Eight more missing women in Vancouver

CANADIAN police have added eight names to a list of women missing from Vancouver’s tough downtown eastside, raising the total to 69.

Police also said they have found DNA samples from 30 possible murder victims at a Vancouver area pig farm owned by a man alleged to be Canada’s worst serial killer.

Robert Pickton, 54, is charged with 15 counts of first-degree murder connected to some of the missing women. The government has said it expects to add another seven counts before he goes on trial next year.

Pickton has been in custody since his arrest in February 2002, when police descended on his farm.

Vancouver police sergeant Sheila Sullivan said investigators have 30 DNA samples, including evidence corresponding to the 22 counts Pickton is expected to face. There was no immediate indication that charges would be filed in the other eight samples.