Police found DNA lead but no match for unidentified victim of Winnipeg serial killer, trial hears

WARNING: This story con‐ tains distressing details.

A shred of DNA from the cuff of a jacket is the only real clue investigators ever found in their efforts to iden‐ tify the lone unknown victim of an admitted serial killer in Winnipeg, court heard during the man's trial on Thursday.

That female DNA profile was identified on a blackand-white Baby Phat-brand jacket that Jeremy Skibicki told police he took from the woman after he killed her in 2022, then sold on Facebook Marketplace.

No other items believed to be related to the woman were ever found during the police search of Skibicki's apartment and nearby garbage bins, following the discovery of partial remains of another of his victims in a North Kildonan dumpster, Winnipeg Police Service Con‐ st. Jan de Vries testified dur‐ ing the second day of the ac‐ cused's murder trial.

"The point is that DNA profile has never been identi‐ fied to this day," Crown at‐ torney Christian Vanderhooft said.

"That is correct," de Vries replied, adding that despite attempts to find people for comparison with the DNA sample, police have still not been able to figure out whose it is.

He said the sample is now in the police crime scene database - meaning if the DNA of someone found at a crime scene ever matches with the sample, officers will then be able to follow up.

Photos of the jacket where the sample was found were among the only details about the woman police re‐ leased to the public after Skibicki was charged in 2022.

He has admitted to killing the unknown woman, whom community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki'ik‐ we (or Buffalo Woman), as well as three First Nations women: Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26.

Contois was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Na‐ tion, also known as Crane River, located on the western shore of Lake Manitoba. Har‐ ris and Myran were both members of Long Plain First Nation in south central Mani‐ toba. Police have said they believe Mashkode Bizhiki'ik‐ we was also Indigenous and in her 20s.

Prosecutors have said those deaths were "inten‐ tional, purposeful and racial‐ ly motivated," and alleged the accused preyed on vul‐ nerable Indigenous women at Winnipeg homeless shel‐ ters before killing the four victims.

Skibicki's lawyers plan to argue he should be found not criminally responsible due to mental disorder on all four counts of first-degree murder he faces. He has pleaded not guilty.

Victims' clothing, ear‐ rings found in killer's apartment

Const. de Vries, who was working in the Winnipeg police forensic identification unit at the time of the killings, said police also found items belonging to the other three victims - includ‐ ing earrings and clothing during their search of Skibicki's apartment and nearby garbage bins. Officers also discovered blood stains and DNA from the women in the apartment.

That search was sparked after a man sifting through dumpsters to salvage cloth‐ ing and copper in May 2022 found Contois's partial re‐ mains in a garbage bin near Skibicki's apartment.

When police arrived, they found more of her remains in a second bin. A third bin had blood in it but no remains which led them to search Winnipeg's Brady Road land‐ fill, where they found more of Contois's remains, court heard.

Const. de Vries said some of the blood stains discov‐ ered in the apartment were in Skibicki's bathroom, which investigators discovered after spraying the room with a substance that makes blood stains light up even if they aren't visible to the naked eye.

"The bathtub was very flu‐ orescent. So were the floor, the walls, the door - on the exterior side of the door, which implies that it was open when blood struck it," de Vries said.

He said police also found "biological material" on the hilt of a combat knife with a 7.5-inch (19-centimetre) blade that was discovered during their search. When tested, it came back positive for Myran's DNA.

Her grandmother sat in the courtroom with her hands clasped in front of her face during that testimony, and at times shook her head and looked up toward the ceiling.

Police also found Harris's name on a Ziploc hospital bag in Skibicki's apartment, as well as several DNA sam‐ ples that were taken either from the suite or a nearby garbage bin and had DNA be‐ longing to women other than the four Skibicki admitted to killing.

While some of those women have been identified - including one woman who was missing and another who has since died - others' identities are still unknown, de Vries said. There was no suggestion Skibicki is sus‐ pected of killings other than the four he has admitted to. Unexpected confession Skibicki unexpectedly con‐ fessed to killing the four women whose deaths he's now on trial for during a 2022 police interview, after he was brought in as a sus‐ pect following the discovery of Contois's remains. Before that admission, investigators had no idea the other three women had been killed, court previously heard.

While Skibicki gave police Contois's and Harris's names during that interview, he was uncertain of Myran's identity. He also initially gave police a name for the unidentified woman that investigators

later determined was some‐ one who was still alive.

Police were able to deter‐ mine Myran's identity based on details the accused gave them about her and DNA found during their search, court heard.

WATCH | Court hears video evidence of Jeremy Skibicki's confession to police:

During cross-examination by Skibicki's defence lawyer Leonard Tailleur, Const. de Vries was only asked one question.

It seemed to come in re‐ sponse to answers he'd given prosecutors earlier about how, while taking photos of Skibicki after his arrest, the constable didn't notice any‐ thing about the man that would suggest he had a seri‐ ous mental illness.

"How long did you spend with him?" the defence lawyer asked de Vries.

"Ten minutes," he replied. Manitoba's premier weighed in on the trial during an interview with CBC Thurs‐ day morning, offering his sympathies to the victims' families and saying the province is working to sup‐ port them during the court proceedings.

"I think that we need to remember that each of these four women have and contin‐ ue to inhabit a space of dig‐ nity. They are deserving of re‐ spect, they are deserving of value and we should always remember that," he said dur‐ ing his monthly interview with CBC Manitoba's Infor‐ mation Radio.

"I do think it calls on us to act and it is a very, very strong and stark reminder that we need to do a lot more to help people in vul‐ nerable positions."

Skibicki's judge-alone trial before Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal is scheduled to continue until June 6.

A forensic identification officer who will testify about the police landfill search for Contois's remains is expected to be called on Friday, along with the pathologist who did her autopsy.

Support is available for anyone affected by these re‐ ports and the issue of miss‐ ing and murdered Indige‐ nous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.

You can also access, through the government of Canada, health support ser‐ vices such as mental health counselling, communitybased support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and tradi‐ tional healers. Family mem‐ bers seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.