Potential remains found in landfill search

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This article was published 27/02/2025 (254 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — The search for a serial killer’s victims in a Winnipeg-area landfill has uncovered potential human remains, in what Indigenous leaders say is a “painful but significant moment” in their quest for justice.

“It’s an important day for Manitobans. An important day for two families, and an important day I would say, for the country,” Premier Wab Kinew told reporters from his office at the Manitoba legislature Wednesday evening.

The Manitoba government announced earlier in the day the provincial chief medical examiner had been contacted after possible remains were identified Wednesday in material found at Prairie Green Landfill.

“The RCMP has now initiated a found human remains investigation at the site, and steps for identification are underway,” a news release said.

Excavation work at the landfill and a search through material for the remains of victims of murderer Jeremy Skibicki began in December.

Kinew said the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were notified and went to the site Wednesday.

“I spent a good chunk of the day there with them, and I want to take this time to really acknowledge their courage and all of the emotions that they’ve had to live through as this issue played out in the public,” said Kinew.

Harris’ daughter Cambria Harris declined to comment.

“Please respect my family and our privacy at this time: regarding the news released today regarding the Prairie Green Landfill. Please do not reach out to me regarding media requests pertaining to that,” she posted on Facebook.

“We are under a (non-disclosure agreement), and I would like this time to grieve in peace. My mother and our loved ones deserve more than a news headline like that: please respect it.”

Jorden Myran, sister of Morgan, also declined to comment, saying the family needs privacy. Myran’s grandmother, Donna Bartlett, said in a text message that she was too emotional to talk.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which is working with the Manitoba government on the search, said the discovery brings grief.

“Today, we stand with heavy hearts, with determination, and with an unbreakable commitment to justice,” Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said in a release.

“The discovery … is a painful but significant moment in our collective fight for justice. The efforts to bring home Marcedes Myran, Morgan Harris, and Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) have been relentless — led by their families, First Nations leadership, and with support from our provincial and federal governments.”

The Southern Chiefs’ Organization, in a post on social media, said it stands with the families.

“SCO expresses our support and prayers for the families of the late Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, along with the citizens of the Long Plain First Nation, as the search and identification work takes place,” the post said. “SCO commends the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran for their tireless advocacy for these sacred women.”

An RCMP spokesperson said Wednesday officers from major crime services would go to the scene to collect the remains for laboratory analysis and DNA confirmation, under the direction of the chief medical examiner.

“There are strict procedures in place at the search facility to maintain the integrity of the investigation,” the spokesperson said.

The premier said the identification process would take “probably up to a couple weeks to play out.

“While the experts say that these are partial human remains, we also need to bear in mind we don’t know which of these two families are potentially going to receive the news, or potentially another family that is not even perhaps part of the conversation right now,” said Kinew.

Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine praised the victims’ families in a Facebook post.

“So much love, strength and respect to the families of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. Today’s development is because of their dedication and tenacity of bringing their loved ones home.”

The Winnipeg Police Service had said it believed the remains of Harris and Myran — ages 39 and 26, respectively — were put in a garbage bin off Henderson Highway in May 2022. The bin’s contents were deposited at Prairie Green, just north of Winnipeg in the Rural Municipality of Rosser.

Police said it would be too dangerous and difficult to search Prairie Green because of the large volume of waste, including toxic material, that had been dumped and compressed.

That decision sparked months of outraged protests.

In July 2024, a judge convicted Skibicki of four counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to four concurrent life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Skibicki, who was 37 at the time of his sentencing, admitted to killing Harris, Myran and two other First Nations women — 24-year-old Rebecca Contois and an unidentified victim who was given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) by community members.

He had pleaded not guilty, saying he was not criminally responsible because of mental disorder.

Contois’ remains were found in a garbage bin in North Kildonan in May 2022, and a section of the city-run Brady Road landfill during a search by police the following month. The remains of the three other victims have not been found.

“Our thoughts go out to the MMIWG2S+ community and all families who are awaiting word on their missing loved ones,” interim police Chief Arthur Stannard said in a written statement Wednesday.

An Indigenous-led committee that conducted feasibility studies funded by the federal Liberal government concluded a search was feasible and that safety risks could be mitigated.

The issue of whether to search the landfill became a political issue in the last election campaign. The NDP, who won the October 2023 vote, promised to search the landfill, while the Tories campaigned against a search.

The provincial and federal governments have each put up $20 million to search the landfill.

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files from Carol Sanders