Canada -   

1
Robert Pickton is shown in a jail cell during a discussion with an undercover police officer in February 2002. Pickton inquiry

Women's relatives demand Pickton inquiry

Viewer

CTV News Video

CTV British Columbia: Peter Grainger reports
A former police officer, who patrolled the Downtown Eastside for years as serial killer Robert Pickton preyed on sex trade workers, has come forward to accuse both the Vancouver Police Department and RCMP of bungling the case.
CTV News Channel: James Straith, lawyer
A criminal lawyer says it seems that the Vancouver Police Department is trying to minimize its involvement in the failures in the investigation into the Pickton case.
CTV News Channel: Lilliane Beaudoin, sister
The sister of a Robert Pickton victim says she is frustrated with the Vancouver police and the RCMP and says her sister may be alive today if police had followed up on Pickton in 1997.
CTV News Channel: Lynn Frey, stepmother
The stepmother of one of Robert Pickton's victims discusses her reaction to the report and says she is not surprised with the findings. She says she believes the status of Pickton's victims is the reason for the lack of investigation. She also says a public inquiry is needed in order to find out why Pickton was not caught earlier.
CTV National News: Jon Woodward reports
Vancouver police released a report outlining what went wrong during the missing-women investigation that led to Robert Pickton. The police also admitted they had more than enough evidence to stop Pickton more than two years before his arrest.
CTV British Columbia: A look at the investigation
A CTV news report that aired in 2002 reveals the flaws and missed opportunities in the Pickton investigation. Lisa Rossington reports.
CTV British Columbia: Maria Weisgarber explains
Loved ones of Pickton's victims say apologies from police aren't enough. Maria Weisgarber has response from some of the victims' families.
CTV News Channel: Stevie Cameron, author
An author and journalist who has followed the Robert Pickton case for the past 10 years says she was surprised that Vancouver Police Deputy Chief Doug LePard made such a direct attack on the RCMP in his report on the investigation.
CTV News Channel: Lindsay Kines, Victoria Times
One of the first reporters to break the story of Vancouver's missing women says the report addresses many unanswered questions he had from his work. He also says the VPD should be commended for being so transparent.
CTV News Channel: Marilyn Kraft, stepmother
The stepmother of victim Cindy Dawn Folks says she did not receive an advance notice about the release of the Pickton report and believes there needs to be an inquiry for the handling of the investigation.
CTV News Channel: Report released, part one
Vancouver police officials discuss the release of an internal report on the investigation into Robert Pickton. Deputy Chief Doug LePard says the families of Pickton's victims will find the contents of the report shocking and sad.
CTV News Channel: Report released, part two
Deputy Chief Doug LePard and Chief Const. Jim Chu of the Vancouver Police Department take questions from the media about the internal report on the Pickton case.
CTV News Channel: Report released, part three
The Vancouver Police Department Police say what happened with the Pickton investigation can never happen again and the internal report is not about addressing individual errors, but systemic failures that led to not catching the serial killer sooner.

A A |  Email ThisEmail  | Print Facebook   

Robert Pickton is shown in a jail cell during a discussion with an undercover police officer in February 2002. Pickton inquiry

Photos

Robert Pickton is shown in a jail cell during a discussion with an undercover police officer in February 2002.

View Larger Image

Date: Sat. Aug. 21 2010 3:46 PM ET

Relatives of missing women believed to have been victims of serial killer Robert Pickton say they are outraged at the findings of a report into the flawed investigation into the murders and are pressing for a full inquiry into the case.

Lilliane Beaudoin, whose sister Dianne Rock is suspected to have been one of Pickton's last victims, says either Vancouver police or the RCMP could have arrested him more than two years before he was finally put behind bars -- the very time period in which her sister was murdered.

"I'm very frustrated with the Vancouver police and the RCMP," she told CTV News Channel Saturday. "They could have charged him back in 1999 and had they done that they would have saved the lives of 11 women, including my sister. I'm very upset about that."

Pickton was arrested in 2002 after detectives descended on his farm in suburban Port Coquitlam and launched a massive search that uncovered the remains or DNA of 33 women.

He was charged with more than 20 counts of murder and eventually convicted of six women's deaths.

A Vancouver police report looking into the investigation released this week says police didn't believe their own sources telling them that a serial killer was on the loose, preying on women working as prostitutes in the city's Downtown Eastside.

The report into the missing women's investigation says there was enough information to arrest Pickton in 1999, but he wasn't picked up until 2002. During those three years, 13 women disappeared and DNA from 11 of them was later found on Pickton's pig farm.

Beaudoin said she was appalled to learn that failures to share information between Vancouver police and the RCMP and jurisdictional disputes stalled the investigation for so long.

"They had enough evidence," she said. "They should have at that time followed up on it and arrested him instead of bickering … over jurisdiction."

"It's very hard to comprehend why the police did not do their jobs adequately at that time."

The DNA of Ernie Crey's sister Dawn was also among those found on Pickton's farm and he says Dawn would be alive today, had police acted sooner. Dawn Crey was last seen in November 2000 although Pickton was never charged in her death.

"I'm sure my sister, as difficult as the life she was living in the Downtown Eastside, she would have still been alive today, and tragically that goes for many other families," Crey told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.

He said the findings of the report and the finger-pointing between Vancouver police and the RCMP leave the provincial government with little choice but to call a public inquiry.

"For the VPD to point fingers at the RCMP and vice versa is just a waste of time and energy, and it only serves to infuriate people like me," he said.

Lawyer James Straith said it's too early to assign blame on one police force over another, but without an inquiry it may never be possible to learn exactly what went wrong with the Pickton investigation.

"We have to get to the bottom of it because it didn't have to happen and to make sure it doesn't happen again," he told CTV News Channel.

"What we have is a lot of very nasty internal politics, infighting between people on the municipal police force and the RCMP and frankly as a citizen this is not acceptable. We have to get to the bottom of what's going on and straighten out the institutions that allowed this kind of thing to take place."

The 400-page report by the Vancouver Police Department blames both the city force and the RCMP for a series of errors in the years that preceded Pickton's arrest and makes it clear Pickton should have been caught earlier.

Deputy Chief Doug LePard said the RCMP and Vancouver police failed to effectively share information, both forces lacked leadership and resources and that some Vancouver police officers had a bias against the women, most of whom were sex workers.

He said several officers who did come forward with information were ignored, and he specifically referred to Kim Rossmo, a geographic profiler who was ignored when he warned a serial killer could be at work.

LePard called Rossmo's work "uncannily accurate."

Vancouver Police Chief Jim Chu said the department still strongly supports a public inquiry into the case, joining a long list of supporters that includes the RCMP and many of the victims' family members.

Beaudoin said a public inquiry is the only option to get to the bottom of how police failed so many women.

"It's a blame game, blaming this person or that person. Actually I think they're all to blame," she said. "I think a full inquiry is the best solution to all this … it's a necessity. We need to find out what went wrong."

The B.C. government has now avoided questions about a public inquiry, but B.C.'s acting solicitor general said Friday that the government will hold some kind of investigation -- either an inquiry or some other type of judicial process.

Rich Coleman said that decision will be made early next month, adding the government held back on taking any action during the lengthy criminal case, which ended with a decision from the Supreme Court of Canada last month.

With files from The Canadian Press

Share with your social Network:

Facebook DIGG Newsvine Delicious Twitter StumbeUpon Reddit Yahoo! Buzz

 

Advertisement

Contest

Today's Canada Stories

Labour Minister Lisa Raitt appears on CTV's Question Period on Sunday, May 27, 2012.

Raitt: Ottawa prepared to step into CP Rail dispute

More   22 Comments 22    1 Video(s) 1

Pedro Gonzalez bangs his pot in support of the growing protest movement that started against tuition fee hikes in Montreal, Friday, May 25, 2012. (Ryan Remiorz / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Focus of Quebec protests swells beyond tuition hikes

More   11 Comments 11    1 Video(s) 1

Most Talked about Stories

It is about time - as a grandparent I have watched our kids (who were allowed to fail although I do remember some nagging on our part) learn, I have watched our children now micro-manage their children. A big part of it is the fact that there are predators out there and an extreme reluctance on the parents part to alllow freedom that might result in the children becoming victims.

Harvey

Parents must learn to stop meddling, author urges