Accused serial killer Robert Pickton told a friend there were several bodies on his pig farm, then suggested they both commit suicide, the woman testified Tuesday.

Robert Pickton's friend, Gina Houston, told the jury that he suggested in February 2002 that they kill themselves.
(CBC)

Gina Houston was testifying at Pickton's murder trial in New Westminster, B.C., after a week-long break for the Crown and defence to make legal arguments without the jury.

Houston, 39, told the court about her close relationship with Pickton at his Port Coquitlam farm — a place where she said she used drugs and learned to butcher pigs. It's also the place where pathologists discovered the remains of women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

A nervous Pickton discussed committing suicide with her during a conversation while they were sitting in his car two days before he was arrested in February, 2002, Houston testified.

She said Pickton told her that the two of them "had a decision to make" and that there was "only one way out."

The Crown asked Houston if he suggested a double suicide.

"Yes," she replied.

Houston then said Pickton told her: "It doesn't matter what angle you look at. … it always comes back to me."

Mentioned 'hanging ourselves'

Police had taken over the Pickton property by that time; he was arrested and charged with two murders on Feb. 22, 2002.

Houston testified that in the car, she and Pickton talked about a phone conversation they had had in November or December of the previous year, during which she heard a woman in the background.

She said she asked Pickton if the woman was still on the farm and he said she was. He told her the woman was in the piggery and that there were five or six other bodies there.

She said he mentioned something about a rope, or a truck or "hanging ourselves."

Pickton has been charged in the deaths of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Marnie Frey and Georgina Papin, all women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside between 1997 and 2001.

Pickton is accused in the deaths of 26 women in total. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Another trial on 20 other counts will be held later.

Recalls Pickton as good friend

Houston told the jury that she met Pickton in the early 1990s but got to know him well around 1996 or 1997.

She said she used to visit the Pickton farm with her three kids and considered Pickton a good friend, but told the court it was not a sexual relationship.

When Pickton first entered the courtroom he seemed to spend a lot of time looking at Houston in the witness box.

While she testified he mostly looked down and wrote notes, handing at least three notes to his lawyers during the morning testimony.

With files from the Canadian Press