Robert Pickton

Robert Pickton operated a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, where he lured women, many of them sex workers and drug users from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, over a period of years beginning in the 1990s.

Investigation

Police faced criticism for not treating the pattern of women's disappearances as urgent for years, given the victims' backgrounds. When investigators finally searched Pickton's farm in 2002, they discovered extensive evidence, including human remains, linking him to numerous disappearances.

Trial

Pickton was charged with 26 murders but tried on six counts to make the case manageable for a jury. He was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in 2007 and sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, the maximum allowed under Canadian law for that charge. DNA or remains connected him to a total of 33 women, and he reportedly told an undercover officer he had killed considerably more.

Death

Pickton died in hospital in 2024 after being assaulted by a fellow inmate in prison.