Robert Pickton, convicted of murdering six women and suspected of killing dozens more, is in life-threatening condition following an assault in a Quebec prison on Sunday.
Convicted Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton, who terrorized the Vancouver area in the 1990s and early 2000s, has been hospitalized in life-threatening condition after an assault in a Quebec prison, authorities confirmed Tuesday.
Pickton, now 74, was serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murders of six women. However, police believe he may have killed as many as 49 women, whose remains or DNA were found on his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia.
On Sunday, a 51-year-old inmate was arrested for the assault, which occurred at the Port-Cartier Institution, a maximum security prison about 480 kilometers (about 300 miles) northeast of Quebec City.
Quebec provincial police said Pickton's injuries were considered life-threatening.
Pickton's confirmed victims were six: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Ann Wolfe, Georgina Papin, and Marnie Frey.
At the time of Pickton's sentencing in 2007, British Columbia Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was a "rare case" that warranted the maximum period of parole ineligibility.
"Each of the murders was sexually motivated and involved the degradation and dehumanization of the victim," said Justice Williams. "The accused has shown no remorse or empathy for his victims or their families."
The investigation into Pickton's crimes began in 1997 when police searched his farm for evidence related to the disappearance of several missing women.
Over the following years, they uncovered a gruesome scene, with body parts and other evidence of human remains found on the property.
Pickton was arrested in February 2002 and charged with 26 counts of murder. He was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder in 2007.
The case against Pickton sparked outrage and criticism of the Vancouver police for not taking the disappearances of the women, many of whom were sex workers and drug users, seriously.
Pickton's assault in prison is the latest chapter in a long and disturbing case that has left a lasting scar on the Vancouver community and beyond.
