Forensic evidence about how and when exactly a man killed, dismembered and disposed of the bodies of four First Nations women in 2022 was presented in a Winnipeg superior court for the first time on Thursday.
According to a statement of facts now agreed to by both the Crown and defence, Jeremy Skibicki killed the yet-to-be-identified woman whom Indigenous elders have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, meaning Buffalo Woman, on or about March 15 of that year; 39-year-old Morgan Harris on or about May 1; 26-year-old Marcedes Myran on or about May 4; and 24-year-old Rebecca Contois on or about May 15.
Testifying before Court of King’s Bench Justice Glenn Joyal, Winnipeg police DNA specialist Constable Jan de Vries explained Thursday that numerous items seized from Mr. Skibicki’s home in the city’s Kildonan neighbourhood and garbage receptacles in other areas helped investigators piece together the details of his crimes.
Mr. Skibicki, 37, admitted to the killings in court this week, but his case now rests on whether the defence can show he was too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible for the first-degree murders.
The Crown is arguing that Mr. Skibicki murdered the women in a calculated and thought-out scheme. To prove that he was criminally responsible, the prosecution presented forensic evidence on Thursday to show his planning before and after the killings.
Mr. Skibicki’s defence lawyers have pointed out that he disclosed a borderline personality disorder to police during his interrogation and that he struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder, which the lawyers intend to further explore later in the trial.
On Thursday, Constable de Vries said he was one of the first officers at the scene after a 911 call alerted authorities to the deaths in the early morning of May 16.
Prosecutors played the audio recording of that 2022 call in court this week, where a man named John Kinal told a dispatcher about a severed head in a garbage bag that he found in a bin outside Mr. Skibicki’s apartment building. This turned out to be the remains of Ms. Contois.
John Kinal called 911 at 5:24 a.m. on May 16, 2022, after finding human remains in a garbage bag inside a bin near a Winnipeg apartment building. A recording of the call was released by the court to The Globe and Mail this week.
The Globe and Mail
Surveillance video from near the building, submitted as evidence, showed a man dumping bags in a bin. When police searched the bin, it was already emptied. Officers then cordoned off an area at the city’s Brady Road landfill where they ultimately discovered Ms. Contois’s torso, Constable de Vries said.
Police arrested Mr. Skibicki on May 17. A shortened video of his 20-hour interrogation was played in court. He told police that he dismembered Ms. Contois and Ms. Myran with a combat knife. That knife was found in Mr. Skibicki’s living room by Constable de Vries.
Ms. Contois’s DNA was also found in blood samples collected from the floor next to Mr. Skibicki’s bathtub and on the wall between his sink and toilet, Constable de Vries testified.
A relatively smaller group of observers were in court on Thursday, compared with the packed gallery earlier in the week. Among the few relatives of the victims in the room, a box of tissues was passed around when evidence was presented. Some of them left and did not come back after the hearing’s lunchtime break.
During the interrogation by Detective Sergeant Greg Allan, when asked how he was able to dismember the women’s bodies, Mr. Skibicki laughed, then replied: “Instinct.” He said he had been consuming psychedelic mushrooms before one of the killings and was high on methamphetamine for the other three.
He said he killed his first victim, Buffalo Woman, shortly after he met her near a Salvation Army shelter in the city because he believed she had stolen some of his property. He performed sexual acts on her body, Mr. Skibicki said, before disposing her in an outdoor garbage bin. Constable de Vries said Buffalo Woman’s DNA has not been matched to anyone yet.
Police arrested Mr. Skibicki on May 17. A shortened video of his 20-hour interrogation was played in court this week before being released to media.
The Globe and Mail
About a month later, Mr. Skibicki said he met Ms. Harris outside Siloam Mission, another Winnipeg shelter, and invited her to his home. At one point, Ms. Harris stepped out for a cigarette. “I let her enjoy that,” the court heard Mr. Skibicki tell police because “this is going to be her last smoke.” He killed her not long after.
Constable de Vries said Thursday that Ms. Harris’s DNA was located on a cigarette butt inside a garbage bag near Mr. Skibicki’s building. Investigators were told by Mr. Skibicki that he performed sexual acts on Ms. Harris’s remains before disposing of her body in a garbage bin behind a nearby automotive shop.
Mr. Skibicki said he met Ms. Myran in a back lane between the Salvation Army and Siloam Mission. After sex that he described as “a little rough,” he strangled her when she tried to leave his apartment. He then dismembered her body in a bathtub full of water and cleaning products.
Constable de Vries said Ms. Myran’s blood was found on a pillow in the apartment, and her DNA was also located on a bra in the bedroom and an earring on the floor.
Mr. Skibicki described his acts as “mercy killings” in the interrogation. “I don’t believe that races are meant to be forced to live together,” he said. “If there’s anyone that isn’t white that’s in my proximity, I will attempt to kill them.”
He added that he likely would have killed more women if he had not been caught. He also admitted to killing a rabbit when he was around seven years old and cats as a young adult.
Prosecutor Renée Lagimodière told reporters outside court on Thursday that the Crown does not currently believe there are more victims. The trial is adjourned until Friday.
Temur Durrani