Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who took women to his pig farm and murdered them, died Friday after he was assaulted in prison nearly two weeks ago.
Pickton, 74, had been confined at Port-Cartier Institution, roughly 300 miles northeast of Quebec City, according to CBC.
Pickton was arrested in 2002 and convicted of six murders, although prosecutors charged him with murdering 26 women. He was sentenced in 2007 to life in prison.
A 51-year-old inmate was taken into custody for the attack that led to Pickton’s death, police spokesman Hugues Beaulieu said, according to the Associated Press.
BREAKING: Serial killer Robert Pickton has died following an attack in prison earlier this month.
READ MORE: https://t.co/Tmlmj3bZOnhttps://t.co/Tmlmj3bZOn
— Global BC (@GlobalBC) May 31, 2024
The Vancouver Sun reported after the attack that Pickton was not expected to recover from his injuries.
The outlet said Pickton was “speared in the head” by a broom handle that had been fashioned into a weapon.
Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was murdered by Pickton, said that “finally the devil is gone,” according to the Sun.
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“This news actually gives me a little bit of closure for myself. I’ve had all these feelings today. I know it’s Georgina. And I know she’s happy,” she said.
Pickton had been nicknamed “The Pig Farmer Killer.”
According to the Sun, the DNA of 33 different women was found by police at Pickton’s farm near the city of Port Coquitlam.
The outlet reported that the serial killer had once boasted about killing 49 women in a jailhouse conversation with an undercover police officer.
A news release from Correctional Service Canada, the country’s prison bureau, previously announced the incident to the public.
“On May 19, 2024, an inmate was the victim of a major assault at Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum-security federal institution,” the agency said. “The injured inmate was evaluated and transported to an outside hospital to receive treatment.”
“The safety and security of institutions, their staff, and the public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system,” officials added. “In order to improve practices aimed at preventing this type of incident, the Correctional Service of Canada will review the circumstances of the incident and take the appropriate measures.”
Authorities in Quebec continue to investigate the assault.
