On the Farm

Verteran investigative journalist Stevie Cameron first began following the story of missing women in 1998, when the odd newspaper piece appeared chronicling the disappearances of drug-addicted sex trade workers from Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside. It was not until February 2002 that pig farmer Robert William Pickton would be arrested, and 2008 before he was found guilty, on six counts of second-degree murder. These counts were appealed and in 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its conclusion. The guilty verdict was upheld, and finally this unprecedented tale of true crime could be told.


Covering the case of one of North America's most prolific serial killers gave Stevie Cameron access not only to the story as it unfolded over many years in two British Columbia courthouses, but also to information unknown to the police - and not in the transcripts of their interviews with Pickton - such as from Pickton's long-time best friend, Lisa Yelds, and from several women who survived terrifying encounters with him. Cameron uncovers what was behind law enforcement's refusal to believe that a serial killer was at work.

Maps
Author’s note
 
Part One: The Family
Prologue: Jane Doe
1. The Family Farm
2. Dominion Avenue
3. A Mother’s Will
4. The Pickton Brothers
5. Geography Speaks
6. Cops under Fire
7. A Motley Crew
8. Prime Suspect
9. The Trials of Kim Rossmo and the Growing List of Missing Women
10. Lisa Yelds
11. Piggy’s Palace
12. Maggy Gisle, Cara Ellis and Sandra Gail Ringwald
13. Gina and Willie and More Missing Women
14. Sherry Irving and Marnie Frey
15. The Worst Year
16. Sarah de Vries and Sheila Egan
17. A Doomed Investigation
18. Project Amelia: A Bad Start
19. Roommates
 
Part Two: The Missing Women
20. What They Saw
21. What Did the Police Do?
22. Closing In on Willie
23. Another Close Call
24. Deadly Girlfriends
25. Rossmo Out
26. Panic on Skid Row
27. The File Review
28. Do Something
29. A Newsroom Leads the Way
30. Police on Trial
31. The Last Woman
32. The Rookie Cop
33. Twenty-Four Hours
34. The Largest Crime Scene in Canadian History
35. Scott Chubb
 
Part Three: On the Farm
36. Getting Ready for Willie
37. Mike Petrie Wants the Job
38. The Cell Plant
39. The Fordy Interview
40. Don Adam Takes Over
41. Back in the Cell
42. Taking Willie to the Judge
43. In the Workshop
44. The Forensic Team
45. Talking to the Families
46. What the Dead Reveal
47. Willie Goes to Court
48. Telling Tales: Andy Bellwood, Sandra Gail Ringwald and Gina Houston
49. The Last Witnesses
50. The Aristocracy of Victimhood
51. From Twenty-Six to Six
52. The Jury
53. Guilty! But of What?
 
Aftermath
Acknowledgments
Photo Credits
Index