The families of two Indigenous women who were allegedly killed at the hands of an accused serial killer are calling on police to do more to find their missing loved ones.
On Thursday, Winnipeg police charged jeremy skibicki35, with first-degree murder in the death morgan harris39, Marques Ant26, and an unidentified female.
Their bodies have not been found.
Man arrested in Rebecca Kontois murder charged with 3 more murders: Winnipeg police
read more
Skibicki was already in custody after being charged with first-degree murder on May 18. Rebecca Contois24. Contois’ partial remains were found in a dumpster near an apartment building and police later found the rest of his remains at the Brady Road Landfill in Winnipeg.
On Friday, Winnipeg Police Chief, Danny Smith, said that while investigators believe the remains of the other three victims are in the same landfill, a search may not be possible because so much time has passed since the women were killed.
That doesn’t sit well with the grieving families of Harris and Myran, who only learned the women are now part of a homicide investigation on Thursday.
“How do you bury someone you don’t have?” Myran’s grandmother Donna Bartlett asked in an interview with Global News Friday.
Winnipeg police chief says bodies of homicide victims likely in landfill, but no plans to search
“I would like the police to search the landfill more, to try and find the body parts of all the women that are there.
“At least bring some of them home.”
At a vigil held in Winnipeg on Thursday night, Harris’s daughter, Cambria Harris, said she did not think it was fair that police would not continue to search the landfill.
“Those women had families, they were mothers, they were cousins, and they didn’t deserve this,” the 21-year-old told reporters.
Plea of not guilty to all charges in Jeremy Skibicki first-degree murder case: attorney
“I think they should find out because my mom deserves to come home.
“We deserve his remains and so do the other families.”
‘She was fearless’
Friends and family are remembering Harris – a mother of five and grandmother of one – as a man who was fun-loving, fearless and well-liked.
“I know she loved her kids and did the best she could with what she had. I think it’s so unfair that it ended like this,” said Harris’ cousin Kirsten Witwicky. said during the vigil on Thursday.
‘We’re still not done’: Police women say family gathers in Winnipeg to honor those killed
Witwicky said she admired her cousin’s “huge spirit”.
“He had the soul of a UFC fighter. She was fearless and not afraid of anyone,” he said of Harris, who lived in Winnipeg but was a member of Long Plains First Nation.
A vigil with photos of Morgan Harris in Winnipeg is shown as family and friends of the three murdered women.
jgw
Police had earlier said that Harris was last seen on May 1.
“She was a great person. And I want her to be remembered for how she was when she was younger, not how she was when she went missing,” Cambria said after the vigil.
Arrests made in ‘horrific’ Addison Avenue murder, Winnipeg police say more victims possible
“I want him to be remembered as Happy Go-Lucky as he has always been. She was a fool. That was fun. People loved to be around him.
“While we were looking for her, there was only one person who didn’t know who she was and didn’t have anything bad to say. Everyone is saddened by the loss.”
‘Always happy, big smile’
The pain is still raw for Bartlett, who helped raise Myran in Winnipeg, and like Harris’s family, has been searching the city since her granddaughter went missing.
Now she is helping the family look after Myran’s two children, aged seven and eight.
“She was a very sweet girl. She was always happy, big smile,” Bartlett said of her granddaughter, who lived in Winnipeg but was also a member of Long Plains First Nation.
Mercedes Mayran, 26.
thesis
“She was a very nice person, trusting, caring, loving. Now I have two kids who will never see (their mother) again.”
Myrán’s mother, Pamela Myrán, said her daughter, the middle of three children, has an independent spirit.
Like others in the family, Pamela told Global News that her daughter was caring, playful and protective of the people she loved.
“She was a happy-go-lucky girl, she was always smiling. Even if she was sad or mad. She would be smiling,” he said.
Pamela said it was sad to learn that the police were not planning further searches of the landfill.
“How can you close if you can’t find it?” She may still be alive – that’s my hope.”
‘paralytic grief’
In a statement sent to the media on Friday after Skibicki’s first court appearance since the new charges were filed, Kontois’ family said they were in deep sorrow.
Kontois lived in Winnipeg and was a member of the O-chee-chak-ko-sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River.
The family has previously said that Contois, who left behind a daughter, was active in the community with various Indigenous street-watch programs, helping to find missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
In Friday’s statement, a spokesperson for the Contois family said the past few months had been “incredibly exhausting”.
Rebecca Kontois, 24.
supply
“We have experienced paralyzing grief. Pure devastation,” it said in a statement.
“I don’t think we’ve ever cried buckets of tears, painful waking-you-in-the-middle-of-the-night anxiety, a kind of sadness never experienced before, deep, deep sadness.
“We keep thinking about other families as well. Our deepest sympathies go out to him.”
Skibicki did not enter a plea Friday, but his attorney said he maintains his innocence.
– With files from Global’s Rosanna Hempel and The Canadian Press
