Winnipeg police have released more details about their decision to not search a landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women believed to have been the victims of a serial killer as family of one of the women shared their disappointment at Parliament Hill.
Police say they believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran ended up in the Prairie Green landfill north of the city in the spring.
Cambria Harris said Tuesday in Ottawa that she shouldn鈥檛 have to beg for officials to search for her mother.
鈥淢y mother didn鈥檛 pass away with a home, so let鈥檚 pay her the respect that she deserves by finally giving her one that鈥檚 not a resting place at the Prairie Green landfill.鈥�
Harris said officers sat down with her this week and shared a presentation outlining the reasons the search is unfeasible.
鈥淚t was basically to say we failed you and we鈥檙e not going to do anything, and I think that鈥檚 disgusting.鈥�
Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24, Harris, 39, Myran, 26, and a fourth woman who has not been identified, but has been given the name Buffalo Woman or Mashkode Bizhiki鈥檌kwe by police and community leaders.
Skibicki was taken into custody and charged May 18 with first-degree murder in the death of Contois. Her partial remains were found in a garbage bin near an apartment building. Police later found the rest of her remains in the Brady Road landfill in the city鈥檚 south end.
He was charged last week with the other three killings, although police have not found their bodies. Police said they do not have a definitive location of the remains of Buffalo Woman.
Insp. Cam MacKid, head of the forensics unit, said Tuesday that the manageable conditions police worked with in locating the remains of Contois did not present themselves in the search for the other women.
He said compacting, the passage of time, topography and safety concerns prevent officers from searching the Prairie Green landfill.
鈥淲e have to look at the specific site and the issues it presents, and that鈥檚 what we did here,鈥� MacKid said. 鈥淲hen we presented it we made the very difficult decision as a service that this wasn鈥檛 operationally feasible to conduct a search of this site.鈥�
In the case of the Brady Road landfill, refuse is not compacted, police were able to secure the site within hours of finding Contois鈥� partial remains and they weren鈥檛 working against other remains and hazardous minerals. Police were also able to rely on GPS tracking in garbage trucks and heavy equipment at the landfill.
Homicide officers told the forensics team on June 20 that they believed additional remains had been disposed of at the Prairie Green landfill a month before, MacKid said.
Because of the time gap, police had no starting point to search the 1.6-hectare site, where trash is compacted with heavy mud at a depth of about 12 metres.
MacKid said during this time, 10,000 truckloads of refuse were dumped at the landfill and 1,500 tons of animal remains were deposited.
He added that given the compacting and the passage of time, any human remains might not be discernible from animal remains.
鈥淚f we were to search that site given the compaction that went on in the truck at the site, the decomposition that occurs over time, I guess the question to be asked 鈥� is it impossible? Nothing鈥檚 impossible,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut is it likely that even if remains were found that they would be discernible from animal remains? That鈥檚 a tough question.鈥�
Kera Harris said her family is prepared to search on their own for her mother, calling the police鈥檚 reasons 鈥渕eaningless excuses.鈥�
鈥淭hese are people who you are leaving alone in the landfill. These are human beings. How can you even fathom the idea to leave them there?鈥� she said in Ottawa.
鈥淭hese women are deserving of a proper resting place not to be left alone in a landfill in the dead of winter. If you want to respect and honour them, stop making excuses as to why you can鈥檛 find them.鈥�
Police Chief Danny Smyth said they did not want the searches to end this way for the families.
鈥淲e acknowledge that the families are heartbroken. We acknowledge that they鈥檙e angry. We acknowledge that a lot of people are angry. We鈥檙e doing our best to bring justice to the families, and that鈥檚 what we hope to do.鈥�
Police continue to appeal to the public regarding Buffalo Woman鈥檚 identity and where her remains may be.
The Canadian Press
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