Toy cars, infant socks found in U-Haul locker among remains of 6 infants
Andrea Giesbrecht had defaulted on her storage locker payment and was 136 days overdue
Warning: story contains graphic details.
Before the remains of potentially six dead infants were discovered in a U-Haul storage locker last October, the woman charged with concealing their bodies was "adamant" that her belongings not be auctioned off, according to new court documents about the case.
Andrea Giesbrecht, 41, told a U-Haul employee the items in that locker belonged to her dead father.
What officers would later find in that locker ranged from the horrific to the mundane.
CBC News has obtained a search warrant for the storage locker at 175 McPhillips Street, as well as a list of what was seized.
The list describes how the infants' remains were found. One infant skeleton was described as being found with two towels in a duffel bag. Another decomposed baby was in a garbage bag in a separate duffel bag.
Some were also found in plastic laundry pails. One was beneath cement, or another "hardening agent." Another was found beneath powdered laundry detergent. In another yellow detergent pail, officers found a clear liquid and a decomposed baby in a President's Choice shopping bag.
The affidavit, written by Winnipeg police Det. Sgt. Kelly McCartney, describes when officers first arrived on scene, there was a strong smell of decay. In one case an officer noted seeing a baby with hair and limbs, that appeared to weigh about eight pounds. In other cases, all officers could observe observe was “a brown liquid” or “brown gelatinous solid/liquid matter.”
Among the remains were also a number of seemingly random objects: a St. John Ambulance certificate for Giesbrecht that expired in 2007. Payroll loan papers and earnings statements. Boys' underwear, small toy cars, infant socks. L’Oreal lip gloss, coins in a Pepto Bismol bottle and a perfume sample.
McCartney notes in the search warrant application that police did not know at the time if the deaths were caused by someone, or if the babies were stillborn. They also did not know the extent to which Giesbrecht was involved.
It notes that officers were first called to the scene around 1:00 pm on Oct. 20, 2014 after a male U-Haul employee had called police, reportedly finding “squishy” items inside the locker. He said it was “very smelly” and thought a body might be inside.
Giesbrecht had been renting the locker since March 2014, but had not paid her bill. She owed $276.20. Staff entered the locker with a drill.
Initially, the medical examiner observed the bodies of four dead infants.
Giesbrecht has since been charged with six counts of concealing the bodies of a child.
She is also facing a number of fraud charges. Court previously heard that Giesbrecht has struggled with a gambling addiction for at least 14 years.