Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe now has a name: Ashlee Shingoose was Winnipeg serial killer's 1st victim
Premier promises search at Brady Road landfill, where police believe remains were taken
WARNING | This story contains details of violence against Indigenous women.
After years of police investigation and community anguish, investigators say they've identified the lone unknown victim of a Winnipeg serial killer as Ashlee Christine Shingoose, a missing woman from St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation who was last confirmed seen in downtown Winnipeg in March 2022.
It was a bittersweet update for a community that for years has known Shingoose as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, a name given to her by Indigenous community members — and that hoped that one day, they would finally be able to say her real name.
"My heart hurts, but I'm happy. I'm happy because of what has transpired," said Thelma Morrisseau, one of the grandmothers who took part in the late 2022 ceremony to give Shingoose, 30, a name before she was identified.
"We know who she is. She does have a family. We're still her family, because we adopted her," she said during a Wednesday news conference where police gave the update on their investigation into Shingoose's murder.
"Our whole community adopted her and took her in as one of ours. But she also has that other family, that now can have a little bit more closure. And so we give thanks for that."
Investigators believe Shingoose's body was placed in a garbage bin behind a business on Henderson Highway in North Kildonan before it was taken to Winnipeg's Brady Road landfill in March 2022.
Wednesday's emotional news conference was held at the Millennium Library in downtown Winnipeg, where a number of symbolic items that were in the courtroom to represent Shingoose during the trial of the man convicted of killing her and three other women were also present, including a buffalo headdress.
WATCH | Ashlee Shingoose's family calls for landfill search to start as soon as possible:
Shingoose was among the four First Nations women killed by Jeremy Skibicki between March and May 2022, along with Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26 — both originally from Long Plain First Nation — as well as Rebecca Contois, 24, a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation.
He was convicted last July of four counts of first-degree murder, after a weeks-long trial that heard he targeted vulnerable First Nations women at homeless shelters before killing them and disposing of their remains.
Skibicki unexpectedly confessed to killing the four women during a police interview in May 2022, after Contois's partial remains were found in garbage bins near his North Kildonan apartment. More of her remains were later discovered at the Brady Road landfill.
He said the woman now known to be Shingoose was the first he killed, in mid-March 2022, but he was unable to positively identify her by name. He gave police the name of a person he believed was the woman, but that person was later found alive, leaving the question of that victim's true identity to linger.
While Shingoose's parents were unable to attend Wednesday's news conference because bad weather prevented their plane from landing, they called in and over speaker phone expressed their thanks for the work that helped identify their daughter.
Raymond Flett, chief of their home community of St. Theresa Point, also read messages that Shingoose's parents had prepared ahead of time — including a plea from her mother to search the Brady Road landfill for her daughter's remains.
"Please start the search as soon as possible," he read, pausing to collect himself before continuing. "It's been a long time waiting. I need to bring her home. I need that closure — it's been too long."
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew promised at the news conference there will be a search for Shingoose's remains, and later sang a traditional song for Shingoose at the request of her father — one a government spokesperson said he previously sang for families of the other victims.
WATCH | Premier Wab Kinew sings for Ashlee Shingoose:
The premier said the timing of the search, as well as other details, "will take time for us to sort out," adding a number of safety and environmental issues, as well as family concerns, had to be addressed as the province moved forward with its search of the Prairie Green landfill outside Winnipeg, which recently recovered Harris and Myran's remains.
Kinew said he can't promise Shingoose's family they will bring her home, but "I can promise you that we're going to try."
"I want every single Manitoban to be safe, including Indigenous women," he said. "Every Manitoban will be safer when the police and the Indigenous community can work together and have trust in one another."
Winnipeg Police Service Chief Gene Bowers said Wednesday he "would be remiss not to acknowledge that the initial decision not to search for the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran has significant impact on the families and the community."
After announcing the charges against Skibicki in the deaths of Myran, Harris and Shingoose, Winnipeg police said in December 2022 a landfill search was not feasible. The search became an election issue the following year, with the then governing Progressive Conservatives opposing it.
The advocacy of the women's families ultimately led to the successful search of the landfill.
"We have had time for reflection, almost nearly three years," Bowers said Wednesday.
"While we cannot undo the past, we can learn from it. Today, we know what needs to be done."
How did police identify her?
It was a DNA sample from a previously untested pair of pants that finally led police to confirm Shingoose's identity this month, following information investigators got by interviewing Skibicki in prison in mid-December.
That interview was "something we felt we had to do because we'd exhausted all other avenues," Winnipeg Police Service Deputy Insp. Cam Mackid said at Wednesday's news conference, adding police didn't want to do anything to jeopardize his convictions in the women's deaths.
Mackid said while police seized many items in their investigation, only a small fraction could realistically be sent to a lab for testing — and the pants that ended up identifying Shingoose weren't tested for DNA until Skibicki mentioned them in the recent interview.
During Skibicki's trial last summer, court heard investigators found a DNA sample on a Baby Phat jacket they believe Shingoose wore, but that sample was never matched to anyone. Mackid said police now believe while Shingoose wore the jacket, the DNA found on it was someone else's.
He said police also showed Skibicki a number of photos during their recent interview with him, and he identified Shingoose as the victim through that process.
"If that was the only evidence we had, it could be difficult acting on that alone," Mackid told reporters. "But when you combine that with the DNA that was found and the fact that she's been missing for three years, there is no doubt in our mind that it's Ashlee Shingoose."
Could there be more victims?
Police said their efforts to identify Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe continued during and after Skibicki's trial, in consultation with Crown attorneys and investigators from the homicide, missing persons and forensic identification units, as part of what Mackid called "one of the most complex investigations in the history of our service."
That investigation included creating two separate task forces: one focused on exploring the possibility Shingoose was the unidentified victim, and another to do a deep dive into Skibicki's past and determine if there were any other possible victims.
The second task force saw police speak to "every single person they could locate that had anything to do" with Skibicki, from childhood up to the day he was arrested. Police also looked at unsolved crimes and missing persons cases that could be connected to him, but did not find any other victims.
"We spent months and months on this because ... it seems surprising that somebody would have a level of violence like that in that short period of time, and there wouldn't be other victims," Mackid said.
"I would never stand here and tell you I can guarantee you there isn't another victim out there. I can tell you, though, that we scrubbed everything we possibly could, and we didn't find any other ones."
Mackid said police did not broaden the investigation to other parts of Canada because there was no indication Skibicki ever had a driver's licence, registered a vehicle or spent time or worked anywhere else.
'A painful reminder'
Until Wednesday, very few details about the murder victim now known to be Shingoose had been made public.
Skibicki told police during his confession in 2022 that he met the then-unidentified woman outside the Salvation Army shelter in Winnipeg, saying there was still snow on the ground at the time, and COVID-19 pandemic restrictions had just been lifted in Manitoba — which happened March 15, 2022.
Skibicki told detectives he was coming down from being high on mushrooms that day when he got upset with her and killed her.
His trial heard last year that DNA belonging to a number of women was found in his apartment during the police investigation, including a cigarette butt from the hallway floor in front of a linen closet that had Shingoose's DNA on it.
St. Theresa Point Chief Flett said while the confirmation Shingoose had been the victim of a serial killer was heartbreaking, he called it a profound update for Shingoose's family and the broader community.
"Ashlee Shingoose represented not only an individual's life was taken too soon, but also the countless Indigenous women who have gone missing or have been murdered without proper investigation, accountability or closure for their families," he said.
"It's a painful story that we have experienced — a painful reminder of the injustices faced by our Indigenous women."
WATCH | Premier Kinew repeats Ashlee Shingoose's name before he comments on the news:
Support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people. Immediate emotional assistance and crisis support are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week through a national hotline at 1-844-413-6649.
You can also access, through the government of Canada, health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Arturo Chang