WARNING: Details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
It has been 20 years since police raided the Port Coquitlam farm of Canada’s most prolific serial killer, Robert Pickton.
On Feb. 6, 2002, police executed a search warrant at the property for reports of illegal firearms. Both Robert and his brother David were arrested and police were then able to obtain a second warrant based on what they had seen at the farm.
“We were called to the pig farm in Coquitlam, late one night. They had a massive news conference under a tent,” former Global News reporter John Daly said Sunday.
“They said they had arrested somebody who hadn’t been charged with any murders at that time.”
Within hours of officers arriving with a search warrant, the property became the site of the largest crime scene search in the country’s history.
Robert, now 72 years old, was charged for 26 murders connected with the disappearances of dozens of women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
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Relatives of the victims, many of whom were Indigenous, say authorities long denied there was a pattern to the disappearances or that there were links.
They say more needs to be done before there is true justice.
“It was a horror story and the families were right, they were ignored,” Daly said. “There were families who went to VPD to report sisters and relatives missing and were told basically buzz off. They were on some kind of prostitution track and they were getting ignored.”
Evidence against Pickton included body parts, multiple bones found in pigsties and several DNA samples found throughout the property.
In December 2007, he was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
He was convicted for the murders of Marnie Frey, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Sereena Abotsway, Brenda Wolfe and Georgina Papin.
The rest of the charges were stayed.
Suspected victims of Pickton include: Janet Henry, Mary Ann Clark, Diana Melnick, Cara Louise Ellis, Tanya Holyk, Andrea Borhaven, Sherry Irving, Helen Hallmark, Cynthia Feliks, Kerry Koski, Inga Hall, Sarah Jean de Vries, Angela Jardine, Jacqueline (Jackie) McDonell, Wendy Crawford, Jennifer Furminger, Tiffany Drew, Dawn Crey, Debra Jones, Patricia Johnson, Yvonne Boen, Heather Chinnock, Heather Bottomley and Diane Rock.
In 2018, it was revealed Pickton was transferred to the Port Cartier Institution in Quebec.
The maximum-security penitentiary is located about 600 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, near the St. Lawrence River.
Corrections Canada did not confirm the transfer, citing the Privacy Act.
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