'I killed 4 people': A look at Winnipeg serial killer's 20-hour confession video
Lawyers for Jeremy Skibicki say he should be found not criminally responsible for deaths of 4 women
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
Jeremy Skibicki walks into a grey interrogation room trailed by two police officers and sits on the only object in the small space: a black plastic chair.
It's the first moments of what will be a 20-hour interview with Winnipeg investigators nearly two years ago.
During the interview, he surprises police by admitting not only to killing Rebecca Contois, for whose death he's been arrested, but three other women as well.
An excerpt from the videotaped interview, running six hours and 46 minutes, was released by Manitoba Court of King's Bench on Thursday, after parts of it were played in court the day prior, at the start of Skibicki's trial on four counts of first-degree murder.
His defence lawyers say he admits to the killings but argue he should be found not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
In the video excerpt shown to court, Skibicki details how he killed his victims — three First Nations women and a fourth woman who has not been identified, but is believed to have been Indigenous — in 2022, and then disposed of their remains in the trash.
"I did this because I believe that there should be capital punishment and that this is racially motivated," Skibicki says during the interview, which began May 17, 2022, and stretched into the next day.
"This whole thing about racial purity, the extinction of the white race — you know, the great replacement theory, globalism, Bolshevism, an effort to eradicate white people. I don't believe that races are meant to be forced to live together," he tells police.
"And this existence that I've had is just completely messed up because of liberalism."
Those statements came out of the blue after hours of questioning by Winnipeg police about the partial remains of Contois, a 24-year-old woman whose home community was O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, found in a garbage bin near Skibicki's North Kildonan apartment.
He is accused of killing her, along with Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, both of Long Plain First Nation.
The fourth charge is in the death of an unidentified woman who community leaders have given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, who police have said they believe was an Indigenous woman in her 20s.
'I just want to get a priest'
The video shows Det. Greg Allan and Det.-Sgt. Adam Danylyshen lead Skibicki into the room, explaining he has been arrested in the death of Contois.
Skibicki asks for an Orthodox priest several times in the hours that follow.
"Even though I'm not, you know, necessarily guilty of anything, it's just something that I feel compelled to do, because this is something that demands justice," he says.
Footage shows him asking for food a couple times and receiving a sandwich and Pizza Pops.
He's seen laying down on the ground at one point when police are gone, and later asking for a blanket because he was cold.
Skibicki tells police he once struggled with methamphetamine use and still used small amounts. He also tells them he hadn't worked much since 2015 and was on disability.
Allan tells Skibicki he's well-spoken and that he feels like he's "talking to Jordan Peterson" — an apparent reference to the psychologist and media personality known for controversial views on cultural and political issues.
Skibicki laughs at the comment.
Hours into the interview, police show Skibicki surveillance footage of a person in the area of Edison Avenue where Contois's remains were discovered.
Skibicki denies the person was him.
The officers show Skibicki an image of Contois's partial remains.
"I can't even look at that," he said. "It's just disturbing."
Danylyshen presses him again to explain why he was in the area.
"I just want to get a priest to confess my sins," Skibicki says.
Moments later, he confesses to the killings.
'I guess I got sloppy'
He leans back in his plastic black chair, hands loosely clasped in his lap, as he makes the declaration.
"At this point, I want to express that you've done a very good job. You guys are obviously not stupid. I really just want to see how far, you know, I could take things because the criminal justice system is a joke," he said.
"The world that we're living in is sick. I was driven to do stuff like this because I was so — so spent emotionally. I killed four people."
Once he confesses to killing four women, police ask him for names.
He says he didn't know or couldn't remember some names, but did name two of the women.
He tells the detectives he can't recall exactly when he killed the first woman, but suspects it was in January or February.
Investigators believe Skibicki killed Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe first, sometime in mid-March 2022. He went on to kill Harris on May 1, Myran on May 4 and Contois on May 14 or 15, police say.
Contois's partial remains were not only found in the trash on May 16, but more of her remains were also recovered at the Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg the following month.
The remains of Harris and Myran are believed to be at the Prairie Green landfill, north of Winnipeg. It isn't known where the remains of Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe are.
Skibicki explains how he was coming down from being high on mushrooms when he killed the first of the women, and was on meth during the other three killings.
He suggests he thought he had "saviour syndrome."
During the police interview Skibicki suggests he was unconcerned about getting caught, until he killed Contois.
"I guess I got sloppy," he said.
At the end of the 20 hours, police ask if there's anything he wants to say to the families of the victims.
"Oh, that's a tough one," Skibicki says. "I guess I pray to Jesus. Nothing I could say as a human being can ever do justice.
"That's something that's going to have to come from God. That's all I say."
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 Caitlyn Gowriluk