THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON Introduction In January 2006 the trial of Robert even 50, but that he got sloppy.” If Focus William Pickton began in a courtroom Robert William Pickton is the serial In this News in in . Pickton, com- killer police believe, then how was such Review story you’ll monly known as Willie, is charged with a monster created? What in his past learn about the trial of Robert murdering 26 women who disappeared could possibly have led him to be Pickton, accused from ’s capable of such cruel, horrific acts? Or . You neighbourhood. However, he is pres- was he born a sociopath and it was just will also learn ently being tried for six . The a matter of time before he acted on his about the missing other cases will be tried later. basic impulses to degrade and humiliate women of Vancou- ver’s Downtown This is a heartbreaking story. Heart- others? Eastside, and how breaking because the families have to And as a society, how do we deal they lived their listen to the details of their daughters’ with this information? Although the lives with hope and brutal deaths, and heartbreaking be- trial is the most sensational trial determination cause these women represent the grav- in Canadian history, do we really want despite the horrible est failures of Canadian society: our to know all the information? Is it appro- reality of their daily lives. inability to deal with poverty, the priate for children to be exposed to the failure of social services to provide horrific details that are being revealed loving, safe homes for children in need, during the trial? What type of balance WARNING: This the evils of drug addiction, and the should be struck between a free press story contains desperation of women who have to sell and our right to protect ourselves from disturbing subject their bodies to finance an addiction they information that many find to be too matter and may can’t break. disturbing? not be suitable for Robert Pickton stands accused of There are no easy answers to these all viewers. murdering 26 of these women. Ulti- questions. But by exploring the larger mately, there may be more charges laid issues presented by this case we can do against him, as he has bragged to police more to help the most disenfranchised Did you know . . . interrogators that he wanted to kill “an in our country. Vancouver’s Down- town Eastside is To Consider considered to be The families of many of the victims have criticized police for failing to take the poorest neigh- action about the missing women sooner. They believe that because many of the bourhood in all of missing women were from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, were poor, were , plagued by those suffering addicted to drugs, were sex-trade workers and were often Aboriginal, they from drug addic- simply didn’t matter to the police. tion and poverty. In a small group, discuss the following points: a) Why might poor, drug addicted women matter less to the police than those from another group?

b) What factors influence how actively the police pursue a case?

c) Why might women from such a group become the target of violent of- fenders?

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 20 THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON YV Video Review

Note: The material Pre-Viewing Activity in this News in Before you watch this story, discuss the following questions with a classmate or Review video may in a small group. Record your responses in your notes. be disturbing to 1. The victims in most murder cases are rarely remembered after the initial some. Teachers and media attention of an arrest and a trial. How might the families of the students should use victims be feeling now that the trial has begun? What might they be their discretion hoping for? before watching the video. 2. The details of this case are quite disturbing. How much detail should be included in media accounts of the trial? Should certain details be withheld because children may be exposed to news accounts of the case? Explain. Did you know . . . 3. If found guilty and convicted, Robert Pickton would be the most deadly As of February 2007 serial killer in Canadian history. How is it possible that a man could commit the cost of the so many murders, over such a long period of time, and not be discovered? Pickton investiga- tion was estimated Viewing Activity at $112-million. Respond to the following questions while viewing the video. 1. Answer the four “W” questions below:

a) Who is on trial? ______

b) What is he on trial for? ______

c) Who are the alleged victims? ______

d) When did the alleged crimes occur? ______2. Outline three main points from the Crown’s opening arguments.

3. Outline three main points from the opening arguments of the defence.

4. Record two reasons why some members of the victims’ families chose to attend the trial.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 21 5 a) How did Canadians respond to the first news accounts of the case?

b) How did news companies respond to these concerns?

6. In this video, we learn some of the details about one of the victims— Marni Frey. Record the major events and/or turning points in Frey’s life.

7. Explain how the murder of her mother has affected the life of Brittney Frey.

Post-Viewing Activity 1. a) Read the following statements made by members of the victims’ fami- lies in this News in Review video. “They weren’t just garbage. They weren’t throwaways. We all need to realize that and remember that these girls that have gone were human beings and were all loved by everybody.” — Lynn Frey (victim’s stepmother) “I’m here for my mom to support her, and I’m also here for the other family members that have lost people, and I’m here for myself. I just want closure. I want justice.” — Brittney Frey (victim’s daughter) “All you guys here ask how we feel or all that. You know, of course, how would you feel if that was your daughter?” — Rob Papin (victim’s cousin) b) Review your response to Question 1 in the Pre-Viewing Activity. Modify your response in light of these statements. 2. Review your response to Question 2 in the Pre-Viewing Activity. Now that you know more about the details of the case, what additional information needs to be added to your initial response? 3. Review your response to Question 3 in the Pre-Viewing Activity. Now consider the following: • The majority of the victims in this case were women who lived in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. • Many of the women were drug addicts who engaged in prostitution to pay for their drug habits. • Many of the women also happened to come from First Nations’ communi- ties. How might these factors have played a role in how long it took police to make an arrest in this case? Explain.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 22 THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON Victimology

Remembering Six Women also participated in community marches Did you know . . . Robert Pickton has been charged with calling for deeper investigations into the Plans are already murdering 26 women. He is currently disappearances of women from the underway at CTV to make a movie on trial for the murder of six women: Downtown Eastside. Abotsway disap- based on this Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, peared in August 2001 at the age of 29. horrible story. Do Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, you think that the Georgina Papin and Marnie Frey. Mona Wilson murders should be Below you will find a brief description Mona Wilson was born on the O’Chiese given a film treat- First Nation in Alberta but was re- ment? Will a film of each of these women. While reading, respect the women consider the factors that led each moved to a treatment centre after suf- who were mur- woman to a life of addiction and pov- fering physical and sexual abuse at a dered? erty, and the ways each woman tried to very young age. Between the ages of live a “normal” life despite her desper- eight and 14, she lived on a hobby farm ate situation. in Surrey, British Columbia, with the Did you know . . . Garley family. Her foster brother, Greg Health Canada Sereena Abotsway Garley, remembers her as a girl with a (www.hc-sc.gc.ca) Both of Sereena Abotsway’s biological big smile who loved to race around the reports that Abo- parents died when she was quite young. farm, feeding chickens and helping her riginal women are She lived with her foster parents—Bert foster mother tend the garden. He also three times more remembers how much Wilson loved it likely to experience and Anna Draayers—from the age of a violent death four until she was 17. She was hard to when the family took a trip to than non-Aborigi- control at home and at school and was Disneyland. nal women. The eventually placed in a group home. Bert Garley recalls that the first time he rate rises to five Draayers said that at the time, no one saw Wilson break down about the times for Aborigi- violence she experienced as a child was nal women be- really knew why Sereena’s behaviour tween the ages of was so out of control. But he also when she got her first period. Despite 25 and 44. realizes that today she would have been the fact that the women of the Garley (Herizons, Fall diagnosed as suffering from fetal alco- household had prepared her for this 2005) hol syndrome. event, it seems that her period brought One of Abotsway’s boyfriends intro- back memories of being raped as a duced her to drugs and sent her out to child. Apparently she sobbed for an the streets to work as a prostitute. She entire day. was once beaten into a coma by a bad After six years with the Garleys, trick, and she endured several abusive Wilson was placed with a single mother relationships. At the time she went who had a 14-year-old son. By 16 she missing she had few teeth left, and there was living on her own in Vancouver’s was a warrant out for her arrest for east end. She still called the Garleys stealing chocolate bars. once a month, but refused to visit. Greg Despite living a life on the streets, Garley says that the family didn’t know Abotsway called home to the Draayers she had become addicted to heroin and every day. She loved Barbie dolls and had turned to prostitution to finance her teddy bears and attended church down- habit. town where she worked and lived. She The phone calls to the Garleys

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 23 stopped in November 2001. She was 26 tion at an early age, spending some time Further Research at the time of her disappearance. in a treatment facility when she was The Sisters in Spirit only 17. Like many drug addicts who Initiative is trying to raise awareness Andrea Joesbury are poor and in desperate shape, she of the alarming Heather Joesbury says that her sister ended up in Vancouver’s Downtown number of Aborigi- Andrea was the type of big sister who Eastside. nal women in every little girl dreams of having. Wolfe was tall and strong. Her intimi- Canada who go Andrea included her baby sister in big dating presence and her ability to fight missing and are sister things like meeting friends and resulted in her working as a bouncer in murdered in Canada. Unofficial sharing secrets. She read countless a downtown bar and as a street-en- estimates place the children’s stories to her. She watched forcer-for-hire. As a street enforcer she number of women out for her. She spent hours dancing would help out people who had prob- gone missing over with her little sister. And she was lems to solve—like recovering money the past 20 years at beautiful, with a big smile. owed to them—but who were too 500. Learn more about this initiative Despite the smile, Joesbury experi- scared to approach the person alone. by visiting enced a lot of heartache early in her life. Often carrying a knife, she would go www.sistersinspirit.ca. Growing up, she witnessed alcoholism, and stand beside the person as the physical abuse, and mental illness. In dispute was discussed. search of a father figure, she got in- Wolfe liked to dance; she enjoyed volved with an older boyfriend while country music and jazz. And she liked a she was in her mid-teens. Her boy- good joke. She went missing in Febru- friend, who was a drug dealer, per- ary 1999, at the age of 31. suaded her to move from Victoria to Vancouver with him. Georgina Papin Joesbury became a drug addict and When people who knew Georgina ended up desperate to find a way to Papin reminisce about her life, they finance her drug habit. Her sister, often talk about how proud she was of Heather, says the pimps in Andrea’s life her Aboriginal heritage. Her daughter, were ruthless. She recalls one occasion Kristina Bateman, thinks of her mother when Andrea was too sick and drugged- every time she smells sage. Sage is out to work. The pimps came all the burned during many First Nations way to Victoria to try to force Heather rituals, and she remembers it being to go and work for them. burned at a 1997 powwow in Mission, Joesbury repeatedly tried to turn her British Columbia, that she attended life around and she kept trying to kick with her mother. her heroin addiction. It was actually her Kristina was separated from her doctors who reported her missing in mother at the age of two, when Papin June 2001 after she stopped picking up left her daughter to be raised by her her methadone treatments in paternal grandparents in Las Vegas. Vancouver. She was 23 when she Despite having been separated from her disappeared. mother since she was a little girl, she heard from her mother on every birth- Brenda Wolfe day and Christmas. Papin also sent her Not a lot is known about Brenda daughter parcels and letters in the mail. Wolfe’s early life, but she was born in When Kristina turned 12 her mother 1968, most likely in southern Alberta. met her for the powwow in Mission. She appears to have battled drug addic- Papin had arranged for her daughter to

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 24 be given a traditional name—Snow- Or she would have traded her new bird—and had made her an outfit to shoes for a pair full of holes if she was wear for the ceremony. The outfit concerned that her friend had cold feet. included a dress and moccasins. In addition to her generosity, Frey Kristina remembers her mother braiding had great curiosity, a love of animals, her hair and handing out sage packets and a love of the outdoors. Her step- during the ceremony. mother recalls Frey as being the only Ruth Bateman, Kristina’s grand- child playing out in the street after bad mother, says that Papin left her daugh- weather drove everyone else inside. She ter with them so that Kristina could also spent countless hours playing with have a chance to live a life different and keeping an eye on the family from her own. Papin and her eight animals. siblings had been placed in foster Her family says that Frey was intro- homes as young children. By the time duced to drugs by a local gang and she she was 18, Papin had lived in dozens quickly became addicted. She drifted of different homes and institutions and away from her family and ended up was addicted to drugs. living in Vancouver’s Downtown She went missing in March of 1999. Eastside to try to finance her addiction. She was 35 years old. Despite this, she kept in regular contact with her family, often calling several Marnie Frey times a day. Family and friends describe Marnie The Freys last heard from Marnie on Frey as the type of girl who would give August 30, 1997, her 24th birthday. you the shirt off her back. Her dad says Frey would often arrive home from Source: Canadian Press report entitled school without her new jacket or new Missing Lives. (January 16, 2007) Avail- shoes. She would have given her jacket able online at www.cbc.ca/news/ background/pickton/missinglives.html to another child who didn’t have one. Analysis The families of the women who have gone missing from Vancouver’s Down- town Eastside have been critical of the media for presenting the women simply as drug addicts and prostitutes. They strongly feel that depicting the women in this way dismisses them as unimportant. Based on the profiles of the women you have just read, prepare a statement that demonstrates why these women mattered. Your profile should be one or two paragraphs long, and should begin: “Every life matters.”

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 25 THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON The Accusations

How did the police come to arrest and October 2002 charge Robert “Willie” Pickton with 26 • Four more charges, for the murders of counts of murder? It was a long pro- Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, cess. As you read the chronology Sherry Irving and Inga Hall, are laid, below, ask yourself why it has taken so on October 3, 2002. long for this trial to come to court. Why • This brings the total charges to 15, might it be very difficult to gather making it the largest serial killer evidence in this case? investigation in Canadian history.

February 2002 May 2005 • Police execute a search warrant for • Twelve more charges are laid against illegal firearms at the property owned Pickton, for the killings of Cara Ellis, by Pickton and his two siblings. Andrea Borhaven, Debra Lynne During this search of the property, Jones, Marnie Frey, Tiffany Drew, personal items belonging to a missing Kerry Koski, Sarah Devries, Cynthia woman are found. Feliks, Angela Jardine, Wendy • A second court order to search the Crawford, Diana Melnick, and Jane farm is obtained as part of the British Doe (unidentified woman), bringing Columbia Missing Women Investiga- the total number of first-degree mur- tion. der charges to 27. • Based on their search of the farm, Pickton is arrested and charged with January 2006 two counts of first-degree murder in • Pickton’s preliminary trial begins. He the deaths of Sereena Abotsway and pleads not guilty to 27 charges of first- Mona Wilson. degree murder in the British Columbia Supreme Court. The trial takes most April 2002 of the year and determines what • Five more charges are added, for the evidence can be admitted before the murders of Jacqueline McDonell, jury. The charge for the murder of Diane Rock, Heather Bottomley, Jane Doe is dropped for lack of evi- Andrea Joesbury, and Brenda Wolfe. dence, so Pickton faces 26 charges.

September 2002 January 2007 • Four more charges are added, for the • The trial on the first six counts of slayings of Georgina Papin, Patricia murder began. Johnson, Helen Hallmark, and Jenni- fer Furminger.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 26 THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON Profile of the Accused

Robert Pickton is a third-generation pig care of the pigs. He also bought cars for Did you know . . . farmer. His grandfather, William scrap and tried to restore them. As well, Apparently one of Pickton, established his family as he worked in his brother’s gravel and the large parties at the Piggy Palace landowners and hog farmers in Port demolition business. was attended by Coquitlam, British Columbia, in the Despite the parties at Piggy’s Palace, 1 700 people. early 1900s. William died in 1927 and Pickton can be described as a loner. left his farm to his son Leonard, and Twenty years ago he was in love with a Leonard’s wife, Louise. They had three woman named Connie Anderson, who children: Linda, Robert William, and lived in the United States. But that David. relationship failed to develop when she Robert, known as Willie, and his refused to move to Canada and Robert brother, Dave, were well known locally wasn’t willing to leave the family farm. for the wild parties they would hold at Other than this one connection, it Piggy’s Palace. Piggy’s was a con- doesn’t appear that he has had a serious verted barn located on a property near relationship with a woman. He has the farm. The brothers claim that the never been married and does not have parties were held to raise funds for The any children. Good Times society, an organization There appear to have been only two dedicated to raising funds for local incidents that have had any noticeable charities. Investigators on the Pickton impact on his life. The first is the fact case, however, state that the parties that when he was 13 years old, his were drunken raves featuring entertain- parents slaughtered the calf that he ment provided by prostitutes from loved. Apparently Pickton came home Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. from school one day and found his calf In a January 23, 2007, article in the slaughtered and hanging up in the Toronto Star, Dave Pickton said that his family barn. He was so distraught over brother was often the target of “losers” the slaughter of his beloved calf that he who took “advantage of his simple couldn’t speak to anyone for four days. nature and generosity with money.” In The other incident occurred in 1997, the same article, a neighbour, Dave when a prostitute knifed him. It is Sheppard, described Willie as “goofy.” reported that he was sliced open from Before he was arrested for murder, his arm to his jaw. Robert worked the family’s land, taking

Reflection 1. Why do you think we tend to be so fascinated by the background of those who commit horrific crimes?

2. What, if anything, in Pickton’s background helps to explain why he might have committed the crimes he is accused of?

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 27 THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON Sociopath Profile

If Robert “Willie” Pickton is found the fact that serial killers usually kill Note guilty of the charges against him, he their victims with their hands, which The material in this will become Canada’s deadliest serial requires the killer to have direct section of the Guide may be killer. And there may still be other contact with the victim. disturbing to some. charges added to his file. In addition to these characteristics, Whenever a case of serial murder serial killers have an incredible desire comes to public attention people tend to for power. They usually select women Did you know . . . be both horrified and fascinated. Horri- and children as their victims because Another infamous fied because of the sheer brutality of the those victims are physically weaker Canadian serial crimes and the senseless loss of life; than they are. Researchers believe that killer is Clifford fascinated because we can’t quite it is this desire for power that explains Olsen. He confessed believe that anyone could do such why serial killers enjoy watching their to murdering 11 terrible things. children in 1981. He victims beg for mercy. This need for is serving a life Inevitably, people start to ask ques- power also explains the fact that they sentence for his tions about why someone would act in often mutilate the bodies of their victims. crimes. He too such a brutal manner. We wonder if Serial killers often share remarkably committed his some horrible trauma happened to them similar personality characteristics. They crimes in B.C. that turned them to violence, or whether have calm and controlled personalities, they were simply “born evil.” rarely losing their tempers. This may be a reason why they appear “normal” and Did you know . . . Characteristics of Sociopaths do not arouse suspicion. This may also A Canadian, Elliot Social scientists have studied serial be the one thing that leads to their Leyton, is one of killers for years, and often use the term capture. They appear calm and con- the world’s leading sociopath (or psychopath) to describe experts on serial trolled because they have an unrealistic killers. He is a the personality of these killers. Socio- belief that they won’t be caught. This professor at Memo- paths share the following characteris- sense of invincibility may eventually rial University in tics: cause them to make a mistake. Newfoundland. He • They do not act spontaneously; they often assists Scot- seek out their victims systematically. land Yard in Lon- Why do people become don and the FBI in • They always have a plan and usually sociopaths? the United States. target a particular group (e.g., prosti- There is no absolute answer to this One of his most tutes). question, but many researchers seem to famous books is believe that serial killers are the result called Hunting • They are aware of their actions; they Humans. are not out of touch with reality. of a deficient human nature combined • They know right from wrong but do with a corrupt environment. Dr. John not care; they seem to lack a con- Douglas, a clinical psychologist with science. the FBI, believes that the brains of sociopaths lack the device that allows • They have no ability to feel empathy them to feel compassion. While we feel toward others—that is, they are unable revulsion for the crimes of serial killers, to understand or experience the the killers themselves do not. They thoughts or feelings of other people. enjoy killing and take pleasure in their • This lack of compassion is evident in own notoriety.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 28 Dr. Park Dietz, a forensic scientist If this turns out not to be the case, they who has worked with the FBI, believes may search for others to victimize to that serial killers inherit a pattern of assert their as yet unrealized sense of fearlessness that leads to chronic risk- superiority. taking. In other words, there is no When the backgrounds of serial internal fear mechanism to stop their killers are examined it is evident that behaviour. most were physically or sexually The majority of serial killers are abused as children. As a result, nur- white males. So far, researchers have ture—or the environment in which they been unable to explain why this is so. It were raised—must play a role in the seems unlikely that there is something development of a sociopathic personal- biologically corrupt in white males, but ity. Sociopaths seem to have a compul- perhaps our North American culture of sion to dominate others the way they “white privilege” leads white males to themselves were dominated. believe they will be able to “have it all.”

Analysis Reflect on the information you have to date about Robert “Willie” Pickton. According to that information, does he seem to possess the characteristics of a sociopath? Explain your answer by using specific points from the information provided.

Extension Activity You may choose to conduct further research on Robert Pickton and then submit a short report to address the question above.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 29 THE TRIAL OF ROBERT PICKTON Activity: Remembering the Victims

“What would it feel like if 50 people in a room just suddenly disappeared?” Further Research As of March 2007, This is the question Betty Kovacic, a Canadian artist, wants people to consider the Missing Women when they think about the victims connected to the Robert Pickton trial. In Task Force of the horrific and sensational cases like this one, people tend to focus on the person RCMP was still accused of the crimes. But Betty Kovacic and fellow British Columbian artists Zoe active and posting Pawlak and Pamela Masik believe it is important to give dignity to the victims information and involved in this case. photos of other missing women at Their art projects involve individual portraits of each of the 26 women named in www.rcmp- the Pickton case. As well, portraits have been made of the 69 women police bcmedia.ca/ have identified as having vanished from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside since missing_women.jsp. 1978. Additional victims discovered will be represented by human-sized figures draped in silk shrouds. Each portrait will be accompanied by a personalized piece of prose or poetry contributed by various artists.

The three artists, brought together by media coverage of their work, all believe it is important to distinguish each victim and humanize each woman’s memory. In an article in on January 11, 2007, Kovacic stressed that: “We have to remember that each woman was a whole human being who had feelings and families and dreams.” She also said that creating the art has been a painful process and she’s cried over each one of the women.

Source for quotes: Alexandra Gill, “What would it feel like if 50 people in a room just suddenly disappeared?” The Globe and Mail, January 11, 2007

For Discussion The opening quotation in this feature raises the question: “What would it feel like if 50 people in a room just suddenly disappeared?” Look around your class- room and think about this statement. If everyone in the room suddenly disap- peared, what would the impact be? What type of action would be taken in response to the disappearance of all of you? How does this differ from the type of response that occurred after women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside disappeared? How can you explain this difference? Your Task The information used for the profiles of these six women was taken from a report prepared by the Canadian Press on January 16, 2007, entitled Missing Lives. This report provides details on all 26 of the women that Robert Pickton is accused of murdering. Read the report and prepare a brief report on one of the other women named in this case. Be prepared to share this report with your class. Missing Lives is available on the CBC News Web site at www.cbc.ca/news/ background/pickton/missinglives.html.

CBC News in Review • March 2007 • Page 30