Canadian True Crime - Robert Pickton: The Final Chapter [3]

Episode Date: February 2, 2026

[Part 3 of 4] One night, a woman living on the Pickton farm witnesses an act so disturbing it prompts repeated warnings to police. A search warrant should have followed, but through another cascade of devastating missed opportunities, Robert Pickton slips through the cracks once again...CONTENT WARNING: this series includes graphic details that will be distressing for many listeners to hear, including mention of sexual assault, residential schools, Indigenous issues, child abuse and suicide. Crisis referral services:Free National Indian Residential School Crisis Line: call 1-866-925-4419 toll freeHope for Wellness free chatline - 1-800-721-0066 or using the chat box on the websiteGovernment of Canada Crisis and Mental Health support  Resources for Sexual assault survivorsCanadian True Crime donates monthly to those facing injustice. Proceeds from this series are being donated to the WISH Drop-in Centre Society, supporting street-based sex workers on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside since 1984.Full list of resources, information sources, and more:www.canadiantruecrime.ca/episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Canadian True Crime is a completely independent production, funded mainly through advertising. You can listen to Canadian True Crime ad-free and early on Amazon music included with Prime, Apple Podcasts, Patreon, and Supercast. The podcast often has disturbing content and course language. It's not for everyone. Please take care when listening. This is part three of a four-part series, pieced together primarily from the public record, including court documents, newspaper archives, the final report.

of the Missing Women Commission of Inquiry and On the Farm by Stevie Cameron. Where we left off, it was well into 1998, and there had been a noticeable recent spike in women vanishing from Vancouver's downtown east side. Their loved ones were desperate and angry at the Vancouver Police Department for not taking the increase in disappearances seriously. They started going to the media to force attention on the issue. New us are. articles sparked public discussion and new tips. Wayne Leng was a friend of missing woman Sarah DeVries. After he was interviewed for one article,

he received a few anonymous phone messages from a man who claimed Sarah was dead and warned that more women would be killed. It turned out, that person was an employee of the demolition company owned by Robert Pickton's younger brother David and had spent time on the pig farm. That employee's name was Bill Hiscock's. He'd been trying to be anonymous for safety, but it was time to start speaking out.

He told Wayne Lang that Robert Willie Picton was a strange man who was known to head to the downtown Eastside weekly to pick up women. He made chilling comments about disposing of bodies at the farm, including in his meat grinder. Hizcox told Langell. he actually called the Vancouver Police Department tip line about that. Nothing was done.

His Cox described the farm as a creepy place full of outbuildings, barns and sheds, workshops, an old motorhome, the farmhouse where David lived, and the mobile trailer home where Robert Willie Picton lived. Lots of places where things could be hidden. In fact, one of Willie's female friends, Lisa Yelds, told him she'd seen him, she'd seen bloody clothing, women's purses and ID cards in various spots around the farm,

like Killers' Trophies. Hizcox called the local RCMP detachment, and they said they'd look into it. Remember, it was the Vancouver Police Department who were looking into the women going missing from the downtown east side. The local RCMP did visit Lisa Yelz to discuss what Bill Hiscopx had told them, but she was known to be anti-police and wouldn't cooperate. She was also terrified of retribution. Lisa Yelds was suspicious of her friend Willie,

but did not believe he would hurt her. His younger brother David was something else altogether. Bill Hescock said he called the police to follow up, but he was told there wasn't anything they could do. What he didn't know was that his tip had resulted in, several police officers talking. One was Corporal Mike Connor with the Coquitlam RCMP. He happened to be one of the officers who responded the night

that Wendy survived an attempted murder, escaped the farm and was rushed to hospital. She had the handcuffs on her wrist and Robert Picton had the key. Wendy had given the RCMP a detailed, credible statement that clearly signalled what was happening to other women, and it should have been a turning point. Instead, it became one of the most devastating missed opportunities in Canadian criminal justice history. The Crown decided Wendy was not a suitable

witness and dropped those charges against Robert Picton. He walked free and women continued to vanish. But Corporal Mike Connor did not forget about him. He was also aware of Robert Pickton's threatening behavior towards Wendy after that. Detective Constable Laura Meshena in the Vancouver Police Department was also aware of these updates. He had come across the tip from Bill Hizcox and contacted Corporal Connor out at the RCMP detachment to discuss. They both sat down with Bill Hizcox, who indicated he was keen to be a police informant. Problem was, they had no concrete information to go on and no one to approve more investigation. It was determined there was not enough information for a search warrant for the farm. But the press articles, including high-profile

feature articles by Lindsay Kynes of the Vancouver Sun, were working to raise awareness. The public were starting to talk and question why the Vancouver PD wasn't doing more in what was quickly being revealed as a massive problem. Behind the scenes, it was becoming harder for the police to ignore the increase in families trying to contact them, desperate for answers about their missing loved ones. The prevailing theory was that there were many reasons these women might be gone, a drug dispute, or they were off partying somewhere. It didn't mean there was a serial killer. In fact, they didn't even know if these missing women were even dead. Without bodies, what were the police supposed to do?

But one by one, members of Vancouver Police Department were starting to realize they did need to do something. It was time to consult profiler Kim Rosmo again. He'd been trying to get them to take notice for several years by this point, as his own reputation grew well beyond Vancouver. Kim Rosmo had become the first police officer in Canada to earn a PhD in criminology, and his doctoral work with a computer program called Riegel

was already shaping how police around the world thought about geographic profiling. Inside the Vancouver Police Department, however, Rosmo's work had been met with resistance. An entrenched old boys' culture bristled at his ideas and growing public profile. His research was making him a rising star in criminal society. and he was increasingly sought out for conferences and lectures. Colleagues treated his work as a threat rather than a tool that could potentially help them with a case that had virtually no evidence.

Kim Rosmo conducted a new analysis of the missing women and reported that yes, it seemed a serial killer was still at work. Rosmo told the Vancouver PD that in most violent deaths on the downtown east side, those women died in domestic arguments or fights over drugs and their bodies were actually found. It wasn't at all like what was happening here where they just disappeared completely. His theory was that the serial killer was likely to be someone who knew the Vancouver area well and was disposing of multiple bodies in one location, which was likely to be in wilderness areas near where he lived. As we now know, all three of these.

these statements would prove to be true. But the momentum of the investigation into the missing women on the downtown east side was slowed down again by buck passing and political tantrums within the Vancouver PD. Detective Constable Laura Machena was still pushing for these disappearances to be taken seriously. In 1998, he was assigned to lead a small, informal initiative called Project Amelia. Lesser task force, Project Amelia was essentially one investigator with a growing stack of missing persons files, looking for connections, following up on tips,

and trying to figure out why so many women were vanishing. It was a big mandate without the resources to match. Meanwhile, police met with families of the missing women to collect DNA samples, which they planned to use to identify, any bodies they might find later on. They had no way of knowing there would be no bodies to be found. And almost immediately they had new names to add to the list. 31-year-old Julie Louise Young, almost nothing is known about Julie except she'd been living on the downtown east side for several

years and she last phoned her mother in October of 98. Her mother reported her missing after not hearing from her again. Angela Jardine was next. She was born in Sudbury, Ontario, and her family moved to Sparwood in British Columbia, where she grew up. From early childhood, Angela faced developmental challenges,

including a speech delay, and she struggled with outbursts and emotional regulation. Her family would later tell the missing women's inquiry that she wanted desperately to fit in, but she had a naivety and an eagerness to please that sometimes made her a target for ridicule. Angela's family tried tirelessly to get extra medical support for her, and in her late teens she moved in with a caregiver outside the family home, because her own mother was critically ill by that point.

The arrangement worked well for Angela, but that stability shifted when the ministry moved her into a group home that she didn't like, By age 19, Angela had moved to the downtown east side and stayed there, living at the Portland Hotel, despite her family's best efforts to bring her home. Angela experienced violence there that made her feel unsafe, but she also formed close bonds with her social worker and many others in the community and was known to be exuberant, joyful, and deeply loving. In November 98, she participated in an all-day rally in the downtown east side called Out of Harm's Way, which was about harm reduction and substance use disorder. After the rally, 27-year-old Angela Jardine put on a party dress and heels, excited to go out with friends. It was the last time anyone saw her.

Her family spent years pushing for the police to take meaning. for action. Her DNA would later be found on the walls of a freezer on the Picton farm. Just weeks later, 19-year-old Michelle Gurney vanished. Michelle was a member of the Nisga First Nation and was born in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. She was raised by her grandparents and faced significant health challenges as a child and mental health challenges as a teenager. She moved through a series of group homes and outpatient programs. Michelle eventually moved to Vancouver, where she gave birth to a son who was taken into care. She loved him deeply and she couldn't care for him on her own, but she returned often to visit him.

By 1996, she was living at the Portland Hotel, just like Angela Jardine was. Michelle hoped to move away from the downtown east side, but she never got the chance. In late December of 98, Michelle was reported missing by her social worker. No trace of her has ever been found. Just a week or so later, 20-year-old Marcella Marcy Creason disappeared. She was from Toronto and moved to British Columbia with her mother when she was a teenager. According to her uncle, she began using drugs and dropped out of school. Things escalated from there, and by age 19, Marcy was living full time on the downtown east side and engaged in sex work.

But she stayed in contact with her family. In late December of 98, she phoned her mother to say she was on her way home for a belated holiday celebration. Her family waited with a turkey and unopened gifts, but she never arrived. Marcella Marcy Creason was last seen near the Drake Hotel. No trace of her has ever been found. Then there's Ruby Ann Hardy, also known as Ruby Galloway, a member of Rocky Bay First Nation in northwestern Ontario. Much of what is known about Ruby's life is from her daughter Crystal, who testified at the 2017 National Inquiry into missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. Ruby was the only daughter in a family of four children.

She experienced abuse in her own childhood and struggled with trauma and poverty as she grew older, using drugs to numb the pain of her past. She was married briefly while living in Thunder Bay and became a mother to Crystal and another daughter. She was described as a loving and devoted single mother. but she was also overwhelmed and unsupported. After a series of abusive relationships,

Ruby moved with her children to British Columbia, hoping for safety, but the violence continued. She gave birth to a son, Troy, but her struggles continued, and child welfare eventually became involved. Crystal testified that when she was in grade 8, her mother called her from a rehabilitation program, Ruby told her she did not expect forgiveness, but she'd tried the best she could and wanted a better

life for her children. That was the last time Crystal ever spoke to her mother. After that call, Ruby missed a scheduled visit, then another, and eventually stopped coming altogether. She reappeared later only through police records. Her family would discover she ended up in Vancouver, seriously ill and not accessing medical care. She stopped cashing her assistance checks. Ruby Ann Hardy was last seen alive in Vancouver's downtown east side in 1998 at the age of 33. Her family never received closure. Police later told them that although no trace of Ruby has ever been located,

they believe she was murdered during the period when Robert Rupert. Pickedon was most active in the area. Sadly, her son Troy, Crystal's brother, was also later murdered. Crystal testified she wants her mother remembered not as a label or stereotype, but as a strong woman, a loving parent, a person whose life mattered. Ruby Ann Hardy's story was not an anomaly. These women who went missing from the day. downtown east side each had their own lives and stories, but many were navigating the same

structural hardships. Poverty, trauma, racism, addiction, and untreated mental health issues shaped the landscape they were trying to survive in. Many lived in unsafe, single-room occupancy hotels. They struggled to afford food and faced barriers to basic health care. criminalization played a major role in their vulnerability as well. Instead of being met with stable and affordable housing, social supports and health care, these women were often met with policing. Drug use was treated as a crime rather than a health issue, and survival sex work, the exchange of sex to meet basic needs or avoid withdrawal,

pushed women into dangerous situations while making them less likely to, to seek help. For indigenous women, these harms were compounded by the long-term impacts of colonialism, from residential schools to discriminatory government policies and a deep mistrust of police that grew out of those histories. These women were not vulnerable because they chose to live a high-risk lifestyle. The systems that failed to protect them made them vulnerable, and then they were blamed for the very conditions they were trying to survive. A total of 11 women went missing from the downtown east side in 1998. It was the worst year yet. And we know now that since 1978, at least 70 women vanished from the area. Their families were extremely upset that at least publicly, the Vancouver

police were still downplaying the notion that anything was going on, that anyone could be plucking them off the streets, and the women who remained were terrified they were going to be next. In May of 99, a rally and memorial service was held at the First United Church in the downtown east side. Over 300 people showed up to commemorate the women who'd gone missing and give heartfelt messages about how they were loved and missed. Many of their children were in attendance. They carried signs that said their loved ones were not disposable. They were calling for more police action and suggesting a reward be offered for more information. At first, the police argued against issuing a reward. There were no bodies and no evidence of

foul play. Even the mayor of Vancouver at the time, Philip Owen, was quoted in the press dismissing the idea of a reward. He didn't believe these women were missing. They just moved to a different location and didn't tell anyone. He disputed the claims of their families that they would never do that. Finally, a reward of $100,000 was offered for information, some of it from the city, and the rest from the BC government. During this time, two down on their luck people came to stay on the Picton farm and would end up becoming central figures in this case. Andrew Bellwood was in his late 20s. He'd just finished a five-month drug treatment program. He had nowhere to stay and a friend he met in the program invited him to the place he was staying at

for a while. This turned out to be Gina Houston's basement apartment. You'll recall, Gina Houston was one of Robert Pickton's gal pals, a former sex. worker herself, who helped him procure women from the downtown east side to bring back to the farm to party. Andrew Bellwood didn't stay with Gina for long. He found her very chaotic. He soon found a job driving trucks and preferred to sleep in his truck overnight. It wasn't long before he was using drugs again. Gina approached him one day and asked him to drive his truck to the Picton farm to pick something up. This is where Andrew Bellwood first met Robert Willie Picton, and they struck up a friendship.

Andrew found Willie friendly, and they got on well. He began doing odd jobs for him on the farm. After a while, Willie asked him if he wanted to stay in his mobile trailer home. There was another woman staying there, but Andrew was welcome to join them. It helped that there were a lot of parties and free drugs. Piggy's Palace was now a notorious hotspot. Andrew Bellwood moved in and got a firsthand view of what was happening on the farm. He watched Willie butcher pigs on a few occasions.

The pig suspended from a hook, chained around a rafter in the slaughterhouse, with Willie scraping the end trails into a large barrel. Andrew even went with him to the rendering plant West Coast Reduction to dump those barrels of waste. He said he and Willie got to know each other, spending hours in conversation. The pig farmer was opening up, and Andrew got the impression that he was trusted.

One night in the mobile trailer, Willie offered Andrew $100 and asked if he'd like to get a sex worker. Andrew said no. Willie asked again, but Andrew didn't want to. He would later testify that Willie then asked him, Do you know what I do with these prostitutes? He reached underneath his mattress and pulled out a set of handcuffs, a belt, and a piece of wire.

Willie told him it started with trips to the downtown East Side to get a sex worker, but they were reluctant to go with him to the farm, so he would just offer them drugs and more cash. Once he got the sex worker into his mobile trailer home, she would be on all fours and he would be behind her having sex. As Willie was describing this, he was reenacting this scenario, kneeling on the bed over an imaginary woman pretending to stroke her hair.

Then, he told Andrew he would reach ahead and pull the woman's hand behind her back, then slowly put handcuffs on her and tell her it's going to be okay. Willie told him he would strangle the sex worker with either the belt or the piece of wire. When each woman was dead, he would take her to the barn, bleed her and gut her. Andrew Bellwood would later testify that Robert Willie Picton, quote, commented on how much they bled. He kept telling me you wouldn't believe how much blood comes out of a breast. person. Willie told him he fed the carcass to his pigs, explaining that pigs will eat pretty

much all human remains. Whatever they didn't eat ended up in barrels of pig waste, which would all get dumped in the slurry at West Coast reduction. Andrew Bellwood would later testify he was not under the influence of any alcohol or drugs when he had this conversation with Robert Pickton, and he didn't really know what to make of it at the time. He told Willie, you're just kidding around. Willie asked him again if he wanted to get a sex worker, and Andrew said, nah, so they didn't. A few days later, Andrew Bellwood walked past Willie's bedroom and was called in.

Willie was lying on the bed with the woman who was also staying in the mobile trailer home. Her name was Lynn Ellingson, and Willie told her, Andy's scared to go and get a hooker. She laughed. Andrew Bellwood laughed it off too. He would also testify that he saw a woman's identification, a native status card in the bedroom. That was odd.

It seems that Robert Picton regretted giving so much information to Andrew Bellwood. A few days later, he sent Lynn Ellingson and a couple of men to rough him up and accuse him of stealing tools from the farm. Andrew protested that he was innocent. Bloody and injured, he went and found Willie and told him to his face. He didn't steal a thing. Gone was the friendly Willie he'd been hanging out with. With a cool detachment, the pig farmer told him he'd helped him and given him a chance

and he'd better get those tools back. Andrew saw the writing on the wall and left the farm straight away. caught the ferry over to his mother's house on Vancouver Island and was treated for a broken nose. He would testify he never went back to the farm again. Andrew Bellwood could have raised the alarm about what Robert Picton had told him. It wasn't hearsay, it came directly from the source, but he did not report it to the police. He was spooked and wanted to put the whole ordeal behind him. He would later testify that he assumed that if Willie was really doing these things and telling random people about it, he would be caught soon enough. Unfortunately, Andrew was wrong. Proceeds from this series are being donated to the Wish Dropin Center Society, supporting street-based

sex workers on Vancouver's downtown Eastside since 1984. 1999 had been ushered in with more disappearances. First was 22-year-old Jacqueline MacDonald, who was born in Toronto but grew up in the Cootneys, a quiet, mountainous region in southeastern British Columbia, known for its small communities. Jacqueline was intelligent and well-read, but she dropped out of high school when she became pregnant at age 18. She was said to have been a very attentive mother, but she got together with a man who had substance use disorder, and she began using drugs herself.

Jacqueline's daughter ended up living with her mother, and she moved to the downtown east side. Jacqueline was a regular at the Wish Drop-in Center, where she was described as bright and articulate with a small town friendliness. Just a few months later, she vanished, 22. Jacklin McDonald's blood would be found on handcuffs along with Robert Pickton's DNA in the headboard of his bed. Her DNA would also be found on an earring with other jewelry in his closet. When 31-year-old Brenda Wolfe disappeared from the downtown east side, she was working as a

waitress and bouncer at the Belmoral Hotel, where she was widely known as a strong, presence. Brenda was a member of Kaka Vistaha First Nation, the eldest of five children who grew up between Lethbridge and Calgary in Alberta, in a family marked by instability. She spent much of her childhood living with her father's family while her mother struggled with toxic use of alcohol. Years later, it came to light that Brenda had experienced sexual abuse during that time. Despite this, Brenda was known for her strength and creativity. She was a school badminton champion and later trained as a hairdresser, completing her certificate in 1991.

At around that time, Brenda entered a common law relationship and became a mother to two daughters. While pregnant with her first daughter, she entered rehabilitation for substance use disorder. After moving to Vancouver in 96, her relationship became abusive. Brenda eventually fled to a shelter. For a time, Brenda lived in the Metro Vancouver area,

supporting her children and herself through social supports and sex work. According to her sister, Brenda was deeply compassionate and thoughtful, and she loved fiercely. Her daughters were her greatest source of joy, and she was known to love country music, jazz and dancing. But in early 99, she began using drugs again to dull her pain. She lost her housing and her daughters were placed in foster care. Brenda ended up on the downtown east side.

At Wish Dropin Centre, she was well-liked, known as kind, soft-spoken, and someone who stood up for what is right and defended women when they were in trouble. Brenda Wolf was last seen outside the Balmoral Hotel, age 31. All that remained of her would be found in a pig trough behind the slaughterhouse on the Picton farm, half of her jawbone, with five of her teeth. Brenda's DNA would also be found on a jacket in Robert Pickton's closet, and on keys hidden in the loft of the farm workshop. Years later, one of Brenda's daughter,

daughters would speak publicly about the harm caused by how her mother was portrayed after she disappeared. She asked for truth, dignity and respect, not just for her mother, but for all the women that were lost. Back at the farm, Andrew Bellwood had been chased off. Robert Pickton did not get the reaction he was looking for when he demonstrated what he was doing to sex workers. But Lynn Ellingson was allowed to stay, continuing to live in the mobile trailer with Robert. It was a transactional arrangement. Like many of these people, she was introduced to him by his gal-pal Gina Houston. They'd both been staying at a women's shelter after escaping violent relationships.

Why 31-year-old Gina didn't seek help from her pig farmer bestie is unclear, but the women bonded quickly and used drugs together. Lynn Ellingsen would later testify that she'd been a star athlete in high school and won many trophies, but she got pregnant and gave birth to a baby three weeks after graduating. She couldn't cope with it and soon she was engaging in hazardous use of drugs and alcohol. Lynn left her son with her parents. By the time she met Gina Houston at the women's shelter in 1999, Lynn Ellingson was in a very tight spot.

She was in her late 20s. She'd just left a violent relationship with nowhere else to go. She had no job and she owed $14,000 after a crash that resulted in a dangerous driving conviction, according to a court document. Gina Houston had an idea. She had a friend called Willie, a really nice guy who would be able to help. She took Lynn over to the Picton Farm, and sure enough, Willie offered her some work so she could try to pay some of her debt down.

That went well, and Lynn continued coming to the farm to do odd jobs, then stay behind for the free drugs and parties. After a while, Willie invited her to move into the spare bedroom of his mobile trailer home in exchange for cleaning it and a few other jobs. So Lynn Ellingson lived on the Picton farm for much of 1999. Willie paid for her alcohol, groceries, cigarettes and drugs and gave her money from time to time. She would later testify there were a lot of people coming and going from the farm during this time. Lynn also got used to the weekend butcher sessions. Willie and his associate Pat Casanova would go to the auctions to purchase animals,

then spend Saturday and Sunday nights slaughtering them and butchering them for the week ahead. She described Pat Casanova as a competent butcher just like Willie was. Some of the meat would go to their clients and other meat would be reserved for the famous barbecue pork they served at Piggy's Palace. But Lynn Ellingson was starting to become suspicious of Robert Pickton. One day, according to On the Farm by Stevie Cameron, she summoned the courage to talk to his younger brother David. She told him she wanted to ask him about rumors she'd heard.

Human body parts in the freezer. She didn't mention Willie by name. David casually told her, Sure, and suggested they'd chat in the mobile trailer home. Once they walked inside, Lynn says David pushed her up against the wall and slapped her. She ran down the hallway into her room, but David followed her. She grabbed a vase with flowers in it and threw it, smashing a window in the trailer.

David casually walked away. The message had been received. The rumors were off limits. After that, Willie warned Lynn to stay inside the trailer as much. as possible and out of his younger brother's way, because David wanted her gone. Lynn Ellingson would later testify that one night, Willie had to drive into the Metro Vancouver area to run an errand and asked her to go along, promising to give her money for drugs. Willie asked Lynn if she minded if he picked up a girl. She told him she was fine with that.

They drove around for a while, then stopped, and a woman approached. the passenger window. Willie asked her if she wanted to come back to the farm. The woman had seen Lynn in the car and asked her if she was also going back to the farm. Lynn told her yes. Clearly feeling a degree of safety, the woman got into the pickup truck. Lynn would describe her as having long black hair, bangs and what she called chipmunk cheeks, indigenous in appearance. Willie made a stop to purchase some crack cocaine, and the two women smoked it together in the truck as he drove to the farm. Lynn didn't see anyone else around when they arrived. The three of them went into Willie's trailer, where she and the woman used more drugs. At some point, Willie asked, Who's going first? The woman with a long dark hair volunteered and went with him into his room.

Lynn went back to her own room and used more crack cocaine. Lynn would testify that sometime later she heard a noise, something sharp and sudden, like a scream. She went over to the kitchen window and could see a bright light coming from the slaughterhouse and barn. She assumed Robert was in his bedroom and yelled down the hallway for him but got no response. She was the only one in the mobile trailer.

Lynn walked over to the slaughterhouse to check it out. The closer she got, she started to notice an awful smell, something overpowering. She pushed open the doors and saw something hanging from a chain, right next to a table that had several knives laid out on it. She saw Willie standing nearby, covered in blood, making the same motions he always did when butchering pigs, pulling entrails out of the carcass and placing them into a garbage can at the end of the table. Lynn realized it was a human body hanging upside down. The toes were about at her eye level and she noticed red nail polish. She didn't see the woman's face, but she could see long black hair laid out on the table,

pulled back like a horse tail. It was the indigenous woman they'd picked up earlier that. that night. Lin would later testify that she was high on crack cocaine, but she wasn't hallucinating. This all happened in a split second, but Willie suddenly noticed her, grabbed her and pulled her further inside the barn. He made her look at the woman's body hanging on a chain. He told her that if she ever said anything to anyone, quote, you will be right beside her. Lin would test. she promised to stay quiet about what she'd seen. She was terrified. She told Willie she only came over looking for money for more drugs. He handed her $100 and called her a cab. Lynn claimed she spent

the next few days getting high, then returned to the farm to pack her belongings. Her time at the Picton Farm was over. It was around this time that Georgina Pappen vanished from the downtown Eastside, age 34. She had long, thick black hair and high cheekbones. Georgina Papin was the fourth of nine children in a large, complicated family shaped by intergenerational trauma and poverty. Her family was Enoch Cree Nation from the Edmonton, Alberta area. Like so many indigenous families, Georgina and her siblings were separated early in life. Some placed in foster care and others sent to residential school. Despite this, the siblings made many attempts to stay close. Georgina was described as rambunctious and special, among her many

talents was drawing and singing. The siblings were eventually reunited in the same foster home, but the damage of those early years stayed with them. Georgina was abused in care and she ran away at age 12. By 14, she was in Las Vegas engaging in survival sex work. Her first child was born there. She left that child with the father's family when she returned to Canada. Georgina engaged in hazardous substance use and drifted in and out of custody. During one stint after a robbery, she volunteered to help other incarcerated indigenous women reconnect with their culture. She was known as creative, a traditional dancer and bead worker who was warm and deeply connected to her cre identity. She loved powwels, jewelry, the color red, and making bannock.

Georgina had six more children and would be described as a loving and very involved mother, but she was plagued by the pain of her past. When her drug use escalated and her children were taken into care, she moved to the downtown east side. but she remained connected to her family. In March of 99, Georgina phoned her younger sister and asked to celebrate her birthday with her. That celebration never happened. The last confirmed sighting of Georgina Papin

was at a downtown Vancouver hotel that same month. She'd complained of chest pains and was diagnosed with pneumonia and substance use disorder. She spent a few days in hospital, but then she left abruptly, abandoning her IV pole in a bathroom. She was 34 years old. Lynn Ellington would indicate that Georgina Pappen was the indigenous woman with a long dark hair and chipmunk cheeks, but she couldn't remember the exact date that this happened. The only thing that can be confirmed is that Georgina Pappen's handbones would,

be later discovered under a platform in the slaughterhouse and barn. A former long-term employee of the Picton family would also report that he saw Georgina Pappen with Robert Picton in his pickup truck near a strip mall in Port Coquitlam. That employee's name was Scott Chubb. But like Lynn Ellingson, he couldn't remember the date, or even the year. This came up repeatedly. Many of the people who witnessed things on the farm were using drugs, which made them more vulnerable to manipulation and also less able to recall events and details clearly and reliably.

Scott Chubb had spent a lot of time on the Picton farm over the years too. He didn't live there, but he'd been a truck driver for David Pickton's demolition business and had also worked as security detail at Piggy's Palace. He knew about Robert Willie Pickton's butchering skills. He also knew about the knife attack with Wendy. Everybody did. He'd heard the rumors. He was starting to suspect that Willie might have something to do

with those missing sex workers from the downtown east side. But right now, Scott Chubb was broke. He dropped into the farm and asked Willie if he had any work. As they worked together to remember, removed nails out of old wooden floorboards. Scott mentioned hearing that Lynn Ellingson had been evicted from the farm. What happened? Willie told him that Lynn had been blackmailing him and it was costing him a lot of money. Over $10,000 so far. In fact, Willie had a proposition for him, $1,000 to hurt Lynn Ellingson. He had just the method. Willie mentioned that he or he or

someone he knew, had taken a syringe of antifreeze or window washer fluid, and had injected somebody with it and they died right away. Willie described it as a good way to kill junkies, because the police would think they'd just overdosed on heroin. They'd see the needle tracks and decide an autopsy wasn't needed. Quote, They're just junkies, right? Scott Chubb would testify that he needed the money,

but that wasn't the job for him. him. The conversation stuck with him, though. So too did the fact that he'd seen several illegal firearms on the farm. In the laundry room of Robert's mobile trailer, he specifically remembered seeing a 44-magm gun, a Mac 10 fully automatic pistol and a 38-cali-cali-calibur browning semi-automatic pistol. Willie actually let him borrow the browning and even threw in some free ammunition. But Scott Chubb wouldn't be coming forward just yet. Lynn Ellingson remained utterly terrified. She stayed away from the Picton Farm, but she did tell some of her friends and acquaintances what she'd seen there that night. People talk, and eventually

bits and pieces of information made their way to the police. The main piece coming through Ross Caldwell, a local bouncer and associate of Robert. Pickton. According to the final report for the missing women inquiry, Ross Caldwell had a history of drug use and some criminal background and was in custody at the RCMP Coquitlam Detachment on a separate matter. He happened to mention to police that a woman told him she'd walked in on Robert Willie Picton in his barn when he was, quote, skinning a woman like a pig. She told him that she didn't know human fat was yellow, and she assumed the body had been put through the meat grinder after that. Ross Caldwell also said that Willie had told him directly that if he ever needed to dispose of a

body, it could be done without a trace. He told the police that he believed Willie Pickton was responsible for several of the missing sex workers from the downtown east side. The RCMP had some discussion about what to do with this tip. It was consistent with what Bill Hiscox had told them that Willie spoke of disposing bodies at the farm, including in his meat grinder. They interviewed Ross Cordwell several more times and gleaned some other pieces of information. Ross Cordwell had seen handcuffs between the mattresses when he was in Robert Pickton's trailer. He'd seen a hollowed out wall in that trailer where Robert hid illegal firearms, that it was well known that Robert had been holding illegal cock fights on his property every single week. In addition,

another associate of Robert Pickton's had told him that human bodies had been put in large barrels that were shipped to a depot to be made into fertilizer. Ross Caldwell also told them he'd eaten dinner with Robert Picton himself and believed the meat he'd been served was definitely not pig meat or any other kind of meat he'd eaten before. It was incredibly disturbing, yet bizarre information, so much so that the RCMP didn't know what to make of it. Ross Caldwell was a known drug user and they doubted that what he said was credible. Also, it was basically hearsay. But then another woman came forward to report that she too had heard about a body hanging in a barn at the pig farm and that the murder had been committed by a man named Willie.

This woman's name was Leah and she showed up to a different RCMP detachment. She said Lynn Ellingsen was her friend and she told her that she saw Willie gutting a woman that she believed he was responsible for killing sex workers and that someone Lynn knew had seen a woman's legs in one of DeFriesers. Leah also told the RCMP that Lynn Ellingson told her she'd seen women's IDs, earrings and other items, and that Willie hid illegal firearms in a compartment behind the wall. She also knew that Willie had been paying Lynn hush money to keep her quiet about what she'd seen in the barn. Just to situate things geographically, the Picton farm was located out in Port Coquitlam, about 40 minutes drive east of Vancouver, in an area under RCMP jurisdiction,

whereas the downtown east side and the missing women were under the jurisdiction of the Vancouver Police Department. And while there was some communication between agencies, it wasn't nearly enough to be meaningful. By this stage, Corporal Mike Connor out at the Coquitlam RCMP was leading the small investigation into Robert Picton sparked by the Ross Caldwell Tip, and they'd heard that Lynn Ellingson's former boyfriend, also an associate of Robert Picton, had been telling others that Lynn was extorting money from Picton

in return for staying quiet about what she'd seen on the farm. This former boyfriend's name is Ron Menard, and for context, he's the same one Lynn fled to the women's shelter to escape from where she met Gina Houston. Almost everyone had some connection to the farm. Across several interviews with the RCMP during the summer of 99, Ron Menard confirmed that Robert Willie Picton had been paying Lynn $500 a month. but he wouldn't say why. He also recalled Lynn telling him she'd picked up a sex worker with Willie and she, quote,

Couldn't believe how we finished her off like we did. But in another interview with RCMP investigators, Ron Menard denied hearing this. It turned out he was also the source of the comment about someone seeing body parts in the freezer. When asked about it, he told the RCMP he didn't see, any body parts himself, Lynn had told him it was Pat Casanova, Willie's butchering and

barbecue pork partner who saw them. Investigators concluded that Ron Menard knew more than he was admitting and may have been shielding others. They interviewed Pat Casanova, who insisted he hadn't seen any body parts in the freezers. The Filipino butcher told the police it wouldn't surprised him if Willie used sex workers, but he had no knowledge of it himself. This would later prove to be quite the lie. Pat Casanova also acknowledged that Willie was very worried that the police were talking to his friends about the missing women. It was all hearsay so far, but largely consistent hearsay. Investigators needed to speak directly to the source, Lynn Ellingson.

They heard she was staying at a low-rent hotel. During this time, there'd been intermittent surveillance operations happening with Robert Pickton with several different law enforcement teams. The RCMP Coquitlam Detachment had already tried to install surveillance cameras to watch the farm, but the unusual layout of the property made it difficult. There were small surveillance operations by the RCMP, SPC's Special O Unit and the Vancouver PD's strike force, but low funding and resource constraints meant these operations were sporadic and inconsistent.

But another pivotal moment happened the same month that the RCMP were investigating the Ross-Cordwell tip. One surveillance team observed Robert Pickton delivering 45-gallon drums to the West Coast Reduction Rendering Plant before driving into the RCN. the downtown east side. But then the surveillance team somehow lost track of him. This is relevant because, as you'll recall, the Ross Caldwell tip included several pieces of information that suggested human remains were being disposed of in barrels at a depot. Two weeks later, the surveillance team tailed Robert Pickton again, as he stopped in at

West Coast Reduction. Instead of thinking to investigate the contents of his barrels, they watched him dump his waist into the slurry, then followed him again as he drove into the downtown east side. Once again, they lost him. Even so, the police could have asked management of West Coast Reduction to give them a heads up when he returned, but no such action was taken. The later inquiry would find that a dedicated surveillance strategy during that time period would likely have brought the investigation to a conclusion and saved many more lives. Out at Port Coquitlam, the RCMP also botched their interview of Lynn Ellingson. Corporal Mike Connor had planned a cautious approach

because they didn't want to spook her or have her pass on sensitive information to Robert Pickton that could compromise other parts of the investigation, like the fact that she reportedly mentioned not knowing human fat was yellow. But the officers assigned to the interview strayed from the agreed approach and disclose sensitive details they'd been told to hold back,

according to the later inquiry. Lynn Ellingson flat out denied any not knowledge of a homicide at the farm. She did confirm that Robert Pickton paid her money, but said it was for expenses. She denied anything related to extortion or hush payments. Officers tried again a few weeks later, but the damage was done. Lynn grew agitated and repeated her denials. No further meaningful progress was made. After that, the local investigative team was fractured. They didn't know whether to believe Lynn Ellingson's denials or Ross Caldwell's insistence about what she had told him. Some officers decided they were both right and perhaps

Lynn might have hallucinated seeing that body. Corporal Connor went to visit a local butcher who confirmed that pig fat was white, not yellow. The butcher even asked, This wouldn't be about Willie Picton, would it? Corporal Connor was taken aback, but there's no further information about this. What the police did know was that Lynn Ellingson was clearly very afraid of the Picton brothers, but they also wondered if she was denying these things because she didn't want to incriminate herself. Other officers thought she might be too crazy to believe. The information that suggested Lynn was extortioned,

Shorting Robert Picton in exchange for keeping quiet, should have alerted police to the fact that she had something over him, according to the later inquiry, and it was potential motive for not telling the truth to the police. And as it turned out, Lynn actually was extorting Robert Pickton. She was terrified of him, but her need for drug money outweighed that. The RCMP should have taken steps to apply for a search-warker, of the Picton property.

Police were already long aware of the Picton brothers' association with the Hells Angels, the illegal chop shop and weekly cockfights. Now they were hearing from multiple sources about illegal firearms and hiding places. That alone would have been enough to at least apply for a search warrant of Robert Pickton's mobile trailer without even needing to use the information about what was rumoured to be in the freezers, what might have happened in the slaughterhouse and barn, and the reports of bloody clothes and women's ID on the farm. A draft had been started for a search warrant application, but the RCMP felt they still didn't have enough evidence. The later inquiry would conclude

these repeated failures derailed the investigation into Robert Pickdon at a critical moment. Corporal Connor was transferred to another area that month. another mistake. That's when the Robert Pickedon investigation started fizzling out. The decision to interview Robert Pickedon himself as part of this investigation seems to have been an afterthought. The RCMP had been thinking about it, but they didn't actually start taking any action until at least a month after Lynn Ellingson's last interview, and it didn't go well. Two RCMP officers attempted to interview Robert Pickton at his farm, but he wasn't home. They phoned and left a message.

Robert called back and said he was busy, but he promised to call back soon to arrange a meeting to clear the air. Another week went by. They phoned him again and asked him to come to the office. The 50-year-old pig farmer said no. He wanted them to go to the farm. When they said no, he told them to call his younger brother because there's a lot of hot air around and it involves all of us. The RCMP dropped Robert and started trying to contact David instead.

When they finally reached him, David picked and told them it wasn't a good time because he was taking advantage of the good weather and working late. He told them to try again when it was rainy. The fact that the police agreed to this and backed off would later be described as astonishing to say the least. A month had gone by. The RCMP tried several more times to reach Robert Pickton by phone, but he didn't return any of their calls.

And then it was the holiday season. And in that time, more women vanished from the downtown east side. Wendy Crawford grew up moving between Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon, in a family that struggled to make ends meet. She spent much of her teenage years in the Vancouver area and began to use drugs as a way to cope with ongoing physical pain. Wendy lived with several serious health conditions, including diabetes and Crohn's disease,

a debilitating inflammatory bowel disorder that causes chronic pain and fatigue. She was also diagnosed with schizophrenia and required regular medication. Despite these challenges, Wendy had a daughter and a son that she raised on her own, living in a mobile home in Chilliwack, a city about an hour and a half drive from Vancouver. She did the best she could for her kids under difficult circumstances and always stayed in regular contact with her family, especially her sister. As Wendy's children grew older and became adults, she occasionally travelled to Vancouver's downtown east side to earn extra money. That's where she was last seen in late 99. She was

43 years old. Wendy Crawford's partial leg bone would be found in some manure in the piggery. The bone segment had a distinctive shape, like it had been whittled or carved by human hands. Two days after Christmas, 28-year-old Jennifer Lynn Firminger disappeared. She was reportedly born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, to Indigenous parents. Jennifer was one of an estimated 20,000 Indigenous children who survived what's now referred to as the 60s scoop, taken from their family and placed with a white middle-class family.

It was one of several government strategies, along with the residential school system designed to accelerate the westernization of indigenous children. Jennifer was adopted by a family in St. Catherine's, Ontario, some 15 hours drive away from her family roots. Growing up, she was known for her bright curiosity. She was an avid reader, a storyteller, and someone who embraced the outdoors.

She reportedly loved to go fly fishing with her family members, Her mother would describe her as a talented artist who loved to sing. But Jennifer reportedly struggled with questions about her indigenous identity, which was common for survivors of the 60's scoop. They often faced a multitude of challenges and long-term impacts, ranging from a loss of heritage, connection and cultural identity, to low self-esteem. Many adopted children didn't learn about their true heritage

until later in life, and many reported physical, emotional and sexual abuse from the families they were placed with. In the case of Jennifer Furminger, there's no reports of this, but when she was 18 years old, she left home in search of answers about who she really was. Somehow she ended up in British Columbia, living on the downtown east side. She gave birth to a son and was seen on various street corners engaging in survival sex work. But one day, Jennifer Furminga just wasn't there. She was 28 years old. Her blood would be found on multiple objects at the Picton farm, including a leather jacket in Robert Pickton's office, a hoodie in his laundry room, and on three places on an electric reciprocating saw in the slaughterhouse. Five women.

had disappeared from the downtown east side in 1999, which was a huge decrease from the 11 women who vanished the year before that. Many have later speculated that it might have been because Robert Pickton realized he was under surveillance. He was known to be intensely paranoid. But the women on the downtown east side did not believe for a second that the threat had lessened. They were still on high alert. Over New Year's, the Picton brothers put on one of their loud parties at Piggy's Palace. The city had tried in vain to have them shut down for several years for being completely unlicensed and illegal. So on New Year's Eve of 1999, Robert was thrilled to be at Piggy's Palace getting away with it yet again. He would describe it as, quote,

a big beautiful party, people were having a grand time, it was the best time they ever had and so much money was donated for kids, so so much. He also described the police showing up as, quote, The biggest bust I've ever seen, there were 50 or 60 cars of cops. It seems these may have been the words of someone steeped in narcissism and grandiosity, not reality. It was actually the fire marshals that shut Piggy's Palace down that night for good. A court order warned that any future public events would trigger their arrests and regulators moved to strip the not-for-profit status from their small charity that was supposedly collecting the donations and passing them on.

Piggy's Palace was officially done. About a week later, in early January of 2000, one of the RCMP officers who'd been trying to contact Robert Picton for an interview, managed to speak with his associate, Gina Houston. By this point, Gina was the woman who enticed sex workers to go back to the Picton farm, targeting the women who were the most down on their luck and desperate. Gina promised the RCMP she would bring Robert into the office about two weeks later. The police did not push back on this.

They took no further action. This included preparing for a potential interview because they didn't think it would actually happen. So when Gina Houston rocked up to the office with Robert Picton on the arranged date, the RCMP were caught off guard. Robert refused to speak to them without Gina there. They accepted that without question. She was disruptive and intervened on his behalf when they asked a question he didn't want to answer.

He used her as a security blanket. Despite the seriousness of the investigation and the months of lead time, this interview was unplanned, unfocused and poorly handled. The investigators did not ask Robert any hard questions or appropriate follow-up questions. For example, he was asked about the knife attack on. Wendy more than three years earlier. He admitted that he was in possession of handcuffs, but wasn't asked any other questions about that. He also complained that the police still hadn't given him back the clothes they seized from him at the hospital. The RCMP did not know

at the time that there was DNA from two missing women on those clothes and boots sitting in evidence storage, because they hadn't been tested yet. This failure. This failure, interview fell far below basic policing standards and had a devastating impact on the RCMP's small investigation into Robert Pickdon, according to the later inquiry. The investigation was almost dead after that. A few months later, one of the officers from the failed interviews with Lynn Ellingson decided to drop in on Willie as a kind of social call. This officer would later state that, quote, a real problem getting my head around the fact that somebody would want to kill a human being and hang them up and skin them, so I just wanted to meet him. His superior said he didn't see a

problem with it. So this RCMP officer went to the Picton farm, found Robert, and told him he was still a person of interest. Robert responded by complaining that it was Lynn Ellingson and Ross Caldwell's fault. They'd used him and take an advantage of him. of his generosity. He insisted he was willing to do whatever it takes to clear his name. This visit would have told him he was still on the police's radar and may have renewed the target on other people's backs without gaining any meaningful information in return. Tiffany Louise Drew grew up on Vancouver Island, surrounded by a large extended family she was deeply connected to. She loved swimming, camping, and played on a championship softball team as a kid.

Her family remembers her as tiny, less than five feet tall, but what she lacked in height she made up for with fierce independence. Tiffany gave birth to her first child when she was 15 years old, followed by two more by the time she was 20. As a young adult, she began using her. heroin and her substance use escalated. She left her children with her aunt and drifted to the downtown east side. Even then, she stayed in regular contact with her family. Tiffany often spent time at the Wish Dropin Center with friends, socializing and doing her makeup, a small ritual that helped her maintain a sense of dignity and

control. She was known to be immaculate about her appearance. By the year 2000, many of the sex workers on the downtown east side had developed a buddy system where they would look out for each other to keep safe. In March, Tiffany's buddy noticed her absence within hours. Tiffany Drew was 24 years old. Her DNA would be found on the Picton farm on a syringe filled with windshield wiper fluid. Meanwhile at the Vancouver Police Department, Project Amelia had been dissolved. Detective Constable Laura Machena had heard consistent, credible information pointing toward Robert Pickton, but didn't have the resources to pursue him properly.

And because the women who were disappearing were marginalized, their cases didn't generate the kind of pressure that forces a department to act quickly and allocate the needed resources. In 2000, a new joint task force was created between key members of the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP, Project Even-Handed. It was supposed to be a turning point, a better-staffed interagency task force with a clear mandate, determine whether a serial killer was responsible and evaluate all potential suspects. Leadership emphasised the need to avoid tunnel. vision. So rather than prioritizing the strongest existing suspect, Robert Pickton,

Project even-handed widened out. They spent months reviewing all the files and cross-referencing, re-examining the entire landscape of potential offenders connected to the downtown east side. But just like Project Amelia, this task force was affected by broader issues and administrative failures that plagued the Vancouver PD and the missing persons office. Data had been entered inconsistently or not at all. There was inconsistent record keeping. The systems were archaic and disorganized. Understaffed officers were juggling multiple roles with inadequate supervision.

Divisions weren't communicating to each other. Investigation was slow and there was almost no follow-up on any leads. The later inquiry would have, find that Project Even-Handed failed to effectively coordinate with the Coquitlam RCMP, who had their own history with Picton after investigating that Ross Caldwell tip. Better information sharing could have made the significance of the file clearer, but Robert Picton was just one name among hundreds. By this point, Geographic profiler Kim Rosmo was no longer with the VPD,

After facing growing internal resistance, he'd been effectively pushed out, first reassigned to a role with no meaningful duties, and then his contract wasn't renewed. A public legal fight followed, which would reveal that as early as 1998, he had warned senior leadership that a serial predator was likely targeting women from the downtown east side, and that those warnings were dismissed internally while the department. publicly downplayed the possibility. Rosmo took his skills and passion to a research role in Washington, D.C., as women continue to disappear in Vancouver.

This series wraps up next week. We'll meet Robert Pickton's new female associate, the hostile and threatening Dinah Taylor, as his world begins to slowly close in. But when the police finally arrive at the pig farm with that search warrant, warrant, it won't be because they're looking for missing women or following leads from Project even handed. It would take the quick thinking instincts of a rookie RCMP officer to reveal the full horrors of what had been hidden on that farm for years. That's all coming up

in part four in a week. For the full list of resources, sources, research studies and anything else you want to know about the podcast, see the show notes or visit canadian truecrime.ca. We donate monthly to those facing injustice. Proceeds from this series are going to the Wish Dropin Center Society, supporting street-based sex workers on Vancouver's downtown east side since 1984. Special thanks to Danielle Paradie for Family Outreach and Additional Research. Audio editing was by Crosby Audio and Eric Crosby voiced the disclaimer. Our senior producer is Lindsay Eldridge and Carol Weinberg is our script consultant. Research, writing, narration and sound design was by me and the theme songs were composed by We Talk of Dreams.

I'll be back soon with another Canadian true crime episode. See you then.