Canadian serial killer used his brother to murder 26 women

Jurors in the trial of alleged serial killer Robert William Pickton heard that his brother is still being investigated by police in relation to women who have disappeared.

Photo: Canadian serial killer used his brother to murder 26 women

Det. Const. Mike McDonald said Thursday that Dave Pickton is still being investigated in connection with women missing from Vancouver's seedy Downtown Eastside neighborhood.

Though Robert Pickton has been charged with the deaths of 26 women, 39 names remain on an official police list of women who have been declared missing. The investigation into their disappearances is still active.

"Police are continuing to investigate the possibility that David Francis Pickton was involved in the disappearance of some of the missing women who have been the focus of the Missing Women's Task Force, yes?" defense lawyer Richard Brooks asked.

"Yes," Vancouver police Det. Const. Mike McDonald quietly replied.

McDonald told the jury the most recent element of his investigation into Dave Pickton had to do a missing woman whom "we are not talking about here."

Dave Pickton was initially investigated after his brother was arrested, but the probe was believed to have later ended. However, McDonald's testimony indicates there is still an ongoing investigation into him.

McDonald ultimately seized 800 exhibits during the intensive search of Robert Pickton's home, as well as other buildings on the property owned by both brothers.

Robert Pickton, a pig farmer, is on trial for six counts of first-degree murder. If convicted of the 26 murders he is suspected of committing, he would become the worst serial killer in Canadian history.

Pickton was arrested in February 2002 by police investigating the disappearances of sex-trade workers from the Downtown Eastside district.

Pickton and his brother, Dave, used to throw parties at the hog farm in a barn they dubbed the "Piggy Palace," telling neighbors they were raising money for charity. Investigators have said the parties were drunken raves with prostitutes and plenty of drugs, the AP says.

Dave Pickton, flagged down in his flatbed truck near the farm in December by an AP reporter, gave a friendly laugh through his long beard but said he did not care to discuss his brother. He would only say that he now hopes to raise cattle on the property, then continued on his way.