4 Indigenous Women Slain by Alleged Serial Killer But Cops Won't Search for the Bodies

Winnipeg police believe a serial killer murdered four Indigenous women in the Canadian city, but say they won’t search for the remains of at least two of the women, believed to be at a landfill north of the city. 

“The circumstances combined with the safety hazard formed the basis of a difficult decision not to go forward with the search at Prairie Green (landfill),” Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth told reporters on Tuesday. 

The decision has been met with criticism, including from family members of the victims. 

“I feel very wronged and I am so heartbroken,” Cambria Harris, the daughter of Morgan Harris, one of the victims, told reporters in Ottawa this week. “Time and time again, our Indigenous women and brothers and sisters have to come here and we have to shout and we have to raise our voices, begging for change and begging for justice for our people.”

“I should not have to come here and be so mad and beg and beg, so that you will find and bring our loved ones home,” Cambria added. “My mother didn't pass away with a home so let’s pay her the respect that she deserves by finally giving her one that's not a resting place at the Prairie Green landfill.”

The investigation into alleged serial killer Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki, 35, dates back to May 16, when Winnipeg police found the partial remains of 24-year-old Rebecca Contois, a member of Crane River First Nation, in Winnipeg, according to a police press release. Two days later, officers arrested and charged Skibicki with one count of first-degree murder. 

Last week, police charged Skibicki with three more counts of first-degree murder. All of the charges are yet to be proved in court, and his lawyer said he will not plead guilty during the trial in the new year. 

Skibicki also has a history of domestic violence, with two exes, both identifying as Indigenous, saying he threatened to kill them, CBC reported after obtaining court documents. He was convicted in 2015 of physically assaulting his ex while she was pregnant. 

In addition to Contois, victims include Marcedes Myran, a 26-year old member of Long Plain First Nation and 39-year-old Harris, also of Long Plain First Nation. A fourth victim is yet to be identified. Police believe the unidentified victim wore a reversible Baby Phat jacket and are asking members of the public to come forward if they have any information. Community members have started referring to the victim as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, CBC reported.

Police suspect the victims were murdered between March and May of this year. 

In the summer, Contois’ partial remains were discovered in Winnipeg’s Brady Landfill—a separate landfill from Prairie Green. According to police, Prairie Green is a harder site to search in part because garbage there is compacted and buried, unlike at Brady. 

“This is not how we wanted it to end, and my heart goes out to the families expecting and hoping for a different outcome,” Smyth said at the news conference in Winnipeg earlier this week. “We acknowledge that a lot of people are angry, and we're doing our best to bring justice for the families.”

Winnipeg police did not offer any updates when contacted by VICE News, but passed along links to previous news conferences.

The tragic killings come amid an ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous peoples across North America, and an already record-breaking year for homicides in Winnipeg, the capital city of the province of Manitoba, where nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of the population is Indigenous. Winnipeg itself has the largest urban Indigenous population of any Canadian city.

The latest murders have reiterated long-standing frustrations that Indigenous people and their allies have with the lack of action as Indigenous women and girls continue to be targeted

“We have to come here over and over again for these tragic events,” Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee told reporters on Monday.

A nationwide inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls produced a final report, published in 2019—and Indigenous leaders say it holds the answers to solving the crisis. Indeed, it includes 231 calls to action. 

“Sit down with us; let’s work on this together,” Settee said. “We have the solutions but we don’t have the resources and if they want us to do the job for them we will – just give us the resources. We’ll do it.”