Lawyer for family members of Pickton’s victims wants copy of killer’s tell-all book

VANCOUVER – A Vancouver lawyer representing the families of serial killer Robert Pickton’s victims says he and his clients wanted to read a copy of an anthology that was seized from Pickton’s cell after he died following an attack in a Quebec prison .

Jason Gratl said Friday that he and his clients, who have cases pending in the British Columbia Supreme Court against Pickton and his brother David, were “surprised” when an RCMP search warrant revealed the existence of a 200-page handwritten one by Pickton manuscript revealed.

“We were led to believe that the investigation was complete and the RCMP had no further leads,” Gratl said. “Now the RCMP says there’s nothing interesting in the 200-page manuscript, but we’d better read it ourselves.”

A search warrant filed this summer in New Westminster, British Columbia, said prison officials found “numerous writings and notes written by Pickton” after searching his belongings in search of a will following his death in May.

The “information to be obtained” document states that Quebec prison officials “cursorily read” Pickton’s manuscript entitled “Telling My Story.”

Cpl. Craig Mitchell, who applied for the arrest warrant, said in the motion that he believed Pickton wanted to give a “full account” of the killings in court after interviewing him after his conviction.

The search warrant document said investigators from the Missing Women Task Force met with Pickton “numerous times” and attempted to persuade him to identify an unidentified victim known to this day as “Jane Doe.”

“I believe that Pickton wanted to tell his story of the murders he committed,” Mitchell wrote. “I believe he would have written down his account of the murders and his account in the book called ‘Telling My Story’ and any related written documents or notes he made while writing that book.”

Mitchell said Pickton’s writings could help investigators link Pickton and possibly others to murders committed at the serial killer’s compound in Port Coquitlam. Although he was accused of killing 27 women, he later admitted to 49 murders.

“I believe Pickton committed 49 murders and the book and associated documents and notes could identify the other victims who are not yet known.”

Gratl said he would request a copy of the manuscript because of its “potential relevance” to his clients’ civil lawsuits against the Pickton brothers as they work to consolidate the cases and move to trial.

Sergeant. RCMP media relations officer Vanessa Munn said the seized writings were “thoroughly investigated” but did not relate to missing women or his crimes and investigators “unfortunately” had no new information to share with victims’ families.

“We recognize that there are families who have questions about the disappearance of their loved ones, but the contents of the writings did not provide answers,” Munn said in a written statement.

Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for the 2007 killings of Mona Wilson, Sereena Abotsway, Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey, Brenda Wolfe and Andrea Joesbury.

The remaining charges against him were stayed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2024.

Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press