"Swineherd Killer" vs. a transgender detective: the story of the capture of Canada's most terrible maniac

In the 90s, the outskirts of Vancouver, Canada, turned into one of the most dangerous places in North America. A bloodthirsty maniac who feeds his victims to pigs has been operating with impunity under the noses of the police for more than 10 years. The only detective who managed to figure out the psychopath was a female police officer who changed her gender. Finding the killer became a matter of honor for her.

In the late winter of 2002, the Royal Vancouver Mounted Police had a lot to do. The crime rate in the city and the surrounding area has always been high, but the usual robberies, drunken stabbings and heroin trafficking were added to the hassle of missing priestesses of love. Several girls who worked on the streets disappeared one by one, and the Missing persons department asked officers to be especially attentive during regular raids on hot spots.

On that winter day, the police decided to check the pig farm of Robert William Picton, located 35 km east of Vancouver. This place, which occupied 10 acres of forested wasteland, was considered remote, wild and dangerous. The main focus of crime here was the Piggy's Palace bar ("Piggy's Palace"), located right on the farm in a one-story building similar to a barn.

Robert William Pinkton on his farm

Bikers, suspicious tramps and local alcoholics gathered in a dubious institution, so the officers certainly decided to look there. The purpose of the visit was to search for unregistered weapons, to which the bar regulars had a special predilection.

Having thoroughly checked the guests of the Piggy Palace and still fished out a couple of unofficial barrels from behind the bar from Robert Picton and his brother, the police were about to bow out, but an unexpected find changed everything. One of the officers, loitering around the farm, accidentally found a brand-new asthma inhaler in the mud, on which the owner's name was emblazoned.

The inhaler that belonged to the victim

This find became possible only because the end of winter was snowless and the object was lying in plain sight, in the mud. After examining the find more closely, the policeman immediately realized that his mistress was unlikely to have come to the Picton farm on her own. The owner of the farm himself completely denied his involvement in the appearance of a medical device on his territory and, in principle, his presence there was not a crime. Robert and his brother had already been interrogated in the case of the disappearance of prostitutes, so they had nothing to show.

This time, the police left the farm with a good catch — the owner of the farm, red-haired Bob Picton, was shaking and brawling in the back seat of one of the cars. The rest was already a matter of technique. Police experts with dogs and special sensors examined every centimeter of the pig farm and the result of their searches were several dozen pieces of female corpses at different stages of decomposition, soiled in mud and pig manure.

A search of the Pinkton farm. Photo from a police helicopter

In addition, many individual parts of human bodies were found, stored in the farm's refrigerators mixed with pork. The remains of human flesh and blood were everywhere — on the floor and walls, on cutting tables and axes, and even in meat grinders, in the form of minced meat.

In total, we managed to "collect" three dozen female bodies and many scattered fragments. Journalists immediately gave Pinkton the nickname "Swineherd Killer" and recognized him as the bloodiest maniac in Canada, or even the whole of North America.

The criminologist at the Pinkton farm

One of the Vancouver detectives who was most actively involved in the case of missing prostitutes was Lorraine Schencher. The woman came to work for the police at the age of 27 and asked herself to work "in the field". Tall and physically strong, she immediately plunged into the gloomy world of the slums of Vancouver and began to work productively.

Once Lorraine was almost stabbed by a raging drug addict, and a little later local gangsters tried to kidnap her, threatening her with a gun. In general, Detective Schencher was considered a real expert of the Vancouver "bottom" in all its glory. The woman was outraged by the sexism and violence prevailing in the slums, but it was useless to fight it.

Detective Schencher before and after the sex change

The first prostitutes began to disappear in the days when Lorraine Schencher was absent from work. The reason was more than valid — the detective changed her gender. After a course of hormone therapy, a new, but well-known employee, Lorimer Schencher, appeared at the police department. The officer headed the missing persons department of the Vancouver police and immediately became actively involved in the work.

In July 1998, when Schenkher had already assumed his duties in a male guise, 17 prostitutes were listed as missing. The investigation went on without much enthusiasm — the police did not show any zeal to search for the disappeared antisocial elements, most of whom used drugs.

The police department usually gave a standard answer to journalists ' questions — the search is underway, but most likely the girls are just hanging out somewhere and will soon find themselves. Already at that time there were suggestions that a maniac was operating in Vancouver and the surrounding area, but since no bodies were found, no one was going to move.

Photos of missing prostitutes from the Vancouver Police Archive

Lorimer Schencher got down to business with a twinkle. At the time of his assumption of office, the last missing person was Sarah de Vris, who was on heavy drugs. The prostitute kept a diary, in which the investigators found an interesting entry.

The girl wrote these lines in 1995, almost three years before her disappearance. Since her remains were not found, detectives assumed that Pinkton passed Sarah's body through a meat grinder and fed it to his pigs.

The case of the missing prostitutes moved forward just two days after the appointment of Shenher as the head of the department. An anonymous person called him and recommended that he take a closer look at the owner of the Pinkton pig farm. The well-wisher said that the drunk farmer boasted that he, with his meat-processing equipment, could help get rid of the corpse to any of his friends. The voice also reported that women's clothes were repeatedly seen on Robert's farm.

Lorimer Schoenherr

Lorimer did not jump to conclusions, but looked into the police computer database to find out a little more about the owner of the pig farm. As it turned out, once one of the prostitutes reported to the police that Pinkton forcibly kept her on the farm. There was also a mention of a fight with a knife. Since the girl turned out to be a drug addict and did not give the impression of being adequate, her testimony in court was not taken into account and the farmer got away with it.

But Schencher did not forget about the call and began to look for opportunities to spin the case around a suspicious pig farmer. He found out that among the visitors of the "Piggy Palace" there were prostitutes who came there to entertain bikers. Using old connections among prostitutes, the detective learned from one woman that the things of the missing girls were seen in the bar.

But this also could not be a reason for a search — the volunteer assistant flatly refused to declare something officially and openly help the police. But it was another clue and a reason to move in this direction. Schencher asked the management to allow the introduction of an agent-a girl working undercover in Pinkton's den, but he was refused.

Maybe then Lorimer regretted that he had turned into a man too soon. But the perseverance of the officer still yielded some results — Robert Pinkton's farm was monitored. Police officers spent three days with binoculars watching the bar and Pinkton's farm, but they saw absolutely nothing interesting. The surveillance was removed and the hope of finding a clue again began to fade before our eyes.

But Shenher still did not give up — he got permission to create a special group to investigate the missing girls and began to gradually move towards his goal. One of the informants reported that a certain Lynn Ellingsen was helping Pinkton look for prostitutes for bikers from the Piggy Palace. The same person said that Lynn herself secretly told him that she had seen a woman's body hanging on a hook in one of the refrigerators.

Lorimer asked the Vancouver Mounted Police, who were responsible for the area where the farm was located, to question Ellingsen and Pinkton himself. The interrogation was conducted, but it did not bring results. Moreover, the owner of the farm himself suggested that the police search the farm. Pinkton was so open and convincing that the police did not even consider it necessary to take advantage of the invitation and gave up on the search.

Murder weapons and physical evidence found on the farm

By the end of 2000, the officer began to suffer from severe headaches. Desperate, Schencher filed a transfer report to another department, wishing to remain in the case with the missing prostitutes only as a consultant. In 2001, the Vancouver police nevertheless mobilized and began to actively investigate the disappearance of prostitutes.

Detectives compiled a list of potential criminals, in the middle of which Lorimer was surprised to see his main suspect. An accident during a raid in 2002 helped to catch the killer, and the rest was already a matter of technique.

The case of the "Swineherd Killer" had the effect of an exploding bomb. Journalists besieged the Vancouver police department, demanding to explain how a maniac managed to kill women with impunity for more than 10 years and feed them to pigs. The more the press learned about the details of the high-profile case, the paler the police looked in the eyes of Vancouver residents.

Pinkton in court

People who wanted to kill the scoundrel gathered under the windows of the police department, the court and the prison where the detainee was. Once even an Indian shaman appeared in the crowd in his full attire — one of the dead girls was a representative of a local tribe. The sorcerer performed a ritual, cursing Pinkton.

When the investigation was completed ,the" Swineherd Killer " was charged with 27 murders. Lynn Ellingsen, who had every chance to go to jail as an accomplice, made a deal with the investigation and became the main witness for the prosecution.

Pinkton Farm, which lost its owner

Outraged relatives of the victims disagreed with this outcome and the lawsuits around Pinkton continue to this day. The killer himself is serving his life sentence in prison and is diligently scribbling one appeal after another, demanding the cancellation of the sentence, the return of his honest name and the payment of $ 10 million in compensation.

But the "Swineherd Killer" will no longer be released. It is also necessary to mention the fact that a police officer, who was planted as a cellmate to Pinkton, said that in a private conversation the maniac told that he had 49 victims on his account and he planned to stop at 50.

Pinkton in his prison cell

By the way, the story of the maniac from the farm had an impact on cinema. Stories about feeding corpses to pigs became very popular in the cinema in the early 2000s. In 2013, the Pinkton case formed the basis of a theatrical production of Pig Girls, psychopathic and strange, like the case of the "Swineherd Killer"itself. It is strange, but maniacs in movies and performances, although they do not cause sympathy, are always more attractive than their prototypes.