Family members and a police officer directly involved in the Robert Pickton murder investigation were quick on Sunday to denounce a just-released book by the convicted serial killer.
The 144-page paperback book, called Pickton: In His Own Words is for sale on Amazon.ca for $20.71.
It was published by Outskirts Press on Jan. 29.
According to CTV News, Pickton wrote the book in his maximum security cell at Agassiz’s Kent Institution but because his correspondence is monitored closely, he passed the manuscript onto another inmate who then sent it to a friend in California named Michael Chilldres, who published it with his name on the cover.
Ernie Crey, whose sister Dawn Crey’s DNA was found at Pickton’s Port Coquitlam pig farm, said the book is just one more slap on the face to people who lost a family member to Pickton. “I am deeply troubled by it and so are the other families who had a loved one a victim of Robert Pickton,” Crey said of the book.
Pickton was charged in 2007 with killing 26 women from a list of 69 who went missing, though he allegedly bragged about killing 49.
He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for the murders of six women between 1997 and 2001.
In the book — which references biblical passages, is full of spelling mistakes and has transcripts of his interviews with police — Pickton says he is innocent of the murders, and says the RCMP made him the fall guy for the deaths.
Crey said he doesn’t even like talking about the book.
“He has had a pretrial hearing and a trial and his conviction was upheld on appeal,” he said. “We know his story and we’re not interested in reading a book where he looks for sympathy.
“I have no interest in buying or reading the book and hope no one else buys it and reads it,” he added.
Former Vancouver police officer Lori Shenher, who worked on the investigation and then wrote her own book on the botched police handling of the case, posted about the book on her blog.
“My initial inclination when I first heard of this book was not to dignify its existence with a response,” she wrote. “However, I’ve been asked for my reaction several times, so here it is. Someone needs to speak in defence of the victims’ loved ones.”
“I haven’t read any of this book, nor do I intend to in the interest of my own mental health,” Shenher wrote. “I do know that in the fewer than 24 hours I have been aware of it, family members of this man’s victims have reached out to me and in the media expressing deep pain and hurt. ... These are anguished people who have bee through absolute hell for so many years.
“In the interest of common decency, I hope people simply ignore this work and decline to give this man a soapbox.”
