Jeremy Skibicki was convicted in July 2024 of the first-degree murders of four First Nations women in Winnipeg. The women were Ashlee Shingoose, 30, Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and Rebecca Contois, 24. Police said they were killed between mid-March and mid-May 2022. Skibicki, then 35, was arrested in May 2022 after police found remains of Rebecca Contois in Winnipeg, and he admitted the four killings in a long police interview. At his trial he did not deny that he had caused the deaths. His lawyers argued that he was not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder. Chief Justice Glenn Joyal of the Manitoba Court of King's Bench rejected that argument, found that the killings were planned and deliberate, and said Skibicki had acted on racist views.
The case did not end with the verdict. Police believed the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran had been taken to a private landfill north of the city, and in late 2022 they said they would not search it. The decision set off protests, an apology from the police chief, a study of whether a search could be done, and a dispute that became part of the 2023 Manitoba election. A search paid for by the provincial and federal governments began in December 2024 and recovered both women in 2025. The fourth woman was known during the trial only as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, a name given to her by Indigenous community members. She was identified as Ashlee Shingoose in March 2025, after Skibicki gave investigators new information. A search for her remains at Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill began in December 2025 and was continuing in April 2026.
Few details of Jeremy Skibicki's life before 2022 have been made public. The Winnipeg Police Service gave his full name as Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki, of Winnipeg, and his age as 35 when it announced the last three charges in December 2022. He was 37 at his trial in 2024.
His former wife testified at the trial. According to CTV News, she said she met him in February 2018, that he proposed a few months later, and that she left in March 2021. She described a controlling and violent relationship and said she obtained a protection order. She said she received messages from him in May 2022 that worried her. Under cross-examination she said she believed he was schizophrenic. The two are now divorced.
During the trial, a worker at one of the Winnipeg shelters where the women stayed testified that Skibicki came to the shelter almost every day, CBC News reported. The worker said he looked out of place, clean-shaven and in clean clothes, seemed to be looking for someone, and never appeared to be drunk, high or in a psychotic state. Once, he said, Skibicki told him he was "just there to stalk his victims," and said it in an ordinary mood. Surveillance video showed Skibicki eating a meal with Morgan Harris at the shelter on April 30, 2022.
All four women were First Nations. All four had been living in Winnipeg, and the Crown said Skibicki chose them because they were Indigenous and used the city's homeless shelters.
Ashlee Christine Shingoose was 30 and came from St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation. She was Anishininew (Oji-Cree) and a mother of three, IndigiNews reported. Her family said she had left her community because of a housing shortage, and her mother said she later struggled with substance use and that her children were placed in her mother's care. Her mother remembered her as quiet, loving and caring. "She would do anything to help other people," her father said. Raymond Flett, the chief of St. Theresa Point and a former high school principal, recalled seeing her happy with her friends in the hallway. Police believe she was killed on or about March 15, 2022, the first of the four. She was last seen that month near a Winnipeg homeless shelter, Global News reported.
Morgan Beatrice Harris was 39 and a member of Long Plain First Nation. She was the mother of five children and the grandmother of one. "She was silly. She was fun. People loved to be around her," her daughter said at a vigil in 2022. A cousin described her as fearless, with a big spirit, and said she did the best she could for her children with what she had. She was last seen north of downtown Winnipeg on May 1, 2022, and police believe she was killed on or about that day.
Marcedes Myran was 26 and also a member of Long Plain First Nation. She was the mother of two. A cousin said that Marcedes was pregnant the last time they saw each other. Police believe she was killed on or about May 4, 2022.
Rebecca Contois was 24 and a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River. She had a daughter. Police believe she was killed on May 14 or 15, 2022. Her family said in 2024 that they had lived through "paralyzing grief. Pure devastation."
On May 16, 2022, Winnipeg police found remains of Rebecca Contois in Winnipeg's North Kildonan area and opened a homicide investigation. They secured the city-run Brady Road Resource Management Facility, the landfill where they believed more of her remains might have been taken. Police later said they believed that remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran had been taken to the privately operated Prairie Green landfill, north of the city, that same day.
On May 18, 2022, according to the Winnipeg Police Service, the Homicide Unit arrested Skibicki and charged him with first-degree murder in Rebecca Contois's death. Officers carried out a search warrant at his apartment. (News reports differ on the arrest date: a CTV News account of the verdict gives May 16, and APTN News gave May 17 in 2022.) On May 19 police said the remains found three days earlier were hers. A police search of the Brady Road landfill began on June 2, and on June 21 police said remains found there were also those of Rebecca Contois. On June 20, police said they believed the remains of other victims were at Prairie Green.
In a long videotaped police interview after his arrest, Skibicki confessed to all four killings. "I killed four people," he told detectives, in a passage later quoted in court. He said the killings were racially motivated, CBC News reported. Investigators did not rule out more victims, and their work established that three more women had been killed between March and May 2022.
On December 1, 2022, the Homicide Unit, working with Manitoba Justice, served a warrant on Skibicki at Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, where he was being held, charging him with three more counts of first-degree murder: for Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and a woman police could not identify. Police said she was believed to be Indigenous and in her mid-20s and to have died on or about March 15, 2022. They asked the public for help and released photos of a reversible black-and-white jacket of the Baby Phat brand, with a fur hood, that they believed she had worn.
Announcing the charges, Police Chief Danny Smyth said, "It is always unsettling when there is any kind of a serial killing," and said police were mindful of the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Inspector Shawn Pike of Major Crimes said nothing suggested anyone else was involved, though further victims were possible. The Crown did not lay hate crime charges, police confirmed, though Grand Chief Jerry Daniels of the Southern Chiefs' Organization urged prosecutors to do so. Kyra Wilson, chief of Long Plain First Nation, said her community would need support in the weeks and months ahead.
Indigenous grandmothers and community members gave the unidentified woman a spiritual name, Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, which means Buffalo Woman. Thelma Morrisseau, an Elder who took part in the naming, said the woman "needs to be honoured and respected." For the whole of the trial she was known to the court by that name.
The jacket was the main early clue. A shelter worker recognized it and pointed investigators to a photo of Ashlee Shingoose, IndigiNews later reported, but DNA found on the coat did not match her, and investigators set her aside. Her community went on believing that Buffalo Woman was Ashlee.
Skibicki made his first court appearance on the new charges on December 2, 2022. That day Chief Smyth said police believed the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran were at Prairie Green, but that no search was planned because too much time had passed. On December 6 police defended the decision. Relatives of Morgan Harris spoke of their disappointment and anger on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and said they were ready to search the landfill themselves. On December 8, operations at Prairie Green were halted while the Manitoba government and the City of Winnipeg decided what to do, and First Nations leaders called for the police chief to resign. On December 14, Smyth apologized to First Nations leaders and to the families for his remarks, and police agreed to take part in an Indigenous-led committee studying whether a search was feasible.
The committee's study, released on May 12, 2023, found that a search was feasible but could take up to three years and cost up to $184 million. The families and Indigenous leaders said it had to go ahead. On July 5, 2023, the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Heather Stefanson said a search was too risky; she said it would be unsafe for workers and could not guarantee that the women would be found. The next day protesters at a camp at the Brady Road landfill began blocking access to the site to press governments to search Prairie Green, and on July 14 a judge granted a temporary injunction that ended the blockade while allowing the protest to continue. On August 4 relatives of the two women met the federal Crown-Indigenous Relations minister, Gary Anandasangaree, and later led a round dance at a rally; other rallies were held across the country.
On August 9, 2023, Manitoba's New Democrats, led by Wab Kinew, promised a search if they won the provincial election. In September Anandasangaree said Ottawa was willing to support a search but needed Manitoba to commit as well, and he called the politicizing of the issue "deeply offensive and deeply troubling and deeply hurtful to the families." On the last day of the campaign the Progressive Conservatives ran billboard, newspaper and digital advertisements in Winnipeg setting out their opposition to the search on safety grounds. One read: "For health and safety reasons, the answer on the landfill dig just has to be no." The advertisements drew criticism in Indigenous communities and beyond. Stefanson stood by them, saying Manitobans needed to know where the parties stood, and said she did not involve herself in advertising decisions.
The New Democrats won the election in October 2023. A second study, released on January 26, 2024, found that a search could be done in about a year at a cost of about $90 million, but warned that searchers would face health risks from asbestos. On March 22, 2024, the federal and Manitoba governments each committed $20 million to the search.
Skibicki pleaded not guilty to all four counts. Before trial his lawyers asked for a judge-alone hearing, arguing that publicity could bias a jury; Chief Justice Joyal refused, and on May 2, 2024, he ruled that the case would be heard by a jury. A jury was chosen and the trial began on April 29, 2024, CBC News reported. (APTN News gave the start as May 9.)
On March 14, 2024, the defense had first told the Crown that it planned to call expert evidence. On May 1 it confirmed in court that it would argue Skibicki was not criminally responsible, and on May 2 it gave prosecutors an expert opinion. On Monday, May 6, defense lawyer Leonard Tailleur told the court that Skibicki admitted unlawfully causing the deaths of all four women. Crown prosecutor Chris Vanderhooft called this a new development. With the killings no longer in dispute, the Crown dropped its opposition to a judge-alone trial, saying it was "the best route to making sure this matter proceeds," and the jury was dismissed. The question for the court became Skibicki's mental state and intent. Under Canadian law the burden of proving that he was not criminally responsible fell on the defense, on a balance of probabilities. The Crown and the defense also agreed that similar fact evidence could be used, and the Crown relied on it to show intent and capacity.
Joyal heard the case in the spring of 2024, with Indigenous cultural practices and support for the families built into the proceedings, APTN News reported. The evidence included surveillance video, DNA results, Skibicki's computer history, letters and messages he sent after the killings, the testimony of his former wife, and his 2022 videotaped confession. Neighbors in his apartment building testified about his activity there around the time of the killings, and the shelter worker described his visits. The Crown said Skibicki had targeted vulnerable Indigenous women at shelters.
The defense called one witness, Dr. Sohom Das, a forensic psychiatrist based in the United Kingdom. Das testified that Skibicki's actions were driven by delusions linked to schizophrenia, including voices telling him he was on a mission from God. Skibicki's former wife had testified that he believed God had ordained him, and the defense pointed to Facebook messages in which he said he was being manipulated by Satan.
The Crown's expert, Dr. Gary Chaimowitz, a forensic psychiatrist, testified that Skibicki had made up his delusions. He found no evidence of the paranoid schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder Skibicki claimed, and concluded that his behavior was not influenced by any psychosis. In Chaimowitz's view the killings were driven by racism and by deviant sexual interests, not by mental illness.
In closing arguments on June 10, 2024, Tailleur told the court, "He had paranoid schizophrenia." Crown prosecutor Renee Lagimodiere said Skibicki was faking his symptoms and "did not have a disease of the mind when he killed" the women. Joyal said he would give his decision from the bench on July 11.
On July 11, 2024, Joyal found Skibicki guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. "The accused Jeremy Skibicki stands convicted of four counts of first-degree murder," he said. He found that the killings were planned and deliberate and that Skibicki knew that what he was doing was wrong. "Simply put: The accused did not have a mental disorder," the judge said, according to The Globe and Mail. He said that even if a mental disorder had been present, Skibicki would have known the killings were wrong, both legally and morally.
Joyal gave little weight to Das, citing "foundational deficiencies" in his analysis, including his reliance on Skibicki's own claim to have been compelled by God, and raised concerns about his professionalism. He found Chaimowitz's evidence reliable, credible and extremely persuasive. He said Skibicki's confession showed racist views, and he referred to the sexual assaults and unlawful confinement of the women. All four victims, he said, were vulnerable Indigenous women who used shelters. He acknowledged the national crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women but said it could not influence his decision. He described the facts of the case as "mercilessly graphic."
The courtroom was full of the women's families and supporters. "Justice was served today," said Marcedes Myran's sister. Morgan Harris's daughter said the family had received justice and praised the court for treating the women as human beings. Rebecca Contois's brother spoke of relief and gratitude, and of anxiety about hearing the details again. "Why did he have to do it?" he asked. Marcedes Myran's grandmother said she was glad of the conviction but that the process had been hard. Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Morgan Harris, called it "a damn good day to be Indigenous." Family members hugged the prosecutors, celebrated on the courthouse steps and then gathered at Portage and Main, downtown, to drum, dance and sing. Premier Kinew called the decision "a pivotal moment in the national conversation around reconciliation."
Joyal's written decision ran to nearly 200 pages, CBC News reported. In it he wrote that the crimes were "emblematic of much of what is associated with the tragedies" of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Crown prosecutor Lagimodiere said the confession "really helped to prove the case the Crown had to prove." After the verdict, Tailleur said he would study the written decision before deciding whether to appeal.
First-degree murder in Canada carries an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years. A federal law that had allowed parole ineligibility periods to be stacked for multiple murders was struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2022, so the periods on Skibicki's four counts had to run concurrently. Crown prosecutors said this meant he could apply for parole at 60.
The sentencing hearing on August 28, 2024, heard 14 victim impact statements, CTV News reported. Morgan Harris's youngest daughter spoke of lasting trauma, anxiety and depression, and of facing them without her mother. Rebecca Contois's oldest sister said that no words could capture her pain or rage. A statement from another sister, read by their brother, said the women's lives mattered and that they were not garbage. Marcedes Myran's grandmother said the sentence was not enough and that she would never speak his name; her sister said the life sentence would never be enough. Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the killings had left a deep scar on First Nations people and a profound loss of trust. Sandra DeLaronde, of the advocacy group Giganawenimaanaanig, read a community impact statement about Indigenous women's fears for their safety and their distrust of authorities, including police.
Vanderhooft said sentencing hearings often treat victims as "but a footnote," and that this one would not. He asked any future parole board to look past Skibicki's gentle and thoughtful manner, which a forensic psychiatrist had said could disarm potential victims, and to recognize the danger he posed.
Joyal imposed four life sentences, each with no parole eligibility for 25 years, to be served concurrently. He said the law left him no choice and that "the only available sentence that I can impose today will regrettably not adequately reflect the gravity of these offences." He described the women as having been "preyed upon and targeted by a white supremacist." He said he hoped a future parole panel would weigh the evidence, his reasons and the families' statements with care, and that the case might help address the Indigenous community's long distrust of the justice system.
When the judge asked Skibicki to stand, he said, "No thank you," and rose only when sheriffs told him to. Asked whether he had anything to say, he said, "No." He did not apologize and showed no visible emotion. The next day Premier Kinew said Skibicki should never be released and that future parole hearings should take account of the harm done to the families.
On June 11, 2024, while the trial was under way, the Manitoba government gave environmental approval for the search of Prairie Green. Excavation and sifting began on December 2, 2024, in the section of the landfill where the women's remains were believed to be. On February 26, 2025, the province announced that possible human remains had been found. On March 7 the RCMP identified them as those of Morgan Harris, and the province said another set of remains had been recovered. Kinew said he had spoken with her family and hoped the news would help them move forward. He said the matter was about "a grieving family and healing for them." Ross Gardner, a crime scene consultant, said the identification suggested the searchers' strategy was working.
On March 17, 2025, the province announced that the RCMP had identified the second set of remains as those of Marcedes Myran. Kinew said the two women "are coming home." Earlier that month the interim Progressive Conservative leader, Wayne Ewasko, had apologized for his party's refusal to search. Kyra Wilson, by then Grand Chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said her organization was grieving with the family.
The search formally ended on July 9, 2025, with private ceremonies honoring the two women and their families. Its specialized equipment and staff moved to the Brady Road landfill. On April 30, 2026, the province announced that the search site had been decommissioned and that the final cost was $18.4 million, against early estimates as high as $184 million. Kinew said the province had shown the work "could be done with respect for the environment" and "in a very financially responsible fashion." Melissa Robinson, Morgan Harris's cousin, who by then led the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs' unit on missing and murdered First Nations people, said: "We always knew this work could be done."
Work to identify Buffalo Woman went on during and after the trial. Homicide, Missing Persons and Forensic Identification investigators continued the effort in consultation with Crown attorneys, the Winnipeg Police Service said. In December 2024, new information led to a preliminary identification. According to IndigiNews, it came from an interview with Skibicki after his conviction, in which he described pants the woman had been wearing; those had not been tested before. Items seized during the investigation were sent for DNA analysis after her family gave samples, and RCMP laboratory results came back on March 11 and March 24, 2025. On March 25, investigators travelled to St. Theresa Point with the police service's family support advocate to tell her family and community.
On March 26, 2025, the Winnipeg Police Service announced that the fourth victim was Ashlee Christine Shingoose, 30, of St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation. Police said they believed her remains had been taken to the Brady Road landfill in March 2022. In the same release police acknowledged that the original decision not to search for Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran "has had significant impact on the families and community," and added, "While we can't undo the past, we can learn from it." They said they supported a humanitarian search for Ashlee's remains and had contacted city and provincial leaders. Premier Kinew and Police Chief Gene Bowers pledged to search, and Mayor Scott Gillingham offered the city's support.
Her father urged that the search start at once. "We're not garbage. Nobody's garbage," he said, rejecting the idea that a landfill could serve as a resting place. Her mother said the ordeal had made her think of other families of missing and murdered women. "It's too hard to lose your daughter, not knowing where she is," she said.
Because Ashlee Shingoose had not been identified when Skibicki was sentenced, her family had never been able to address the court. At the Crown's request, the Court of King's Bench agreed to a special hearing, which it called "unique but necessary," so that her relatives would have the same opportunity as the other families. Courts do not usually accept victim impact statements after sentencing, and the court described the circumstances as exceptional. Marc Kruse, director of Indigenous legal learning and services at the University of Manitoba's law school, said the hearing allowed "the record to be complete." Andrew Flavelle Martin, a law professor at Dalhousie University, questioned whether the court had the authority to hear the statements without a change to the Criminal Code. Nothing said at the hearing could change the sentence.
The hearing took place before Chief Justice Joyal on August 15, 2025. Skibicki was not required to attend and did not; his lawyer said his absence was not meant as disrespect and that his presence would have caused the families further harm. Her father told the court that the family had been "screaming into silence" while she remained unidentified, and said he wished he could have confronted Skibicki. Her mother said the pain was overwhelming and that her daughter had meant a great deal to the family.
A small team began a preliminary search at Brady Road in August 2025, using ground-penetrating radar to narrow the area. The full search began on Monday, December 1, 2025, when the first truckload of landfill material was brought down for sorting. Kinew said the search could take up to a year and would be paid for with money set aside for Prairie Green. Ashlee's sister took part in the work. Kinew also said that when the search for Ashlee was finished, the province would search the same landfill for Tanya Nepinak, a woman last seen in Winnipeg in September 2011 whose body police believe was also taken there. Her death is a separate case and is not connected to Skibicki.
The Brady Road landfill covers almost eight square kilometers. On January 26, 2026, Kinew said early material suggested the crews were working in the right area and date range, though he said there was no guarantee of success. In March 2026, in the fourth month of the search, he said debris was matching the target dates and that investigators had a clearer picture of where the trucks would have been. Provincial searchers, engineers and Winnipeg police were working on the site. On April 30, 2026, he said the work was slower than at Prairie Green because crews were sorting a large volume of household refuse rather than commercial waste, and that they were using dates on items such as milk cartons to check the timing.
As of April 30, 2026, Skibicki was serving four concurrent life sentences, with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. No appeal of the conviction or sentence had been reported.
Proven by the court: the first-degree murders of Ashlee Shingoose, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois, all in 2022. Skibicki admitted through his lawyers that he caused all four deaths unlawfully; the only issue at trial was his criminal responsibility, which the judge decided against him.
Other victims: police said in 2022 that they could not rule out more victims. No other killing has been charged against Skibicki or publicly attributed to him by police.
Accounts differ on several details: the arrest date (May 18, 2022, in the police release; May 16 in a CTV News account of the verdict; May 17 in APTN News in 2022); the start of the trial (April 29, 2024, according to CBC News; May 9, according to APTN News); the length of the written decision (more than 100 pages, The Globe and Mail; more than 150, CBC and Radio Canada International on the day of the verdict; nearly 200, CBC News two weeks later); and Ashlee Shingoose's age (30, according to police; 31, according to IndigiNews). Some early reports said a jacket identified her; the police and IndigiNews accounts say it was other items tested after his post-conviction interview.
Motive: the court found the killings racially motivated and accepted the Crown psychiatrist's evidence that Skibicki did not suffer from psychosis. His claims of schizophrenia and of acting on God's orders were rejected.
On or about March 15, 2022: Ashlee Shingoose is killed.
April 30, 2022: shelter video shows Skibicki eating with Morgan Harris.
On or about May 1, 2022: Morgan Harris is killed.
On or about May 4, 2022: Marcedes Myran is killed.
May 14 or 15, 2022: Rebecca Contois is killed.
May 16, 2022: police find remains of Rebecca Contois in Winnipeg and secure the Brady Road landfill.
May 18, 2022: Skibicki is arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
June 2, 2022: police begin searching Brady Road; on June 21 they say remains found there are Rebecca Contois's.
December 1, 2022: three more first-degree murder charges are laid.
December 2 and 6, 2022: police say they will not search Prairie Green.
December 14, 2022: Chief Smyth apologizes.
May 12, 2023: a feasibility study finds a search possible.
July 5, 2023: the provincial government declines to search.
August 9, 2023: the New Democrats promise a search; they win the October 2023 election.
March 22, 2024: Ottawa and Manitoba commit $20 million each.
April 29, 2024: trial begins.
May 6, 2024: the defense admits the killings; the trial goes ahead before a judge alone.
June 10, 2024: closing arguments.
June 11, 2024: environmental approval for the Prairie Green search.
July 11, 2024: convicted of four counts of first-degree murder.
August 28, 2024: four concurrent life sentences, no parole for 25 years.
December 2, 2024: the Prairie Green search begins.
February 26, 2025: possible remains found.
March 7 and March 17, 2025: Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are identified.
March 26, 2025: Buffalo Woman is identified as Ashlee Shingoose.
July 9, 2025: the Prairie Green search ends.
August 15, 2025: special hearing for Ashlee Shingoose's family.
December 1, 2025: the full Brady Road search begins.
April 30, 2026: the Prairie Green site is decommissioned; the Brady Road search continues.