Canadian serial killer Robert Pickton – who was convicted of killing six women and confessed to killing dozens more – died after being attacked earlier this month by another inmate, prison authorities said.
Pickton is one of the most notorious serial killers in Canadian history, bringing his victims to his pig farm and feeding their remains to his animals.
The 74-year-old had been serving a life sentence at Port-Cartier Institution in Canada’s Quebec province after being convicted for six counts of second-degree murder in 2007.
He sustained injuries from an assault involving another inmate on May 19 and died in hospital Friday, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) said.
Pickton’s next of kin has been notified and registered victims have also been contacted, CSC added, who said an investigation was underway.
At least 65 women disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighborhood in British Colombia province between 1978 and 2001 before Pickton was arrested.
Pickton had been operating a pig farm in the nearby city of Port Coquitlam, where police found the remains of 33 women.
However, Pickton confessed to murdering 49 women when talking to an undercover police officer in a jail cell.
The case became the largest serial killer investigation in Canada’s history and Pickton’s pig farm became the largest crime scene in Canadian history, with investigators taking 200,000 DNA samples.
Many of his victims were indigenous women, with police accused of not taking their cases seriously as many of those missing were prostitutes or drug addicts.
In its release, CSC said, “We are mindful that this offender’s case has had a devastating impact on communities in British Columbia and across the country, including Indigenous peoples, victims and their families. Our thoughts are with them.”
The news brought mixed emotions to the families of Pickton’s victims.
Cynthia Cardinal, whose sister Georgina Papin was murdered by Pickton, told Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail that she was “really happy,” but noted that she was “really sad” some families did not have their cases heard in court.
Michele Pineault, the mother of Stephanie Lane, who was killed at age 20 but whose death Pickton was not charged for, told the newspaper that she was “elated” by the death of “this animal” as “there was no justice” for her daughter.
In 2016, a book allegedly written by Pickton and smuggled out of prison was published and offered for sale on Amazon but was quickly withdrawn following a public backlash.