One of Canada’s most notorious serial killers, whose arrest made international headlines and brought the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women in this country into the collective consciousness, has died.
After 11 days on life-support and being placed in a medically induced coma by doctors at a Quebec hospital, Robert Pickton died on Friday, according to a release from Correctional Service Canada.
The 74-year-old suffered fatal wounds during an assault by another prisoner at Port-Cartier Institution in Quebec on May 19. He was reportedly speared by another prisoner in an unprovoked attack with a broom, although authorities have not confirmed details of the assault.
His alleged attacker, a 51-year-old prisoner who has not been publicly identified, remains in custody. As of Friday, he had not been charged.
“It probably won’t happen for several weeks because there’s no hurry to do that because he’s already in jail,” said Sgt. Hugues Beaulieu, a spokesperson for the Sûreté du Québec.
“We will finish our investigation, and then we will give it to the Crown prosecutor and then they will charge him.”
Beaulieu said the inmate was in isolation after the attack, but confirmed he is now out.
Authorities had also been waiting to see if Pickton would recover from the wounds he sustained. Prison staff were not involved in the assault and Federal Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc said following the attack that Correctional Service Canada would be conducting its own investigation. Inquiries are usually held when an inmate dies in custody, but the findings are often not made public.
