Latest news with #WinnipegPoliceService
CTV News
4 days ago
- CTV News
Four charged with second-degree murder in February homicide
Police on scene of the Magnus Avenue homicide investigation on Feb. 26, 2025. (Ken Gabel/CTV News Winnipeg) Four people have been charged with second-degree murder in connection with a February homicide in Winnipeg. Between July 7 and July 16, the Winnipeg Police Service arrested four people for the murder of Matthew Robert Pelletier. Derek Donald Franklin, 43; Charlie Bronson Keeper, 37; Eric Jade Wirfel, 40; and Clinton William Wirfel, 40, are facing charges, which have not been proven in court. The arrests come nearly five months since the investigation began. On February 25, police were called to a home in the 500 block of Magnus where they found Pelletier's body. Anyone with information on the homicide is asked to call police at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-8477.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- 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.
CTV News
5 days ago
- CTV News
Sex offender released from prison, expected to live in Winnipeg
The Winnipeg Police Service is informing the public that a convicted sex offender, who is considered high-risk to reoffend against pre-pubescent and adolescent boys, is out of prison. Glen Gregory Tyler Pozniak, 43, was released from Stony Mountain Institution on Thursday after serving a portion of his sentence for convictions of sexual exploitation; three counts of sexual interference; possession of child pornography; and making, printing, publishing, or possessing for the purpose of publication any child pornography. He is expected to live in Winnipeg. According to police, Pozniak committed these offences against several victims while in a 'position of trust and authority which occurred over several years and consisted of ongoing sexually violent abuse.' Police said Pozniak has a lengthy criminal record that also includes convictions of robbery, uttering threats, assault causing bodily harm, and assault of a peace officer. Upon his release from prison, Pozniak will be subject to several conditions, including not consuming, purchasing or possessing alcohol or drugs; not being in, near or around places where children under the age of 16 are likely to congregate; and not being in the presence of any children under the age of 16 unless accompanied by an adult who has been approved by the court. He is also subject to lifetime prohibitions of attending a public park or swimming area where someone under the age of 16 is present or is reasonably expected to be present; seeking any employment that involves being in a position of trust or authority towards anyone under the age of 16; and using the internet or other digital networks. Police are providing this information so the public can take appropriate measures to protect themselves. Any form of vigilante or unreasonable conduct won't be tolerated. Anyone with information on Pozniak is asked to call the Manitoba Integrated High Risk Sex Offender Unit at 431-489-8056. They can also call Winnipeg police, their local RCMP detachment, or Crime Stoppers.
Winnipeg Free Press
7 days ago
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Care home goes to court to prevent release of files after senior's death
A personal care home is trying to prevent Winnipeg police from accessing critical incident records after a 90-year old woman died at the facility following a fall, arguing provincial law prohibits the release of the records. Concordia Hospital filed a notice of application in the Court of King's Bench last week, seeking to quash a production order obtained by the Winnipeg Police Service in February to investigate the death. The court filing says the critical incident occurred at Concordia Place — a care home run by the hospital under an agreement with the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority — on Oct. 9, 2024, when the senior, who was suffering from dementia, fell from her bed. Daniel Crump / Free Press Files Concordia Place care home where a 90-year old woman died following a fall from her bed last October. An aide lifted her back onto the bed, the court filing says, and the next morning, staff observed swelling. An X-ray confirmed she had a fractured leg, but because of her age and medical conditions, she wasn't taken for surgery to repair the break. It's not clear whether the fall or being lifted back to the bed caused the fracture, the court papers say. The court filing claims there's no evidence linking the woman's death a week later to the fall. She had been suffering an overall decline in her health in the year preceding her death, the court papers say. The fall was probed as a critical incident by a review committee. Winnipeg police Det. Sgt. Parnelli Parnes then sought a production order to compel Concordia Place to disclose reports, communications, contact information and investigative files related to the incident, including photos and X-rays, which a provincial court judge granted in February. But on March 26, the care home told police it could not release some of the information sought because it was barred from doing so by the Manitoba Evidence Act and the Health System Governance and Accountability Act, the court filing says. It released other records to police. The acts prevent the disclosure of records or information prepared for the use of a critical incident committee, according to the court filing. Weekday Mornings A quick glance at the news for the upcoming day. 'Because of these statutory prohibitions against disclosure, Concordia Place staff are assured confidentiality in the critical incident process. They are told that this process is strictly confidential and based on provincial laws, critical incident documents are not compellable in court,' reads the court filing. 'This is designed to create a culture of safety and to encourage reporting and participation in the investigation and review of critical incidents.' The application argues the provincial court judge failed to impose adequate conditions to minimize the risk of disclosing privileged information and failed to consider whether that information could be obtained from other sources. The application is scheduled to be heard in court in August. Erik PinderaReporter Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik. Every piece of reporting Erik 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.
CTV News
15-07-2025
- CTV News
Winnipeg police make child pornography, voyeurism arrest
A Winnipeg Police Service shoulder patch is seen in Winnipeg, Sept. 2, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Lipnowski A 30-year-old Winnipeg man is facing charges after the alleged discovery of child abuse imagery on a cellphone. The Winnipeg Police Service began its investigation earlier in July after its Internet Child Exploitation Unit was alerted to the situation. On July 9, officers took a suspect into custody in the area of Hargrave Street and Donald Street. During the arrest, police seized a cellphone and found child sexual abuse materials. Officers also searched a downtown home and seized additional electronic devices. A suspect is facing charges of possession of child pornography, access any child pornography and voyeurism. He was released from custody with conditions prohibiting access to the internet and contact with anyone under the age of 18. Police continue to investigate and ask anyone wishing to speak to officers to call 204-986-6172. Resources for sexual assault survivors include WPS Victim Services at 204-986-6350 or the Sexual Assault Crisis Line at 204-786-8631.
