Man sentenced to life for killing of 4 Indigenous women in Winnipeg

August 28, 2024 Canuck

A serial killer has been formally sentenced to four concurrent life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years in the slayings of four Indigenous women in Winnipeg.

Jeremy Skibicki showed no emotion as the sentence was handed down Wednesday.

When asked by Court of King’s Bench Justice Glenn Joyal if he had anything to say, Skibicki replied, “No.”

The judge said he was bound by law to impose the automatic sentence after convicting Skibicki last month of four counts of first-degree murder.

The women’s families “deserved more than what can be accomplished in a courtroom,” Joyal added.

Relatives and supporters of the women addressed the sentencing hearing with multiple victim impact statements.

Grand Chief Cathy Merrick of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs told court the killings have left deep scars and will be felt for generations.

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Families and supporters of four murdered women celebrate outside the Manitoba Law Courts after the guilty verdict of serial killer Jeremy Skibicki is read in a courtroom in Winnipeg on July 11, 2024. Families and supporters of four Indigenous women who died at the hands of a serial killer are expected to address the man for the first time today in a Winnipeg courtroom. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

The trial heard Skibicki targeted the women at homeless shelters, then strangled or drowned them before disposing of their remains in garbage bins in 2022.

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The killings came to light when a man looking for scrap metal found the partial remains of 24-year-old Rebecca Contois in a dumpster in Skibicki’s neighbourhood. More of her remains were discovered at a city-run landfill.

During a police interrogation, Skibicki admitted to killing Contois and the three other women: Morgan Harris, 39; Marcedes Myran, 26; and an unidentified woman an Indigenous grassroots community has named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman.

Skibicki told police the killings were racially motivated and cited white supremacist beliefs.

At trial, a defence lawyer said Skibicki admitted to the killings but was too mentally ill to be held criminally responsible.

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The judge said he agreed with a psychiatrist who testified for the Crown that Skibicki didn’t have a mental disorder that affected his ability to know the killings were morally wrong.