Police forced to defend decision not to search landfill for slaying victims By: Chris Kitching and Erik Pindera Posted: 2:29 PM CST Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 Last Modified: 6:52 PM CST Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2022 Updates

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Winnipeg police explained in great detail Tuesday why it’s unsafe for investigators to search a four-acre landfill site for the remains of two Indigenous women slain by an alleged serial killer, amid growing calls for one to be conducted.

Insp. Cam MacKid said the remains of Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, were thought to be in the same truckload that was disposed of in the Prairie Green Landfill, north of the city, on May 16, days after each woman was slain.

The women were allegedly killed by 35-year-old Jeremy Skibicki of Winnipeg, who is also charged with the slayings of Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified woman known as Buffalo Woman.

At a news conference Tuesday, MacKid and Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth told reporters a landfill search isn’t possible for a number of reasons, including the passage of time, safety concerns and the overwhelming amount of material at the site, such as 1,500 tonnes of animal remains and 250 tonnes of cancer-causing asbestos.

“A successful search and recovery in this circumstance isn’t feasible,” said Smyth, who called the killings and circumstances “horrific.”

“This is not how we wanted it to end. My heart goes out to the families. We were expecting and hoping for a different outcome… We acknowledge that the families are heartbroken. We acknowledge that they’re angry, frankly. We acknowledge that a lot of people are angry,” the chief said.

In June, the forensics unit gave Smyth a report stating there was “no hope” of recovering remains at Prairie Green, northeast of the Perimeter Highway and Highway 7 in the Rural Municipality of Rosser.

Last week, Smyth told reporters the remains were at a landfill, but did not specify which, and that police were not able to search it for the women’s remains.

Police were forced to release details and explain their reasoning Tuesday, after Harris’s daughters and Indigenous leaders held a news conference in Ottawa to demand police find the remains.

Speaking on Parliament Hill, Harris’s daughters, Cambria and Kera, revealed city police had informed them Monday they believe their mother’s remains are at Prairie Green.

“They say they can’t search because it’s not feasible,” said Cambria Harris.

“Is human life not feasible? 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, and that is wrong.”

Skibicki was charged with killing Contois last May after partial remains were found in a garbage bin near his apartment block in North Kildonan. Police cordoned off a section of the Brady Road Landfill, south of Winnipeg, and found more remains when they searched it in June.

Skibicki remains in custody at Milner Ridge Correctional Centre. His lawyer, Leonard Tailleur, said Tuesday he believes he’s being held in a segregated unit.

Police said Tuesday they do not have a “definitive” location of the remains of Buffalo Woman, who was believed to have been killed on or around March 15.

MacKid, who leads the police forensics, intelligence and technology division, oversaw the Brady Road search for Contois’s remains.

He said accusations that police don’t care have hit the homicide and forensics unit hard, because they want justice for the victims’ families.

“It’s tough when we’re being criticized for almost a lack of caring, when, I don’t think that’s the case,” MacKid said.

He said the search for Contois was successful because police were able to shut down the four-acre site within three to five hours of the garbage bin discovery, and the garbage hadn’t been compacted.

About 100 truckloads of waste had been dumped and moved around in those hours, police said.

Although it is similar in size, the circumstances are vastly different, and the topography is more difficult, at the Prairie Green site, said MacKid, who presented photos comparing the landfills.

MacKid said 34 days had elapsed before police learned, on June 20, that Harris and Myran’s remains were believed to have been deposited there.

During that period, 10,000 truckloads were dumped in the same area. The refuse was compacted with 9,000 tonnes of wet clay to a depth of about 12 metres.

He also said any search would be hampered by the fact 1,500 tonnes of animal remains and 250 tonnes of asbestos were spread at Prairie Green over the 34-day period.

Officers who searched the Brady Road landfill used GPS technology — on the garbage truck that collected Contois’s remains and on heavy equipment that moved waste around the site — to narrow the search area, MacKid said.

The truck that went to Brady Road also had an on-board video camera. MacKid said the trucks and equipment at Prairie Green are not equipped with cameras or GPS.

The trucks that go to Prairie Green also compact waste along the way, while the one that picked up Contois’ remains did not, police said.

Officers were able to go through waste by hand at Brady Road and use a drone to prioritize search areas. If they searched Prairie Green, they would have to move the waste to an off-site location and go through it there, due to the volume of clay and refuse, police said.

A drone cannot be used to narrow down a search area because the garbage is buried under clay.

He noted that when police learned remains were likely at the landfill, they planned to conduct a search, but concluded it was not feasible. Smyth said the cost of a search was never a factor.

The chief said police have received a number of tips about Buffalo Woman, and identifying her is the next step in the investigation.

“We are hoping to find additional information that will help us identify Buffalo Woman so that her family can have some closure as well,” the chief said.

He noted police have “no information or evidence” to suggest there are more victims.

Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett, was disappointed when police went to her home Monday to explain their reasons for not conducting a search.

“It’s not something we wanted to hear. I want to have my granddaughter home,” Bartlett told the Free Press.

“What price do you put on a human?”

She fears her granddaughter’s body will never be recovered.

Myran’s loved ones have discussed holding a memorial, but they’re unsure how to proceed without her body.

Despite police telling her a search isn’t feasible, Bartlett believes there must be a way to find the women’s remains in the landfill. If technology exists to make a search possible, Winnipeg police should acquire it or request help from an agency that possesses it, she said.

Despite the odds, Cambria and Kera Harris urged police to search the landfill.

“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, and for these other women as well,” said Cambria Harris.

“I think it’s disgusting. The police are trying to cover themselves because they know that they fail our women time and time again, and it needs to stop. Your government started this genocide, and now it is your turn to help us end it.”

Kera Harris said people are willing to help search the landfill, but police will not accept help: “If you won’t look for them, we will.”

The decision not to search the site is “unfair” to the women whose remains haven’t been found and their families, she said.

“These women are deserving of a proper resting place, not to be left alone in a landfill in the dead of winter,” said Kera Harris. “If you want to respect and honour them, stop making excuses as to why you can’t find them. You can. You are just refusing to.”

Smyth said the public saw the families’ reaction in their Ottawa news conference and he acknowledges their anger, frustration and heartbreak.

“I don’t think that the decision that we made — the families aren’t happy with it, that much is clear — but I don’t think we can safely conduct a search,” Smyth said.

Cambria Harris started her address to the media by explaining how she is “heartbroken and utterly shocked” by what is happening to Indigenous people. She called for an end to violence against Indigenous women, girls and LGBTTQ+ people.

“The government constantly and the system that was put in place that was meant to protect these women from harm completely fails them time and time again, miserably.”

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @chriskitching

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.

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