By Katherine Ramsland
(Continued)
Finally, forensic chemist Tony Fung testified that a substance found in a syringe that came from Pickton's office was methanol, commonly used in windshield wiper fluid. CanWest News Service indicated that an acquaintance of Pickton's had mentioned his statement about using this type of fluid to kill drug addicts. However, no methanol had shown up in tests on the remains of the victims in question. Traces of cocaine were found in all the tissue samples, along with methadone and diazepam (valium), but toxicologist Heather Dinn declined to state that the concentration of drugs had been fatal.
Anthropologists took the stand to describe the examination of tens of thousands of bone fragments from a pile, most of which proved to be from animals, but a few of which were human. Specifically, they found several human toe, heel and rib bones.
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| Pig Farm Arial View |
During the second week of May, the forensic stage briefly gave way to the "human face," with no challenge from the defense.
The Victims
On May 10, after 78 witnesses had taken the stand, the jury learned how Brenda Wolfe, the mother of two, had asked for government assistance for food because she'd spent what little money she had to make a good Christmas for her kids. Reporter Greg Joyce described the 24-page booklet composed for the court about the victims and said that Pickton seemed to read this record along with the Crown's attorney, John Ahern. Known movements of each victim were mapped through pharmacy and medical records, police contacts and welfare requests. But it was dry data compared with what was to come.
Elaine Allen, employed at Women's Information Safe House (WISH) drop-in center, had known five of the six victims and told the jury what she knew about them: how Andrea spoke softly and Georgina Papin was charming and outspoken; how the opinionated Sereena was often beat up and showed numerous tracks from drug use, while Mona had a demanding boyfriend who sent her out to make money. Andrea, she said, had been the best behaved client she'd ever had, being both polite and aware of the needs of others. They often spoke quietly about her difficult life.
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