Robert Pickton, alleged serial killer

[Pauli]

More Remains Discovered

Updated:10:55, Saturday January 17, 2004
The remains of a possible 23rd victim of alleged serial killer Robert Pickton have been discovered at his farm near Vancouver, investigators have confirmed.

DNA belonging to Dawn Crey was found among evidence seized from the property and analysed recently, police told the AFP news agency.

http://static.sky.com/images/pictures/1190247.jpg Investigators search farmland

She was reported missing in November 2000, just months before police launched a massive investigation into the disappearance of more than 60 women from Vancouver's impoverished eastside.


Her brother and outspoken aboriginal leader Ernie Crey of the Sto:lo Nation has criticised police inaction in searching for her then.


Pickton has been charged with the murders of 22 women and is suspected in the deaths of 39 others still missing, which would make him Canada's worst serial killer.

Crey's death is the first to be linked by police to Pickton in more than a year. But prosecutors would not say yet if they will add another murder charge.


A 21-month search of the farm that involved as many as 150 forensic anthropologists and police combing through demolished farm buildings and dirt wrapped up in November.


But investigators are still trying to identify some seized materials through DNA tests and visual examinations, Vancouver police spokeswoman Sheila Sullivan said. "It ranges from pieces of paper or bits of clothing to lumps of dirt," she said.


"We have a lot of material to go through. It could take a year."
Pickton is expected to stand trial late this year or early in 2005.


http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-12974353,00.html

[Pauli]

DNA test identifies B.C. man's missing sister


JANE ARMSTRONG
From Saturday's Globe and Mail

Vancouver — In the late 1990s, as the number of missing women in Vancouver crept higher, Ernie Crey was often approached to speak publicly about the troubling case. Articulate and accomplished, and with a background as a native activist, Mr. Crey was a natural choice for the job of prodding police about the unsolved disappearances of scores of street women. He knew firsthand what he was talking about.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM. 20040117.wpick0117%2FBNStory%2FFront%2F&ord=22406677&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true

[Pauli]

Police find more bodies on pig farm
The Associated Press

VANCOUVER, B.C. - Canadian police on Tuesday said they found the remains of nine more women for a total of 31 at a pig farm owned by the man alleged to be Canada's worst serial killer.
http://www.registerguard.com/news/20...ing2.0128.html (http://www.registerguard.com/news/2004/01/28/a5.int.canmissing2.0128.html)

[Pauli]

The more Canadian police dig underneath a pig farm east of Vancouver, British Columbia (search), the more death they unearth.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,110477,00.html

CANADA has been witness to several cases of gender-based violence on a mass scale. But today, the country is facing the facts of its worst-ever example of gender-based violence — against women sex workers. The scale of this gender-based violence is all the more horrific because of the extent of public and systemic denial of it, and the fact that it continued unchecked for many years
http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories....Story_ID=02052 (http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=02052)

[Pauli]

lmost four years after he was arrested and charged with what would eventually become 27 counts of first-degree murder, Robert (Willy) Pickton listened without apparent emotion yesterday as his trial date inched closer.

A voir dire, a legal hearing in which the court makes rulings about the admissibility of evidence, will begin Jan. 30, Mr. Justice James Williams of the British Columbia Supreme Court decided.

The voir dire is expected to be the last major stage before the start of the full trial, which the province's criminal justice branch of the Ministry of Attorney General is describing as a "mega case" of unprecedented proportions.

Judge Williams said he was anxious to proceed, but felt the delay would allow the trial to proceed more efficiently once it begins.

"I don't think that any useful purpose would be served by starting in December," he said.

"I want . . . the next phase of the trial to commence in January . . . and to proceed in a uniform, steady fashion. . . . By taking that later date we will realize later efficiency."
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...ational/Canada (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051012/BCPICKTON12/TPNational/Canada)

[Pauli]

B.C. pig farmer pleads not guilty on 27 counts of first-degree murder

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Robert Pickton pleaded not guilty today to 27 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearances of women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The pleas by the 56-year-old Pickton in British Columbia Supreme Court came at the formal start of his trial, which is to be followed by several months of hearings on the admissibility of evidence.

Pickton, a pig farmer in suburban Port Coquitlam, is charged with killing 27 women, mostly drug-addicted prostitutes from a slum area east of downtown Vancouver. More than 60 women have vanished from the area since the early 1980s.


More: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...yndication=rss (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002771856_webpickton30.html?syndication=rss)

[Pauli]

The judge preciding over the Robert Pickton voir dire hearing has thrown out one of the murder charges.

Accused serial killer Robert Pickton will face one less murder charge after a judge ruled he cannot be tried for killing an unidentified Jane Doe. Justice James Williams ruled Thursday the count fails to meet the minimum requirements of the Criminal Code.

http://www.citytv.com/vancouver/news_25682.aspx

[Pauli]

ccused serial killer Robert Pickton's murder trial could last two years and may not start this fall, says his lawyer.

Peter Ritchie appeared in court in New Westminster, B.C. on Wednesday to give an update on the trial.

He estimated the trial would take 90 weeks plus time for adjournments, although he added that was speculative.

There are concerns about keeping a jury that long, he said.

If the jury drops below 10 members over the length of the trial, the trial must start over again.

Ritchie said if his client chooses trial by judge and jury, the trial likely wouldn't be able to start this fall as expected.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...hub=TopStories (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20060503/pickton_trial_060503/20060503?hub=TopStories)

[Pauli]

NEW WESTMINSTER, British Columbia - A Canadian pig farmer confessed to killing 49 women and was caught before he could reach his goal of making it an even 50, prosecutors told jurors at the start of his murder trial Monday.

Prosecutor Derrill Prevett stunned the courtroom by saying that Pickton told investigators, including an undercover officer planted in his jail cell, that he had slain 49 women.

"I was going to do one more and make it an even 50," Prevett quoted Pickton as telling investigators. "I made my own grave by being sloppy."

Pickton told one officer that he would be "nailed to the cross" and described himself as a mass murderer who deserved to be on death row, Prevett claimed.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/16516983.htm

[Pauli]

A witness will say she saw Robert Pickton killing a woman, skinning her while she hung on a hook, police told the accused serial killer during an interview.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Don Adam told Pickton police knew Ellingsen was blackmailing him.

"She says it's because she walked in and you were skinning a girl."

Adam said people also told police Pickton had sex with the women when they were dead.

http://www.thestar.com/News/article/174923

[Pauli]

"The five women and seven men on the jury will start their work on Jan. 8, 2007, if things proceed according to schedule. Once the evidence phase of the trial begins, the two alternate jurors will be excused.

That phase of the trial is expected to last up to one year. If the number of jurors on the panel falls below 10, a mistrial is declared and the process begins again."

What's the purpose of the alternates here?? I don't get it. The evidence phase is expected to last up to one year if things proceed according to schedule."

When has a trial ever proceeded according to schedule????

I would guess that this trial will go beyond a year. That's just my educated opinion. Only 2 jurors can drop out during the evidence phase and they can continue with 10. After that - it's a mistrial.

I don't know. This is not sitting well with me. I would hate to see a mistrial after a year of trial.

I know it's a different country but in the Scott Peterson case they lost 3 jurors and that trial was what 6 months? This Pickton trial is a horrible case for these jurors.

Here's the link for my quotes:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...Canada&s_name= (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20061211/pickton_juryprocess_061212/20061212?hub=Canada&s_name=)

[Pauli]

Police Eye Pickton's Brother
Robert Pickton's brother, Dave, is under investigation for his possible involvement in the disappearance of women from Vancouver's skid row.

Testifying at Robert Pickton's multiple-murder trial, Detective Constable Michael McDonald told court yesterday that Dave Pickton was being investigated with respect to missing women whose disappearances are not linked to the current trial.

The investigation is continuing as of today, he said in response to questions from Robert Pickton's defence lawyer, Richard Brooks.

Vancouver police have identified more than 60 women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside in recent years. Robert Pickton, 57, is on trial for the murder of six of the women. He has been charged with the murder of an additional 20 women. A date for a second trial has not yet been set.

His younger brother, Dave, has not been charged in the missing-women case, but his name has come up frequently during the trial.
This week at the trial, the jury heard that police believed Robert was controlled by his brother Dave.

RCMP officer Tim Sleigh testified that he had the impression that Robert was "mentally diminished" and Dave was the brains of the two. Dave was condescending to Robert and protective of him, according to Sgt. Sleigh. Robert seemed to be submissive and deferred to his brother when asked a question, the jury heard.

The jury also heard Robert Pickton say during a videotaped interview with police that his brother was not involved. His comment came in response to a police officer asking whether Dave "took part in this stuff."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/National (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070302.BCPICKTON02/TPStory/National)

[Pauli]

Investigators Left Prints On Gun Found In Trailer


NEW WESTMINSTER -- RCMP firearms inspectors handled a gun found in accused killer Robert "Willie" Pickton's trailer so extensively that investigators didn't bother examining it for fingerprints, court heard yesterday.

The chrome Smith & Wesson .22 revolver had been discovered with a phallic sex toy over the end of it, on a shelf in Pickton's laundry room, jurors have heard.

Two years after police seized the gun, Vancouver police Const. Rodney Deighton began a forensic examination of the weapon, he testified yesterday at Pickton's serial-killing trial.

Deighton was able to see some fingerprint ridges, but he knew that it had come from the RCMP firearms section, where staff test-fired it, he said. Deighton called a sergeant in that section to find out if the firearms staff had worn gloves when touching the pistol, he said.

"It was extensively handled by this sergeant and his staff without gloves," Deighton testified. "As a result of that it was decided not to print that exhibit."

Court has heard that DNA from Mona Wilson, whose remains were found at the farm, and Pickton were found on the sex toy on the gun's barrel.

Defence lawyer Patrick McGowan suggested Deighton's DNA had contaminated thin plastic found on the gun, and on a seized hair clipper and attachments.

"This is all news to me," Deighton testified.

RCMP Sgt. Margaret Kingsbury testified earlier that "numerous" items seized on the Pickton property were contaminated by investigators' DNA, but DNA profiles of all investigators were kept on file to sort out contamination, jurors have heard.

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimesc...fb142d&k=61029 (http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=9350f2cd-42c8-4bc6-a3d6-1829fbfb142d&k=61029)

[Pauli]

Pickton Witness Describes Fingerprints
RCMP Sergeant Tim Sleigh stood in the witness box at the Robert Pickton trial yesterday, speaking in a gravely monotone voice.

Referring to charts, police documents and photographs, the officer confirmed the identity of fingerprints of Mr. Pickton, his brother Dave and his friend Dinah Taylor on items found in Mr. Pickton's home and on the farm.

The jury followed along as he dryly testified about the numbers assigned to exhibits to keep track of them. He told the court about officers who identified the fingerprints and officers who verified the conclusions. He explained the intricacies involved in comparing fingerprints.

However, he was not asked and did not volunteer anything about the significance of the evidence. That was left to another time during the year-long trial.

Defence lawyer Adrian Brooks drew attention to the fingerprints of Dave Pickton and Ms. Taylor. Prosecutor Michael Petrie asked about fingerprints that turned out to belong to Robert Pickton.

Dave Pickton's right index finger was found on a piece of cardboard in a metallic toolbox that was on top of a freezer holding the partial human remains of two women, Andrea Joesbury and Sereena Abotsway, Sgt. Sleigh said.

Previously, the jury has heard that Dave Pickton was the subject of an investigation into the disappearance of prostitutes from Vancouver's skid row, but he was not a suspect.

Ms. Taylor's fingerprints were found at several places in Mr. Pickton's bedroom, including on a wooden headboard of a bed, on a spray can and on a piece of paper in the drawer of a bedside table. Investigators also found an application for B.C. assistance and a letter from the federal Department of Indian Affairs with her name and fingerprints.

Ms. Taylor had been arrested in February, 2002, two weeks before Robert Pickton, but was released without being charged. Earlier in the trial, Inspector Don Adam testified that Dave Pickton had told police that Ms. Taylor had done some of the killings. However, police did not believe him, Insp. Adam said.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/National (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070322.BCPICKTON22/TPStory/National)

[Pauli]

DNA Of Murdered Women Linked To Pickton Home
For the first time in Robert "Willie" Pickton's serial-killing trial, a witness has linked items found at the Pickton farm to alleged victims in the case, through DNA profiling.

Civilian RCMP lab analyst Joy Kearsey testified Thursday that a blanket found in Pickton's trailer contained a hair matching the DNA profile of Sereena Abotsway, who vanished in July 2001 and whose decomposing head, hands and feet were found in a bucket in a workshop freezer at the farm.

The chance that another person would share that same DNA profile is one in 42 billion, Kearsey said.

That white blanket, with blue stripes, also bore a hair matching the profile of Robert Pickton, but the DNA material provided a "partial profile," and the chance that someone else could share that profile are one in 180 million, she testified.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/na...969e6f5&k=4764 (http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=ddffcad7-6aa1-49e0-bbac-a0259969e6f5&k=4764)

[Pauli]

Pickton Trial: The Case So Far
More than 50 of the expected 240 Crown witnesses have testified so far in the murder trial of Robert Pickton, which nearing its third month.
Most of those testifying so far were involved in the massive police search for evidence at Pickton’s Port Coquitlam farm.

On Tuesday, the jury heard that the DNA of Sereena Abotsway of Surrey was found on a black blouse seized from Pickton’s home.

An RCMP lab employee also described how a swab taken from a stained orange plastic bag found inside the pig farmer’s slaughterhouse contained DNA that matched a second alleged victim, Andrea Joesbury.

The jury has previously heard that the partial remains of both women were found at the farm.

Pickton is being tried on six counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Abotsway, Joesbury, Mona Wilson, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey.

http://www.tricitynews.com/portals-c...id=963380&more (http://www.tricitynews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=74&cat=23&id=963380&more)=

[Pauli]

Jury In Pickton Trial May Not Return For Days
Evidence before the jury at Robert Pickton's first-degree-murder trial has been suspended while the trial judge hears submissions from the prosecution and defence lawyers. The jury was sent home Tuesday morning.

Mr. Justice James Williams said yesterday he could not say with any certainty when the trial will resume before the jury. The issues were "somewhat complicated and going to take a reasonable amount of time," he said.

A publication ban prohibits the media from reporting on the matters currently before the court.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...Story/National (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070524.BCBRIEFS24-1/TPStory/National)

[Pauli]

Pickton Trial Resumes After Two-Week Break
The Robert (Willie) Pickton murder trial resumed today after a two-week summer break.

However, the hearing opened Tuesday morning with legal arguments that cannot be reported because of a publication ban.

It is anticipated the jury may hear some evidence this afternoon.

The trial has been in recess since July 19 so the 12-member jury could have a summer holiday.

Since the trial began on Jan. 22, the Crown has called 97 witnesses.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...c57956&k=20309 (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a6ac0f51-9ec3-4a2c-a165-4c5122c57956&k=20309)

[Pauli]

Pickton Trial Changes Course As Defence Calls Witnesses
Whether jurors will hear Robert Pickton defend himself against accusations that he's Canada's worst serial killer could soon become clear after his defence lawyers begin laying out their case Monday.

Although Canadian law required the Crown to tell the defence team about each of the 98 witnesses called for the prosecution, no similar obligation exists for defence lawyers.

So it remains a mystery about whether Pickton will testify himself.

All defence lawyer Adrian Brooks has said is that the defence team is "confident and ready to go" and that their case will last about three weeks.

He gave no hint about how many witnesses his side would call or who they would be.

Pickton himself would be the most eagerly anticipated, but legal experts caution there are up-sides and down-sides to having an accused testify.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/P...234048-cp.html (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/PicktonTrial/News/2007/06/04/4234048-cp.html)

[Pauli]

Pickton's Defense
Robert (Willie) Pickton's murder trial was in recess Friday and will resume Monday.

This past week marked the beginning of the defence case.

In a 20-minute opening statement, defence lawyer Adrian Brooks asked the jury to consider Pickton's level of intelligence, suggesting he was not smart enough to understand what he was saying to police immediately after his arrest.

The defence also said it would challenge some of the DNA evidence presented by the Crown and the testimony of at least two key Crown witnesses, Lynn Ellingsen and Pat Casanova.

Pickton's lawyers have called eight witnesses so far. A couple of them testified the accused's Port Coquitlam pig farm was a bustling place, not the "isolated" property where the Crown contends the murders took place.

However, prosecutors have aggressively cross-examined those witnesses, including one who admitted she was untruthful about some of her evidence.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...5-9770a617b8ab (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=8014f978-7788-4cff-a4e5-9770a617b8ab)

[Pauli]

Closing Arguments Delayed Until Nov. 19th
Closing arguments in Robert (Willie) Pickton's murder trial have been postponed for one week.

Defence and Crown lawyers appeared before Justice James Williams on Wednesday, and a request was made for more time to prepare the final summations for the jury.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...0-57da7449f8eb (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=7369febc-0b22-4ac4-a5f0-57da7449f8eb)

[Pauli]

Closing Arguments In Serial Killing Case
The lawyer for a pig farmer accused of being Canada's worst serial killer opened the defense's final arguments Monday by denying the man ever confessed to killing six women.

Robert "Willie" Pickton went on trial last January on the first six of 26 first-degree murder charges filed against him in the deaths of women, most of them prostitutes and drug addicts from a seedy Vancouver neighborhood.

Prosecutors said early in the trial that the 57-year-old Pickton told an undercover officer he killed 49 women and was caught before he could reach his goal of 50.

Lawyer Adrian Brooks urged jurors to keep an open mind and reject the prosecution's interpretation of what Pickton said

"This is nothing like a confession. It is not a confession at all," Brooks said.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...SCC0wD8T11T681 (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5itRxUkKqAeqRi4ulOppAxjHSCC0wD8T11T681)

[Pauli]

Suspects Abound In Defence's Story Of Women's Killer
Among the rogue's gallery of hookers, junkies and grifters drawn to Robert "Willie" Pickton's pig farm, like moths to a flame, there lurked an assortment of at least potential killers.

To hear the defence team tell it, punitive maniacs were thick on the ground, any one of whom – but two in particular, three if the defendant's domineering younger brother is included – could have slain the six drug-addled prostitutes Pickton stands accused of murdering and dismembering.

The forensic evidence, lawyer Adrian Brooks posited yesterday, is just as compelling against others who frequented the property, even lived there, and they could easily have committed the gruesome crimes. Indeed, had police not homed in so obstinately on Robert Pickton as their fait accompli suspect, more extensive examination of evidence would have perchance mutated the investigation, Brooks suggested, with other individuals in the defendant's box today.

http://www.thestar.com/columnists/article/278907

[Pauli]

Missing Women Honoured
A small group of friends and relatives of women missing from the Downtown Eastside released balloons Sunday into a beautiful sunny sky as they remembered loved ones who vanished years ago.

As music played, one by one the mourners laid flowers, candy canes and other Christmas decorations on a memorial bench in Crab Park.

The bench facing Burrard Inlet was dedicated years earlier to the long list of women -- most of whom worked in the survival sex trade and/or had drug addictions -- who were vanishing from city streets.

Two photographs were propped on the bench: one of Marnie Frey, as a smiling 14-year-old with braces, and one of Cara Ellis, when she was a young girl of eight or nine.

A few years later, when those children became women struggling with addictions, they both disappeared. That was in 1997.

Robert (Willie) Pickton has been charged in both their deaths.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/n...4-b4a3397e550c (http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=7f69fe11-fecb-49c2-9864-b4a3397e550c)

[Tempus Fugit]

Pickton's fate in jury's hands
THE CANADIAN PRESS

NEW WESTMINSTER – Jurors in the Robert Pickton trial began deliberating Friday to determine whether the pig farmer is a methodical, calculating serial killer or a simpleton easily tricked into confessing to grisly murders he didn't commit.

After 10 months of testimony in one of the most sensational murder trials in Canadian history, jurors will have a monumental task.

How long they'll be out is anyone's guess.

http://www.thestar.com/article/281517

[gypsy]

Error shakes Pickton trial

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/283470

Pickton deliberations back on after surprise suspension

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=736c8d32-3aec-4510-8fa2-ec4f3d89b8b3&k=60799

[gypsy]

Pickton found guilty Of 6 counts of second-degree murder:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2007/12/09/4715787.html

[Chocoholic]

Jurors saw photographs of the bisected heads of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson and Andrea Joesbury with their hands and feet placed inside their skulls.

They also heard about Brenda Wolfe's partial jawbone, Georgina Papin's hand bones and a section of Marnie Frey's jaw found on the property.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hFslTjOLaQH6y2QPlRdMTqTLkEVw

Pickton was convicted of the lesser charge after the jury could not decide if the killings were pre-meditated, but unusually the judge upheld the prosecutors' request for him to serve the full 25 years.


There is nothing I can say to express the revulsion the community feels, Judge James Williams.

Second trial questioned

Pickton faces another 20 counts of first-degree murder and prosecutors have said they intend to hold a second trial to hear those cases.

However, since Pickton's conviction on Sunday, senior officials, including the Attorney-General of British Columbia, Wally Oppal, have suggested that a second trial may not be worthwhile.

[Chocoholic]

In an interesting side note, it was reported that when one of Robert Pickton's brothers at a rather young age hit a 14 year old boy with his truck close to home he told his mother. Mother Pickton went to the scene where the unconscious 14 year old boy lay on the side of the road. She shoved his body into the ditch beside the road and he was left to die.

Why she was never charged we will never know.

http://www.thestar.com/article/281989

[Tempus Fugit]

Jurors saw photographs of the bisected heads of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson and Andrea Joesbury with their hands and feet placed inside their skulls.

They also heard about Brenda Wolfe's partial jawbone, Georgina Papin's hand bones and a section of Marnie Frey's jaw found on the property.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hFslTjOLaQH6y2QPlRdMTqTLkEVw

Pickton was convicted of the lesser charge after the jury could not decide if the killings were pre-meditated, but unusually the judge upheld the prosecutors' request for him to serve the full 25 years.


There is nothing I can say to express the revulsion the community feels, Judge James Williams.

Second trial questioned

Pickton faces another 20 counts of first-degree murder and prosecutors have said they intend to hold a second trial to hear those cases.

However, since Pickton's conviction on Sunday, senior officials, including the Attorney-General of British Columbia, Wally Oppal, have suggested that a second trial may not be worthwhile.

ITA with that suggestion. Pickton is in prison for the rest of his natural life anyway, a second trial would just be a waste of millions of taxpayer dollars IMO.