Winnipeg police chief believes remains of additional homicide victims are at landfill

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smyth believes the remains of additional victims of alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki are at a landfill, but too much time has passed and officers will not search it.

"We have no starting point. It wouldn't be a feasible search at this point," Smyth said after a Winnipeg Police Board meeting Friday morning.

Skibicki has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and an unidentified fourth woman.

He was initially charged with first-degree murder on May 18 and kept in custody, after Contois' partial remains were found in a garbage bin outside of an apartment building on Edison Avenue.

On June 21, police confirmed that human remains they had found at Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill days prior had been identified as Contois.

The other three women's bodies have not been found.

Smyth said police could isolate a specific area of the landfill to search for Contois's remains. 

"We don't have that luxury with these other victims. Too much time has passed."

Harris, Myran and Contois were killed in May and the unidentified woman is thought to have been killed on or about March 15, police said.

At a vigil on Thursday, Cambria Harris pleaded for police to search for the remains of her mother, Morgan Harris.

She called the decision not to conduct a search disgusting.

Smyth expressed sympathy for the women's families.

"I would want the remains of my loved ones as well. The reality is we're talking about a 50-plus-acre site that has layers and layers of refuse. We are not in a position to search the whole site," he said.

Winnipeg has been referred to as ground zero or the epicentre of the crisis of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

Cora Morgan, the family advocate for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said First Nations women are being failed.

"We continue to witness the vulnerability of our unsheltered women," Morgan said in statement Friday.

"They feel their voices do not matter or their lives do not matter. Our women deserve more."

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Cathy Merrick called on the federal and provincial governments to work with police to implement the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls' recommendations aimed at tackling root causes of violence against Indigenous women and girls.

In an email to CBC News, the accused's lawyer, Leonard Tailleur, says Skibicki will plead not guilty to all charges Friday afternoon.

WATCH | Cambria Harris's speaks about her mother, Morgan:

'My mother deserves to come home'

2 years ago

Duration 0:47

Cambria Harris's speaks about her mother, Morgan, at a vigil on Thursday evening. Winnipeg Police identified Morgan Harris as the victim of alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.

Support is available for anyone affected by details of this case. If you require support, you can contact Ka Ni Kanichihk's Medicine Bear Counselling, Support and Elder Services at 204-594-6500, ext. 102 or 104 (within Winnipeg), or 1-888-953-5264 (outside Winnipeg).

Support is also available via Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak's Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison unit at 1-800-442-0488 or 204-677-1648.