Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton has tragically died at the age of 74 after being assaulted in prison, where he was serving a life sentence. The notorious murderer took female victims to his pig farm and fed their bodies to the animals in the late 1990s and early 2000s near Vancouver.
Pickton, 74, had been in critical condition since he was attacked with a broken broom handle to the head on May 19 while in a segregated intervention unit at the maximum-security Port-Cartier Institution. He was not expected to survive. A 51-year-old inmate is in custody for the assault on Pickton, police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu had said earlier this month.
Death of a Monster
The sister of one of Pickton's victims celebrated his death, saying that his slaying means she can finally move on. "This is gonna bring healing for, I won't say all families, I'll just say most of the families," Cynthia Cardinal, who lost her sister Georgina Papin to Pickton's violence, said.
"I'm like — wow, finally. I can actually move on and heal, and I can put this behind me."
It is unclear why the unnamed inmate targeted Pickton, but the attacker had previously served time in solitary confinement for assaulting other inmates. The killing is under investigation.
"The investigation will examine all of the facts and circumstances surrounding the assault, including whether policies and protocols were followed," the service said in the statement.
"We are mindful that this offender's case has had a devastating impact on communities in British Columbia and across the country, including Indigenous peoples, victims and their families. Our thoughts are with them."
Justice Served
In 2007, Pickton was convicted of killing drug addicts and prostitutes and dismembering their remains at his Port Coquitlam pig farm in British Columbia. Investigators found the partial remains of six women—Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, and Marnie Frey—on his property.
Prosecutors believed he killed them during a crime spree in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The remains or DNA of 33 other women were found on the farm, and Pickton once bragged to an undercover police officer that he killed a total of 49 women.
Pickton admitted to strangling his victims and feeding their remains to his pigs, which prompted health officials to issue a tainted meat advisory to neighbors who might have bought pork from Pickton's farm.
He was also initially charged with an additional 20 murders, but those charges were dropped after he was sentenced to life in prison.
