What followed were headlines about the massive forensic investigation and 26 murder charges against Robert William Pickton.

Far from the headlines have been the stories of the dead women. Twenty-six women who lived on and disappeared from the streets of Canada’s most dismal inner-city neighbourhood – Vancouver’s bleak Downtown Eastside. Twenty-six missing lives.

In the five years since the Pickton pig farm made national headlines, the memories of the women have faded even further from the public spotlight. When mentioned, they are usually referred to only as “drug addicts” or “street prostitutes.” They are often only numbers – 26 victims, their names seldom used in news reports. All of the stories behind the names have never been told. Until now.

The Canadian Press, Canada’s independent news agency, felt those stories needed to be told. Six reporters from across the country spent hundreds of hours researching details not previously reported. The result is Missing Lives: profiles on each of the 26 women.

Missing Lives reveals the 26 women as daughters, sisters, mothers: troubled souls whose lives touched others in lasting ways.