I mentioned this a few days ago, but the trial is proceeding and more evidence is being presented. In court in BC, the story of the pig farmer is unfolding, and I can’t bear the gory details. In his 11 hour interview with police, he appears to acknowledge his crimes. What is even weirder is that it appears that two women brought his victims to him. At one point in the videotaped interview, it is revealed that one of his ‘helper’ woman witnessed some of the horror when she walked in on him skinning a woman on a meat hook.

Ghastly.

The trial which is proceeding now is about the murders of these six women. Clockwise from top left: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Angela Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marni Frey. Photo credit: CBC News

The trial was delayed from January 18th but resumed on January 22nd, in order to prevent a stop start to the case, due to some delay in applications. There is an incredible volume of evidence and Pickton has been in jail awaiting trial since 2002. He faces another 20 first-degree murder charges involving more of the missing women (see them all, below). Apparently they plan on charging him in another trial with those 20. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

…prosecutors laid out some of the gruesome evidence against Pickton, including skulls and teeth of women found in the freezer, and blood and other DNA evidence found in the slaughterhouse and troughs at the farm.

Steam rises from the soil as excavators continue to sift through soil on the Port Coquitlam pig farm of accused serial killer Robert Pickton Monday, Nov. 4, 2002. (AP Photo/CP, Chuck Stoody, File)

The trial is to resume on Monday, but it appears as though one of the reasons it took so long to bring him to trial against him was…the painstaking process of sifting through the house and a motor home or trailer on his property, and the associated grounds. A tremendous amount of DNA and blood were found, some in the trailer, and a gun fitted with a dildo on the end had a mixture of his blood and a victim’s blood on it.

Just as in the case of John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer, the depravity that would drive someone to do this at all, not to mention this massive scale is beyond belief.

One of the particularly horrible parts about this is the fact that some of his victims were as the Canadians call them, First Nations women. There is a website devoted to many of them, here. At least their relatives know for sure what happened to them, although I doubt if they’re paying attention to the details that are emerging in his trial that they’ll ever be able to sleep. I’ve been saying prayers for his victims and their families; what a horrible story.

Stevie Cameron has been working on this story for Knopf Canada for the past five years. You can see the work in progress, and photos of the Pickton property under excavation here. This site shows the missing women and tells about each one if you click on their pictures.