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Petti Fong

Police link prostitutes' murders
Vancouver police are investigating whether a man arrested over the  deaths of two prostitutes is a serial killer responsible for several more unsolved  murders.
The arrest of Davey Mato Butorac, 29, comes just  a month after Robert Pickton was convicted and sentenced on six counts of second-degree murder.  Pickton's victims - who are suspected to number much higher - were also chosen from the city's sex workers.
Murder investigators are looking at the possibility that a third body is linked to Butorac.  Different police agencies in a large  area stretching from Vancouver to the Fraser Valley  are now investigating  whether Butorac  may be connected to other unsolved  murders.
Butorac, who neighbours say was clean-cut, friendly and willing to help out anyone with car trouble, lived  with his father in Aldergrove, a  suburb  45 minutes east of Vancouver.
He was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder  after the bodies of two women  were found in separate municipalities.
The first,  of 46-year-old Gwendolyn Jo Lawton of Abbotsford, was discovered last March off the side of a gravel road.
Four months later, in July, employees at a concrete plant in Langley found the body of local resident Sheryl Lynn Koroll, 50,  a 20-minute drive  from where  Lawton's body was found.
Both women  worked in the sex trade  outside  the downtown Vancouver district.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Dale Carr, with the Integrated Homicide Team, said investigators were also looking at whether Butorac was connected  to a third  murder.
The body of Margaret Redford, 47, was found in May 2006 lying face down alongside a creek near Butorac's home  in Aldergrove.  Redford also worked in the  sex trade.
'These were women involved in substance abuse, and that caused them to turn to the sex trade to fuel that  abuse, which then put them in a high-risk,  vulnerable position,' said Corporal Carr, referring to Lawton and Koroll. 'Both of the victims were preyed upon because the killer saw an opportunity to take advantage of their vulnerable lifestyles.'
Investigators initially were tailing Butorac as a suspect only in the death of Koroll - but after seizing his vehicle, officers found evidence linking him to  Lawton's death.
Police began watching Butorac on December 19, but at that time lacked  enough evidence to charge him.
'Knowing that we had a possibility of a serial killer, the investigators launched into safety mode and began conducting round-the-clock surveillance on our suspect,'  Corporal Carr said.
Butorac was arrested on December 29 in Langley, but ordered released the next day after crown counsel again found there was not enough evidence to keep him in  custody or charge him. He was again arrested on January 4 and charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
'We're looking at him strongly for other homicides, I can't get into the evidence we have gathered,' said Corporal Carr.
The suspect made a brief appearance in court  this week and was denied bail.
Butorac's arrest has  rekindled fears among sex  workers who lived for years under  Pickton's shadow.
This week, prosecutors in the Pickton case announced they were appealing against his conviction on six counts of second-degree murder.  They had requested first-degree charges.
The Port Coquitlam pig farmer  was originally charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder, but a trial judge  separated the cases and only heard six counts. The other 20 counts  are to be heard  this year.
Pickton's lawyers are also filing an appeal and asking for a new trial.



Second serial killer suspected in Vancouver