Robert Pickton, one of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, died in May, 12 days after he was assaulted in prison.
Pickton was attacked by a 51-year-old inmate at Quebec’s Port-Cartier Institution on May 19 and was airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
While in hospital, police shared that doctors had planned to try to wake him up to see if he could survive on his own.
The 74-year-old died on May 31.
Pickton’s death closed a violent chapter for many of his victims’ families.
Michele Pineault’s daughter went missing in 1997, and her DNA was found on Pickton’s pig farm in Port Coquitlam.
“For me, it’s a good day. He is a psychopath, he had no soul in his body, he is exactly where he belongs,” Pineault told 1130 NewsRadio earlier this year.
Lorelai Williams is the cousin of Tanya Holyk. Holyk went missing in 1996 and was later identified as one of Pickton’s victims.
Williams explained that she was “overwhelmed with happiness” when she heard the news of his death.
“There are so many horrible thoughts that go through my mind when I picture the way she was murdered,” Williams explained.
Pickton was serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2007 for the murder of six women.
Pickton was arrested in 2002, after an investigation centered around the disappearance of dozens of vulnerable women, particularly from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
He was initially charged in the deaths of 27 women, but 21 of the counts were stayed and never made it to trial.
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