Woman connected to serial killer Willy Pickton sentenced for uttering threats

WARNING: This story contains graphic details related to the case of Robert William "Willy" Pickton, who was convicted of murder in 2007, as well as graphic, offensive language. 

Lynn Ellingsen, who testified at the trial of Robert William "Willy" Pickton in 2007, has been sentenced for uttering threats to her former employer, including one that specifically referred to feeding the focus of her threats to pigs, a troubling reference to the Pickton case.

Ellingsen was given a 12-month suspended sentence, along with conditions at a sentencing hearing in an Abbotsford Provincial Court room on Friday.

Ellingsen appeared as a witness for crown prosecutors in Pickton's trial, describing gruesome details of her experience with Pickton, which included living at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, B.C., performing odd jobs for him, doing drugs there, and on one occasion, driving around with the serial killer to find a sex worker.

She testified that she later saw the sex worker dead in Pickton's barn, where he slaughtered pigs.

On Friday, the court heard that among the threats Ellingsen sent her then-boss at a traffic control company was one that directly referred to her connection to the serial killer.

"You know what you stupid bitch we're going to raise pigs and you — you're going to be the first one I feed to the pigs, you got it?" Ellingsen said in a voicemail sent to Sampson in March 2020.

Investigators ultimately found the remains or DNA of 33 woman at Pickton's pig farm. He was convicted of murdering six women, and charged in the deaths of 20 more — however, those additional charges were later stayed.

The court heard on Friday how Ellingsen had worked for the traffic control company B.C. Road Safe for five years leading up to the incident.

Very early one morning in March 2020, she began texting her former boss and company owner, Tammy Sampson, apparently upset over having lost a shift.

An exchange followed, in which Ellingsen's messages became abusive and vulgar, as Sampson told her to stop and return a company truck.

The court heard that Ellingsen continued to send angry and threatening texts, saying she had driven the truck into the Chilliwack River, and that she had planted drugs in it and called the police.

She told Sampson she had paid people to collect her money, an apparent reference to her final pay cheque, after Sampson told her she had been fired.

"You should go to sleep eyes wide open," was one of the threats that evening, along with "I paid to have my money collected at your home."