Serial killer Robert Pickton's memoir had a brief shelf life on Amazon's site but quickly gained widespread condemnation.
The 144-page book Pickton: In His Own Words was reportedly written by the man who is serving a life sentence for murdering six women on his Port Coquitlam pig farm between 1997 and 2001. He was initially charged in 2007 with killing 26 women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and confessed to an undercover police officer that he had murdered 49 women, but close to 70 were reported missing.
He is said to have passed the handwritten book to a former cellmate, who gave it to a friend — a retired construction worker living in California named Michael Chilldres — who had the book typed up and published, and whose name appears on the cover.
By Monday afternoon the book had been pulled from Amazon.ca's shelves, but The Tri-City News had not received official confirmation from the online retailer that it would remain so, or what specific policies led to that decision. The book was published by Outskirts Press in late January.
"It is deeply disturbing to hear that a book about Robert Pickton's story is being sold," said B.C.'s solicitor general Mike Morris in a statement. "It is not right that a person who has caused so much harm and hurt so many people could profit from his behaviour."
Speaking to media before question period Monday afternoon, Morris said he is in contact with Corrections Canada to determine how Pickton was able to smuggle the manuscript out of prison, adding he'd be looking to see how B.C.'s proceeds of crime legislation could apply to this case.
"There's no way, as long as I'm [Solicitor General], that anybody is going to make a nickel off Robert Pickton's file," Morris said. It's unclear, however, how B.C. legislation would apply in the U.S.
A petition at Change.org urging Amazon to stop selling the book had about 9,000 supporters on Monday morning; that quickly spiked to nearly 41,000 by early afternoon.
"In honour of all the families who were affected by the horrible crimes of this predator, who were denied agency in his 'trial' and how are still going through their healing process, Amazon needs to refuse to sell Pickton: In His Own Words on its website," the petition reads.
The book is said to include Biblical passages and claims Pickton's innocence in the crimes.
