WARNING: Some of the facts contained in this waymark description are disturbing and may offend.
This is the location of the worst serial killings in Canada. Robert William "Willie" Pickton was charged with the first degree murder of 27 women that was alleged to have occurred here from 1991 to 2001.
The police executed a search warrant for illegal firearms on February 5, 2002. He was taken into custody and police then obtained a second court order to search the farm as part of the BC Missing Women Investigation, when personal items (including a prescription asthma inhaler) belonging to one of the missing women were found.
The BC Missing Women Investigation is a task force set up by the RCMP and the Vancouver Police to investigate the disappearance of at least 60 women (mostly prostitutes) from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside from the early 1980's through to 2002.
On Friday, February 22, 2002, Pickton was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. These first 2 charges were the result of the discovery of identifiable parts of both women being located in buildings on the property. From those initial discoveries, the investigation quickly ramped up. Once all buildings were completely searched, they were torn down and the ground was dug up and sifted. The process took over 22 months with 338,000 cubic metres of dirt being sifted by forensic anthropologists. By the end of November 2003, an estimated $70 million dollars had been spent on the investigation.
On March 10, 2004, it was revealed that human flesh may have been ground up and mixed with pork from the farm. This pork was never distributed commercially, but was handed out to friends and visitors of the farm. Another claim made is that he fed the bodies directly to his pigs.
As the DNA evidence was matched with known DNA of missing woman, the charges against Pickton grew. On May 26, 2005, the final twelve charges were laid against him bringing the total number of first-degree murder charges to 27.
Pickton's trial began on January 30, 2006. It would take almost a year to determine what evidence would be admissible.
On August 9, 2006, Justice Williams severed the charges and trimmed the indictment to just six counts. The other charges were not dismissed and Pickton can still be taken to trial on them.
Jury selection was completed on December 12, 2006. The trial started on January 22, 2007 and would last almost a year. On December 9, 2007, the jury returned a verdict that Pickton is not guilty on 6 counts of first-degree murder, but is guilty on 6 counts of second-degree murder. A second-degree murder conviction carries a punishment of a life sentence, with no possibility of parole for a period between 10 to 25 years, to be set by the trial judge. On December 11, 2007, after reading 18 victim impact statements, British Columbia Supreme Court Judge Justice James Williams sentenced Pickton to life with no possibility of parole for 25 years - the maximum punishment for second-degree murder, and equal to the sentence which would have been imposed for a first-degree murder conviction.
The Pickton farm is now surrounded, squeezed by urban sprawl. Brand-new homes line two sides of its perimeter. More homes are going up to the east. Dave Pickton, ‘Willie’s’ brother, has erected a chain link fence around the property and planted grass to raise cows. And the B.C. government has put a mortgage worth $10-million on the property, to cover Willie Pickton's publicly funded legal costs.
The information for this waymark came from the Wikipedia web page.
CBC News has an interactive map on the area.
The Vancouver Sun has a PDF illustration on the “Inside of the Pickton Farm”
WARNING: THERE ARE DETAILS ON THIS ILLUSTRATION THAT ARE DISTURBING AND COULD OFFEND.