Welcome to the dark mind. Detective, this is chapter. 8.
Shredded truth. Systemic.
Failures in the Picton case. How does one of Canada's most
prolific serial killers. Operate for decades.
Right under the noses of law enforcement.
In this shocking chapter, we exposed the.
Catastrophic investigative failures.
Missing files destroyed evidence that let Robert Pickton slip
through the Crocs again and again and again, from a near
fatal stabbing of a woman in 1997 to mounting reports of
sexual assault, abductions and witnessed testimony.
But none of this. Was enough to stop them.
Why? We'll take you.
Deep. Into a timeline of miss
opportunities, institutional neglect, and a crown file.
Destroyed in violation of a 70. 5 Retention policy barrels.
Suspected to contain. Human remains never opened,
critical DNA evidence simply ignored.
You'll also. Hear about early warnings going
back to the 19. 80s including whispers.
Of snuff films, missing babysitters and freezers
allegedly holding body parts long before picked and became a
household name. And we'll look in the insights
from Forensic. Experts.
Who believed Picton began killing far earlier than
authorities admit. Perhaps as early.
AS 1970. Was.
This just incompetence or a much darker cover up in this.
Episode I lay out the. Evidence, the failures and the
haunting question at the heart of the case.
Who was protecting? Robert Picton and Why?
So this is Chapter 8. Files from the 1997 attempted
murder case were picked in almost murdered a woman were
destroyed by the BC Criminal Justice Branch.
Many other files have gone missing.
Why is it bizarre? Destroying or losing critical
evidence in an ongoing serial murder investigation is almost
unthinkable in a any competent legal system.
A case where a monster walked among us for decades, his
horrific crimes unfolding into the shadows while a trail of
disturbing clues and miss opportunities laid scattered in
plain sight. We're talking about Robert
Picton, the notorious pig farmer from Port Coquitlam, BC, whose
name became synonymous with unimaginable horror.
His story isn't just about the disappearances of vulnerable
women. It's A and what many would call
outright incompetence that allowed a predator to thrive to
the devastating realization that he was a highly capable and
frightening killer. We ask the uncomfortable
question, is this a case of simple incompetence or something
far more disturbing? History of this case, from its
murky beginning to its convoluted end.
Incidents of oversight, destroyed evidence, and legal
technicalities allowed this darkness to persist, leaving a
permanent stain on the fabric of justice.
To understand the full scope of the tragedy and the failures
that allowed it to unfold, we must rewind the clock.
Long before Robert Picton became a household name, even in the
1980s, a disturbing pattern began to emerge, a series of
incidents that in hindsight, painted a clear picture of a
very dangerous individual. These are not isolated events,
but rather early warning signs. Red flags.
One of the earliest and most chilling connections to Picton's
dates back to 1985 with the homicide of Pauline Johnson.
Her body was discovered disturbingly close to the
Picton's residence and Porcoquitlum.
While not immediately charged, Picton was considered a person
of interest by the RCMP. Why?
Because of his proximity to the crime scene and known
possessions of boning knives, tools that would later take on a
far more sinister meaning, his association with sex workers,
documented incidences of violence, and a disturbing for
using restraining devices. These were not minor details,
but significant indicators that should have triggered a more
thorough investigation into his activities.
Yet the trail grew cold even earlier.
In the 1980s, allegations surfaced linking Picton to an
assault and kidnapping. While specific details remain
elusive, far removed from his eventual arrest underscores A
deeply troubling pattern of behavior that was present for
decades. These were not an action of a
man suddenly turned to violence, but an action of a predator
whose dangerous tendencies were already manifesting.
Perhaps the most glaring miss opportunity occurred in 1989
involving a sexual assault in Surrey, were picked, and again
was named a suspect. What happened to that file?
Oh, it was lost, or more accurately, destroyed.
This wasn't an isolated incident, It was a a systemic
failure in record keeping and evidence retention within the
justice system. Imagine a suspect in a violent
sexual assault and the very document that links him to the
crimes vanish. This pattern of disappearing
files would become a reoccurring and infuriating theme throughout
the Picton saga. Let's Fast forward to 1997.
We encounter the most critical turning point, a moment where
the system had a clear chance to stop Picton, but failed.
Miss Anderson was brutally attacked by Picton on his farm,
stabbed 4 times. She narrowly escaped disarming
him and even managed to stab him with his own weapon.
Picton was charged with attempted murder.
This was a direct, undeniable link to his violent nature, yet
charges tragically stayed on January 27th, 1998.
The reason given? Miss Anderson had drug addiction
issues, and the prosecutors believed her testimony was too
unstable to secure a conviction. This decision, made with a
chilling disregard for the victim's trauma and the
potential danger picked and posed, allowed him to walk free.
Imagine all the lives they would have saved the $200 million
investigation if they just Simply put her in rehab, gave
her some therapy. No, that would have been too
easy. To compound this failure, the
Crown file from this case was later destroyed and two and June
of 2000 or August of 2001, a blatant violation of policy that
requires such serious criminal files to be archived for 75
years. The destruction of this critical
evidence in an ongoing serial murder investigation is almost
unthinkable in any competent justice system.
The disturbing events continued in 1999.
In April, a new West minister, Picton, allegedly sexually
assaulted and attempted to strangle another sex worker.
She too managed to escape, willing to testify against him.
In May or June of the same year in Burnaby, a sex worker
recognized Picton and recounted how he threatened her.
These are not vague suspicion. These were direct accounts from
These were not vague suspicions. These were direct accounts from
victims and witnesses willing to come forward.
And yet, the full weight of the law was not brought to bear.
A pattern was clear. Picton was a known threat.
His violence was escalating and the system time and again failed
to intervene effectively. By the late 1990's, the
disappearances of women from the Downtown Eastside had reached
have reached a critical point. Whispers of a serial killer grew
louder, and finally, law enforcement began to focus their
attention on Robert Picton. But even with the increased
scrutiny, the investigation was plagued by a series of missteps,
communication breakdowns, and a shocking lack of urgency that
allowed Picton to continue his horrific spree and his
activities involving barrels. Police observed him at least two
occasions in 1999 delivering these barrels to the West Coast
Reduction, A rendering plant located near the Downtown
Eastside. This was not a random
observation. Information tips have already
suggested that Picton was disposing of human remains at
the rendering plant. Yet despite this critical
intelligence, police failed to intercept or inspect these
barrels during their surveillance.
The contents of those barrels remained a chilling mystery, a
testament to a monumental miss opportunity.
Investigation delays became a reoccurring theme.
In August of 1999. The Port Coquitlam RCMP
considered obtaining a search warrant for Picton's resident.
An affidavit was even drafted for wiretap authorization, but
astonishingly it was not submitted after Crown counsel
advised against it. The police instead of pursuing
other investigative avenues like undercover operations or
recording conversations with potential accomplices.
The lack of urgency in such a case demanded was conspicuously
absent. Even when Robert Picton himself
presented an opportunity, it was squandered.
In January 2000, he attended the RCMP detachment for a voluntary
interview. However, the investigator was
unprepared, failing to provide the standard rights, warning the
interview was improperly conducted.
An incredibly Picton's friend Gina Houston was even allowed to
answer questions on his behalf, further compromising the
integrity of the process. This was a direct encounter with
a suspect, and yet it yield a little or no accountable
intelligence due to procedural failures.
Another critical miss chance involved DNA evidence.
At one point offered to let the police search his property for
DNA. This offered was not taken up.
It was yet another Ave. to gather critical evidence that
was left unexplored. Furthermore, there was the early
survey of sex workers that did not initially identify Picton,
but later surveys in August of 1999, in August, in April of
2000 revealed that several women recognized him and had
disturbing encounters. This vital information, however,
was not effectively communicated or acted upon by various
investigative teams. The collective knowledge about
Picton, which could have led to an earlier apprehension,
remained fragmented and under utilized.
The investigation during these critical years was marked by a
devastating combination of insufficient resources, poor
interagency coordination, and a profound failure to act
decisively on credible leads and information tips.
Surveillance was conducted. Critical opportunities such as
inspecting the barrels or conducting a proper interview
were repeatedly missed. The RCMP.
The VPD did not prioritize the investigation as they should
have, and these systemic failures allowed Robert Pickton
to evade detection and continue his monstrous crimes for years,
leaving a growing trail of missing women and shattered
lives. The long dark shadow cast by
Robert Pickton finally began to lift an early 2000 not through a
breakthrough in the missing woman's investigation, but
almost by chance. On February 6th, 2002, police
executed a search warrant on Picton's property, not for
murder, but for an illegal firearm.
During the firearm search, officers made a grim discovery.
What they saw on the property was enough to secure a second
and more significant warrant. The search of the farm and part
of the BC Missing Women's investigation.
The sheer scale of what they uncovered was staggering.
Personal items belonging to the missing women women who vanished
from the Downtown East Side were found scattered throughout the
property. The farm, once a place of
sinister secrets, was now sealed off.
A massive crime scene meticulously combed by members
of the joint RCMP Vancouver Police Department task force.
Initially, Robert and his brother were arrested on weapons
charges, while his brother was later released.
Robert Picton was kept under intense police surveillance.
The net was tightening and just over 2 weeks later, on February
22nd 2002, Robert Picton again was arrested and this time
charged with two counts of first degree murder in the death of
Serena Abbott's Way and Mona Wilson.
These were just the first charges.
As the investigation deepened and grim discoveries mounted,
more charges would follow, eventually reaching a total of
26 counts of first degree murder.
The pig farmer who invaded justice for so long was finally
in custody, and the true horror of his crime began to unravel
before a stunned nation. The arrest of Robert Picton
brought us of closure to some, but for but for many, it opened
a Pandora's box of questions. Grief.
A profound sense of injustice. The sheer scale of his crimes.
The DNA of 33 women were found on his property, including Nancy
Clark, a 25 year old sex worker from Victoria who disappeared in
1991, whose DNA was linked to the farm, highlighting the
devastating cost of the systemic failures that allowed him to
operate for so long. The fact that many of these
women, like Nancy Clark, had ties to Vancouver Island, and
that Picton himself was known to spend time there, only deepening
the tragic connections. This brings us to the
uncomfortable yet unavoidable question that has haunted this
case from its inception. Was this a case, a simple
incompetence, or something far more sinister?
The evidence laid bare through the inquiry's investigation
paints A damning picture of repeated failures at every level
of justice we've seen from the Crown files of the 1997
attempted murder case, shredded despite policies requiring it's
retention for 75 years. The lost case files from the
1980s, a pattern of critical documentation vanishing emerged.
These weren't isolated incidences were systemic
failures in record keeping that deprived investigators of vital
information and Hanford accountability.
The Pauline Johnson homicide in 1985.
The early 1980 allegations of assault and kidnapping, the 1997
attack on Miss Anderson were charges stayed.
The 1999 sexual assault and New West minister threats in Burnaby
each a clear warning sign, a chance to intervene that was
tragically squandered if the police had information witnesses
that were willing to testify. Yet the full force of the law
was never brought to bear. The turf war communication
breakdowns between Vancouver police and the RCMP were
catastrophic. Despite credible information
tips about barrels containing human remains, neither agency
took decisive action to inspect them.
The investigation was not given resources or priorities it
deserved, leading to a shocking lack of urgency in pursuing
leads. The improper conduct of the
volunteer interview with Picton in 2000, where he was not read
his rights and where his his girlfriend was allowed to answer
for him, exemplifies A profound disregard for proper
investigation procedures. The failures to follow up on
Picton's offer to search his property for DNA, despite legal
concerns, represents another chance to gain critical
evidence. So was it incompetence?
The sheer volume of consistency of these failures certainly
point to a deep seated, pervasive incompetence within
the system. It was a mix of indifference, a
lack of resources, inadequate training, poor communication,
and a failure to recognize the severity of the case,
particularly when it involved marginalized women.
The societal bias against sex workers, who were often
dismissed and dehumanized, played a role in the lack of
urgency in the thoroughness investigating their
disappearances. Robert Picton's case remains a
chilling reminder of the devastating consequences when
justice fails. So one thing I want to add
before I end this part is I was consulting and talking with
Doctor Rachel Toles, who's a, a forensic psychologist and she's,
if you don't know her work, I, I definitely please follow her on
social media. Doctor Rachel Toles, she's an
amazing speaker. She does really amazing live
events and she really dwells deep into the minds of serial
killers. And we were talking about Robert
Pickton and she's a real big believer.
The childhood development leading up to becoming a serial
killer predator on the record. The official note that Robert
Pickton became a serial killer in the 1990s, which he would
have been about 40 years old, and she said that was absolutely
unheard of. The average age of a serial
killer starts about 27 years old, which would have been
around the 1970s. During that era was right when
his parents died. There was also the accounts of
people who attended the farm who a babysitter that was hired by
the family who disappeared. And when people inquired,
including her own daughter, Picton's just told, oh, she's a
drifter. I was reading in the testimony
on the farm by Stevie Cameron and she talks about this too.
And there was a woman named Kathy, I believe she was Dave
Picton's girlfriend. And she even contacted the
police about this babysitter who disappeared in the 1980s.
No follow up, no police interview, even though the
daughter was looking for her. Just a another woman that just
vanished around Robert Picton. And then these women also
testified like how menacing he could be.
One time he was guest Dave Pickton and this same woman,
they were snooping and picked his room.
Maybe they shouldn't do that. And he picked and was pissed.
He hissed at her and he looked right at Dave and he hissed at
her. And he says if she ever snoops
in my room again, I will kill her.
And everyone, you know, these, these women were afraid of him.
There was another weird incident where he threw a glass of milk
in her face. Everyone described his behavior
as very odd, like he apparently had these very vicious dogs he
would feed raw meat too. And even back then in the 1980s,
there was whispers of snuff movies being made and there was
talks of don't go in those freezers, don't eat the meat in
those freezers. Been rumors of a woman of a pair
of women's legs in the freezer. And this is in the 80s.
So back to Doctor Rachel. It totally goes in line that he
was an active serial killer most likely in the 70s.
In the next segment, we're going to talk about why no senior
officials were ever held accountable as we go through
this. Fire hose of incompetencies,
Files destroyed when searches are done, they're barely even
done properly. Interviews that are not done
right. There's this like 1 bizarre
misstep after another. Like Gee, you think somebody
would have been in trouble? Despite the catastrophic
investigative failures, no senior police or government
official were disciplined or charged.
Why is it bizarre? In most democracies, such
systemic failures would lead to a resignation or prosecution.
Here it has led to a whitewash inquiry.
Thank you for listening to The Dark Mind Detective.
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