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The seven-man, five-woman jury in the Robert Pickton trial continued deliberating Sunday, while friends and family of the victims waited anxiously for a verdict.

Steven Ricketts was the boyfriend of Marnie Frey, one of the women Pickton is accused of killing. Her jawbone was found on Pickton's farm.

Ricketts felt too overcome with despair to attend the trial, or even speak publicly about his murdered girlfriend.

"I just blocked it out for so many years because I don't think one wants to really accept something like this is going to happen to someone you know and care about," he told Â鶹ӰÊÓ.

It was the daughter he had with Frey, 15-year-old Brittany Frey, who finally convinced him to come to the courthouse and wait for the jury's decision.

"My concern is my daughter, and as long as she's going to be OK, I'll be there to supporter her, and that's all that matters to me," he said.

The jury must wade through the testimony of 128 witnesses who took the stand during the 10-month trial and come to a decision on the fate of Pickton, a former B.C. pig farmer.

The jury began meeting Friday night, deliberating for about four hours before adjourning.

Sue Sgambati, a reporter with Court TV Canada, told Â鶹ӰÊÓnet on Saturday she expected the jurors to spend some long days coming to a decision.

"This jury doesn't go home," she said from New Westminster.

"They stay in a hotel, they're not allowed to talk to family or friends and they can't read or watch any media reports or Internet reports of the case, so it's a long haul. Twelve hours is a long day but that's the schedule right now."

She said Justice James Williams on Friday urged the panel to take its time coming to a decision.

"He urged the jurors to keep an open mind and not an empty head, listen to each other, talk to each other and I'm paraphrasing, but basically don't rush to this decision just to get out of here," Sgambati said.

She added that Friday was a difficult day for the families associated with the case.

"Yesterday was a very emotional day for them. They are on the brink of this very important decision," she said.

Pickton has pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside over a period of years.

A further 20 counts of first-degree murder against him will be dealt with at a later date.

For four days, Justice Williams provided jurors a road map of sorts to help them come to a unanimous decision.

Williams told the jury they have choices when it comes to the verdict -- if members feel the evidence isn't enough to convict of first-degree murder, they can convict on lesser charges for each, or all, of the six counts.

Williams also advised the jury:

• Pickton should be found guilty of manslaughter if they only conclude he killed the women.
• It would jump to second-degree murder if they decide he meant to cause their deaths.
• If the jurors find the act was planned and deliberate, they can convict him of first-degree murder.
• Williams said jurors can find Pickton guilty even if they think other people took part -- a significant instruction because defence lawyers singled out three other people they alleged were behind the murders instead of Pickton.

On the Crown's three key witnesses, the judge told the jury they can choose to believe all, part or none of what they said.

Lynn Ellingsen testified she saw a bloody Pickton standing next to a woman's body hanging from a chain. But the judge reminded jurors she also admitted to being high on drugs at the time.

Scott Chub said the accused told him how to kill with a syringe full of window washer fluid. The prosecution called a forensic investigator to say a syringe with washer fluid was found on the Pickton property.

Andy Bellwood swore Pickton said he strangled women after sex and handcuffed them. He then allegedly said he fed the bodies to pigs.

The defence dismissed some of the witnesses as lying drug addicts.

Williams also urged the panel to listen again to 22 hours of videotaped conversations between Pickton and police officers.

At one point, Pickton tells an investigator: "You're making me more of a mass killer than I am." He went on to say he was caught after killing 49 women and wanted to one more but got sloppy -- a statement which the Crown alleges amounts to a confession.

The defence insisted Pickton was too dim to know better, and simply repeated what police had said.

Williams said if the jury considers that the videotape shows an admission of responsibility then they can use it in deciding the Crown has proven its case. But if they do not feel the Crown has proven its case beyond a doubt that Pickton killed the women, Williams said the jury is obliged to rule non-guilty.