More than 80 exhibits were sent for DNA lab testing during the Winnipeg police investigation into an admitted serial killer, but none were able to identify the lone unknown victim among the four women Jeremy Skibicki has confessed to killing, his trial heard Tuesday morning.
The only real clue investigators ever found to the woman’s identity was a shred of DNA from the cuff of a black-and-white Baby Phat-brand jacket it’s believed she wore — a DNA profile that court heard Tuesday was discovered as police repeatedly sent samples from different parts of the jacket for testing.
Investigators continued to try to identify the woman — who has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community members — through DNA testing for reports completed well into 2023.
That was months after Skibicki was charged with first-degree murder in her killing, said Florence Célestin, a forensic DNA specialist who worked with the samples found in the case.
While samples were also taken from the jacket’s other cuff, along with its zipper pull, button and collar — all areas that Célestin said are high-friction and more likely to contain DNA — none were able to help identify the woman.
The sample never matched any others found during the investigation, or any located in DNA databases, she said, testifying at Skibicki’s trial over video conference.
Skibicki has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the unidentified woman’s death, and the deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26.
All four women were killed in Winnipeg between mid-March and mid-May of 2022, police have previously said. When Skibicki was arrested and brought in for questioning in May 2022 — after the partial remains of Contois were discovered in garbage bins near his North Kildonan apartment — he unexpectedly confessed to killing all four women.
During that confession, Skibicki also told police he took the Baby Phat jacket from the unidentified woman after he killed her, then sold it on Facebook Marketplace. The jacket was later recovered before being sent for DNA testing.
Prosecutors have said the women’s deaths were “intentional, purposeful and racially motivated,” and alleged the accused preyed on vulnerable Indigenous women at Winnipeg homeless shelters before killing the four victims. Contois was a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation, also known as Crane River. Harris and Myran were both members of Long Plain First Nation.
Police believe Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe was Indigenous and in her 20s.
Skibicki’s lawyers say while he admits to the killings, he should be found not criminally responsible because of a mental disorder.
Court heard previously through an agreed statement of facts that the DNA of the three identified women was found on various items in and outside Skibicki’s apartment, including on a bloodstained pillow, a cigarette butt, a combat knife and a bra.
Investigators also found about a dozen DNA samples during their search of Skibicki’s apartment and nearby garbage bins that belonged to women other than the four Skibicki admitted to killing.
The judge-alone trial before Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal continues Tuesday afternoon, when Célestin is to continue testifying about the DNA reports she completed related to the case.