The B.C. Supreme Court just handed down a ruling that feels like a door slamming shut on decades of trauma. Justice Fritz Verhoeven officially gave the RCMP the green light to dispose of roughly 15,000 pieces of evidence seized from Robert Pickton’s pig farm. For the families of the women who never came home from Port Coquitlam, it’s a gut punch. It’s not just about old clothes or rusted tools. It’s about the lingering hope that somewhere in that mountain of "property" lies the key to the 20 stayed murder charges or the identities of those still listed as Jane Does.
Justice Verhoeven was clear in his assessment. He argued that the civil claims filed by the victims' children won't be hurt by getting rid of these items. He praised the RCMP’s process as "painstaking, careful, and thorough." But if you’re one of the families who’s been waiting since the early 2000s for a shred of accountability, "thorough" is a hard word to swallow.
The Reality of the 15,000 Items
Most people think "evidence" means a smoking gun or a bloody shirt. In a case this massive—the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history—it’s much messier. We're talking about approximately 15,000 items. Only a tiny fraction of these were ever actually used in the 2007 trial where Pickton was convicted for six murders.
The RCMP has been pushing for this for years. Their logic is technical: they aren't legally allowed to keep property forever. They’ve spent the last few years trying to return items to rightful owners, but much of it remains unclaimed or is simply junk. The problem is that "junk" to a forensic technician might be the last link to a missing person for a grieving mother.
Why Families are Fighting the Disposal
Advocacy groups like Justice for Girls aren't just being difficult. They’re pointing to a systemic failure. When Pickton’s 20 other first-degree murder charges were stayed in 2010, the Crown’s reasoning was that he was already serving the maximum sentence. Life is life, right?
But for the families of those 20 women, that wasn't justice. It was a technicality that left their stories unfinished. They argue that as DNA technology evolves, items deemed "irrelevant" in 2007 could be goldmines in 2026. Look at how many cold cases are being cracked now with genetic genealogy. By destroying these items, the court is essentially saying that the cost of storage outweighs the potential for future truth.
The Legal Threshold vs. Moral Duty
Justice Verhoeven’s ruling focused heavily on the civil lawsuits against Robert and David Pickton. The plaintiffs—children of the victims—wanted the evidence preserved to prove that David Pickton knew, or should have known, what was happening on that farm.
The court didn't buy it. The ruling states that the civil claims can proceed without the physical exhibits. While that might be true in a strictly legal sense, it ignores the symbolic weight of this evidence. Sue Brown from Justice for Girls put it bluntly: this is part of a larger picture of the justice system failing marginalized and Indigenous women.
What Actually Happens Now
The disposal isn't going to happen overnight. The process involves:
- Repatriation: Trying one last time to return personal belongings to families.
- Documentation: Ensuring digital records of the items exist, though families argue a photo isn't the same as the physical object for DNA testing.
- Destruction: The eventual physical disposal of items that can't be returned or aren't deemed "evidence" for future use.
The RCMP claims they’ve "captured and retained" all relevant evidence for future prosecutions. But who defines "relevant"? That’s the question that keeps the families awake.
The Double Standard in B.C. Justice
There’s a growing sentiment that if these victims were from a different zip code or a different demographic, the "storage space" argument would never be used. The Downtown Eastside has always been treated differently by the law. This ruling reinforces the idea that once a case is "closed enough" for the books, the details—and the people they represent—become a logistics problem to be solved.
Honestly, it’s hard to see this as anything other than a move to bury a dark chapter of B.C. history once and for all. Robert Pickton is dead, killed in prison last year. With him gone, and now the evidence being cleared out, the physical traces of the pig farm horrors are being erased.
If you’re following this case, the next step is watching how the civil trials against the Pickton estate and David Pickton proceed. Those trials are the last remaining avenue for any kind of public disclosure. Demand transparency from your local representatives regarding how evidence for unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous women is handled. The law might say the property can go, but the responsibility to find the truth doesn't have an expiration date.
