Brady landfill workers in ‘active area’ discover woman’s body Police investigating ‘suspicious’ death believe Indigenous 33-year-old mother of four had been dumped at city waste facility only hours earlier By: Erik Pindera Posted: 1:30 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 4, 2023 Last Modified: 7:13 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 4, 2023 Updates

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The body of a young Winnipeg mother of four was discovered at the Brady Road landfill Monday, 10 months after the remains of another Indigenous woman were found discarded at the city garbage dump.

Homicide detectives are leading the investigation, but the Winnipeg Police Service has so far described the death as “suspicious.”

“We don’t have this classified as a homicide at this point,” major crimes Insp. Shawn Pike told a news conference Tuesday.

Workers at the city-operated facility found the body, secured the area and then contacted police at about 3 p.m. Monday, Pike said.

The woman has been identified as 33-year-old Linda Mary Beardy, a member of Lake St. Martin First Nation.

A cousin, 36-year-old Farrah Traverse, said Beardy was the mother of two girls and two boys. Police have been in contact with her family and leaders in the Indigenous community, Pike said.

He declined to reveal any details about the cause of death.

The body was likely at the landfill for just a couple of hours before police were called, he said.

“I can’t say specifically… but as for an exact time frame I wouldn’t be able to say,” he said. “We’re still unpacking everything that’s occurred, we’re trying to work our way back in this investigation to find out exactly what circumstances caused her to end up where she was found yesterday afternoon.”

Traverse said she ran into her cousin at Portage Place last week.

“We just passed by — it was brief, ‘Hey cousin, how are you?’” said Traverse. “A hug and a kiss, and that was the last time I saw her.”

She said she believes Beardy is a homicide victim.

“I really hope that justice is found for my cousin,” Traverse said, describing her as the kind of person who was there for others. “She was a happy, understanding young woman. If you needed a sweater or something to eat, she was there to provide. She was a giving young woman.”

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick said she was informed Beardy had been missing for more than a week, but police had not received a missing persons report.

Merrick said police Chief Danny Smyth phoned her Monday night to tell her the news.

“It’s saddening and it’s disheartening that we have to face another loss of a beautiful young woman.”–Grand Chief Cathy Merrick

“It’s saddening and it’s disheartening that we have to face another loss of a beautiful young woman,” she said.

“It was also heartbreaking for our oversight committee, which comprises some family members (of missing women), and when it was announced, it brought anxiety to them, opened up wounds that were there, and it was very heartbreaking to hear that.”

She called on the federal and provincial governments to meet with Indigenous leaders to hear recommendations on how to support families, including searches for other missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Police remain at the landfill, Pike said, which is closed for the time being.

“What’s happened is our identification units are still out there, they’re working through the scene, and depending on the information and how the investigation is going, there will be conversations that the police service and the city will be having to determine best course of action,” he said.

The length of the search will depend on what the investigators find and what kind of terrain they’re searching.

It’s believed the body, which was located in an “active area” of the facility, was transported by a garbage truck, Pike said.

Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said society cannot grow numb to such deaths.

“This… needs to spark within us outrage, concern, grief and a commitment to work hard together to prevent these things from happening,” he said. “Once again we have an Indigenous woman, a mother, who’s no longer with her children, who’s no longer with her community.”

Gillingham commended landfill workers.

“I know that our city staff have been very diligent and very vigilant in monitoring for this type of activity, and we do have procedures in place at the landfill, including GPS tracking of vehicles that can assist with investigations like this,” he said.

“This… needs to spark within us outrage, concern, grief and a commitment to work hard together to prevent these things from happening.”–Mayor Scott Gillingham

Pike said investigators are working to determine more about Beardy’s background, including when she had last been seen.

“I wish to express our sincerest condolences to Linda’s family, friends and the entire community as everyone processes this tragedy,” he said.

Anyone with information that could help investigators is asked to call homicide detectives at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.

Pike said there’s no information to suggest there are any other deaths connected to Beardy’s and no reason to think the death is linked to any other investigations, alluding to the case of alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, charged in the slayings of four Indigenous women last year.

Partial remains of Rebecca Contois, 24, were found in a garbage bin near an apartment building on Edison Avenue on May 16 last year, which sparked a lengthy police search at the Brady landfill that culminated with the discovery of more remains on June 14.

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Skibicki is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Contois, 39-year-old Morgan Beatrice Harris, 26-year-old Marcedes Myran, 26, and an unidentified victim known as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.

The Brady landfill was closed for several weeks in December and early January amid calls from protesters for a wider search of the dump for human remains. The protesters set up a camp near the landfill after Skibicki’s arrest. It’s now known as Camp Morgan, named by relatives of Morgan Harris.

Police believe the remains of Harris and Myran are at the privately operated Prairie Green landfill just north of Winnipeg, but have not determined where Buffalo Woman’s remains were likely deposited.

In February, the federal government said it would pay $500,000 for a feasibility study led by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs for a search of that landfill after police said too much time had passed.

Joseph Munro, co-founder of First Nation Indigenous Warriors, has been camping outside the Brady Road landfill with other group members almost daily since Dec. 18.

The group has not been present at the camp since Beardy’s body was discovered Monday because police set up a blockade. Munro said he would like to light a sacred fire near the landfill entrance when the blockade is cleared.

He said he didn’t know Beardy personally, but has been contacted by family members of several missing and murdered women.

“There’s a lot of people that are in my community that know her very well, and they’re heartbroken right now,” he said. “We have loved ones in our landfills, and it’s so heart-wrenching to even think of that. When a tragedy happens, and then a following tragedy happens not far after, I hope the world listens and the world cries with us. That way, people will begin to understand where we are, why we’re doing what we do.”

Two dozen people attended a community vigil and lighting of a sacred fire in honour of Beardy Tuesday.

Cambria and Elle Harris, daughters of Morgan Harris, paid their respects.

Cambria said she felt sad and angry upon hearing of the discovery. She said she’s grateful Beardy’s family may get some closure. Once again, she said, the community is gathering for “gut-wrenching” reasons.

“My heart breaks for them, and I hope the community protects them in whatever way that they can.”

In the Manitoba Legislative Assembly Tuesday, Premier Heather Stefanson said Beardy’s death is an “absolute tragedy.”

She said the members of Lake St. Martin, and all Manitobans, are mourning.

Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew said he wanted to offer his words of commemoration in Beardy’s memory.

“There’s something so enraging and devastating and surreal about being here again talking about the disposal of an Indigenous woman in another garbage fill.”–NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine

“No more stolen sisters,” he said.

NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine said the news was devastating and that she, too, expresses her condolences to Beardy’s family, friends and community.

“As an Indigenous woman, to sit here a mere couple of months after we learned of the disposal of other Indigenous women at garbage fills, it’s devastating, it’s devastating to know how little Indigenous women are thought of, and the little care that is given to our lives, and the need for us to continually to fight and beg for our humanity in our territory, our own lands,” Fontaine told reporters.

“There’s something so enraging and devastating and surreal about being here again talking about the disposal of an Indigenous woman in another garbage fill.”

She said society has to prioritize Indigenous women, girls and two-spirited people, with support programming and services, to protect their lives.

— With files from Katie May, Danielle Da Silva and Joyanne Pursaga

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.