Latest news with #MarcedesMyran
Yahoo
19-07-2025
- Yahoo
As one Manitoba landfill search for First Nations women's remains ends, another is set to begin
Donna Bartlett's family is still coming to terms with the end of a months-long search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for her granddaughter, after it wrapped up last week with only some of Marcedes Myran's remains located. "It was, I guess, hurtful," Bartlett said, adding searchers were able to find only about 15 per cent of her granddaughter's total remains since the process began in December. "I would have liked them to continue searching, but [it was] because they haven't found anything I think in about a month that they said … they were done." Myran was one of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in Winnipeg in 2022. Skibicki was convicted of first-degree murder last year in her death and the deaths of Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois and Ashlee Shingoose. Both Myran, 26, and Harris, 39, were originally from Long Plain First Nation in south-central Manitoba, while Shingoose, 30, was from St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation in northeastern Manitoba. Contois, 24, was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River, on the western shore of Lake Manitoba. While some remains belonging to Harris and Myran were found at the Winnipeg-area Prairie Green landfill earlier this year, Contois's partial remains were found in May 2022 in a garbage bin near Skibicki's apartment in Winnipeg's North Kildonan area, and more were found the following month at the Brady Road landfill. That Winnipeg landfill is also where Shingoose's remains are now believed to be. Bartlett said she feels torn as the search for her granddaughter's remains ends, but she knows it means those resources will move to soon start searching for Shingoose. "I still appreciate them finding some of her. They actually did it," Bartlett said in an interview Friday. "It's kind of heartbreaking, and at the same time, it's kind of good that they're going to search for the other woman." Albert Shingoose said he's trying to stay strong as the process gets underway to start searching for his daughter, who was identified as the previously-unknown victim in the case earlier this year. But he's hoping to push the province to also search the Brady landfill for the remains of Tanya Nepinak, whose remains were believed to have been taken to that site after she went missing at age 31 over a decade ago. A search for Nepinak's remains was launched in October 2012, but it was cancelled after six days with no evidence located. "I know how it feels to lose a daughter," Shingoose said in an interview in Winnipeg, where he and his family are staying after wildfires forced them out of their homes in St. Theresa Point. "For so many years that they're not looking for her, and the family [has] been asking for help." Melissa Robinson knows how it feels to lose a loved one, too — her cousin, Harris, was the other woman whose remains were recently found in the Prairie Green landfill alongside Myran's. Now, she said she hopes to use her family's experience to help families like the Shingooses. "What they primarily need is just people there. You know, people there to hold them up, right, when they're feeling like they just can't do it anymore," Robinson said. "All we can do now as a community is be there to support them like the community supported us." As Bartlett and Robinson's families prepare to finally lay their loved ones to rest, Shingoose said he hopes the search for his daughter's remains begins soon. The province announced Thursday that the search of the Prairie Green landfill for Harris's and Myran's remains officially ended on July 9, followed by private ceremonies with the families on July 14 and 15 alongside Premier Wab Kinew, members of the search team and other community supporters. The update came months after the women's partial remains were discovered at the landfill in February, though workers remained at the site after that in an effort to find more of their remains, Kinew said previously. With the Prairie Green search concluded, specialized equipment and personnel will soon move to the Brady Road landfill to continue the search for Shingoose's remains, the province said.
CBC
19-07-2025
- CBC
As one Manitoba landfill search for First Nations women's remains ends, another is set to begin
Social Sharing Donna Bartlett's family is still coming to terms with the end of a months-long search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for her granddaughter, after it wrapped up last week with only some of Marcedes Myran's remains located. "It was, I guess, hurtful," Bartlett said, adding searchers were able to find only about 15 per cent of her granddaughter's total remains since the process began in December. "I would have liked them to continue searching, but [it was] because they haven't found anything I think in about a month that they said … they were done." Myran was one of four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki in Winnipeg in 2022. Skibicki was convicted of first-degree murder last year in her death and the deaths of Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois and Ashlee Shingoose. Both Myran, 26, and Harris, 39, were originally from Long Plain First Nation in south-central Manitoba, while Shingoose, 30, was from St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation in northeastern Manitoba. Contois, 24, was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River, on the western shore of Lake Manitoba. While some remains belonging to Harris and Myran were found at the Winnipeg-area Prairie Green landfill earlier this year, Contois's partial remains were found in May 2022 in a garbage bin near Skibicki's apartment in Winnipeg's North Kildonan area, and more were found the following month at the Brady Road landfill. That Winnipeg landfill is also where Shingoose's remains are now believed to be. Bartlett said she feels torn as the search for her granddaughter's remains ends, but she knows it means those resources will move to soon start searching for Shingoose. "I still appreciate them finding some of her. They actually did it," Bartlett said in an interview Friday. "It's kind of heartbreaking, and at the same time, it's kind of good that they're going to search for the other woman." Albert Shingoose said he's trying to stay strong as the process gets underway to start searching for his daughter, who was identified as the previously-unknown victim in the case earlier this year. But he's hoping to push the province to also search the Brady landfill for the remains of Tanya Nepinak, whose remains were believed to have been taken to that site after she went missing at age 31 over a decade ago. A search for Nepinak's remains was launched in October 2012, but it was cancelled after six days with no evidence located. "I know how it feels to lose a daughter," Shingoose said in an interview in Winnipeg, where he and his family are staying after wildfires forced them out of their homes in St. Theresa Point. "For so many years that they're not looking for her, and the family [has] been asking for help." Melissa Robinson knows how it feels to lose a loved one, too — her cousin, Harris, was the other woman whose remains were recently found in the Prairie Green landfill alongside Myran's. Now, she said she hopes to use her family's experience to help families like the Shingooses. "What they primarily need is just people there. You know, people there to hold them up, right, when they're feeling like they just can't do it anymore," Robinson said. "All we can do now as a community is be there to support them like the community supported us." As Bartlett and Robinson's families prepare to finally lay their loved ones to rest, Shingoose said he hopes the search for his daughter's remains begins soon. The province announced Thursday that the search of the Prairie Green landfill for Harris's and Myran's remains officially ended on July 9, followed by private ceremonies with the families on July 14 and 15 alongside Premier Wab Kinew, members of the search team and other community supporters. The update came months after the women's partial remains were discovered at the landfill in February, though workers remained at the site after that in an effort to find more of their remains, Kinew said previously. With the Prairie Green search concluded, specialized equipment and personnel will soon move to the Brady Road landfill to continue the search for Shingoose's remains, the province said. As one Manitoba landfill search for women's remains ends, another is set to begin 18 minutes ago Searchers are expected to soon start looking for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose in a Winnipeg landfill, after finding remains belonging to Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran in a landfill north of the city earlier this year. They were among four First Nations women murdered by a serial killer in 2022.
CBC
19-07-2025
- CBC
As one Manitoba landfill search for women's remains ends, another is set to begin
Searchers are expected to soon start looking for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose in a Winnipeg landfill, after finding remains belonging to Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran in a landfill north of the city earlier this year. They were among four First Nations women murdered by a serial killer in 2022.
Toronto Star
18-07-2025
- Toronto Star
Search of Manitoba landfill for women's remains ends, dig at second site to start
WINNIPEG - The search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of two slain First Nations women has concluded with a new search soon set to begin at a different site for another victim. The Manitoba government announced Thursday that crews finished looking last week through the Prairie Green landfill, just north of Winnipeg, for remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran. They were among four First Nations women murdered by serial killer Jeremy Skibicki in 2022.
Winnipeg Free Press
17-07-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Complex emotions for victims' families as landfill search in Winnipeg officially ends
The search of a Winnipeg-area landfill for the remains of First Nations women slain by a convicted serial killer has officially ended, leaving the victims' families feeling a mix of loss and hope. Relatives of Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26, confirmed searchers finished working at the Prairie Green Landfill, located just north of the city in the Rural Municipality of Rosser, on July 9. The search effort began Dec. 2 and turned up partial remains of both victims within a few months. Jeremy Skibicki killed the women, and two others, between March and May 2022. NIC ADAM / FREE PRESS FILES Donna Bartlett, grandmother of Marcedes Myran 'I don't know if we will have complete closure, but we will have some type of closure,' Donna Bartlett, Myran's grandmother, said in a phone interview. 'I haven't decided exactly what to think about it. It's hard.' Bartlett said searchers were able to recover about 85 per cent of Harris' remains, but only 15 per cent of her granddaughter's remains. She tried to convince officials to expand the search beyond a specific cell within the landfill, which officials determined was the most likely place to find remains, she said. Bartlett said her daughter, Myran's mother, is struggling with the result. 'I know my daughter is not happy, but she is trying to accept the fact they found some of her, not all of her,' Bartlett said. 'Am I satisfied? I don't know. I'm happy I've got some of her, but I still would have liked more.' Melissa Robinson, a cousin of Morgan Harris, said those involved in the search are now turning their attention to Winnipeg's Brady Road Landfill. Victims of admitted serial killer Jeremy Skibicki (left to right): Morgan Beatrice Harris, Marcedes Myran, Rebecca Contois. The remains of Skibicki victim Ashlee Shingoose, 30, are believed to be buried there. Partial remains of Contois were found in a garbage bin near Skibicki's North Kildonan apartment in May 2022. A subsequent search of the Brady landfill recovered further remains. Skibicki was arrested on May 17, 2022 and confessed that he killed four women and disposed of them in garbage bins in Winnipeg. 'We finished what we set out to do and there is really nothing more to say about that… We're happy with the findings, we're happy with the end result,' Robinson said by phone Thursday. Premier Wab Kinew pledged to search the Brady landfill after Shingoose was formally named as a victim. She was previously known only as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe (Buffalo Woman). Shingoose's identity, which wasn't known for years, was confirmed in March, after Winnipeg Police Service investigators interviewed Skibicki in prison and he provided information that led to further DNA testing of pants seized from his apartment. Albert Shingoose, her father, declined to comment Thursday. In a news release Thursday afternoon, the province confirmed the search had ended. Relevant specialized equipment and personnel will soon transition to the Brady Road landfill to look for Shingoose, it said. FACEBOOK The remains of Ashlee Shingoose are believed to in Brady Road landfill 'The Manitoba government remains committed to supporting the families and will ensure the search at the Brady Road Landfill is conducted with care, dignity and respect,' the statement said. 'We thank the people of Manitoba. Together, we have brought Morgan and Marcedes home.' Specific details of the Brady search, including a timeline and estimated cost, have not been released. The provincial and federal governments each put up $20 million for the search of the Prairie Green site. The money was used, in part, to build a large steel Quonset which functioned as the primary search facility on site. Excavated material was transferred into the building and spread out on the floor, where searchers sifted through the waste with gloved hands and rakes. Electrical infrastructure and an access road were also constructed at Prairie Green to assist in the search. 'Everyone was there for us, supported us, ensured that this was going to get done, and we got it done,' Robinson said. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES The search at Prairie Green began Dec. 2 and turned up partial remains of both victims within a few months. Kinew visited the Prairie Green site this week, where the victims' families, supporters and people involved in the search gathered to mark its closure, the province said. 'They did a smudge, a pipe ceremony and I asked someone to say a prayer for me,' said Bartlett. Cambria Harris, Morgan Harris' daughter, acknowledged the end of the search in a statement on social media. She did not respond to a request for comment. 'I have been struggling to gather the words on how immense this feeling is for me,' the statement said. She thanked the workers, family members, officials and Indigenous leaders who participated in the search, and others who advocated for it to take place. Nearly 200 people applied to be part of the recovery. There were 45 search team members, the Free Press reported previously. 'It takes an incredibly courageous but also empathetic person to be able to commit for something more than a search: a need for justice, closure, ending to the families' grief within a landfill, holding up the right to a human burial, human rights and more,' Cambria Harris said in her statement. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Cambria Harris (left) and Melissa Robinson The question of whether to search the landfill became a political issue during the 2023 provincial election after the Winnipeg Police Service said it was not feasible and the former Progressive Conservative government campaigned on its opposition to the search. The remains of Tanya Nepinak, who investigators believe was slain by a different serial killer, could also be at the Brady site. Police searched a small portion of the landfill for Nepinak in 2012 but were unsuccessful and halted operations after a week. Indigenous leaders, including the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, have called for searches for Nepinak's remains to continue. Tyler SearleReporter Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press's city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic's creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler. Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
