Sign up for email updates from The Crime and Investigation Network
<-%news_tpl%->
Relentless: Lynn Frey
Coming Soon
After her drug-addicted stepdaughter disappeared, housewife Lynn Frey walked the dangerous streets of Vancouver tracking down clues that would eventually lead her to the worst serial killer in Canada’s history.
Lynn Frey knew something was wrong when her 24-year-old step-daughter, Marnie, stopped calling home. Even though Marnie was a drug addict who lived on the streets of Vancouver, she still kept almost daily contact with Lynn until August of 1997. After weeks passed with no calls, a frantic Lynn went to police, but they were of little help.
Refusing to stand idly by, Lynn decided to look for Marnie herself. She traveled to Vancouver and began walking the dangerous streets of the city’s “low track” neighbourhood. She talked to anyone who would listen and showed prostitutes and drug addicts her daughter’s picture, hoping someone had seen Marnie. Curiously, Lynn discovered a network of other people searching for their missing daughters, sisters, and friends.
Over time, she began hearing bizarre stories about a pig farm outside of town, and a frightening man named “Willy.” Lynn went to the police, who wrote it off as a story told by drug-addicted prostitutes. But by then, Lynn and others were attracting media attention. Reporters began checking the stories and discovered that more than 30 women had been reported missing from Vancouver’s eastside since 1984.
Police tried to downplay talk of a serial killer but, by 2002, they could no longer avoid the growing number of missing women. As Lynn and other concerned families continued to pressure the cops, Canadian authorities finally formed a task force. Their ensuing investigation led them to Robert 'Willy' Pickton’s pig farm, the same one Lynn had tipped them off to months earlier. A search of the farm turned up human remains, including those of Lynn Frey’s step-daughter, Marnie.
In December 2007, Pickton was convicted of the second-degree murders of six women. He is also charged in the deaths of an additional twenty women. He was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Lynn Frey knew something was wrong when her 24-year-old step-daughter, Marnie, stopped calling home. Even though Marnie was a drug addict who lived on the streets of Vancouver, she still kept almost daily contact with Lynn until August of 1997. After weeks passed with no calls, a frantic Lynn went to police, but they were of little help.
Refusing to stand idly by, Lynn decided to look for Marnie herself. She traveled to Vancouver and began walking the dangerous streets of the city’s “low track” neighbourhood. She talked to anyone who would listen and showed prostitutes and drug addicts her daughter’s picture, hoping someone had seen Marnie. Curiously, Lynn discovered a network of other people searching for their missing daughters, sisters, and friends.
Over time, she began hearing bizarre stories about a pig farm outside of town, and a frightening man named “Willy.” Lynn went to the police, who wrote it off as a story told by drug-addicted prostitutes. But by then, Lynn and others were attracting media attention. Reporters began checking the stories and discovered that more than 30 women had been reported missing from Vancouver’s eastside since 1984.
Police tried to downplay talk of a serial killer but, by 2002, they could no longer avoid the growing number of missing women. As Lynn and other concerned families continued to pressure the cops, Canadian authorities finally formed a task force. Their ensuing investigation led them to Robert 'Willy' Pickton’s pig farm, the same one Lynn had tipped them off to months earlier. A search of the farm turned up human remains, including those of Lynn Frey’s step-daughter, Marnie.
In December 2007, Pickton was convicted of the second-degree murders of six women. He is also charged in the deaths of an additional twenty women. He was sentenced to life in prison, with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Relentless: Susan Goreck
coming soon
