VANCOUVER – An RCMP officer in charge investigating Robert Pickton told the missing women inquiry the case was dormant for months and she didn’t know they were dealing with a serial killer.
Mounties were investigating tips that Pickton killed a sex worker on his property in Port Coquitlam, B.C., at the same time that Vancouver police were investigating reports of missing women.
Ruth Chapman, a constable whose surname was Yurkiw at the time, took over the RCMP‘s Pickton investigation in late August 1999.
Chapman told the inquiry police ran out of leads investigating a tip that Pickton may have killed a sex worker, and she acknowledged she went weeks and months at a time without touching the Pickton file.
When she took over from Cpl. Mike Connor, who was transferred because of a promotion, she wasn’t given a detailed briefing about the case and says she didn’t realize she was dealing with a potential serial killer.
Chapman spoke to Pickton in January 2000 in what has been criticized as a botched interview, but she told the inquiry the case didn’t meet the RCMP’s criteria to use trained interrogators.
Related posts:
Views: 0