Police found DNA lead but no match for unidentified victim of Winnipeg serial killer, trial hears
Jeremy Skibicki, 37, is charged with 4 counts of 1st-degree murder in 2022 killings
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
A shred of DNA from the cuff of a jacket is the only real clue investigators ever found in their efforts to identify the lone unknown victim of an admitted serial killer in Winnipeg, court heard during the man's trial on Thursday.
That female DNA profile was identified on a black-and-white Baby Phat-brand jacket that Jeremy Skibicki told police he took from the woman after he killed her in 2022, then sold on Facebook Marketplace.
No other items believed to be related to the woman were ever found during the police search of Skibicki's apartment and nearby garbage bins, following the discovery of partial remains of another of his victims in a North Kildonan dumpster, Winnipeg Police Service Const. Jan de Vries testified during the second day of the accused's murder trial.
"The point is that DNA profile has never been identified to this day," Crown attorney Christian Vanderhooft said.
"That is correct," de Vries replied, adding that despite attempts to find people for comparison with the DNA sample, police have still not been able to figure out whose it is.
He said the sample is now in the police crime scene database — meaning if the DNA of someone found at a crime scene ever matches with the sample, officers will then be able to follow up.
Photos of the jacket where the sample was found were among the only details about the woman police released to the public after Skibicki was charged in 2022.
He has admitted to killing the unknown woman, whom community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe (or Buffalo Woman), as well as three First Nations women: Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26.
Contois was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River, located on the western shore of Lake Manitoba. Harris and Myran were both members of Long Plain First Nation in south central Manitoba. Police have said they believe Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe was also Indigenous and in her 20s.
Prosecutors have said those deaths were "intentional, purposeful and racially motivated," and alleged the accused preyed on vulnerable Indigenous women at Winnipeg homeless shelters before killing the four victims.
Skibicki's lawyers plan to argue he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder on all four counts of first-degree murder he faces. He has pleaded not guilty.
Victims' clothing, earrings found in killer's apartment
Const. de Vries, who was working in the Winnipeg police forensic identification unit at the time of the killings, said police also found items belonging to the other three victims — including earrings and clothing — during their search of Skibicki's apartment and nearby garbage bins. Officers also discovered blood stains and DNA from the women in the apartment.
That search was sparked after a man sifting through dumpsters to salvage clothing and copper in May 2022 found Contois's partial remains in a garbage bin near Skibicki's apartment.
When police arrived, they found more of her remains in a second bin. A third bin had blood in it but no remains — which led them to search Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill, where they found more of Contois's remains, court heard.
Const. de Vries said some of the blood stains discovered in the apartment were in Skibicki's bathroom, which investigators discovered after spraying the room with a substance that makes blood stains light up even if they aren't visible to the naked eye.
"The bathtub was very fluorescent. So were the floor, the walls, the door — on the exterior side of the door, which implies that it was open when blood struck it," de Vries said.
He said police also found "biological material" on the hilt of a combat knife with a 7.5-inch (19-centimetre) blade that was discovered during their search. When tested, it came back positive for Myran's DNA.
Her grandmother sat in the courtroom with her hands clasped in front of her face during that testimony, and at times shook her head and looked up toward the ceiling.
Police also found Harris's name on a Ziploc hospital bag in Skibicki's apartment, as well as about a dozen DNA samples that were taken either from the suite or a nearby garbage bin and had DNA belonging to women other than the four Skibicki admitted to killing.
While some of those women have been identified — including one woman who was missing and another who has since died — others' identities are still unknown, de Vries said. There was no suggestion Skibicki is suspected of killings other than the four he has admitted to.
Unexpected confession
Skibicki unexpectedly confessed to killing the four women whose deaths he's now on trial for during a 2022 police interview, after he was brought in as a suspect following the discovery of Contois's remains. Before that admission, investigators had no idea the other three women had been killed, court previously heard.
While Skibicki gave police Contois's and Harris's names during that interview, he was uncertain of Myran's identity. He also initially gave police a name for the unidentified woman that investigators later determined was someone who was still alive.
Police were able to determine Myran's identity based on details the accused gave them about her and DNA found during their search, court heard.
WATCH | Court hears video evidence of Jeremy Skibicki's confession to police:
During cross-examination by Skibicki's defence lawyer Leonard Tailleur, Const. de Vries was only asked one question.
It seemed to come in response to answers he'd given prosecutors earlier about how, while taking photos of Skibicki after his arrest, the constable didn't notice anything about the man that would suggest he had a serious mental illness.
"How long did you spend with him?" the defence lawyer asked de Vries.
"Ten minutes," he replied.
Manitoba's premier weighed in on the trial during an interview with CBC Thursday morning, offering his sympathies to the victims' families and saying the province is working to support them during the court proceedings.
"I think that we need to remember that each of these four women have and continue to inhabit a space of dignity. They are deserving of respect, they are deserving of value and we should always remember that," he said during his monthly interview with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio.
"I do think it calls on us to act and it is a very, very strong and stark reminder that we need to do a lot more to help people in vulnerable positions."
Skibicki's judge-alone trial before Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal is scheduled to continue until June 6.
A forensic identification officer who will testify about the police landfill search for Contois's remains is expected to be called on Friday, along with the pathologist who did her autopsy.
Support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
You can also access, through the government of Canada, health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.
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With files from Brittany Greenslade