'I think the recovery is very possible,' U.S. expert says about search for Manitoba women's remains

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

An American police chief who conducted a study on landfill searches says a few factors make him optimistic for success in the pursuit for remains of two Indigenous women in a Winnipeg-area landfill.

The number one thing giving Brian Paulsen confidence is the amount of time Premier Wab Kinew has devoted to the search at the privately-owned Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg.

The search, expected to begin in fall, could continue into early 2026, Kinew has said.

"I think that's a great commitment. It tells me that the government is indeed wanting to recover these ladies. There's value in them," Paulsen told CBC Manitoba's Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Monday.

"It will become tedious after a certain period of time, but with that type of commitment I think the recovery is very possible."

Paulsen, the assistant police chief in Sturgis, S.D., was chief of police in Plattsmouth, Neb., in 2003 when he led the task of searching a landfill for the body of a four-year-old boy.

Six months had passed since the boy had been killed and believed to have been disposed of in a dumpster that was later emptied in the landfill. The search was halted after 45 days without the boy's remains being located.

Paulsen later conducted his study on landfill searches and completed a master's thesis about landfill searches in the United States.

Although the study concluded that a search should not be initiated if more than 60 days had passed since the body entered the landfill, Paulsen said on Monday that the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran could still be found — even though it's been two years since the women's bodies were deposited there from a dumpster.

"It's a monumental task coming two years after the fact," he said. "For my research … I determined that it was about 30 days for a successful search and then the results, or the potential for a positive outcome, drastically drops."

However, "one of the best things" searchers have on their side for Harris and Myran are precise GPS data about where dumpsters possibly containing the remains were emptied, Paulsen said.

"They can really zero in and say, OK, this is where we're at," he said.

The search area at Prairie Green is expected to involve three sections (or cells) where it's believed the women's remains could be. The sections make up a total area of about 100 by 200 metres — or about four football fields — and a maximum depth of about 10 metres, the engineer who designed the search plan said last week.

The amount of overburden — material piled on top of the target site — could also work in searchers' favour because it may have protected the remains from the elements, Paulsen said.

During the 2003 excavation for the young boy, when searchers reached the bottom of the landfill in late June and early July,  as temperatures exceeded 30 C, they found snow and ice as well as preserved meat and vegetables, he said.

"Other than being dirty and aged in the landfill, they looked remarkably well for being in the landfill for six months," Paulsen said. "That seal on the top of the landfill at the end of each day prevents oxygen from getting in there, and without oxygen there aren't many biological agents or germs that'll break it down very quickly."

Considering that, it may be possible to find human tissue, he said.

"Remarkably, things don't decompose that quickly in a landfill."

A feasibility study conducted in 2023, commissioned by an Indigenous-led committee after police said they would not search, details the taphonomy that could impact what, if anything, is found during a search.

Taphonomy refers to everything that happens to a body after death, including the process of decomposition, skeletonization and also human actions, such as the compaction of material at a landfill.

"Based on the information provided by the Winnipeg Police Service with respect to the condition of the bodies of Marcedes and Morgan, it is believed that any proposed search should account for the potential of both intact and/or dismembered remains. It is therefore important to consider all possible scenarios in order to estimate the condition of their remains during the search," the study notes.

It goes through scenarios that list the effects of temperature and insects, if the bodies were wrapped or not.

Emotional impact

The other thing to be prepared for is the deep emotional impact during the search, regardless of the end result, Paulsen said.

In 2003, Paulsen said the boy's family was kept some distance from the search site because it was so emotionally difficult for them and there was concern about them interfering with the search.

Instead, the family was briefed daily on what had been done and the plan for the next day.

But the event took a toll on searchers as well.

The excavation initially began with first responders but was opened up to help from civilian volunteers because so much help was required, he said.

"There were several that came in and would only do it for a day or two, and then they would say, 'I just can't continue to do this,'" Paulsen said. "It's extremely hard."

Mental health professionals were brought to the landfill, about two kilometres from the actual site. Anyone who felt stressed or unable to cope was taken to the counsellors, he noted.

"I think it was a lot of the fear and then really the whole psychological aspect of a human body being thrown into a dumpster, that we now have to recognize that human bodies, human people are disposable," Paulsen said.

"That's a tough pill to swallow."

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.