Murder, They Said

"It was been determined that [a stabbing victim whom Pickton allegedly attempted to murder] is an East Hastings area hooker and Pickton is known to frequent that area weekly.  Given the violence shown by Pickton towards prostitutes and women in general, this information is being forwarded to your attention..."

If that informational assessment was not incriminating, or at the very least, good enough reason to carefully follow the trail on, it's hard to imagine what might be.  Yet that bit of boring lead to the identity of a mass murderer seemed of little interest to the investigators who were tasked to discover where all those women missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside ended up.

The Missing Women Commission of Inquiry held in downtown Vancouver and led by Commissioner Wally Oppal, has now been concluded.  And it has uncovered issues of lax and disinterested fumbling on the part of two municipal police forces, and the federal force, the RCMP.  All of whom were ostensibly involved in the issue of missing women and a rather lackadaisical investigation process.  But nothing of substance has been revealed to conclude the investigation properly.

The purpose of the enquiry was to examine witnesses, documents, anything that might help to understand how it could be that from 1997 to 2002 the Vancouver Police Department and the RCMP were unable to come to the conclusion based on the information at their disposal and what was uncovered by some of their agents, that Willy Pickton was involved in serial murder.  Perhaps to conclude with some message about accountability.

Because they failed to take their task seriously, to follow up on credible leads, to mount a proper and determined, dedicated investigation, this dreadful man was able to entice women to his squalid pig farm, murder them, cut their corpses into pieces to feed to his pigs, and retain for his later amusement articles of the women's clothing, jewellery and other personal possessions.

There were people who contacted police and who insisted they had irrefutable proof of the man's guilt, and they were simply ignored.  The man is now in prison for life for six murder convictions, while at least twenty others have been stayed.  Those who are relatives of the dead women, those who are interested in justice, claim the inquiry to have been a prolonged and costly sham.

Had he been arrested before 2002 many lives would have been saved.  His involvement with skid-row prostitutes was well known and documented, and he was known to be threatening and violent.  His reputation went before him; the illegal booze outlet, his acquaintances among Hells Angels, and street people, the pig farm and its reputation for illegal cockfights.

There seemed to be a bubble of official disinterest around him that protected him from even the revelations that were brought before the higher security officials by their subordinates uncovering proof of his involvement in the women's disappearances.  "Discussed Pickton again.  If he turns out to be responsible - inquiry! - Deal with that if the time comes", reads an RCMP 2000 notebook.

During those hearings none of the police came away looking very professional nor dedicated to the security and preservation of society's well-being.  The several that were the exception were stifled by their superiors. The Vancouver Police Department revealed it had contempt for the RCMP, and the RCMP  returned the compliment.  No one was interested in believing that women were being abducted and never seen again.

One man, Frank Henley, a former homicide investigator based in Vancouver, testified at the inquiry that he had made a trip on his own recognizance to the Pickton farm where he met with Pickton a year prior to the man's arrest.  Mr. Henley said his secret visit was "like really, very much a social visit", where he spent an hour wandering about, looking at the old cars littering the grounds.

And while there, he casually, unauthorized, informed Pickton about a confidential police informant who had incriminating knowledge, about another individual who was an informant, a woman who did eventually testify against him at his murder trial.  "I just wanted to meet [Pickton] and see him", said the former investigator, and Mr. Oppal left it at that.

A RCMP civilian employee who had long personally known Pickton through family connections had photographs of a social event where Pickton had appeared with a woman who was later proven to be missing.  She saw a photo of the same woman in a newspaper of a missing woman, weeks later.  Determined to have been murdered.  She offered police the photos.

But they denied ever having been approached by her.