B.C. police seek more DNA data

Associated Press

PORT COQUITLAM, British Columbia — Police have requested new DNA samples from at least one family among relatives of 50 missing women since a search of a suburban pig farm began last week, a newspaper reports.

Erin McGrath and Doreen Hanna, the sister and mother of Leigh Miner, who disappeared in 1993 from downtown Vancouver, have provided DNA samples to police in the past but were contacted again after the farm search began, The Province newspaper reported Tuesday.

"Both my mother and I willingly provided DNA samples to the police in January, but then on Friday the RCMP called again, saying that they would like to obtain a DNA sample from Leigh’s daughter," McGrath said. Police got the sample.

Vancouver police detective Scott Driemel said he couldn’t comment on why police went back to Miner’s family.

"We’re going to be having regular meetings with the families, but we can’t tell them anything about the investigation because we know that it may just find its way into the media, and we can’t do anything to jeopardize our investigation," he said.

Dr. Dean Hildebrand, B.C. Institute of Technology’s coordinator of forensic science technology, said police may be seeking "the best evidence possible" by asking for DNA from both the mother and the offspring of a possible victim.

Meanwhile, a tent was being erected outside the farm as a gathering place for relatives of the missing women, even though police searching the property have not publicly connected it yet to any of the disappearances.

The decision was made after members of the joint Royal Canadian Mounted Police-Vancouver police task force met with some family members, RCMP Constable Cate Galliford said Tuesday.

"It’s understandable they need to be here near the shrine that’s being built," she said.

More than 80 police investigators, including 40 forensic specialists, have been combing through farm buildings, junked cars, mounds of dirt and other material on the 10-acre property in this Vancouver suburb.

A task force is investigating the disappearances of 50 sex trade workers who have vanished since 1983.

No evidence has been publicly disclosed — though unconfirmed news reports said police found identification and a woman’s asthma inhaler at the site.

The farm is owned by three people, including brothers David and Robert Pickton. Police filed weapons charges against Robert Pickton last Thursday related to alleged illegal possession of an unregistered pistol.

Meanwhile, the manager of a Vancouver rendering plant said Tuesday the Pickton farm hsd regularly delivered pig entrails to his plant for the last 20 years. Humphry Koch of West Coast Reduction said police made inquiries but have not asked for records of deliveries from the farm.

"We have no reason to surmise that any of the product delivered to our plant from the farm in question has been anything but pig material," West Coast officials said in a statement.