
Loading summary
Rocket Money Advertiser
Think about the last time you had a cancel subscription. There's probably some waiting on hold, some guessing at your password, some mind numbing small talk, and maybe after all that, you still weren't able to cancel it. Good news. It doesn't have to be this way. Thanks to Rocket Money, Rocket Money tracks, manages, and can cancel your subscriptions for you. When you connect your accounts, you'll see a complete picture of all your reoccurring subscriptions all in one place. Rocket Money organizes your subscriptions by due date and notifies you when something's coming up, so you'll never be caught off guard when you get charged. If you see a subscription you want to cancel, Rocket Money simplifies the process. Instead of waiting on hold for an hour, you can cancel it right from the app. Rocket Money will even try to get you a refund for the money you spent on subscriptions you forgot about. Stop wasting your time trying to cancel subscriptions the hard way. Make your life easier and go to RocketMoney.com cancel. That's RocketMoney.com cancel or download the app from the Apple app or Google Play stores.
Bailey Sarian
You You've never been one to blend in. Your colors shine too big and too bright for that. Your wit, your fearlessness. The way you find beauty in, well, everything. It's what makes you unlike anyone else. You deserve a desert diamond in colors unlike anything else too. From pale champagnes to deep ambers to smoky whiskeys. Natural colors that reflect all the shades of you. Discover desert diamonds. A diamond is forever. Hi friends. How are you today? My name is Bailey Sarian, and today is Monday, which means it's Murder, Mystery and Makeup Monday. Hi. If you're new here, that's my new theme song. If you're new here. Hi, my name is Bailey Sarian, and on Mondays I sit down, I talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my noggin. And I do my makeup at the same time. But let's talk about today. Okay, listen. In the quiet outskirts of Vancouver, surrounded by mud, pigs, and the stench of something far worse, a man built himself a kingdom. A pig farmer who threw wild parties, rubbed elbows with the Hell's Angels, and ran shady charities, all while hiding one of the most horrifying secrets Canada has ever seen. His name, maybe you know, was Robert Pickton, also known as the Pig Farmer Killer or the Butcher. Oh, this man lured women to his farm and never let them leave. But here's the question. Was this really the work of one man or was something big, bigger Darker and more organized going on. Yep. Disclaimer Disclaimer Disclaimer. Today's episode contains discussions of violence, murder and sensitive topics that may be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised. So let's get into Mr. Robert Pickton. So Robert Pickton was born on October 24, 1949, but he grew up in a small town. Well, it was like a small, growing industrial suburb called Port Coquitlam. How'd I do? Coquitlam? Well, it's just outside of Vancouver in Canada. Okay. Now at this time there were like a lot of farmers, railroad workers, and like manufacturing industries in this area. It was said that when Robert was born, his uncle umbilical cord was like wrapped around his neck, which had cut off oxygen to his brain for a good amount of time. At least that's what like the family said. And like the family would point to this as to why Robert grew up as a little. He was a little off, odd, you could say. The Pickton family bought and operated like a really big farm where they raised pigs and cattle and then, you know, slaughter them. And again, like this farm was pretty damn big. It was at least like 30 acres. Robert's father, he was around, but it was said that his mom was mainly the one who ran the business. Like she was very strict. She was a workaholic. I think she was just frickin maintaining this farm. It's huge. Okay, so she's really like running the show now. Robert also had two siblings, an older sister named Linda and a younger brother named Dave. Now, I guess when Linda was younger, the mom decided like to send her away to go live with family or something because according to her, she's like, the farm is no place for a girl to be growing up. So Linda gets sent away. Honestly, if I were Linda, I'd be like, thank God, farm life, not for me, baby. So Linda gone. Bye. Meanwhile, Robert and Dave, they were the ones who were working alongside their mom, really maintaining the farm. And they would do so like before school and after school. It was their whole life and their livelihood really. So I guess they're the kids. Like their dad was around, but I don't know, he just didn't seem to really be as involved. I don't know, he was giving me kind of like the more passive one in the marriage. Like there really wasn't much said about him. Well, Robert growing up, you know, he goes to school and whatnot, and he's really not doing very well. He was a little slower than, you know, the others and was Placed in special education classes. And then on top of that, he really struggled to have friends. Also, it didn't help that he was known for not having the best hygiene. Yeah. You know, while working out on the farm, he would get dirty and stuff, as you do, and he would have a certain smell, and people noticed, I guess he didn't bathe often. And, you know, he's. People make. He's weird. I don't want to say he's weird. He's weird. He's weird. He has a stench. So he was pretty antisocial. And honestly, I was reading all that, and it was like, it sounds like he was just straight up neglected, but okay. When Robert was 12, he got a pet calf at the farm. Okay? Now, he loved this calf. He would rush home every single day after school to go see him. I mean, this was like his best friend. Well, one day, Robert came home, you know, excited to see his calf, but he couldn't find him anywhere. So he's going around asking the family, like, where's my calf? So he was told to go check the barn. Now, this made Robert panic because he knew that the barn was the place where animals went to die. Robert told his calf to never go down to that barn. He looked that calf in the face and was like, don't ever go down to that barn. But sure enough, you know, as soon as he walked in, he saw his best friend hanging from the ceiling.
Sponsor Representative
Gutted.
Bailey Sarian
Butchered. Tragic. Robert later said, like, this was the moment where he kind of, like, he really kind of understood death. And it was just also devastating. Well, you know, life. Life goes on. And when Robert is 18 years old, some shit goes down. Okay? So, you know, he has a younger brother, Dave. So Dave finally gets his driver's license. So, you know, he's all excited. He's like, yay, I got my driver's license. And one, he goes out for a drive. So Dave is out driving, and he ends up, like, hitting a kid with his car. Now, instead of getting out of the car and being like, hey, you good? He instead flees the scene. He races back home, like, in a panic. He goes straight to his mom. He tells his mom everything that happened. And he's asking her, like, what do I do? I'm like, I don't know, maybe call the police and say you accidentally hit someone. Just a thought. I don't know, but what do I know? So their mom has Dave drive she and him back to the scene where they see the kid, like, lying on the road. The mom, Dave's in the car still. The mom gets out of the car and she ends up rolling the kid to the side of the road and into a water filled ditch, which I guess was like hard to see from the main road. Then she kind of like dusts her hands off and she's like, okay, she gets back into the car, she tells Dave to just drive them back home. Yeah, she literally just rolled this poor boy into a ditch and then headed home. Like, nothing. Now see, I guess Robert technically, like, he didn't witness this firsthand, but he heard about it when the family was talking about it that day. Well, you know, the poor kid, his parents are all worried, looking for him. His body ends up being found and an investigation begins like immediately. It didn't take long for the police to like, lead right back to Dave. He was immediately a suspect. Now everything about this case, like this situation is sealed, I'm assuming because he, he was underage. So it's not really clear what happened to Dave. But what we do know was that he ended up going to juvenile court. So that's something. But Robert and Dave's mom, she was never charged or arrested for her involvement. So Dave must have. I don't know. I don't know. I was gonna say maybe Dave kept his mouth shut about his mom. I would be like, it was my mom, she did that shit. But that's just me, I guess. Now this feels like the first time Robert realized just how far his mom would go for them. And that sometimes crime doesn't come with a punishment. And maybe Dave is thinking the same thing too. Looking at you, Dave. So when Robert was around 28 or like 29, he had a major loss. First his father passes away and then just like a year later, his mom passes away. So his mom, she had a will and in it said that the three kids, remember there was Linda, Dave and Robert, they would split the family money and the land evenly. Now Robert was named as the one to inherit, like the family business, like, run the farm essentially. But he wouldn't receive any money from the trust until he turned 40. So it's kind of like, okay, thanks I guess. I don't know how he's feeling, but the family seemed to be having a bit of a bad run because soon after the parents passed away, the farm somehow caught on fire again, leading to just like another major loss. Now the family farm was completely destroyed. It killed around 600 pigs. Now luckily around 100 pigs and like 120 cattle would survive the fire. But like a lot was gone. It's unclear how the fire started, but Robert was the one left to rebuild. This is a side note in my own personal opinion, but I kind of low key think that this was done on purpose for insurance money or something. But we'll talk about that later. Robert rebuilt the farm and when he was doing that, he decided to make like a few changes to the business. So he added more animals like chickens, rabbits, geese, goats, emu. Emu. I was struggling with emu. Emu animals. And he still had the cattle and the pigs. I mean, he was a full on Old MacDonald, had a farm kind of guy. Okay. Also a new addition to the business. Robert started working with another butcher in town named Pat. So Robert, he would raise, you know, the pigs and then Pat would come in, buy the pigs, and then they would slaughter and sell the meat. It was a good partnership for them. It seemed to work. So Robert, he's kind of thriving at this point. Now, his brother Dave, he was around. He was around. He was working as a demolition contractor for the greater Vancouver area. And for bigger jobs, he would call up his brother Robert to like come out and help him. But those were like just their day jobs because it was said that Robert and Dave would also indulge in some local insurance fraud. Mm. I guess local bikers in the area, they would steal cars and bikes and then they would give them to Robert or Dave. And since Dave had access to demolition equipment, they were able to bury the stolen items. Once the job was done, they would report the cars or whatever, you know, as missing or stolen, and then they would collect the insurance money. See, this is why I kind of low key think that that farm fire was an insurance thing. But that's just my opinion. Anyways, they were shady. Now, they were doing this for like a hot minute, but like the police, they ended up catching on and they opened an investigation into these thefts, which ended up leading them right to Dave. Now, Dave, I guess he was brought in and he was questioned, but they didn't have like any. They didn't have like sufficient evidence to make an actual arrest. So he was let go. Robert was never questioned, but this did land him on the police's radar for like the first time.
Sponsor Representative
I love giving gifts, but it's hard, isn't it?
Bailey Sarian
Because everyone kind of has everything and you're like, I don't want to get.
Sponsor Representative
Them something they're just going to get rid of.
Bailey Sarian
You know, you want it to be good, you want it to be a.
Sponsor Representative
Banger, you know, something that they'll cherish and keep for a long time. And that's why I'm giving everyone aura frames this year. Round of applause. Yes. Now, if you don't know, Aura frames is a digital frame that allows you to preload unlimited photos and videos before it even ships. Every frame comes in a premium gift box. And the best part, you can keep updating it all year long straight from your phone. You can set it up in about two minutes. Share instantly from anywhere and enjoy fun interactions like reacting with emojis or sending congratulations little messages.
Bailey Sarian
It's so cute.
Sponsor Representative
I love giving aura frames because it gives your family members something to show off every time, you know, to their friends, whoever comes over, they're like, look, look it.
Bailey Sarian
So if you want to be the.
Sponsor Representative
Person who gives the gift everyone raves about, Aura frames is a way to do it for a limited time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling Carver MA frames named number one by wire cutter by using promo code makeup at checkout. That's auraframes a u r a frames.com promo code makeup. This deal is exclusive to listeners and frames sell out fast. So order yours now to get it in time for the holidays. Support the show by mentioning us at checkout. Terms and conditions apply.
Bailey Sarian
So in 1994, Dave had a big job up in North Vancouver. It was like a 40 minute drive from the farm. So he called up his brother Robert. He's like, hey, can you come out and stay with me and like, help me out? So Robert agrees and he goes out there, he sets up his, his motorhome on the construction site so he didn't have to commute, you know. So Robert would stay on this project with Dave for like about a year. During this time, their sister Linda, she was like a hotshot realtor. Now she made the decision to sell off three separate parts of the farm to real estate investors who were looking to build homes. Now I'm sure it was all communicated to Dave and Robert about selling, you know, parts of the farm, but overall, like, it was a good deal because they made over $5 million on that sale. And they ended up splitting it even. Evenly. Evenly. I mean, it was fine though. Yes, the farm was smaller now, but they still had about 25 acres to, to work with, which a lot, you know. Oh, just a little side note, I forgot to mention, when, like, Robert's away, he had people working for him on the farm. So, like, things are still being taken care of while Robert's away. And Stuff. So it wasn't like he just left it and that was it. So while Robert was staying in North Vancouver, he started to hang out in this area called the Low Track. And it was in like the downtown east side area of Vancouver. Now, the Low Track was a place where, you know, drugs, poverty, and sex work was very prominent. So Robert, you know, on his free time, he would go hang out at this bar called the Abbey Hotel, where he would meet up with some friends. I'm like, giving a side eye. Cause I'm like friends. Okay. But he would meet up with some people for drinks, and then he would really go there to engage with the sex workers and see if they'd be willing to go home with him. He would offer them money for drugs or just drugs in hopes that they would leave with him. So Robert would invite them either back to his motorhome, which was like 15 minutes away, or to go back to his farm, which was about 40 minutes away, where they could quote, unquote, party more. He did this for years. Then in 1996, Robert and Dave decided to start another business. They thought, hey, idea, why don't we do a non profit charity? Yeah, I mean, they had this huge farm with lots of land. They're like, we could open it there. It could be a non profit. It could have a mission. Well, according to them, the nonprofit's mission was to, quote, to organize, coordinate, manage and operate special events, functions, dances, shows, and exhibitions on behalf of service organizations, sports organizations, and other worthy groups. End quote. And they're like, great. Like, what do we call it? They decided to call it the Piggy Palace. Good Times Society. Just really rolls off the tongue. Piggy Palace. Good Time Society. It honestly sounds like a good pizza place. Right? I'm going down to the Piggy palace to get some good pizza. Actually, after today's story. That's bad. That's bad because he. Never mind. But it sounds like pizza. Great, Bailey. Well, unfortunately, this was no charity. This was no nonprofit. Instead, it was actually, well, it was really a front to cover up the illegal bar they set up in one of the slaughterhouses. Yeah, Beer and slaughter. So yay. The Piggy palace, though, very popular. They had wild raves. There was extreme debauchery going on. Dave, remember the brother? Yeah. He was like, great. Friends with the Hells Angels, a notorious biker gang with a reputation for violence, loyalty, and running illegal enterprises worldwide. Yeah, he's friends with them. So he decided to hire some of the members as security at the Piggy Palace. Now, some people believe that Dave was actually a member himself, but that's never been confirmed. But they would throw these wild parties. Robert and Pat the butcher guy, they were there at these parties. They'd be cutting up meat, barbecuing. It sounds like a good time.
Sponsor Representative
Kinda.
Bailey Sarian
Not really kinda. Anyways, people loved it there. It was said that on any given night there would be up to like 2000 people who would show up. Yeah, huge, right? It was a well known party spot. So the Piggy palace really seemed to be the place to go to do like illegal and questionable activities. But regardless or because of this, you know, it was very popular. So popular that off duty cops and city officials were regular attendees at the Piggy Palace. Oh yes. Oh yes. I wish I could give you names, but it was like, it's so hard to actually find names. It's just people were like, yeah, I saw that guy's a cop there, or whatever, you know. Even though Robert didn't have any issues with the cops at the Piggy palace, he did make several decisions that eventually made him a person worth looking into. You see, In March of 1997, Robert, he went over to the low track area and he offered a sex worker named wendy drugs and $100 to go out to the farm with him, you know, and she accepted. So they drive out there and when they get to the property, they head to his trailer. When Wendy gets inside of the trailer, she like is looking around and she notices that there is a sleeping bag on the floor floor and a large roll of like clear plastic next to it. She's like, love your decor. It's cool. Okay. They do the deed, Wendy gets her money. Then she heads to the bathroom. When she comes out, she asks Robert if she could use his phone. And he's like, sure, here. So Wendy, she's on the phone and she notices that Robert is like coming towards her. She's like, what? Robert then tries to slip a handcuff on her wrist. So she's like, what the fuck? No. And she immediately starts to fight back. So there was a struggle. They were like wrestling and fighting and like going back and forth, kind of making their way into the kitchen area. So when they're in that, the kitchen area, she notices a knife. She grabs a knife, she starts slashing at Robert. She stabs him in the arm and then she slashes his face from ear to ear. Then go for her. Then she gets him good because the knife, she stabs him. The knife ends up like chipping a bunch of his teeth as it went through his face. She's just gone. So then she tries to make a run for it, but Robert somehow grabs her. And then, according to Wendy, like, things really just kind of got fuzzy here. But she does remember that they somehow ended up outside the trailer now, fighting by Robert's. Robert's truck. So at this point, Wendy is. She still has the knife, it's in her hand, and according to her, she just stabbed him. Stabbed him right in the back, and then he went down. So she's like, oh, shit. You know, she needs to, like, get help. So she runs to the nearest house, knocking on the door. No one answers. Then she sees a car coming down the road. So she runs out. She, like, flags them down. It was like, an older couple that was driving the car, and they agreed to take her to the hospital. But before they drive off, Wendy points to the trailer and she tells them that, like, look, if I die, the man that killed me lives in that trailer. And then they drive off. So at some point during this whole fight, Robert was able to stab Wendy. Like, she had noticed she was bleeding from, like, her stomach area. She doesn't know, like, when it happened, but she knew she was bleeding. So the. The couple, they. That picked her up, they take her to the hospital. When she gets here, she's, you know, taken back to go into, like, surgery. And the couple that took her to the hospital, they tell the staff that there was a man back at the location who was also her hurt. So this part honestly was, like, a little confusing because somebody goes back to Robert's place and picks him up and brings him to the hospital. I'm thinking maybe is that like, free health care? Because in America people would be like, so anyways. But Robert, I guess, is picked up by an ambulance or something and is brought to the hospital. He's given, like, 150 stitches. And then he was released. Yeah, I was like, that's nice. He was released. And I know what you're thinking. You're like, why the hell wasn't he arrested? And honestly, couldn't quite find a clear answer. I think my assumption is that the police had to wait for a statement from Wendy. And at this point, she was, like, undergoing surgery. She was not fully there, but it's unclear why Robert was just sent home. So all this happens. Robert is released, and word gets back to Robert's brother Dave about the, you know, what happened. So Dave calls up an old, like, family friend. Her name is Lisa. Dave asked Lisa to stay at the farm and take care of Robert while he was healing. And in Return Dave said that he would pay for her car insurance and like help her out or whatever, you know. So Lisa agrees and she moves in. She goes to the farm. She moves in for a bit and she's staying like in Robert's trailer. So Robert is back at the farm. You know, he's. He's down and Lisa's there. And Lisa, she starts looking around maybe like snooping a little bit, I don't know. She's just like looking around as you do when you're in someone else's house maybe, I don't know. But she's looking around and she starts like noticing some odd things. First she, like came across a bunch of IDs, okay? Like ID cards. And they belong to like a bunch of different women. And she's like, okay, like, that's weird. Then she found a bunch of different women's clothing. She's like, okay, also weird. Then she like looked a little closer on some of the clothing. She noticed some of them had blood all over them. I don't know about you, but I would be out the door. I'd be like, okay, thank you so much for your time. Bye. She takes note, okay? She's like. She takes note. Well, Robert, I guess he's like high on pain pills. He starts talking to Lisa. He's like saying some weird off the wall things. He's like, he was going on about how he wanted to finish off Wendy. Then Robert asked Lisa to get him some syringes. He specifically asked her to get half clean ones and half already used ones. Now, Lisa saw this as like a big red flag for many reasons. But one that stood out the most, I guess, was that he was asking for syringes. And she knew he wasn't a drug user. So she's like, why do you need those? Yeah, I know you think it would be the blood on the clothes, but no, it was thus so riches. Now, Lisa, she didn't go to police or anything, you know, instead she ends up telling a mutual friend, this guy, he, he worked on the Pickton farm, his name was Bill. So she goes to Bill and she tells him like, she's like low key. I think Robert could be a serial killer. Okay? She's like, the IDs, the blood stained clothing, the syringes, what was he like poisoning people or something? She's telling this to bill. Well, 17 days after the attack, Wendy, she luckily survived and she told the police everything. So finally Robert was arrested and charged for attempted murder, unlawful confinement, and aggravated assault. Now, remember the Pickton Family. They had money. So he was able to hire the best criminal defense attorney in Vancouver. But when it came time for the trial to start In January of 1998, Wendy didn't show up. So without an accuser, the judge was forced to drop all of the charges. The police did keep, like the clothes and the rubber boots that he was wearing when he attacked Wendy. And they kept that in evidence, which good thing they, they did because it comes in handy later.
Sponsor Representative
Each year. I take a lot of pride in giving good gifts. And this year I decided to give the gift of luxurious comfort with quince. Quince makes high quality bedding products like sheets, quilts, comforters and more. And let me tell you, their fabric is next level comfortable because it's crafted from premium materials like European flax, linen, organic cotton and bamboo viscose. Other luxury brands cost two or three times as much. But not Quince. That's because they partner directly with trusted factories and skip the middlemen. I've been living in my quince sheets this season. Oh yes, they listen. Quince sheets are so soft. They keep me at the perfect temperature and have that kind of cozy. Ooh, just, I just want to lay here all day. Hit the snooze button again. My go to is layering the linen sheets with a quilted comforter.
Bailey Sarian
It's holiday magic.
Sponsor Representative
If you want your gift to actually get used, loved and remembered, Quince bedding is the move. Give a gift they'll actually use and love with quince. Go to quints.com murdermystery for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Quince Q U I n c e.com Murder Mystery. Free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com Murder Mystery.
Bailey Sarian
So a few months after the charges were dropped, Robert, he, you know, he goes back to the low track and he picks up a woman named Sarah. Now Sarah, she worked out of this place called the crack Shack. Yeah, it was a really popular like pickup location for sex workers. But also I guess they had really great drugs. But he goes there. So on that night In April of 1998, Sarah and her friend, they were strolling the area looking for dates. So the friend, Sarah's friend was picked up by a john and like they took off. So she's like telling Sarah like, I'll see you later, whatever, you know, the friend comes back and when she gets back to the crack shack area, she notices that Sarah was like nowhere to be found. Found. Now that's fine normally because it's like maybe she got picked up, whatever. But it was odd because she noticed that Sarah's purse was still there. Now you know, you never leave your purse behind. So she just kind of waited around and Sarah just never showed up. So after like some time goes by and Sarah is a no show, her ex boyfriend and some friends and family, they went to the police and reported. So the police just like straight up told them that they wouldn't open an investigation because she was just like the latest in a string of missing sex workers and that like, you know, they usually show back up and it's really not a big deal. The police like completely brushed it off. Well, time is still going by and Sarah, you know, she's still missing. So her ex boy boyfriend ends up reaching out to a journalist named Lindsay Kynes who was writing articles about missing sex workers in the area. This guy was the only one reporting it, it seemed like. So Sarah's ex boyfriend reaches out to the journalist and Lindsay Kynes, the journalist decided to write an article about the situation and called out the police for not taking these disappearances so seriously. The journalist was like passionate about getting this news out to the, the public and really demanding for the police to step up and do their job. In July of like 1998, like the first article about the situation was published and then it, it ended up turning into an 11 part series. And in the articles they also put a hotline number where people could reach out, give tips or just report, report more missing women. So this journalist was like really trying to actually do something because obviously the police were not. Okay, so do you remember Lisa? Huh? Do you? Okay, well she was the lady friend who was staying with Robert and found all those questionable items. And then she went to Bill and told him all about it. Her. Yeah, yeah. Bill reads one of those articles and he decides to get in contact with, with Sarah's ex boyfriend to share what he knew. I know what you're thinking. Why didn't Bill just call the hotline or go to the police or something like that, you know, or why didn't Lisa go to the police? You have to understand, a lot of them were involved with drugs or sex work and they didn't want to go to police in fear that they would get in trouble themselves. So they were all talking with each other in hopes someone else would maybe go forward, you know. So Bill contacts Sarah's ex and tells him everything that Lisa saw. The bloody clothes, the IDs, the syringes, everything then went on to say that Robert often visited the low track to pick up women. But most of all, Robert had, like, this really big farm. And Bill's like, it would be very easy to hide something things there, like people, you know what I'm saying? Bill actually tells Sarah's ex that he did try to contact police at some point, but he was told that there was nothing they. The police could do. So Bill gave Sarah's ex, Robert Pickton's name and the name of his businesses, the farm, everything, in hopes that maybe, you know, he could help or. Or do something. So Sarah's ex ends up contacting Vancouver police, tells them everything that Bill said. Well, technically, he was recording the whole conversation. So he gives. Actually gives them the recording. And the police, they tried to follow up with Bill for months. Like, they. They tried, but he. Bill had addiction issues of his own, and he was really hard to track down. So it definitely slowed things down. But there were two Vancouver police department investigators who were actually, like, paying attention to all these disappearances. At this point in 1998 in the Vancouver area, there were about 35 missing women on their list. So they were really thinking like a serial killer was in the area. So they brought on deputy inspector Kim Rossmo to help, who was, like, very well known for his work in criminal profiling. So Kim Rossmo helped put together a computer program called Rigel. Now, Rigel, like, analyzed crime details. It calculated the chances the crimes were linked and even identified potential suspects or serial offenders. And it turned out to be a very powerful, beautiful tool. But at this time, it was 1998, okay, and technology like this was new. And a lot of the higher ups at the, like, Vancouver Police Department, they did not like or trust this new guy, Inspector Rossimo, coming in with his little computer program and, like, telling them what to do. I know it sounds like such a freaking joke, but it's true. So the police just didn't use this tool. Later on, one of the investigators that asked for Inspector Rossmo's help said, quote, pickton would have been in jail and all those women would have been saved, end quote, had the higher ups, like, taken him, Rossmo, or the case seriously. In September of 1998, another article by Lindsay Kynes came out about the missing women. And again, once again, was to going. Going in hard, calling out the police for not doing anything. Now, people in the area who are reading the article, they're becoming outraged. They're demanding that the police step up, that they do something. And honestly, like those articles, they really generated a lot of Buzz and actually caught the attention of the television program America's Most Wanted. And they did a full on episode about the missing women. They also offered like a hundred thousand dollar reward for information about the case. So this was good for the victims families and whatnot. Like at least someone is helping or trying to help talking about it, right? Well, the Vancouver police, they're a little like annoyed and upset and they couldn't handle the negative PR anymore. So they were like, like fine, we'll do something. It was said that before these articles came out there was this unspoken rule amongst the police departments, you know, that sex workers and lower class people were disposable. And it was suggest, it was suggested to not waste resources on them allegedly. But I'm sure we, we believe that because, because they did nothing. Well now Inspector Rossmo was confident that like his technology could actually help catch this person, right? So he shared his findings with the police department but they completely dismissed him. On top of that he was pretty much fired. He was let go. Well, technically his contract didn't get renewed, but he knew why. So Inspector Rossmo was, he was there, he was just trying to help, I don't know, maybe even like do his job. Right. Luckily there were some in the police department that were like still taking this seriously. And In May of 1999, the Vancouver Police Department organized a group who were dedicated to review the growing number of disappearances of women in the area. And this like dedicated team to the case they were called, or it was called Project Amelia. So Project Amelia was able to gather a lot of DNA information about the missing women and even received tips mentioning Robert Pickton by name. So the police, I mean they did take this seriously and they followed Robert, they followed him around for about like two weeks. But they saw no unusual activity or much of anything. Plus at this time they had no witness statements or anyone coming forward. So it was just kind of like they didn't really, they couldn't do anything. Over in Port Coquitlam, officers also had like Robert on their radar. But without again anyone coming forward, anyone accusing him of anything, there was nothing they could do. So things just went cold. Everything was at a standstill. But in the year 2000, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, aka the Mounties, they got a hot tip. So Robert, he had a lot of like on again, off again girlfriends. I didn't mention them because all the names get confusing, I mean for, for me at least. But one of his like on again off again girlfriends was a woman named Lynn. So Lynn, she went to The Mounties. And she told them everything she knew. Lynn told them that she actually lived with Robert for a few months in 1999, that they slept together. She cleaned his trailer, he'd supply her with drugs, and occasionally the two of them would go out and pick up sex workers to bring back to the farm. She said that there was this one night where she and Robert, they went to New Westminster and they picked up a sex worker. When they got back to the farm, the woman and Robert went to the trailer to have sexual relations. So Lynn, I guess she was out in the living room. She's just kind of waiting and she starts to doze off. She said all of a sudden she was woken up by like a super loud noise. And there was like this very bright light coming from the barn outside on the property. So she's, you know, like, what is going on? So she gets up and she goes to check it out. She said that she walked into the barn and that she was immediately hit with like a terrible smell. Okay. So she's like. Then she kind of like looks directly, you know, directly in front of her, and she realizes that she's staring at someone's toes. So she's trying to, like, process, what am I looking at? And she looks up and she sees that it's someone. It's freaking body or something. Someone's legs are dangling from the ceiling. What's that one meme? No, no, that'd be me right now. So Lynn, she's like, oh, my God. What the. You know, so she's. She screams, obviously she's in torture. Total shock. Robert, he's in there. He pulls her, like further in into the barn, and he closes the door. Lynn said that she. She like looked around. She's like looking around, right? And she notices that on the table, it was covered in blood and there were like dark clumps of hair on it. She's like, what the. She looks at Robert and she realizes that he is covered in blood as well. No, no, no, no, no. That's all I can think of. My brain just went there. Poor Lynn. Lynn said she was completely frozen. She's trying to comprehend what the hell am I seeing right now, you know? But she knew that this person that was hanging was the woman that they had just brought back to the farm because she recognized the red to trauma. Oh, gosh. So I guess Robert, he's like, trying to calm her down and he tells her, quote, she's just like a pig. Anyways, it's all right. It's gonna be all right, End quote. Okay. Robert then threatened her by saying, like, if you say a word to anybody or do anything, you will be right beside her. So Lynn freak the F out. She just wants to get. She wants to get out of there, but he, like, won't let her out of. Out of his sight. Eventually, though, he ends up calling her a cab. He gave her a hundred bucks so she could buy drugs and liquor and then told her that he would pick her up the next day. When this originally happened, it messed Lynn up. Like, she ended up fleeing the area. She went off the radar for a bit, and she was. She was. She was gone. But finally she wanted to come forward and report her experience. And this was like, great. This is exactly what they needed, right? Well, unfortunately, something happened. Personally, I think Lynn was threatened by someone because she ended up going back and recanting her statement, saying that she made it up. No, the Mounties, I guess they did question Robert, but, like, he didn't say a peep. And without Lynn's statement, they had nothing. And once again, like, they were back at square one.
Sponsor Representative
Managing money can feel like a full time job. You know, you should be taking control, but every time you check your accounts.
Bailey Sarian
It'S like, oh, what?
Sponsor Representative
Forgotten subscriptions, surprise charges, confusing bills. You're like, wait, what?
Bailey Sarian
What happened?
Sponsor Representative
Well, that's where Roc Money comes in. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. With Rocket Money, you can automatically create custom budgets based on your past spending and even set savings goals. Plus, you get alerts if your bills increase or unusual activity pops up. I use Rocket Money and honestly, it's changed the way I do my budgeting. It helps relieve the stress of wondering what's going in and out of my accounts every month. Seeing my subscriptions and bills in one place helps me stay on track financially. Rocket Money has saved users over $2.5 billion, including over 880 million in canceled subscriptions alone. Their 10 million members save up to $740 a year when they use all of the app's premium features. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com/Makeup. Today, that's RocketMoney.comMakeup RocketMoney.comMakeup.
Bailey Sarian
In 2001, Robert still doing his thing at the farm, working with his butcher partner, Pat. And at times, he would be working with his brother Dave, like with his business, I guess. A year earlier in the year 2000, the Piggy Palace Good Times Society, they had lost like their non profit status and they were formally disbanded for failing to file required financial statements. So they had a shutdown. So like with this loss of income from the parties or whatever the f they were doing, Robert, Dave and their sister Linda ended up selling more of the farmland and they invested in rental properties. Well over in Vancouver, the police department, they were making no progress. They were very high and mighty telling everyone there was no serial killer in the area. Like, shut up, you guys, get over it. But the public, they didn't believe them. They did not believe them. That internal team called Project Amelia, they completed their case review saying that there were now 4:45 missing sex workers from the low track area. So like the number was growing or someone just wasn't being honest about the number. Either way, 45 women. So naturally our favorite journalist Lindsay Kynes put out another article about the missing women and like actually giving a full number based off of that report. Court and the public again put more and more pressure on the Vancouver police to do something. So the police decided to actually invest more resources into the investigations and started to work with other departments and agencies. Finally, so the Vancouver Police Department, they ended up interviewing 130 sex workers in the area. And they asked the, the women like, hey, have you ever had a bad date experience? Or like a John, a man who just really scared, scared them. You know, they were looking for a pattern, a name that was repeated over and over again. And throughout the interviews, Robert's name did not really come up. But you know whose name John did come up? His brother Dave. Isn't that weird? Yeah. And it wasn't just like one time. It was a handful of times. You know what's even more weird? They kept getting the name Dave Pickton. And you know what's the most weirdest thing of all? He was never brought in for questioning. That we know of now. Tell me what that's about. Now it was said that this is what like got the picked and name on the their radar again. But I could sit here forever going like this because why wasn't Dave brought in? Just a little weird, isn't it? Anyway, so the picked name is on their radar again. So in late 2001, once again, police finally like got the like information that they needed. Solid information on Robert Pickton, a former employee who like, I guess, yeah, who worked on the farm for Robert. He shared with the police that he, Robert, had several unregistered and illegal firearms on his property. And with this Information, police were finally able to get a search warrant for the farm. I know, because I was like, so it wasn't the other allegations and stuff that was mentioned. It was the firearms. But okay, fine. Like, it's movement. It's movement. But at least now they got their in. They finally got a warrant. While filing the warrant request, the investigator from Port Coquitlam PD, they saw a note on Robert's file saying to contact Vancouver police if anything came up. Yeah. So this little note and all that connected all the investigating police departments for the very first time, because this entire time, they were not talking to each other. These departments, because Vancouver had their own police port court. They had their own police New Westminster. What the Mounties. Like, they. None of them were talking to each other. I know. Very frustrating. So on February 5, 2002, police were finally able to search Robert Picking's farm. Thank God. So he was arrested. Did I mention that? Well, he was arrested. Okay. So he was taken away. Now they're able to, like, search his farm. Mind you, it's huge property. So they look in his trailer and they see, you know, this is where he had been, like, living majority of the time. They found handcuffs, zip ties, a paper that had, like, a list of women's names on it. They found women's clothing, purses, illegal guns, sex toys. And based off the images I saw, I was like, it was dirty. Never seen a duster before. Like, that place. Never been dusted. And then they found a very questionable item. It was a Weston.22 revolver. Okay. With a curved plastic dildo covering the barrel. I was like, what? Robert said he used it as a silencer. Yeah. I was like, points for creativity, I guess. Oh, God, my nasty brain. And maybe your nasty brain went there, too. I was thinking, did he insert it and then shoot it? I don't know. I don't. Anyhow, so also, in Robert's trailer, police found an inhaler. And this inhaler belonged to a woman named Serena who had just recently disappeared from Vancouver. Now, this discovery was, like, the missing link that allowed the Vancouver police to now join the search at the Pickton Farms for their own investigation. So again, Robert was arrested, and he was being charged with storing a firearm, possession of a firearm without a license, and possession of a loaded, restricted firearm without a license. And I was like, yay. Finally. But don't get too excited, because literally, like, the next afternoon, Robert was released on bail. Yeah. Remember this family, the Picton family? They actually had money. Yeah. They act like trash, but they had. They had the cash. And they bailed his ass out. So they bailed him out. And Robert was not allowed back at the farm because now it was considered a crime scene. So he ended up staying with his brother Dave, which was just like, right down the road. Now, I guess, like police. For police, searching the Picton farm was very difficult and taxing. Now at this point, it was 17 acres. There were live animals that still needed to be cared for. And I guess there were like a bunch of dead animals all over the property. So the task force, they like, used heavy machinery to. I tried to like, explain it in a way that made sense, but they pretty much like teared up the ground. Then they ran the dirt through, like a huge conveyor belt and screening machine, sifting for any trace of evidence that they could find. But it was a lot. It was a lot of work. Police collected a lot of DNA from Robert's trailer and just all around the property. Now, it wasn't just like, female DNA. No. Oh, no. They found about like 40 male DNA samples as well. There's a lot of shit going on. Now, there was one specific DNA sample that led to Robert's rearrest. So on February 22, this was 17 days after his initial arrest, Police found DNA in his trailer from a woman who again, had recently disappeared. Remember, they found that inhaler from a missing woman. But finding DNA was like the concrete proof that they needed. Cuz, an. An inhaler, they can be like, well, you know, maybe she left it here or whatever. But DNA, blood, something like that, you know, they arrest Robert that day, and they put him in like a holding cell. Okay. But the police, they knew he's a tricky man, a quiet man, slick man. And police needed to get some kind of confession out of him. So they put Robert in a jail cell. And in the same cell, they brought in an undercover cop acting as an inmate. Now, his job, the undercover cop, was to strike up a conversation with Robert and like, get him talking, bond a little bit, you know, in hopes to get like, a confession. Meanwhile, their whole interaction was being recorded. So after some shooting, the shit kind of talk, you know, for several hours, Robert started to open up, like, bragging about his crimes. Oh, yes. So on the hidden recording, Robert admitted to killing 49 women and said his only regret was that he didn't make it to 50. Mm. Mm. The task force continued to search the farm. So when they were searching, they found human bones, flesh, hair, teeth, skin, nails. That's not all. They found body parts in some of the farm freezers where the pork was stored and several heads that had been sawed in half. Yeah, I don't know what they were doing. I don't know. Even more disturbing, kind of. Yeah, yeah, all of it's disturbing. The police found three bags full of ground meat that had human remains mixed into it. Yeah, I know. Was he selling it? Did he eat it? Was he eating it? Did his partner, Butcher Pat, know about this? Was he involved? I had so many questions. So many questions. There was also evidence that some pigs on the farm may have consumed human remains. Given that the bodies. The bodies that they found were, like, left in the areas where the pigs ate their food, and rumor has it pigs eat anything. I thought pigs were picky. And they are not. They will eat you right up. Now, unfortunately, some of the DNA samples didn't provide enough evidence to be added to, like, his charge list. But in the end, though, Robert was charged with 27 counts of first degree murder. His dumbass pled not guilty to all counts. He's like, it was the pigs, wasn't me. So he's sitting in jail waiting, and like, five years go by. Finally his trial starts. It's in January of 2007. So this time they were able to bring in some key witnesses. His ex girlfriend, Lynn, remember her? Who saw the body in the barn. And also his partner, Butcher Pat. Now, get this. Both of them, Lynn and Pat, they were both a rock. Originally arrested for their involvement with the murders as well. But both of them took plea deals and testified against Robert. I know. I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So were they involved and they were just taking the plea deal? What? What? But most of all, I was like, what about Dave, though? Where's Dave? Or Linda, the sister? I don't know if she was involved or anything, but, like, something's going on, right? So in court, it came out that over 80 different DNA samples were discovered, like, at the. At the. At the scene. Including some DNA from the rubber boots collected from Robert's fight with Wendy, his sole survivor. Yeah, remember I told you that would come in handy? Robert's defense lawyers claimed that the farm was like a. A beehive of activity that other persons, unknown and known, use Robert's place to kill the women without him being involved. And that would explain why there was so much DNA found at the farm, both male and female. His defense also said that, you know, Robert's intelligence, very low, so his confession was just made up, and that he was just trying to impress his cellmate. Robert's Team, they, you know, cross examined Lynn and they questioned, like, why she took her. Her statement, her original statement back when she first shared it with the Mounties. And they're giving her a hard time about that. And Lynn told the court, like, that she feared for her life. But now that Robert had been arrested, she felt safe telling the story or sharing her experience, and she was sticking with it. So on December 9, 2007, Mr. Robert Pickton, he was found guilty of six counts of second degree murder, even though he was charged with six counts of first degree murder. I know. I was like, wait, what? Huh? Huh? Why? Second? See, in Canada, the difference between, like, first degree and second degree murder comes down to how much planning was involved. First degree is like premeditated, carefully planned out, while second degree is more spontaneous, more like a crime of opportunity. Regardless, Robert received a sentence of 25 years to life. About down time. Look, in 2010, Robert's lawyers, they felt that his conviction was the result of an unfair trial. And they filed for an appeal. It went to the Supreme Court of Canada, and they were like, no, dude. They ruled that the conviction still stood. There was a lot more, like, nitty gritty detail there. But, like, at the end of the day, everything stood still or still stood. You get it now? Once the trial was over, the Vancouver Police Department, they had problems among their own because an investigation was opened regarding their handling of this entire case. I mean, obviously they freaking blew it, right? How they handled everything. The lieutenant governor and council ordered an inquiry. And in 2012, when the report was done and they realized that the police department seriously dropped the first freaking ball, it led to 63 recommendations for improvement to ensure this never happens again. Have they applied these 63 recommendations since then? I hope so. But, you know, let's be real here. I don't know. I want to think, yes, but, you know, hopefully. So where are they now? Well, Robert was kept in a maximum security prison. And just last year, In May of 2024, yeah, I was like, what? He was attacked by another inmate, left him in a coma. And then Robert Pickton, he died on May 30, 2024. Wow. His brother, Dave. I was looking at you, Dave. I was looking at you Googling you, trying to find out everything I could about you, because something ain't right with you, Dave. Dave, in my personal opinion, literally got away with everything. Is still living and working in the greater Vancouver area, running a demolition business. His sister Linda. Remember Linda? Yes. Not much is known about her, obviously. She really seemed to, like, stay out of Everything. I just get a. Don't, don't you get a little like feeling? I don't know, maybe it's just me after all of this though. So after Robert was convicted and everything, Linda and Dave, they actually sued the city and the police for not receiving money to repair damages made to the, the farm during their search. I was like, get the, over it. They also in the end like sold off most of the farm and now there are homes and commercial properties on the land. I did a little Google street view and I was like, cute little house on an area where there were bodies and stuff. Okay, that's fine though. So some of the families of the victims, they actually banded together to sue the city, provincial and federal governments as well as the RCMP and Vancouver police, plus Robert's siblings. The families believe that the siblings had to know what Robert was doing. They just felt they had to know. But without any like physical proof, the siblings, they were dropped from the lawsuit. But you know, all the government and the police and all that, they still were being sued and the case ended up settling and the victims, their families did receive compensation. It doesn't bring the victims back but you know, it's a small like accountability win I guess. I don't know. In a wild turn of events, Robert's ex girlfriend Lynn, who testified against him in court, well she ended up getting convicted and like sentenced to 12 month suspension for threatening her boss and her boss's family on like numerous occasions in October of 2022. And the only reason I bring that up is because there was rumors that Lynn was involved with the situation that was going down on Robert's farm. But also because during this situation she left a voicemail to her target saying, quote, you know what, you stupid bitch, we're going to raise pigs. And you, you're going to be the first one I feed to the pigs. You got it? End quote. And that to me was like, oh shit, was she, was she, was she? You know what I'm saying? Anywho, that my friends, is the story of Robert Pickton. I'm just now realizing everyone knows him as Willie and I've been calling him Robert this whole time. So if you're confused there, sorry about that. But yeah, anyways, my thoughts here, look, listen, and this is all my personal thoughts. I personally feel like Robert did not work alone. There was lots of male DNA found on the property. Yes, they held lots of parties and that piggy palace or whatever. So yeah, there would be a lot of DNA there in general. But like there was Male, like blood found on some of the objects. I just think a lot more people were involved. And Robert did not work alone, in my opinion. More people had to know what was going on. I think people were doing bad things knowing that they could, they could go to the Pickton farm and easily get rid of people or have Robert get rid of people. Like there was some kind of deal going on like that. Do you know what I'm saying? Some people say that Dave, the brother, he was like a member of the Hell's Angel. So what if in my imaginative brain, like, what if the Hell's Angels were like, hey, I need you to get rid of a guy, you know? And Dave's like, oh, yeah, I got a farm. Like, don't worry, Robert will take care of it, Willie. Or whatever. I'm saying, like a deal like that. Again, Dave was named by sex workers as being aggressive and scary that he would intimidate people if they spoke up about things going on, Things the farm. He threatened to like, rape people, get rid of people. I searched high and low as to why Dave wasn't brought in for questioning by police, like, at all. So this made me think that the off duty police, you know, the police officers, the city officials that hung out at the farm and the higher ups, they were all protecting his ass because if he got arrested, he was going to rat on everyone. I would bet money. That's probably why he wasn't brought in, because he was. Dave was probably like, oh, you want to arrest me? Well, I'll name all you bitches and you're all going to come down with me in my. In my opinion. Thank you. Just have to make that clear. Plus, Dave had that demolition company. You don't think he could hide bodies? I bet you there are bodies under those houses that they built on the property. I bet you there are bodies everywhere. Who knows? Plus, another thing I was thinking about was, remember Robert was slower. You know, maybe like, maybe Dave just. I'm not saying Robert was like a good person and didn't do anything bad. He did bad things. Okay. But maybe Dave also was taking advantage of that a little bit. I don't know. Let's say Dave was like, he killed someone in. In my fake story. And then he would go to Robert and be like, hey, I need you to handle this. Thanks. Get rid of this. You know, I don't know, something about this whole story made me feel like Robert was the go to guy to like, handle things. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, you go to him and he'd be like, handle it. And then he would. He was still a bad guy doing his own, like, shitty stuff too. But I don't think it was just him. And then plus having the Hell's Angels on your side, I bet the Pictons felt like they were untouchable and they kind of were. And then obviously if the police departments actually did their job and cared about missing the missing women in general, you know, maybe, just maybe, a lot of the disappearances could have been prevented. Not even maybe. Probably. I was over here naive I guess, thinking that police in Canada, they're probably so much better and actually like do their job. But in the end I'm like, they're all the same. The story of Robert Pickton is an awful reminder of how many systems failed the victims long before he ever laid a hand on them. And how the most vulnerable are often the easiest to overlook. And at the end of the day, they all deserved better. And something bigger is going on too. Thank you guys so much for hanging out with me today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. You make good choices, be safe out there and I'll be seeing you guys later. Goodbye.
Rocket Money Advertiser
Think about the last time you had a cancel subscription. There's probably some waiting on hold, some guessing at your password, some mind numbing small talk, and maybe after all that, you still weren't able to cancel it. Good news, it doesn't have to be this way. Thanks to Rocket Money, Rocket Money tracks, manages, and can cancel your subscriptions for you. When you connect your accounts, you'll see a complete picture of all your reoccurring subscriptions all in one place. Rocket Money organizes your subscriptions by due date and notifies you when something's coming up so you'll never be caught off guard when you get charged. If you see a subscription you want to cancel, Rocket Money simplifies the process. Instead of waiting on hold for an hour, you can cancel it right from the app. Rocket Money will even try to get you a refund for the money you spent on subscriptions you forgot about. Stop wasting your time trying to cancel subscriptions the hard way. Make your life easier and go to rocketmoney.com cancel. That's rocketmoney. Com cancel. Or download the app from the Apple app or Google Play stores.
Murder, Mystery & Makeup
Host: Bailey Sarian
Date: December 2, 2025
This episode, hosted by Bailey Sarian, explores the infamous case of Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton—also known as the Pig Farmer Killer. Bailey walks listeners through Pickton’s upbringing, the horrific crimes committed on his pig farm outside Vancouver, the failures of police and local agencies, the broader social context, and lingering suspicions about additional, uncharged accomplices and victims. With her trademark blend of true crime depth and candid commentary, Bailey questions whether Pickton really acted alone or if a darker conspiracy lurked beneath the surface.
On police inaction:
“There was this unspoken rule amongst the police departments, you know, that sex workers and lower class people were disposable. And it was suggested to not waste resources on them. Allegedly. But I’m sure we believe that, because they did nothing.” (33:30)
On Pickton’s confession:
“On the hidden recording, Robert admitted to killing 49 women and said his only regret was that he didn’t make it to 50.” (58:55)
On the aftermath:
“An awful reminder of how many systems failed the victims long before he ever laid a hand on them. And how the most vulnerable are often the easiest to overlook. And at the end of the day, they all deserved better.” (69:00)
On her suspicions:
“I personally feel like Robert did not work alone...I just think a lot more people were involved. And Robert did not work alone, in my opinion. More people had to know what was going on.” (66:00)
About Dave Pickton:
"...in my personal opinion, literally got away with everything. Is still living and working in the greater Vancouver area, running a demolition business." (68:00)
The Piggy Palace parties:
“The Piggy palace really seemed to be the place to go to do like illegal and questionable activities. But regardless or because of this, it was very popular. So popular that off-duty cops and city officials were regular attendees at the Piggy Palace.” (19:40)
Bailey Sarian maintains her signature blend of dark humor, candid asides, deep empathy for victims, and critical analysis of both the criminal and systemic failures. She’s conversational—“I don’t know, maybe call the police... Just a thought. I don’t know, but what do I know?” (07:00)—but never loses sight of the seriousness of the crimes and the suffering endured.
Recommended for listeners interested in: Not only true crime and the darkest depths of criminal psychology, but also the often-ignored intersections of power, privilege, and systemic failure that enable such crimes to go undetected for years.