Robert Pickton

Robert William "Willie" Pickton was born October 26th, 1949. He is a former multi-millionaire pig farmer in Canada and is also a convicted serial killer, imprisoned for the murders of 49 victims.
In 1992, Robert Pickton and his brother, David, owned a Port Coquitlam farm. One of the workers, Bill Hiscox, described it as a "creepy-looking place" and was guarded by a large 600-pound boar which was rather aggressive and territorial. Pickton was described as a "quiet guy" who was hard to maintain a conversation with.
Robert Pickton's first brush with the law was on March 23rd, 1997. He was charged with the attempted murder of Wendy Lynn Eistetter, a prostitute whom he had stabbed several time during an argument at the farm. Eistetter told police that Pickton has handcuffed her and began to stab her. She eventually escaped, disarmed him and stabbed him with his own weapon. He was released on a $2,000 bond.

Over the next few years, Hiscox noticed that women who visited the farm were to never be seen again and were eventually reported missing.
In February 2002, police gathered a search warrant to investigate Pickton's property due to the possession of illegal firearms. Once the brothers were taken into property, a second search warrant was issued as evidence led police to believe that they brothers could have had something to do with a number of missing women, dating back to September 1978. Personal items were discovered on the farm, including an asthma inhaler. However, this was still not enough to convict Pickton of any murders. As a result, the brothers were released after being charged with the possession of illegal loaded firearms and were kept under police surveillance.
As police continued to search the property, the unearthed some gruesome discoveries, such as skulls cut in half and stuffed with human hands and feet, bloody clothing belonging to a victim, a jawbone and teeth belonging to another victim, and the DNA from 33 women. They also discovered a .22 revolver with a dildo attached to the barrels, two pairs of fur-lined handcuffs, a pair of night-vision goggles, and photos of a garbage can containing the remains of a victim.
Eventually, on February 22nd, Robert Pickton was charged with the murders of Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. On April 2nd, he was then charged with the three murders of Jacqueline McDonell, Diane Rock and Heather Bottomley. He was then charged with the murder of Andrea Joesbury on April 9th, shortly followed by the charge of the murder of Brenda Wolfe. Then, on September 20th, he was further charged with the murders of Georgina Papin, Patricia Johnson, Helen Hallmark and Jennifer Furminger. As more evidence was discovered at the farm, Pickton continued to be charged with the murder of these missing women and eventually, the body count totaled up to 15 victims. Finally, on May 26th 2005, Pickton was charged with 12 more murders. While in custody, Pickton had a conversation with a fellow inmate about the murders, however, he was unaware that this inmate was in fact an undercover police officer. He told the man that he wanted to kill just one more victim in order to bring his victim count up to 50. This suggested that Pickton was responsible for 49 murders.
The investigation was the largest in Canadian History and is estimated to have cost the government $70 million by the end of 2003. Forensic teams struggled to identify many of the bodies due to the level of decomposition and due to the fact that some of the bodies had been eaten by insects and pigs. On March 10th, 2004, it was discovered that Pickton may have ground up the flesh from his victims, mixed it with pork and then sold it to the public. It was also believed that he fed the bodies directly to his pigs.

The trial began on January 30th, 2006. Pickton could only be charged with 27 murders due to the lack of evidence suggesting that there were a total of 49 victims. He pleaded not guilty to each charge, one which was later rejected as there was a lack of evidence. The 26 charges were split as the court did not want to put too much strain on the jury. On December 6th, Pickton was found guilty for six of the murders and was sentence to life-imprisonment. On August 4th, 2010, the remaining 20 charges were stayed.
To this day, Robert Pickton remains incarcerated, however, it is unlikely that remaining 20 charges will be continued.