A Canadian pig farmer was convicted on Sunday of the serial killings of six women whose bodies were butchered like animals in his farm's slaughterhouse.
But the jury convicted Robert "Willie" Pickton of a lesser charge of second degree murder, not the first degree murder charge he originally faced. The verdict still carries a sentence of life in prison, but the lesser charge could make it easier to get parole. He will be sentenced today.
Mr Pickton stood impassively in the court as the verdict was read. Relatives of the victims initially yelled "No! No!" when the jury said he was not guilty of first degree murder, but then hugged each other in joy outside the court room.
Mr Pickton is accused of killing 26 Vancouver prostitutes, and prosecutors say they are preparing for a second trial to deal with the remaining 20 murder charges.
Mr Pickton, 58, lured the women to his farm in the Vancouver suburb of Port Coquitlam with money and drugs, killed them, and cut up the bodies and disposed of the remains using the pigs and a rendering plant.
Investigators found human remains on the farm, including severed skulls and feet. A woman who lived briefly in Pickton's trailer testified she saw him cutting up a body in the middle of the night.
Jurors also viewed a taped jailhouse conversation in which Pickton told an undercover officer after his February 2002 arrest that he had killed 49 women and planned to make it 50.
Mr Pickton's legal defense team argued the human remains did not prove he was the killer and that police ignored other suspects. Pickton did not testify during the trial and rarely showed emotion.
The jury's failure to convict Mr Pickton of first degree murder meant it did not agree with prosecutors that he planned the murders in advance.
Jurors began their deliberations on November 30 after hearing some 10 months of testimony and legal arguments. Sunday marked the first anniversary of their being picked to hear the case.
The victims were among nearly 70 women who disappeared from the poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside neighborhood of the Pacific Coast city from the late 1980s until late 2001.
Activists complained in the 1990s that sex trade workers were disappearing, but Vancouver police said there was no evidence of a serial killer. A police task force was formed in April 2001 to investigate the cases of the missing women. Mr Pickton was arrested in February 2002.
Investigators spent 20 months digging up Mr Pickton's farm where he kept a few pigs and salvaged vehicles.
The land and collapsing buildings were what remained of a larger family property being sold off for housing development.
The trial painted a dark picture of life at the farm where Mr Pickton - who did not drink or use drugs - befriended a stream of drug addicts, petty thieves and prostitutes.
Relatives and friends of women placed 26 candles in the shape of a heart on the sidewalk outside the court. Many cried as a song was played in honour of the victims.
Rick Frey, whose daughter Marnie disappeared in 1997 and was one of the women Pickton was convicted of killing, said he could not understand why the jury did not convict him on first degree murder given the number of victims.
"But saying that, it is important that we did have six convictions," said Mr Frey, who eventually wants a public inquiry into whether police in the 1990s ignored evidence a serial killer was at work.
Lead defence attorney Peter Ritchie said it was too early to say if there would be an appeal. "It's been a long journey," Dr Ritchie said.
Prosecutors said a final decision on if and when to hold a second trial will be made after review of court rulings in this trial. Whether the defense files an appeal on the six convictions could also affect the decision.
Canadian law does not allow consecutive life sentences so the amount of time Mr Pickton could spend in prison will not increase with any additional convictions. Canada has abolished the death penalty.
World's most deadly serial killers
Following is a list of some of the world's most notorious serial killers in recent history:
Alexander Pichushkin, Russia. Nicknamed the "Chessboard murderer", he was sentenced in October to life in prison for killing 48 people. The supermarket worker said he felt like God as he decided whether his victims should live or die, and hoped to put a coin on every square of a 64-square chessboard for each of his victims.
Pedro Alonso Lopez, Colombia. Nicknamed the "Monster of the Andes", he was suspected of killing 300 people in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. He was convicted in 1980 on 57 charges.
Harold Shipman, Britain. The Manchester, England, doctor was sentenced to 15 life terms for murdering elderly and middle-aged female patients between March 1995 and July 1998. A final report in 2005 said the so-called "Dr Death" probably killed 250 people in all, starting when he began practicing medicine. Shipman committed suicide in January 2004.
Hu Wanlin, China. Arrested in January 1999 on suspicion of causing the deaths of 146 people. A self-proclaimed healer and an ex-convict, he called himself a doctor with magical healing powers. It is unclear how he caused the deaths.
Luis Alfredo Gavarito, Colombia. In 1999, he confessed to the murders of 140 people.
Donald Henry Gaskins, US. Executed in 1991 for a series of murders, he likely killed more than 100 people.
Javed Iqbal, Pakistan. Iqbal was sentenced to death in 2000 for murdering and mutilating 100 children.
Henry Lee Lucas, US. He was sentenced to death for the 1979 murder of an unidentified hitchhiker. In the 1980s, he admitted to hundreds of killings but later recanted and his death sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Delfina & Maria De Jesus Gonzales, Mexico. Owners of a brothel, the sisters were sentenced to 40 years in prison in 1964 for killing 80 women and at least 11 men.
Andrei Chikatilo, Russia. Known as the "Rostov Ripper", Chikatilo was convicted of 52 murders in 1992, having confessed to 55 and "possibly more".
Anatoly Onoprienko, Ukraine. During a five-year reign of terror up to 1996, Onoprienko killed 52 people. He was sentenced to death in 1999.
Gary Leon Ridgway, US. A former truck painter, he was dubbed the "Green River Killer" for the location where he dumped several bodies. He killed 48 prostitutes, runaways and drug addicts during a murder spree that stunned the Seattle area. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2003 after agreeing to help police find the bodies.
Theodore "Ted" Bundy, US. Bundy admitted to killing 36 young women and was also linked to murders in the states of Washington, Oregon, Utah and Colorado. He once bragged he killed at least 100 women and was executed in 1989.
John Wayne Gacy, US. Arrested in 1978, he killed 33 young men and boys, burying most of their bodies in a crawl space beneath his house. Executed in May 1994.
Jeffrey Dahmer, US. Sentenced to several life terms in 1992 for the murders of 17 young men and boys in a 13-year rampage of dismemberment and cannibalism. He was killed in prison in November 1994.