B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton has died in hospital after being assaulted by an inmate earlier this month, Correctional Service Canada (CSC) announced May 31.
A statement said he suffered injuries from the May 19 assault, which involved another inmate at Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec.
Pickton had been serving an indeterminate sentence, which started Dec. 11, 2007, for six counts of second-degree murder.
He had been charged with murdering 26 women.
In a jail cell conversation, he told an undercover police officer that he had killed 49 people. He was planning to kill one more and then take a break before continuing. Pickton said he got caught because he got sloppy by the time he was arrested, for the last time, in February 2002.
He was convicted in December 2007 in the killings of Marnie Frey, Mona Wilson, Georgina Papin, Andrea Joesbury, Sereena Abotsway and Brenda Ann Wolfe.
“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,” says a CSC spokesperson.
“Our thoughts are with them.”
Pickton was 74 years old when he died.
“The inmate’s next of kin have been notified,” said CSC. “We have also contacted registered victims, in accordance with their specified notification preferences.”
An investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances surrounding the assault. CSC says the investigation will also identify any recommendations or corrective measures.
Quebec provincial police spokesman Frédéric Deshaies says Pickton died "in the last few hours" and that the 51-year-old suspect is in custody.
You can read more on the Pickton case in this long-form story.