CRIME
How many people did serial killer Robert Pickton kill?
The Canadian serial killer died at the age of 74. He was found guilty of murder in 2007.
Serial killer Robert Pickton died on Friday at the age of 74 after being attacked by a fellow inmate at the prison where he was serving his sentence. The Canadian was assaulted on May 19 at Port-Cartier prison, about 435 miles from Montreal, by a 51-year-old prisoner.
The motive for the attack remains unknown, but it caused severe injuries to Pickton, leading to his hospitalization. Canadian prison authorities have confirmed that an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the assault. According to the Vancouver Sun, citing Postmedia, Pickton was struck in the head with a broken broom handle.
Pickton found guilty in six cases
Pickton was serving a sentence in the Canadian prison after being found guilty of six counts of second-degree murder in 2007. He is one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers: he owned a farm where he fed the remains of his victims to his pigs.
Between 1978 and 2001, at least 65 women disappeared from the Downtown Eastside neighborhood of Vancouver. Pickton ran a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, where police found the remains of 33 women, although Pickton confessed to killing 49. Investigators collected 200,000 DNA samples from the farm.
Most of his victims were Indigenous women living on the margins in Vancouver. Despite the large number of missing persons, many suspected to have fallen prey to Pickton, the Canadian was only convicted of six murders.
Pickton death: “This will bring healing”
Families of some of the victims say, according to the report, that Pickton’s death brings them “a sense of peace and closure.” “It will be easier to recover now. I know we’ll never forget, but we can move on to better things knowing that evil is no longer among us,” said Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister, Georgina Papin, was one of the six women Pickton was convicted of murdering.
“This will bring healing, not to all families, but to most families [...] because they didn’t get their day in court, which really saddens me. But I also feel very happy right now,” Cardinal added.