Robert Pickton
| Robert Pickton | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Robert William Pickton October 24, 1949 Port Coquitlam, British Columbia |
| Other names | The Pig Farmer Killer, The Pigheaded Killer, Pork Chop Rob |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Killings | |
| Victims | 6–49 |
|
Span of killings
|
1983–2002 |
| Country | Canada |
|
Date apprehended
|
February 22, 2002 |
Robert William "Willie" Pickton (born October 24, 1949) of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, is a former multi-millionaire pig farmer and serial killer convicted in 2007 of the second-degree murders of six women. He was also charged in the deaths of an additional twenty women, many of them from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside; however, these charges were stayed by the Crown in 2010. In December 2007, he was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years – the longest sentence then available under Canadian law for murder.
During the trial's first day of jury evidence, January 22, 2007, the Crown stated he confessed to 49 murders to an undercover police officer posing as a cellmate. The Crown reported that Pickton told the officer that he wanted to kill another woman to make it an even 50, and that he was caught because he was "sloppy".
By 1992, Robert William Pickton and his brother David owned a Port Coquitlam farm. Worker Bill Hiscox called it a "creepy-looking place", noting that it was patrolled by a 600-lb. (270 kg) boar, one of the few actual pigs on the farm. "I never saw a pig like that, who would chase you and bite at you," he said. "It was running out with the dogs around the property." He later described Pickton as a "pretty quiet guy, hard to strike up a conversation with," whose occasionally bizarre behavior, despite no evidence of substance abuse, would draw attention. Pickton's only vehicle was a converted bus, with deeply tinted windows, to which he was emotionally attached.
The Pickton brothers gradually neglected the site's farming operations. They registered a non-profit charity, the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, with the Canadian government in 1996 as aiming to "organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups." Its events included raves and wild parties featuring Vancouver prostitutes and gatherings in a converted slaughterhouse. These events attracted as many as 2,000 people. Hell's Angel members were known to often frequent the farm.
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