The prosecution's star witness in the Robert William Pickton murder case fought back tears under cross-examination Tuesday, a day after she testified in hazy detail about seeing a dead prostitute hanging in Pickton's pig slaughterhouse.

A confessed crack cocaine addict, Lynn Ellingsen, 37, admitted in B.C.'s New Westminster Supreme Court that her years of drug abuse have taken a toll on her memory. But she insisted the addictive drugs do not cause hallucinations.

Lynn Ellingsen, 37, told the B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday that her years of drug abuse have taken a toll on her memory.
(Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

"Dates and times don't mean anything to me," she said Tuesday, her voice breaking, as defence lawyer Richard Brooks continued to pepper her with questions, at times raising his voice.

Ellingsen, 37, is considered a key prosecution witness because she is the first person since the trial began five months ago to directly link Pickton to a body.

The defence is expected in the coming days to try to discredit her, suggesting that her 16-year drug habit makes her an unreliable witness.

Most of the cross-examination from Brooks on Tuesday focused on Ellingsen's relationship with the RCMP officers involved in the murder investigation. Brooks asked if Ellingsen went out regularly for meals with the investigating officers.

Several times, Ellingsen asked Brooks to repeat questions and later became flustered, requesting a 10-minute break so she could gather her thoughts.

Struggles to remember officers' names

Ellingsen, who has given 16 recorded statements about the Pickton case since 1999, was also unable to name some of the police officers she dealt with.

She told the court Monday that she lived and worked odd jobs on Pickton's Port Coquitlam farm for a few months, after being introduced to Pickton by a friend. She could not recall when she and Pickton decided one night to drive into Vancouver in search of a prostitute to take back to the farm.

Pickton, according to her testimony Monday, took the sex-trade worker to one room while Ellingsen went to her room to get high. Crying, she described being awoken by a loud noise and light coming from the barn where Pickton slaughtered pigs. She said she walked to the barn next door to look.

"I saw this body. It was hanging," she said Monday. "Willy pulled me inside, behind the door. Walked me over to the table. Made me look. Told me if I was to say anything, I'd be right beside her."

'Lots of blood and … black hair'

Ellingsen told the court that the woman hanging in the barn was the prostitute the pair had picked up earlier that night. She said she did not look at the woman's face, but identified her by her long mane of black hair.

"This woman that we had picked up — at my eye level was where her feet, like her legs were. I seen red toe nail polish," she said. "On this big shiny table, I don't know what it was, but it was lots of blood and uh, hair, black hair."

Ellingsen said that after Pickton threatened her, he put her in a cab and sent her to get drugs. She said she stayed with a friend and left the Lower Mainland out of fear, only returning to the farm once to retrieve some belongings.

Pickton faces 26 counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Six of the charges are being handled at the current trial, which began in January, while the other 20 charges are expected to be dealt with at a subsequent trial.