fairly... fairly heavy
cocaine addiction at the time.

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They made a deal
for $100, for sex,

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which is an astronomical
sum for the women

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in the downtown eastside for
any of the sex workers there.

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A lot of the women
don't like to leave

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the downtown eastside.

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They're nervous
and rightfully so,

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but she thought, $100,
that is a lot of money.

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Her gut instinct,

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as they were driving
out to port coquitlam

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and in pickton's pickup
truck, was just telling her,

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00:14:39,003 --> 00:14:41,243
"don't go, don't go out there."

251
00:14:41,283 --> 00:14:43,523
And she said she
was sitting in the truck

252
00:14:43,563 --> 00:14:45,099
and she was sort of
looking down at her feet

253
00:14:45,123 --> 00:14:47,163
and he was driving,
and he wasn't talking,

254
00:14:47,203 --> 00:14:48,363
he was very quiet.

255
00:14:48,403 --> 00:14:52,683
And she started to think
that she wanted to jump out

256
00:14:52,723 --> 00:14:54,083
when the vehicle slowed down.

257
00:14:56,163 --> 00:14:59,803
Pickton brought stitch to
his trailer on the pig farm.

258
00:15:01,043 --> 00:15:02,403
Sex duly takes place

259
00:15:03,763 --> 00:15:06,283
but then she asks
him for the phone book.

260
00:15:06,323 --> 00:15:08,323
(Eerie music)

261
00:15:11,003 --> 00:15:12,883
He attacks her.

262
00:15:12,923 --> 00:15:15,563
He puts a handcuff
around her left wrist

263
00:15:15,603 --> 00:15:17,003
and stabs her in the abdomen.

264
00:15:18,043 --> 00:15:21,243
She's spirited and
she fights back.

265
00:15:21,283 --> 00:15:23,163
A proper fight ensues.

266
00:15:24,203 --> 00:15:26,363
She's stabbed, he's stabbed.

267
00:15:26,403 --> 00:15:28,043
Blood is all over the trailer.

268
00:15:30,283 --> 00:15:32,123
But at that point, he seems to,

269
00:15:32,163 --> 00:15:33,523
kind of, blackout,

270
00:15:33,563 --> 00:15:35,923
and she has an opportunity
and she's out the door,

271
00:15:35,963 --> 00:15:36,963
and down the steps

272
00:15:37,003 --> 00:15:40,163
and she is running a
couple of hundred metres out

273
00:15:40,203 --> 00:15:41,363
to the main road.

274
00:15:41,403 --> 00:15:43,643
She was able to get away

275
00:15:43,683 --> 00:15:45,963
from him and ran
through the farm

276
00:15:46,003 --> 00:15:48,883
and onto the nearest road,

277
00:15:48,923 --> 00:15:51,563
where she stopped a car
coming down the street.

278
00:15:51,603 --> 00:15:52,643
And you can imagine,

279
00:15:52,683 --> 00:15:56,483
she was naked with
one handcuff dangling

280
00:15:56,523 --> 00:15:59,603
from one wrist and
completely covered in blood

281
00:15:59,643 --> 00:16:02,483
and screaming for her life.

282
00:16:02,523 --> 00:16:04,083
They called 911
on the cell phone,

283
00:16:04,123 --> 00:16:06,923
an ambulance met them
shortly down the road.

284
00:16:06,963 --> 00:16:10,563
And she was placed in the
ambulance, taken off to the hospital.

285
00:16:10,603 --> 00:16:13,523
And she almost died on the operating
table a couple of different times,

286
00:16:13,563 --> 00:16:15,723
before they actually
managed to save her.

287
00:16:19,123 --> 00:16:23,083
As stitch fought for her life
in surgery pickton arrived

288
00:16:23,123 --> 00:16:26,003
at the same hospital
seeking treatment,

289
00:16:27,203 --> 00:16:28,963
as he was attended to,

290
00:16:29,003 --> 00:16:32,403
an orderly found
a key in his pocket,

291
00:16:32,443 --> 00:16:37,243
it unlocked the handcuffs
still attached to stitch.

292
00:16:37,283 --> 00:16:39,843
Pickton was charged
with attempted murder,

293
00:16:39,883 --> 00:16:43,363
assault, and the forcible
confinement of stitch.

294
00:16:44,483 --> 00:16:48,443
But sadly, for her
and for the case,

295
00:16:49,643 --> 00:16:52,803
she had a severe
addiction problem.

296
00:16:52,843 --> 00:16:57,323
And eventually, the prosecution
withdrew the case against pickton

297
00:16:57,363 --> 00:17:00,163
because she wasn't capable
of giving coherent evidence.

298
00:17:01,203 --> 00:17:03,523
Eventually, the
case was dismissed.

299
00:17:05,443 --> 00:17:08,723
Pickton had got away
with attempted murder.

300
00:17:10,243 --> 00:17:11,803
It reinforces for him,

301
00:17:11,843 --> 00:17:14,843
his beliefs about these
women that they are low status,

302
00:17:14,883 --> 00:17:16,083
that they are low value,

303
00:17:16,123 --> 00:17:17,443
that if you hurt them there

304
00:17:17,483 --> 00:17:19,883
aren't going to be any
consequences for you,

305
00:17:19,923 --> 00:17:22,443
so they're fair game now.

306
00:17:22,483 --> 00:17:25,723
Stitch had escaped
the pig farm alive,

307
00:17:25,763 --> 00:17:28,123
she was one of the lucky ones.

308
00:17:29,483 --> 00:17:32,443
Other women working
the downtown eastside,

309
00:17:32,483 --> 00:17:35,803
weren't so fortunate,
they had disappeared.

310
00:17:37,283 --> 00:17:39,763
Detective inspector Kim rossmo,

311
00:17:39,803 --> 00:17:42,083
a geographic profiling expert

312
00:17:42,123 --> 00:17:46,283
with the Vancouver police
was assigned to investigate.

313
00:17:47,643 --> 00:17:51,603
I was able to obtain data
going back about 20 years

314
00:17:51,643 --> 00:17:54,563
on the number of
unfound missing persons,

315
00:17:54,603 --> 00:17:56,723
particularly women
from the area of interest,

316
00:17:56,763 --> 00:17:58,683
which is our skid road area.

317
00:17:58,723 --> 00:18:02,123
And the answer was
we would have zero,

318
00:18:02,163 --> 00:18:05,883
one, or two at the
most cases in a year,

319
00:18:05,923 --> 00:18:08,443
until we hit 1995.

320
00:18:08,483 --> 00:18:11,723
Then we began to see
a spike that carried on,

321
00:18:11,763 --> 00:18:13,603
and depending on
where you draw the cut off,

322
00:18:13,643 --> 00:18:16,163
it was 27 or 28 cases,

323
00:18:16,203 --> 00:18:19,523
which was way too many compared
to what we've seen in the past.

324
00:18:20,643 --> 00:18:22,963
This was, to put
it scientifically,

325
00:18:23,003 --> 00:18:26,603
a statistically significant
spatial temporal cluster,

326
00:18:26,643 --> 00:18:28,523
meaning something was happening

327
00:18:28,563 --> 00:18:31,083
and the next question would be,

328
00:18:31,123 --> 00:18:32,523
you know, what is
happening? Why?

329
00:18:32,563 --> 00:18:33,763
What's the cause of this?

330
00:18:35,923 --> 00:18:39,243
On August 30, 1997,

331
00:18:39,283 --> 00:18:41,363
Lynn & Rick frey were at home

332
00:18:41,403 --> 00:18:44,443
in Campbell river
on Vancouver island,

333
00:18:45,763 --> 00:18:49,163
waiting for a phone call
from their daughter marnie,

334
00:18:50,563 --> 00:18:52,643
it was her 24th birthday.

335
00:18:54,723 --> 00:18:56,019
She called that
morning and said,

336
00:18:56,043 --> 00:18:57,219
"oh, do you know
what day it is?"

337
00:18:57,243 --> 00:18:58,483
And it was like, "yeah."

338
00:18:58,523 --> 00:19:00,243
She goes, "well,
it's my birthday.

339
00:19:00,283 --> 00:19:01,699
"Maybe I'll come
home." I said, "great.

340
00:19:01,723 --> 00:19:03,763
"I'll come and get you."

341
00:19:03,803 --> 00:19:04,819
And she said, "no, no, no.

342
00:19:04,843 --> 00:19:06,723
"I won't come out
today, maybe tomorrow.

343
00:19:06,763 --> 00:19:08,283
"I'm going to go
to a party tonight."

344
00:19:10,523 --> 00:19:13,203
She was a fairly quiet girl,

345
00:19:13,243 --> 00:19:16,243
you know, just typical
girl, kind of a little bit,

346
00:19:16,283 --> 00:19:17,283
maybe tomboyish.

347
00:19:17,323 --> 00:19:19,043
She liked the outdoors.

348
00:19:19,083 --> 00:19:21,403
She'd always go
fishing, hunting with me,

349
00:19:21,443 --> 00:19:23,243
cutting wood, stuff like that,

350
00:19:23,283 --> 00:19:24,643
you know, like kids like to do.

351
00:19:25,963 --> 00:19:29,163
Very, very much in nature,

352
00:19:29,203 --> 00:19:31,923
an animal lover and
animals loved her.

353
00:19:33,883 --> 00:19:37,043
She was already doing the
drugs prior to leaving here.

354
00:19:37,083 --> 00:19:40,483
But I didn't realise at the time
that it was as bad as it was.

355
00:19:41,803 --> 00:19:43,403
She would come home,

356
00:19:43,443 --> 00:19:45,163
and she looked like
she was just tired.

357
00:19:45,203 --> 00:19:47,563
She didn't look like
she was all stoned

358
00:19:47,603 --> 00:19:48,843
and needed a rest.

359
00:19:50,563 --> 00:19:53,563
So, then she stayed in Vancouver
and every couple of months

360
00:19:53,603 --> 00:19:55,403
I'd go get her and
bring her home

361
00:19:55,443 --> 00:19:58,043
and try to convince her to
come back to Campbell river.

362
00:19:58,083 --> 00:20:00,363
There was no way she
was coming back here.

363
00:20:03,803 --> 00:20:05,683
I know for a fact,

364
00:20:05,723 --> 00:20:07,603
if marnie never got
into the drug scene,

365
00:20:07,643 --> 00:20:10,043
she would have never
ended up on that farm.

366
00:20:10,083 --> 00:20:11,099
And that's the only reason

367
00:20:11,123 --> 00:20:13,083
she went there was
because it was free drugs

368
00:20:13,123 --> 00:20:15,563
and free alcohol,
and it was party time.

369
00:20:16,803 --> 00:20:18,643
It was her birthday.

370
00:20:18,683 --> 00:20:22,563
Marnie frey became
another missing statistic

371
00:20:22,603 --> 00:20:24,483
from the downtown eastside.

372
00:20:25,963 --> 00:20:30,963
1997 downtown eastside,
Vancouver, Canada.

373
00:20:32,203 --> 00:20:35,563
Between 1995 and 1997

374
00:20:35,603 --> 00:20:38,363
at least a dozen women
had gone missing,

375
00:20:38,403 --> 00:20:41,123
an unusually high
number for the area.

376
00:20:42,523 --> 00:20:44,843
Any effort to
explain that cluster

377
00:20:44,883 --> 00:20:47,043
had to account
for the following,

378
00:20:47,083 --> 00:20:49,923
why was this occurring now
and hadn't occurred before?

379
00:20:51,003 --> 00:20:52,723
Why was it occurring
in Vancouver,

380
00:20:52,763 --> 00:20:56,003
but not in other
western Canadian cities?

381
00:20:56,043 --> 00:20:58,163
Why were we not
finding any bodies?

382
00:20:59,363 --> 00:21:02,043
And finally, why was it
only happening to women,

383
00:21:02,083 --> 00:21:03,523
not to men?

384
00:21:03,563 --> 00:21:09,243
In 1998 at least nine more
women disappeared from the area.

385
00:21:10,683 --> 00:21:14,203
The Vancouver police
missing persons unit

386
00:21:14,243 --> 00:21:17,923
had two or three
officers in it trying to deal

387
00:21:17,963 --> 00:21:20,363
with not just the cases
in the downtown eastside,

388
00:21:20,403 --> 00:21:24,523
but every person reported
missing from the city of Vancouver.

389
00:21:24,563 --> 00:21:26,163
For all intents and purposes,

390
00:21:26,203 --> 00:21:29,843
these cases were
not being investigated.

391
00:21:29,883 --> 00:21:31,443
Everyone at the
time took the position

392
00:21:31,483 --> 00:21:34,923
that that the victims
were sex trade workers,

393
00:21:34,963 --> 00:21:36,723
that they must be transient,

394
00:21:36,763 --> 00:21:40,163
that they must have just
picked up and moved on.

395
00:21:47,163 --> 00:21:50,683
On the pig farm life
carried on as normal,

396
00:21:50,723 --> 00:21:53,403
it was a busy place
for the pickton brothers.

397
00:21:55,843 --> 00:21:58,723
Dave was more social.

398
00:21:58,763 --> 00:22:03,203
He ran the businesses more and
Robert was more of an employee.

399
00:22:04,283 --> 00:22:09,763
Outwardly it seemed as though Dave
controlled Robert to a large degree,

400
00:22:09,803 --> 00:22:12,603
but those that were quite
close to both of them said

401
00:22:12,643 --> 00:22:15,603
that a lot of times it would
actually be the other way around.

402
00:22:17,003 --> 00:22:18,323
There was a lot of people coming

403
00:22:18,363 --> 00:22:19,683
and going on the farm,

404
00:22:19,723 --> 00:22:22,163
people who would
come to pick up pork

405
00:22:22,203 --> 00:22:24,243
from the pig business.

406
00:22:24,283 --> 00:22:27,723
Just a lot of people coming
and going from that property.

407
00:22:31,083 --> 00:22:34,603
Running the pig farm
was a bloody business.

408
00:22:34,643 --> 00:22:38,283
Pickton would slaughter
and butcher his pigs on site.

409
00:22:40,083 --> 00:22:43,963
He disposed of the carcasses
at a meat rendering plant

410
00:22:45,003 --> 00:22:48,763
where small local suppliers
disposed of animal waste

411
00:22:48,803 --> 00:22:51,323
with no supervision
or paperwork.

412
00:22:53,603 --> 00:22:55,843
He seemed to have
a fairly big heart

413
00:22:55,883 --> 00:22:58,123
in terms of people he
would try to help out

414
00:22:58,163 --> 00:23:00,083
if someone had
been released from jail

415
00:23:00,123 --> 00:23:03,323
and was looking for work,
he took in a lot of people to...

416
00:23:03,363 --> 00:23:06,603
To work for cash under
the table on the farm.

417
00:23:06,643 --> 00:23:09,003
Some of those people would
stay on the farm with him,

418
00:23:09,043 --> 00:23:10,923
sometimes he had a
spare room in his trailer

419
00:23:10,963 --> 00:23:12,883
that people could stay in.

420
00:23:12,923 --> 00:23:14,843
He helped a lot of
his friends financially

421
00:23:16,723 --> 00:23:20,723
in 1999 one of the
friends Willy pickton helped

422
00:23:20,763 --> 00:23:22,923
was Lynn ellingsen.

423
00:23:22,963 --> 00:23:24,763
Lynn was a crack addict

424
00:23:24,803 --> 00:23:28,083
who lived and worked on
the farm for several months.

425
00:23:29,643 --> 00:23:32,043
The job gave her a place to stay

426
00:23:32,083 --> 00:23:35,363
and ready cash to
satisfy her drug habit.

427
00:23:39,723 --> 00:23:43,203
Ellingsen knew pickton
regularly brought sex workers

428
00:23:43,243 --> 00:23:45,163
back to the farm.

429
00:23:45,203 --> 00:23:49,043
She was also aware that
women continued to disappear

430
00:23:49,083 --> 00:23:51,683
from the downtown eastside.

431
00:23:51,723 --> 00:23:53,683
But it became very clear

432
00:23:53,723 --> 00:23:56,099
when you started looking into
the backgrounds of these women,

433
00:23:56,123 --> 00:23:59,123
that they were
entirely not transient,

434
00:23:59,163 --> 00:24:02,923
that they had very small
worlds that they lived in.

435
00:24:02,963 --> 00:24:06,203
They worked a certain
section of a street.

436
00:24:06,243 --> 00:24:10,403
They picked up their social
assistance checks on the same day.

437
00:24:10,443 --> 00:24:12,323
They always picked up,

438
00:24:12,363 --> 00:24:14,723
you know, their methadone
or their harm reduction drugs

439
00:24:14,763 --> 00:24:15,763
on the same day.

440
00:24:15,803 --> 00:24:18,563
They always maybe phone
their mum on mother's day

441
00:24:18,603 --> 00:24:20,923
or their daughter to
wish her a happy birthday.

442
00:24:20,963 --> 00:24:23,763
And in every single
one of these cases,

443
00:24:23,803 --> 00:24:27,523
that regular routine by
these women just stopped.

444
00:24:27,563 --> 00:24:28,803
It just stopped.

445
00:24:28,843 --> 00:24:31,323
And when you
started to look into it,

446
00:24:31,363 --> 00:24:32,923
it became clear that these women

447
00:24:32,963 --> 00:24:35,763
had not picked up and moved
on, that they were actually missing.

448
00:24:37,203 --> 00:24:38,619
So, there were a
number of problems,

449
00:24:38,643 --> 00:24:41,603
but probably the
biggest was the fact

450
00:24:41,643 --> 00:24:43,643
that no bodies had been found.

451
00:24:43,683 --> 00:24:45,923
That's how a murder
investigation typically proceeds.

452
00:24:45,963 --> 00:24:47,963
A body's found, it's analysed.

453
00:24:48,003 --> 00:24:50,963
There's forensics that
are obtained possibly DNA,

454
00:24:51,003 --> 00:24:52,323
but there've been no bodies,

455
00:24:52,363 --> 00:24:55,843
which was very problematic
and very challenging.

456
00:24:57,203 --> 00:25:02,043
No hard evidence made it easy
for people to make decisions

457
00:25:02,083 --> 00:25:04,123
that focused on
other crime problems.

458
00:25:05,243 --> 00:25:09,083
You combine this with budget cuts
that the police agencies were facing

459
00:25:09,123 --> 00:25:13,883
and other murders that took
up time and attention and this,

460
00:25:13,923 --> 00:25:16,203
like some other
cases, it just, kind of,

461
00:25:16,243 --> 00:25:17,443
fell between the cracks,

462
00:25:17,483 --> 00:25:21,243
even though the available
intelligence and evidence pointed

463
00:25:21,283 --> 00:25:22,683
towards a serial killer.

464
00:25:28,403 --> 00:25:31,523
On march 2, 1999,

465
00:25:31,563 --> 00:25:34,003
pickton was cruising downtown

466
00:25:34,043 --> 00:25:37,243
when he saw 34-year-old
Georgina papin

467
00:25:37,283 --> 00:25:38,763
working on the streets.

468
00:25:40,763 --> 00:25:43,243
Pickton paid her
well to get in the truck

469
00:25:43,283 --> 00:25:45,443
and return to the farm with him,

470
00:25:46,843 --> 00:25:49,483
where they were
joined by Lynn ellingsen.

471
00:25:52,083 --> 00:25:54,363
The three of them partied hard,

472
00:25:55,563 --> 00:25:58,003
ellingsen got high
and fell asleep.

473
00:26:03,323 --> 00:26:07,243
When she woke up there was
a light on in the slaughterhouse,

474
00:26:09,003 --> 00:26:10,723
she went to investigate.

475
00:26:13,003 --> 00:26:16,883
Lynn looked through the
door and saw a dead woman,

476
00:26:18,643 --> 00:26:21,283
pickton was
gutting her like a pig.

477
00:26:23,083 --> 00:26:25,883
The woman looked
like Georgina papin.

478
00:26:28,003 --> 00:26:32,003
Pickton turned to
ellingsen, threatening,

479
00:26:32,043 --> 00:26:35,563
"if you say a word
about what you've seen,

480
00:26:35,603 --> 00:26:37,483
"you'll end up like she is."

481
00:26:38,683 --> 00:26:42,483
He's effectively
butchering his victims.

482
00:26:43,963 --> 00:26:47,803
Time after time, he
would kill a sex worker.

483
00:26:47,843 --> 00:26:49,323
He would have sex with them

484
00:26:49,363 --> 00:26:54,283
and then he would kill them and
then he would dismember them.

485
00:26:57,963 --> 00:27:01,003
Lynn kept her word
and did not report

486
00:27:01,043 --> 00:27:03,523
what she had seen to the police,

487
00:27:03,563 --> 00:27:06,563
but she did tell
some of her friends,

488
00:27:06,603 --> 00:27:11,803
and they didn't stay quiet,
one of them called the police.

489
00:27:11,843 --> 00:27:14,363
Right away, we wanted
to investigate this.

490
00:27:14,403 --> 00:27:15,443
What happened there was,

491
00:27:15,483 --> 00:27:18,283
they brought lynne
ellingsen in for an interview,

492
00:27:18,323 --> 00:27:19,483
completely unprepared.

493
00:27:19,523 --> 00:27:21,243
They were unprepared,

494
00:27:21,283 --> 00:27:24,923
they spent virtually
12 minutes with her

495
00:27:24,963 --> 00:27:27,363
to talk to her about
this information.

496
00:27:29,003 --> 00:27:32,923
Ellingsen gave the police
nothing and was released.

497
00:27:34,483 --> 00:27:36,963
Once she had been
questioned in this interview,

498
00:27:37,003 --> 00:27:38,643
she went to him and she said,

499
00:27:38,683 --> 00:27:39,699
"you need to pay me more now

500
00:27:39,723 --> 00:27:42,763
"because I want
to take a cruise,

501
00:27:42,803 --> 00:27:45,163
"and the police are
breathing down my neck,

502
00:27:45,203 --> 00:27:46,643
"so you need to pay me more."

503
00:27:51,363 --> 00:27:54,643
Women continued to disappear,

504
00:27:54,683 --> 00:27:59,323
31-year-old Brenda wolfe
was known as a street enforcer,

505
00:27:59,363 --> 00:28:02,923
she protected the women
working the downtown eastside.

506
00:28:04,563 --> 00:28:08,123
Brenda had been an addict
who worked the streets

507
00:28:08,163 --> 00:28:10,963
before turning her life around.

508
00:28:11,003 --> 00:28:14,403
She went missing
in February 1999.

509
00:28:15,963 --> 00:28:18,043
The fact that police
didn't have any leads

510
00:28:18,083 --> 00:28:21,043
would have made
pickton feel invincible.

511
00:28:21,083 --> 00:28:24,083
He would have been following
these stories in the local media.

512
00:28:24,123 --> 00:28:25,659
He would have been
watching the local news

513
00:28:25,683 --> 00:28:27,563
and scanning the
local papers to just see

514
00:28:27,603 --> 00:28:30,003
if there was anything
about it in there.

515
00:28:30,043 --> 00:28:32,083
When he realised
that there wasn't

516
00:28:32,123 --> 00:28:35,603
that reinforces his
views about sex workers,

517
00:28:35,643 --> 00:28:37,003
these women don't matter.

518
00:28:37,043 --> 00:28:39,403
They're low status,
that they disappear,

519
00:28:39,443 --> 00:28:41,363
and nobody really gives a damn.

520
00:28:43,963 --> 00:28:47,403
The victims of serial killers
are more likely to be people

521
00:28:47,443 --> 00:28:49,323
on the fringes of society,

522
00:28:49,363 --> 00:28:52,803
marginal groups and
in particular prostitutes.

523
00:28:52,843 --> 00:28:55,083
So, while serial
killers are rare,

524
00:28:55,123 --> 00:28:58,523
this was hardly a
surprising conclusion.

525
00:28:58,563 --> 00:29:01,083
And... and given the data
there wasn't really anything else

526
00:29:01,123 --> 00:29:04,243
that could explain the
problem of the missing women.

527
00:29:07,163 --> 00:29:08,923
The way he treated these victims

528
00:29:08,963 --> 00:29:11,763
as if they were
pieces of meat really

529
00:29:11,803 --> 00:29:13,883
is outstanding for me.

530
00:29:13,923 --> 00:29:15,243
Here's somebody who...

531
00:29:15,283 --> 00:29:17,283
Who treats the
bodies of their victims

532
00:29:17,323 --> 00:29:20,683
as if they are the bodies
of... of dead animals.

533
00:29:20,723 --> 00:29:23,323
This is the contempt
that he feels for people,

534
00:29:23,363 --> 00:29:25,363
so this is pure evil,

535
00:29:25,403 --> 00:29:29,443
the decision, the choice to
do this time and time again.

536
00:29:30,603 --> 00:29:34,963
This horrible looking
man with greasy hair,

537
00:29:35,003 --> 00:29:36,803
stubble,

538
00:29:36,843 --> 00:29:38,003
who stank all the time,

539
00:29:39,003 --> 00:29:41,883
was in fact butchering,

540
00:29:41,923 --> 00:29:44,723
and that's the only word for
it, entirely innocent women.

541
00:29:46,323 --> 00:29:50,083
There is something
profoundly chilling

542
00:29:50,123 --> 00:29:55,443
about that because he showed
no sign whatever of wishing to stop.

543
00:29:55,483 --> 00:30:00,603
With no bodies or evidence,
pickton had no reason to stop.

544
00:30:02,603 --> 00:30:06,523
Downtown eastside
Vancouver, Canada,

545
00:30:06,563 --> 00:30:08,683
with limited official response,

546
00:30:08,723 --> 00:30:11,763
family and friends took
the initiative to search

547
00:30:11,803 --> 00:30:13,843
for the missing women.

548
00:30:13,883 --> 00:30:17,963
Lynn and Rick frey had not
spoken to their daughter marnie

549
00:30:18,003 --> 00:30:20,603
since the day of
her 24th birthday,

550
00:30:20,643 --> 00:30:22,283
over three years ago.

551
00:30:24,923 --> 00:30:26,403
So, I'd go to Vancouver

552
00:30:26,443 --> 00:30:29,603
and it's about a 45-minute
drive from where my parents live,

553
00:30:29,643 --> 00:30:32,083
and I'd drive to Vancouver
and park the car,

554
00:30:32,123 --> 00:30:33,483
and go looking for her.

555
00:30:33,523 --> 00:30:34,899
And I'd walk up and
down the streets,

556
00:30:34,923 --> 00:30:36,403
look in back alleys.

557
00:30:36,443 --> 00:30:37,659
You know, anybody on the street

558
00:30:37,683 --> 00:30:40,483
that was not doing
the floppy chicken or,

559
00:30:40,523 --> 00:30:42,563
you know, too
stressed out on drugs,

560
00:30:42,603 --> 00:30:44,243
I'd ask them if
they've seen her,

561
00:30:44,283 --> 00:30:46,643
and I'd have a picture
of marnie in my hand,

562
00:30:46,683 --> 00:30:49,363
and I'd say her
name was kit or kit Kat

563
00:30:49,403 --> 00:30:51,123
because they didn't
know her by marnie.

564
00:30:52,523 --> 00:30:55,283
The frey's weren't the
only people searching

565
00:30:55,323 --> 00:30:56,883
for loved ones.

566
00:30:56,923 --> 00:31:01,043
By January 2001, the
number of missing women

567
00:31:01,083 --> 00:31:03,323
had risen to over 60,

568
00:31:03,363 --> 00:31:06,563
yet still no bodies or
remains had been found.

569
00:31:08,083 --> 00:31:11,483
But this number could
no longer be ignored.

570
00:31:13,323 --> 00:31:17,123
Finally in April
the Vancouver pd

571
00:31:17,163 --> 00:31:19,963
and the royal Canadian
mounted police force

572
00:31:20,003 --> 00:31:23,043
launched a joint missing
women's task force.

573
00:31:24,323 --> 00:31:28,163
100,000-dollar
reward for information

574
00:31:28,203 --> 00:31:31,723
was posted and the
task force received

575
00:31:31,763 --> 00:31:34,083
over 12,000 calls,

576
00:31:35,443 --> 00:31:37,419
so, one of the problems
with such an investigation

577
00:31:37,443 --> 00:31:39,363
is information overload.

578
00:31:39,403 --> 00:31:41,043
But one of the
names that came up

579
00:31:41,083 --> 00:31:43,723
and I heard about
it was Willie pickton,

580
00:31:43,763 --> 00:31:46,803
a pig farmer who
lived out in the suburbs

581
00:31:46,843 --> 00:31:50,443
of Vancouver in
coquitlam or port coquitlam

582
00:31:50,483 --> 00:31:55,523
and he had attacked a prostitute
from the downtown eastside

583
00:31:55,563 --> 00:31:59,163
earlier on and had been
charged with attempted murder.

584
00:31:59,203 --> 00:32:00,603
So, he was a suspect.

585
00:32:01,683 --> 00:32:05,363
And that was the only entry
on pickton's criminal record

586
00:32:05,403 --> 00:32:09,083
that I saw when I was
alerted to him as a suspect.

587
00:32:09,123 --> 00:32:11,643
And I ran him through
the police computer,

588
00:32:11,683 --> 00:32:16,163
and all I saw was attempted
murder and assault,

589
00:32:16,203 --> 00:32:20,003
forcible confinement and
the charges were stayed.

590
00:32:20,043 --> 00:32:22,403
So, that's what prompted me

591
00:32:22,443 --> 00:32:25,963
to start to explore
him as a suspect.

592
00:32:26,003 --> 00:32:28,923
Because of his attack
on stitch the police

593
00:32:28,963 --> 00:32:31,443
had brought pickton
in for questioning.

594
00:32:32,763 --> 00:32:34,683
Oh, no, no, I don't drink.

595
00:32:34,723 --> 00:32:36,723
I don't smoke. I
don't use drugs.

596
00:32:36,763 --> 00:32:39,563
And everybody says "how come
your eyes are so frickin' bloodshot,"

597
00:32:39,603 --> 00:32:41,443
they says. I turned around,

598
00:32:41,483 --> 00:32:43,243
I didn't take the
knife away from her,

599
00:32:43,283 --> 00:32:45,443
I did not take knife
away from her.

600
00:32:45,483 --> 00:32:47,723
I aimed it to her
and I knifed it twice.

601
00:32:47,763 --> 00:32:50,403
I did do that. I
admit I did that.

602
00:32:50,443 --> 00:32:52,299
That's one thing, I didn't...
shouldn't have done.

603
00:32:52,323 --> 00:32:53,779
You've never taken
any other prostitute

604
00:32:53,803 --> 00:32:54,963
back to the trailer?

605
00:32:56,243 --> 00:32:57,363
Not since this incident.

606
00:32:57,403 --> 00:32:58,643
No.

607
00:32:58,683 --> 00:33:00,243
But before that incident?

608
00:33:00,283 --> 00:33:01,643
No.

609
00:33:01,683 --> 00:33:04,443
He'd co-operated and
they found no reason

610
00:33:04,483 --> 00:33:06,363
to detain him further.

611
00:33:06,403 --> 00:33:08,803
Nobody has any evidence
to the contrary yet.

612
00:33:08,843 --> 00:33:11,243
No one has done
anything to rule pickton out.

613
00:33:11,283 --> 00:33:13,603
That was always my
assertion from the beginning,

614
00:33:13,643 --> 00:33:17,083
is that he's our best suspect

615
00:33:17,123 --> 00:33:19,083
until either we
have a better one,

616
00:33:19,123 --> 00:33:22,003
or we categorically
rule him out.

617
00:33:24,203 --> 00:33:26,523
In June 2001,

618
00:33:26,563 --> 00:33:31,083
22-year-old Andrea joseberry
was in a methadone programme,

619
00:33:31,123 --> 00:33:33,283
close to kicking her drug habit.

620
00:33:35,203 --> 00:33:37,643
Her pharmacist
reported her missing

621
00:33:37,683 --> 00:33:40,603
when she stopped
collecting her prescriptions.

622
00:33:43,163 --> 00:33:45,323
These people were
mothers, they were daughters,

623
00:33:45,363 --> 00:33:46,523
they were sisters.

624
00:33:46,563 --> 00:33:49,163
They were people who could
have turned their lives around

625
00:33:49,203 --> 00:33:51,203
and had this man not taken away

626
00:33:51,243 --> 00:33:54,043
that opportunity to do so
many of them would've done.

627
00:33:58,643 --> 00:34:01,323
31-year-old Serena abbotsway

628
00:34:01,363 --> 00:34:05,003
was a popular
character on the streets,

629
00:34:05,043 --> 00:34:09,323
a few weeks after Andrea,
Serena also vanished.

630
00:34:12,043 --> 00:34:14,403
In November 2001,

631
00:34:14,443 --> 00:34:16,563
pickton stopped on
the corner of main

632
00:34:16,603 --> 00:34:20,763
and Hastings to talk to
26-year-old Mona Wilson.

633
00:34:22,603 --> 00:34:26,163
He offered her free dope
and booze if she came out

634
00:34:26,203 --> 00:34:27,683
to the farm with him.

635
00:34:31,643 --> 00:34:34,203
When they arrived
pickton led Mona

636
00:34:34,243 --> 00:34:36,323
to a camper Van behind the barn.

637
00:34:37,603 --> 00:34:39,923
They had sex, then argued.

638
00:34:43,083 --> 00:34:46,723
Pickton pulled out
a .22 calibre revolver

639
00:34:46,763 --> 00:34:49,243
and shot her in the head.

640
00:34:49,283 --> 00:34:50,363
(Gunshot fires)

641
00:34:52,323 --> 00:34:55,763
He took her body and
dumped her in a trash can.

642
00:34:55,803 --> 00:34:58,803
(Intense music)

643
00:35:02,683 --> 00:35:04,803
When the police finally realised

644
00:35:04,843 --> 00:35:06,099
that there could
be a problem here

645
00:35:06,123 --> 00:35:09,523
and they began looking
for possible suspects,

646
00:35:09,563 --> 00:35:10,603
including pickton.

647
00:35:12,123 --> 00:35:15,243
As bad as this was
in the beginning,

648
00:35:15,283 --> 00:35:16,659
they eventually
did a really good job

649
00:35:16,683 --> 00:35:19,003
on trying to piece the bits

650
00:35:19,043 --> 00:35:23,723
and pieces together
once it became confirmed

651
00:35:23,763 --> 00:35:25,963
that we actually had
a series of murders.

652
00:35:30,363 --> 00:35:33,443
On February 1, 2002,

653
00:35:33,483 --> 00:35:37,843
the missing women's
task force caught a break,

654
00:35:37,883 --> 00:35:40,963
a truck driver who had
worked on the pickton farm

655
00:35:41,003 --> 00:35:44,283
told the police there
was an illegal firearm

656
00:35:44,323 --> 00:35:45,963
in Willy pickton's trailer.

657
00:35:48,483 --> 00:35:51,163
A search warrant
was quickly obtained,

658
00:35:51,203 --> 00:35:53,723
and a young rookie
policeman turned up

659
00:35:53,763 --> 00:35:56,843
on the farm unannounced.

660
00:35:56,883 --> 00:35:59,963
He got into pickton's trailer
with the search warrant

661
00:36:00,003 --> 00:36:03,723
and came across
very quickly, not guns,

662
00:36:03,763 --> 00:36:06,923
but identification with
women's names on them.

663
00:36:06,963 --> 00:36:09,563
They radioed the
missing women taskforce

664
00:36:09,603 --> 00:36:12,443
who just immediately said,

665
00:36:12,483 --> 00:36:15,123
"get off the property,
shut it down.

666
00:36:15,163 --> 00:36:17,523
"Control the scene but don't...

667
00:36:17,563 --> 00:36:21,083
"Don't spend one more
minute inside that trailer."

668
00:36:21,123 --> 00:36:23,723
In Canadian law you
can't go on a fishing trip

669
00:36:23,763 --> 00:36:25,683
on someone's property.

670
00:36:25,723 --> 00:36:27,579
If your purpose is to be
there to find a handgun,

671
00:36:27,603 --> 00:36:30,803
you can't all of a sudden
take a serial killer investigation

672
00:36:30,843 --> 00:36:31,923
and run with it.

673
00:36:31,963 --> 00:36:33,003
You have to back out

674
00:36:33,043 --> 00:36:35,963
and get a proper warrant
specific to what you found.

675
00:36:37,083 --> 00:36:41,363
A new warrant was obtained,
and detectives entered the trailer.

676
00:36:42,603 --> 00:36:45,243
They found identification
with women's names on it,

677
00:36:45,283 --> 00:36:49,643
transit cards, notebooks
with women's names on it.

678
00:36:50,883 --> 00:36:53,723
They found garbage
bags full of women's clothes

679
00:36:53,763 --> 00:36:56,123
in a closet in his trailer.

680
00:36:57,323 --> 00:36:59,603
His trailer was
just literally strewn

681
00:36:59,643 --> 00:37:01,963
with the personal
effects of women.

682
00:37:05,243 --> 00:37:09,763
Within a few days
on February 5, 2002,

683
00:37:09,803 --> 00:37:11,083
the pickton pig farm

684
00:37:11,123 --> 00:37:14,883
became the largest crime
scene in Canadian history.

685
00:37:16,563 --> 00:37:19,443
Robert Willy
pickton was detained

686
00:37:19,483 --> 00:37:22,643
and brought in for
questioning by the police,

687
00:37:22,683 --> 00:37:26,403
while a search of the
farm got underway.

688
00:37:26,443 --> 00:37:30,923
The discovery of
all those remains

689
00:37:30,963 --> 00:37:34,283
all over the place must
have been truly horrifying.

690
00:37:34,323 --> 00:37:36,843
I can't believe
that the officers

691
00:37:36,883 --> 00:37:38,723
who actually searched

692
00:37:38,763 --> 00:37:41,163
could have thought that
they were going to be dealing

693
00:37:41,203 --> 00:37:44,123
with someone who had
killed on this kind of scale.

694
00:37:50,483 --> 00:37:52,963
..What girls you remember...

695
00:37:54,443 --> 00:37:57,203
Have ever been
out to your place?

696
00:37:57,243 --> 00:37:58,283
I don't know.

697
00:37:58,323 --> 00:38:00,179
There's so many people
coming in and out of my place,

698
00:38:00,203 --> 00:38:01,203
I don't know.

699
00:38:01,243 --> 00:38:02,339
Has she ever been to your place?

700
00:38:02,363 --> 00:38:03,883
Her name's Mona.

701
00:38:03,923 --> 00:38:06,163
She's pretty,
that's all I gotta say.

702
00:38:06,203 --> 00:38:10,883
Pickton told the police
nothing, so they changed tactics.

703
00:38:10,923 --> 00:38:12,563
Pickton is put into a cell

704
00:38:13,763 --> 00:38:17,163
while on remand with
an undercover policeman

705
00:38:18,443 --> 00:38:23,723
and proceeds to brag
about what he's done.

706
00:38:24,723 --> 00:38:27,363
He's prompted by
the undercover officer.

707
00:38:41,523 --> 00:38:43,883
Pickton's jail cell
confession to the murder

708
00:38:43,923 --> 00:38:49,763
of 49 women had to be
corroborated with hard evidence.

709
00:38:49,803 --> 00:38:54,483
Forensic investigators continued
meticulously searching the pig farm.

710
00:38:56,163 --> 00:38:59,323
By February 22, 2002,

711
00:38:59,363 --> 00:39:02,483
there was enough
evidence to identify remains

712
00:39:02,523 --> 00:39:06,443
of Mona Wilson and
Serena abbotsway.

713
00:39:06,483 --> 00:39:09,443
Pickton was charged
with their murders.

714
00:39:11,083 --> 00:39:15,843
Two months later another five
counts of murder were added.

715
00:39:17,163 --> 00:39:21,243
The Canadian police forces
spent $70 million Canadian dollars

716
00:39:21,283 --> 00:39:23,523
on searching the farm.

717
00:39:23,563 --> 00:39:26,963
They had archaeological
experts, more than 100.

718
00:39:27,003 --> 00:39:28,723
They dug a huge area.

719
00:39:30,003 --> 00:39:32,763
All it did was to confirm what
they by then already knew,

720
00:39:35,563 --> 00:39:37,523
that pickton was killing
on an industrial scale.

721
00:39:38,803 --> 00:39:41,723
On march 11, 2004,

722
00:39:41,763 --> 00:39:46,123
Canadian health officials
made a shocking statement.

723
00:39:46,163 --> 00:39:51,043
As a result of information that
we recently received from the rcmp,

724
00:39:51,083 --> 00:39:55,003
we have reason to believe
that there is a strong possibility

725
00:39:55,043 --> 00:39:59,163
that some of the product
from the pickton farms

726
00:39:59,203 --> 00:40:02,443
and how much the
rcmp do not know,

727
00:40:02,483 --> 00:40:05,323
may still be sitting in
some people's freezers

728
00:40:05,363 --> 00:40:06,723
in the lower mainland.

729
00:40:06,763 --> 00:40:09,603
Cross contamination could
mean that that human remains

730
00:40:09,643 --> 00:40:14,763
did get into or contaminate some
of the pork meat that was produced.

731
00:40:19,843 --> 00:40:23,243
After 22 months the
forensic investigation

732
00:40:23,283 --> 00:40:26,723
of the pig farm revealed
identifiable remains

733
00:40:26,763 --> 00:40:28,443
of 20 more women.

734
00:40:29,603 --> 00:40:33,883
Pickton was charged with 27
counts of first-degree murder.

735
00:40:36,483 --> 00:40:40,443
The trial began
on January 2, 2007,

736
00:40:40,483 --> 00:40:42,843
with pickton pleading
his innocence.

737
00:40:44,803 --> 00:40:47,723
You know, the trial judge had
a very fine line to walk here.

738
00:40:47,763 --> 00:40:53,603
He didn't want to allow any evidence
that was going to permit Canada's

739
00:40:53,643 --> 00:40:55,843
worst serial killer to walk.

740
00:40:55,883 --> 00:40:57,803
So, he had to find a way

741
00:40:57,843 --> 00:41:01,283
that he was going to be
able to avoid future appeals,

742
00:41:01,323 --> 00:41:04,043
to not have charges thrown out.

743
00:41:04,083 --> 00:41:05,923
The judge reached an agreement

744
00:41:05,963 --> 00:41:09,483
with pickton's defence
team to sever the charges

745
00:41:09,523 --> 00:41:12,563
and split the trial into two.

746
00:41:12,603 --> 00:41:15,443
The first trial would
focus on the six women

747
00:41:15,483 --> 00:41:20,003
where fully identifiable
remains had been found.

748
00:41:20,043 --> 00:41:23,403
The second trial would
focus on the 20 women

749
00:41:23,443 --> 00:41:27,203
where only partial
evidence was available.

750
00:41:27,243 --> 00:41:30,243
One count of murder
was dismissed.

751
00:41:32,763 --> 00:41:35,203
One of the witnesses
for the prosecution

752
00:41:35,243 --> 00:41:38,523
was pickton's former
friend, Lynn ellingsen.

753
00:41:40,603 --> 00:41:42,043
Who said she walked

754
00:41:42,083 --> 00:41:45,323
into the slaughterhouse
late one night

755
00:41:45,363 --> 00:41:51,123
and testified that she saw what
appeared to be a human body

756
00:41:51,163 --> 00:41:53,203
on the slaughterhouse table.

757
00:41:53,243 --> 00:41:58,483
It was very chilling
testimony in the trial.

758
00:41:58,523 --> 00:42:01,403
That was, I'm sure,

759
00:42:01,443 --> 00:42:04,323
very important for
the jurors to hear.

760
00:42:06,963 --> 00:42:08,883
On December 9, 2007,

761
00:42:08,923 --> 00:42:11,163
after a very long trail,

762
00:42:11,203 --> 00:42:14,043
the jury return

763
00:42:14,083 --> 00:42:16,763
a very interesting verdict.

764
00:42:16,803 --> 00:42:21,283
They find pickton not
guilty of first-degree murder

765
00:42:21,323 --> 00:42:23,643
but guilty of
second-degree murder.

766
00:42:25,283 --> 00:42:28,803
Now, I've always
wondered whether or not

767
00:42:28,843 --> 00:42:33,723
that jury felt that pickton
was not working alone,

768
00:42:33,763 --> 00:42:35,923
that that was the reason
they didn't convict him

769
00:42:35,963 --> 00:42:39,403
of first-degree murder because
he ticked every single box.

770
00:42:40,883 --> 00:42:43,643
Pickton was sentenced
to life in prison

771
00:42:43,683 --> 00:42:48,363
to serve 25 years without
the possibility of parole.

772
00:42:50,443 --> 00:42:54,843
The supreme court of Canada
denied his right to appeal,

773
00:42:55,923 --> 00:42:59,243
and the government of British
Columbia made the decision

774
00:42:59,283 --> 00:43:02,523
not to proceed with
the remaining 20 counts

775
00:43:02,563 --> 00:43:04,203
of first-degree murder.

776
00:43:06,443 --> 00:43:08,523
Logically, it made sense.

777
00:43:08,563 --> 00:43:11,083
But I can tell you emotionally,

778
00:43:11,123 --> 00:43:15,803
it was devastating to the
families of those 20 people who,

779
00:43:15,843 --> 00:43:21,443
for years, generations, felt
ignored by the justice system.

780
00:43:21,483 --> 00:43:23,723
They felt ignored by police,

781
00:43:23,763 --> 00:43:25,243
that no one believed them

782
00:43:25,283 --> 00:43:28,523
when they said that their
loved ones were missing.

783
00:43:30,283 --> 00:43:32,483
And they just didn't
get that day in court.

784
00:43:36,843 --> 00:43:38,643
He did it because he
could get away with it.

785
00:43:39,683 --> 00:43:41,099
He did it because
he worked out a way

786
00:43:41,123 --> 00:43:43,163
of dealing with the bodies.

787
00:43:43,203 --> 00:43:45,603
This is a man who deserves
nothing but contempt.

788
00:43:46,963 --> 00:43:50,563
There is nothing about
Willy pickton that is admirable

789
00:43:50,603 --> 00:43:52,523
and there is everything
that is despicable.

790
00:43:54,243 --> 00:43:57,283
Marnie frey was
one of the six women

791
00:43:57,323 --> 00:44:00,003
whose remains
were fully identified.

792
00:44:01,043 --> 00:44:02,563
I never liked the word closure

793
00:44:02,603 --> 00:44:05,163
because there is no
such thing as closure,

794
00:44:05,203 --> 00:44:10,243
but we had to have like a
ceremony just to say that,

795
00:44:10,283 --> 00:44:14,483
you know, the searching for
her has come to an end and.

796
00:44:16,163 --> 00:44:18,283
It was kind of a
sad kind of a thing,

797
00:44:18,323 --> 00:44:21,363
but it was something
we felt we should we...

798
00:44:21,403 --> 00:44:22,483
Should do.

799
00:44:29,123 --> 00:44:31,323
Robert pickton was a monster,

800
00:44:31,363 --> 00:44:35,003
preying on women who
lived on the fringes of society.

801
00:44:36,163 --> 00:44:41,243
He exploited their desperation
to fulfil his own sick desires.

802
00:44:42,363 --> 00:44:45,443
How many women
died or how they died

803
00:44:45,483 --> 00:44:48,563
on that pig farm
is still unknown,

804
00:44:49,963 --> 00:44:54,123
the only man with the
answers is Robert pickton,

805
00:44:54,163 --> 00:44:57,843
one of the world's
most evil killers.

806
00:44:57,883 --> 00:45:00,843
(Instrumental music)

807
00:45:00,883 --> 00:45:03,883
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