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Robert William Pickton (born October 24, 1949), also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher, is a Canadian serial killer, serial rapist, former pig farmer and possible cannibal who is suspected of being one of the most prolific serial killers in Canadian history. After dropping out of school, Pickton left a butcher's apprenticeship to begin working full-time at his family's pig farm. He is believed to have begun his murders in the early 1990s after inheriting the farm. Arrested in 2002, he was convicted in 2007 of the second-degree murders of six women and was also the subject of a lengthy investigation that yielded evidence of numerous other murders. Pickton was charged with the deaths of an additional twenty women, many of them from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, but these charges were stayed by the Crown in 2010. Pickton was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years—the longest possible sentence for second-degree murder under Canadian law at the time he was sentenced. During the trial's first day of jury evidence, the Crown stated that Pickton had confessed to forty-nine murders to an undercover agent from the Office of the Inspector General, who was posing as a cellmate. The Crown reported that Pickton told the officer that he wanted to kill another woman to make it an even fifty, and that he was caught because he was "sloppy". Early life and criminal history Robert Pickton was born to Leonard Francis Pickton (1896–1977) and Louise Helene Arnal (1912–1979), a family of pig farmers in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, 27 kilometres (17 miles) east of Vancouver. Pickton's older sister, Linda Louise Wright, was sent off to live with relatives in Vancouver as their parents thought that the family pig farm would be an inappropriate setting to raise a young girl. Robert and his younger brother, David Francis Pickton, began working at the farm at an early age and their mother was very demanding, prioritizing the pigs over the brothers' personal hygiene, and forcing them to work long hours raising the farm's livestock. She often sent them to school in unwashed, dirty clothes reeking of manure and earning the brothers the nickname "stinky piggy" from their classmates. Pickton was strongly attached to his mother and he had little interaction with his abusive father. Pickton struggled in school, being put in a special class after failing the second grade. At the age of 12, Pickton began raising a calf which became his beloved pet. Two weeks later, after failing to find it after school, he was told to check the barn where he was heartbroken to find it slaughtered. He dropped out of school in 1963 and began working as a meat-cutter. He continued to do so for nearly seven years before leaving to work full-time at the farm. In 1978 and 1979 Picktons father and mother died and Pickton and his two siblings inherited the family pig farm, selling parts of their inherited land and earning a total of C$5.16 million. Worker Bill Hiscox called the farm a "creepy-looking place" patrolled by a 600-pound boar and described Pickton as a "pretty quiet guy, hard to strike up a conversation with", whose occasional bizarre behaviour, despite no evidence of substance abuse, would draw attention. On March 23, 1997, Pickton was charged with the attempted murder of prostitute Wendy Lynn Eistetter, whom he had stabbed several times during an altercation at the farm. Eistetter had informed police that Pickton had handcuffed her, but that she had escaped after suffering several lacerations. She told them she had disarmed him and stabbed him with his weapon. Pickton sought treatment at Eagle Ridge Hospital, while Eistetter recovered at the nearest emergency room. He was released on C$2,000 bond and the attempted-murder charge against Pickton was stayed on January 27, 1998, because Eistetter had drug addiction issues and prosecutors believed her too unstable for her testimony to help secure a conviction. Furthermore, David Pickton was convicted of sexual assault in 1992, being fined C$1,000 and given 30 days' probation. In that case the victim told police that David had attacked her in his trailer at the pig farm, but she managed to escape. Pickton had also been sued three times for traffic offences in 1988 and 1991, settling all three claims out of court. The Pickton brothers were eventually sued by Port Coquitlam officials for violating zoning ordinances—neglecting the agriculture for which it had been zoned, and having "altered a large farm building on the land for the purpose of holding dances, concerts and other recreations". They had begun to neglect the site's farming operations and registered a non-profit charity, the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, with the Canadian government in 1996, claiming to "organize, co-ordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations and other worthy groups". Its events included raves and wild parties featuring Vancouver sex workers and gatherings in a converted slaughterhouse on the farm at 953 Dominion Avenue in Port Coquitlam. These events attracted as many as 2,000 people and members of the Hells Angels were known to frequent the farm. Subsequently, the Pickton brothers ignored growing legal pressure and held a 1998 New Year's Eve party, after which they were faced with an injunction banning future parties; the police were "authorized to arrest and remove any person" attending future events at the farm. The society's non-profit status was removed the following year, for inability to produce financial statements. It was subsequently disbanded. Discovery and investigation On February 6, 2002, police executed a search warrant for illegal firearms at the Pickton property. Both Pickton brothers were arrested and police obtained a second warrant using what they had seen on the property to search the farm as part of the BC Missing Women Investigation. Personal items belonging to missing women were found at the farm, which was sealed off by members of the joint RCMP–Vancouver Police Department task force. The following day, Pickton was charged with weapons offences. Both of the Picktons were later released; however Robert Pickton was kept under police surveillance. On February 22, 2002, Robert Pickton was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. On April 2, three more charges were added for the murders of Jacqueline McDonell, Dianne Rock, and Heather Bottomley. A sixth charge for the murder of Andrea Joesbury was laid on April 9, followed shortly by a seventh for Brenda Wolfe. On September 20, four more charges were added for the slayings of Georgina Papin, Patricia Johnson, Helen Hallmark, and Jennifer Furminger. Another four more charges for the murders of Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving, and Inga Hall were laid on October 3, bringing the total to fifteen.... Discover the Cynthia Ellingsen popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Cynthia Ellingsen books.