Convicted serial killer Clifford Olson is dying of cancer and has just days to live, say families whose children died at his hands.
The mother of one of Olson's 11 young victims, Sharon Rosenfeldt, told CTV News that the cancer has spread through his body and it is just a matter of time before he passes away.
"I was just informed yesterday that Olson is on his deathbed," she said.
Rosenfeldt said Corrections Canada informed her that the 71-year-old has been moved to a hospital in Quebec.
"My son summed it up the best. He said, ‘With Clifford Olson, when he dies, it will not bring Daryn back, but he won't be able to hurt us again,'" she said.
Olson's ex-wife Joan told CTV News that she hadn't heard about Olson's illness.
"I don't have any feelings towards him at all," she said. "The parents won't have to worry about him anymore, will they?"
Olson is serving 11 consecutive life sentences after being convicted in 1982 of killing eight girls and three boys in British Columbia – including Rosendfeldt's son Daryn, who was raped and murdered.
Olson was eligible for parole after 25 years, although that request has never been granted.
Last November, Olsen said that he would never apply for parole again after his request was denied by the National Parole Board.
Blood money
Olson, once dubbed "the Beast of B.C." in media reports, pleaded guilty to the murders, which occurred in and around the Vancouver area in 1981.
The admission followed a deal that paid Olson $100,000 to lead police to the remains of his young victims. The case -- especially the blood-money payoff -- sparked a storm of controversy that engulfed senior B.C. justice authorities.
Because the trial was aborted, much of the evidence surrounding the murders and the police investigation was never disclosed.
"Mr. Olson presents a high risk and a psychopathic risk," National Parole Board panel member Jacques Letendre said at Olson's parole hearing in 2006.
"He is a sexual sadist and a narcissist. If released, he will kill again."
Olson's victims, killed over an eight-month period between Nov. 17, 1980 and July 30, 1981, were boys and girls between the ages of 13 and 17.
They didn't fit the profile of troubled youth who may have run away from home. They disappeared without a trace, gripping Vancouver and its suburbs in terror. Police were under tremendous pressure to solve the disappearances.
Olson had been a suspect for weeks. He was arrested Aug. 12, 1981, on Vancouver Island after a surveillance team spotted him picking up two young hitchhikers.
Olson faced 10 first-degree murder counts as his trial began Jan. 14, 1982. But it had barely begun when he reversed his not guilty plea, admitted to 11 killings and was sentenced to life with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
With files from The Canadian Press
