On profiling a serial killer

In a video, The Mark interviewed journalist Stevie Cameron to discuss her new book about Robert Pickton, Canada’s most prolific serial killer.

The writing process took eight years, and can only be published now that the publication ban surrounding the details of the trial has now been lifted. On The Farm: Robert William Pickton and the Tragic Story of Vancouver’s Missing Women is now available via download or in hardcover.

Of the book, Cameron tells The Mark, “This is the whole story from beginning to end – I didn’t know it would take me to 2010.” It was painful to hear the stories from the families of the victims, she says. “The only time I really felt a sense of grief was at the end of the trial, when the jury came up with a second degree murder verdict. Which was obviously unbelievable to all of us. The jury foreman stood up and wept. There was a holdout in the jury that wouldn’t go for first degree, and they’d been locked up for two weeks. . . Everybody walked out of there in tears. It was the first time I remember just falling apart.”

The Mark also includes an excerpt from On the Farm.