Victim's sister 'tears of happiness' after prison attack on serial killer Robert Pickton – Winnipeg Free Press

MONTREAL — Cynthia Cardinal says she was “blessed” when she received a text message Monday that serial killer Robert Picton, who killed her sister Georgina Papin, was in life-threatening condition in prison after an attack.

He calls it “karma”.

Text DNA was found on Picton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam from a cousin of another missing woman, Tanya Holick, B.C.

“I don't think anyone should walk the earth in evil,” the cardinal said Tuesday. “I have happy tears. Very happy tears.”

The Correctional Service of Canada confirmed Tuesday that the BC serial killer was an inmate who was wounded in a “major attack” at a Quebec prison on Sunday.

Quebec provincial police said Picton, 74, was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Police spokesman Hugh Beaulieu said the 51-year-old suspect was in custody.

Federal Public Safety Minister Dominique LeBlanc said he was notified late Sunday and his thoughts go out to the families of Picton's victims in British Columbia, as well as officers at the Quebec Correctional Institution.

LeBlanc called Pickton “one of the most dangerous criminals in the country,” but said he could not provide further details about the incident or Pickton's condition due to privacy laws. The minister did not name Picton, but answered a question about him.

“When we think of a violent inmate, when we say his name, we think of the victims, the families,” LeBlanc said in French, adding that the Correctional Service of Canada has a process for dealing with such cases.

“One of my main concerns is the safety of these institutions and the men and women who work in these prisons,” he said in English.

Pickton was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with a maximum parole period of 25 years after being convicted of killing 26 women.

The remains or DNA of 33 women were found on Pickton's farm, most of them from the Downtown Eastside, and he once bragged to an undercover cop that he had killed a total of 49 people.

Picton's confirmed victims were Papin, Serena Abbotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Jobsbury, Brenda Ann Wolf and Marnie Frey.

The 63-year-old cardinal said he felt authorities had suppressed information about Picton, saying he got the news of the attack not from officials but from Holick's cousin, Lorelei Williams.

She remembered her sister as “full of life” and a wonderful mother to her seven children, the youngest of whom, Papin, was a year old when she disappeared.

“He had a lot of talent. “She also had a temper because we fought as sisters, you know how it is, but she was very strict,” Cardinal said.

He said the last two decades had been difficult for the Papen family and that every time Picton's name came up, it “brings you back to that time”.

However, the latest news brought a “wonderful feeling”.

“Karma, I guess, and it came to me a long time ago,” he said.

When Pickton was sentenced, BC Supreme Court Justice James Williams said it was “a rare case for a court to properly warrant the maximum period of parole ineligibility.”

Correctional services first announced Monday that an inmate was hospitalized after a serious attack at the maximum-security facility in Port Cartier, 480 kilometers northeast of Quebec City.

He said on Tuesday that none of his employees were involved in the attack.

Police began searching Picton Farms near Vancouver's Port Coquitlam more than 22 years ago, part of a years-long investigation into the disappearances of dozens of women, most of them from east-central Vancouver.

Vancouver police have been criticized for not taking the cases seriously, as many of the missing were sex workers or drug users.

Pickton was granted one day of parole in February, drawing outrage from lawyers, politicians and victims' families who have criticized Canada's justice system and said he should never be released from prison.

Four years ago, the RCMP filed a motion to destroy evidence found at a Ruskin, BC property linked to Picton and held at RCMP warehouses.

Items include clothes, shoes and hairpins, including one with hair, as well as a sex toy and a rusty rifle.

The RCMP's application found evidence that the items were taking up significant space and continuing to incur costs to store them. He said the evidence presented there will not affect future charges.

In an email Tuesday, RCMP Staff Sgt. Chris Clarke confirmed that the application remains in court and the process is ongoing.

In December, a group of families, lawyers and advocates sent a letter to the federal Ministry of Public Safety urging them to halt the disposal plan.

— Morgan Lowry in Montreal and Nono Shen and Chuck Chiang in Vancouver

This Canadian Press report was first published on May 21, 2024.

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version reported that Robert Pickton's identity was confirmed on Monday. Actually, it was Tuesday.