First published Nov 16. 2005 on Pulse 24
Wendy Babcock doesn’t work the streets for the Homicide Squad — she’s a sex trade worker — but when she hears the disturbing particulars regarding an unidentified woman’s dismembered body being scattered throughout the city, she seems to piece things together like a veteran detective.
Babcock believes the victim could be a sex trade worker victimized at the hands of a roaming serial killer.
“Well, I pretty much assumed it was a sex worker in the neighbourhood because of the amount of days that have gone by and the fact that nobody has claimed the body yet,” she reasons.
Her peers in the dangerous trade have a similar hunch.
“Whenever anything like this happens there’s definitely a fear,” she admits. “There’s no description of this guy so nobody knows if they’re going to see him again or not.”
The woman’s torso was found Saturday in a dead end lane. Her leg was found Friday at a waste transfer station.
Police haven’t determined her I.D., or whether she was indeed a sex trade worker. They’re doing tests to determine if in fact she was murdered or died another way and was then dismembered.
In the meantime, Wendy and other sex trade workers fear for the worst.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re going to be going through what Edmonton or what B.C. just went through,” she said, referring to the infamous pig farm killings.
“The only time it’s ever been taken seriously is when one of us has to pay with our life.”