Serial killer Robert Pickton dies following prison assault

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Notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton has died, less than two weeks after he was attacked by a fellow prisoner in a Quebec prison.

Correctional Service Canada said Pickton died in hospital on Friday from injuries he sustained from an assault in the maximum security Port-Cartier Institution on May 19.

Pickton, who was serving a life sentence for six counts of second-degree murder, was 74 years old.

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For some, the death brings closure. But it also leaves open questions about the botched police investigation into Pickton, who was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder but was suspected of killing dozens more women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Postmedia sources had said Pickton was on life support after he was speared in the head with a broken broom handle on the segregated intervention unit where he lived.

The correctional service said Friday it will launch an investigation into the assault. It had notified Pickton’s relatives and families of victims that had registered to be notified.

Pickton’s death gave some of his victims’ loved ones a measure of peace and finality that they didn’t have when the convicted killer was in prison serving a life sentence.

There’s “a bit more peace,” said Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was one of six women Pickton was found guilty of murdering during his 2007 B.C. Supreme Court trial.

“It’s going to be easy sailing to heal after this. I know we’ll never be able to forget but we can move on to better things knowing that evil is out of our Earth.”

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Cardinal marked the occasion by celebrating at a powwow and thinking of her sister. “I know today is a peaceful day for her and for all the women.”

“This is gonna bring healing for, I won’t say all families, I’ll just say most of the families,” Cardinal said.

“Because they didn’t get their day in court, (that’s) what I’m really sad about. But I’m also feeling really happy right now,” said Cardinal.

“I’m like — wow, finally. I can actually move on and heal and I can put this behind me.”

In addition to Papin, Pickton was convicted of murdering five other women — Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe and Marnie Frey.

He was also charged with killing 21 others, but those counts were stayed. In all, DNA from 33 women were found on his Port Coquitlam pig farm. He had also bragged to an undercover officer that he had killed 49 women.

One of them was Stephanie Lane, who was 20 when she vanished.

Her mother, Michelle Pineault, said she was overjoyed by Pickton’s death.

“So, 28 years I have lived without my daughter, knowing that this animal murdered her, and that there was no justice for her in any way, shape, or form. So I’m elated. I’m happy,” said Pineault, who burst into tears.

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She attended a ceremony at CRAB Park near the Downtown Eastside in honour of Pickton’s victims.

Pineault said that since losing Lane, “my life has not been about my daughter — my life has been about Pickton.”

She said his death felt something like justice.

Lorelei Williams, whose cousin Tanya Holyk’s DNA was also found on the farm, said at CRAB Park that she was “overwhelmed with happiness,” at Pickton’s death.

Quebec police had said last week that doctors planned to try to wake Pickton from a medically induced coma, to see if he could survive on his own after what prison authorities had called a “major assault.”

Pickton had been serving his life sentence at Port-Cartier Institution, about 480 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, since being transferred from British Columbia’s Kent Institution about six years ago.

At the time of his sentencing in December 2007, B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a “rare case that properly warrants the maximum (25-year) period of parole ineligibility available to the court.”

Sandra Gagnon, whose sister Janet Henry disappeared in 1997, was relieved to hear about Pickton’s death but worries any answers about Henry’s death died with him.

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Pickton was never charged in Henry’s disappearance. There was no DNA for Henry found on Pickton’s farm, but there was a partial print, Gagnon said. “I believe she ended up there. I have a feeling we will never find out now.”

Premier David Eby said Pickton preyed on the most vulnerable people in society.

“For some, the death of this notorious serial killer may bring closure and for others it will reopen old wounds. It is a difficult day for anyone who lost someone they loved because of his cruelty and heinous crimes,” he said in a statement.

“Good riddance.”

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