Suspect in Winnipeg cold-case homicide released without charge
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/03/2020 (1657 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A suspect arrested Saturday in the 2003 northwest Winnipeg stabbing death of Nicolle Hands has been released without charge, police say.
“We’re consulting the Crown on potential charges, and the investigation continues,” RCMP assistant commissioner Jane MacLatchy said Monday morning at an unrelated news conference.
The male suspect was arrested, interviewed and released, she said.
“I think it’s a good step in resolving that homicide,” MacLatchy said, noting the integrated Winnipeg Police Service-RCMP task force Project Devote formed in 2011 to investigate cases involving missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls has worked “tirelessly” on the Hands case.
“It’s a very good news story to (make) an arrest.”
Monday’s announcement, however, was met with disbelief by members of the victim’s family.
“I’m devastated,” her 77-year-old mother, Eleanor Hands, said by phone from Kingston, Ont.
“I waited 16 years to hear someone say, ‘Yup, we got the guy — he’s in jail.’ Then I get another call: ‘We had to let him go.'”
She said Manitoba police contacted her late Sunday to say the suspect had been released and the investigation was continuing.
Hands was killed in October 2003 in her apartment on Mountain Avenue, while her three children and the babysitter slept in the next room.
The babysitter was awakened by a noise at 3:30 a.m., and saw a man standing over Hands in the adjacent room, RCMP said previously. The man fled the apartment, leaving Hands on the floor with life-threatening injuries. She was rushed to hospital, where she died three days later.
Eleanor Hands said she had prepared the three children, now-young adults, for the news a suspect had been caught.
“I had to turn around and tell them that wasn’t going to happen,” she said Monday.
It’s not the first time in recent years Manitoba RCMP have announced an arrest in a cold case, followed by the suspect being released without charge.
On May 10, 2017, police issued a news release announcing an arrest in the 2007 slaying of 46-year-old Charlene Ward, who was found dead in her home in Portage la Prairie. The following day, the suspect was released without charge.
In July 2017, suspects arrested by RCMP for two separate high-profile homicides — the 2013 death of 15-year-old Leah Anderson in God’s Lake First Nation, and 2017 death of 18-year-old Evan Engbaek in Gimli — were released on the same day without any charges being laid.
“I waited 16 years to hear someone say, ‘Yup, we got the guy– he’s in jail.’ Then I get another call: ‘We had to let him go.'”
– Nicolle Hands 77-year-old mother, Eleanor Hands
A male youth who was 16 at the time of the slaying later pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Engbaek case. The God’s Lake case remains open.
Eleanor Hands said Monday she would rather know what’s going on with her daughter’s homicide investigation as it evolves — even if it doesn’t result in charges — rather than being told nothing.
“The officer looking after our case believed the family should know,” she said, who noted he’s been on the case for two years. “Some (officers) don’t tell you anything at all.”
The RCMP commander for Manitoba said the lead investigator in the Nicolle Hands case is a Winnipeg Police Service officer.
On Friday, WPS Chief Danny Smyth said the service will no longer assign officers to Project Devote but will continue to share information about cold cases with the Mounties.
“The fact that they’ve moved their people out of RCMP headquarters doesn’t mean we’re going to stop working on these files together,” MacLatchy said Monday. “We’re going to continue to work with them.”
On Monday, the WPS declined to comment on the Hands homicide investigation, referring all inquiries to the RCMP.
Meanwhile, Manitoba Justice Minister Cliff Cullen said the government recognizes the work being done by Project Devote.
“From our perspective, we want to make sure police forces are sharing intelligence — whether it’s on this particular file or other files,” Cullen said at a news conference announcing a Crime Stoppers program targeting meth dealers and traffickers.
Anyone with information about the killing of Nicolle Hands is asked to contact the Project Devote tipline at 1-888-673-3316 or Manitoba Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.
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