‘Sigh of relief’ as Canadian serial killer Jeremy Skibicki is convicted

Tearful cheers rang out in a packed Canadian courtroom on Thursday as a judge found a serial killer guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of four Indigenous women.

But in court, Jeremy Contois’s reaction was still quite reserved.

His sister, Rebecca, was one of the women killed in Winnipeg, Manitoba two years ago.

“I feel a little relieved,” Mr. Contois said, but it won’t be fully understood until the killer, Jeremy Skibicki, is formally sentenced.

In his oral judgment, Manitoba Supreme Court Chief Justice Glenn Joyal rejected the defence’s argument at trial that the accused was not criminally responsible for the murder.

Skibicki, 37, was suffering from schizophrenia at the time of the killing, his lawyer said.

Prosecutors argued that Skibicki deliberately killed Ms. Contois and three other women in 2022 in calculated and racially motivated crimes.

Warning: This story contains details that may be distressing to readers.

The killing and the weeks-long trial that followed sent shockwaves through Canada’s Indigenous community, which has long struggled with violence against women.

Dressed in a gray T-shirt and pants, Skibicki did not react as Judge Joyal read aloud a summary of his ruling.

A member of Mrs. Contois’ family held up a large photo of Rebecca toward him as he left the courtroom.

“Why did I put her picture up? Because we, Indigenous people, are not statistics,” Krista Fox said afterward.

“Each of us has a name and a family that misses us.”

Skibicki’s victims were Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and Ms Contois, 24. The fourth woman, who has not yet been identified, was named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, meaning Buffalo Woman, by indigenous elders.

Throughout the trial, a buffalo head was placed on a red cloth on a table near the prosecutor in memory of the victim, who has yet to be identified.

In his ruling, Judge Joyal said the defendant had failed to prove he was not criminally responsible for the murders, rejecting the testimony of a British psychiatrist, Dr Sohom Das, who said Skibicki was driven by delusions when he committed the murders.

The judge added that the “mercilessly brutal” events of the case were “largely undisputed”, as the defendant had admitted to the killings during police interviews and in court before trial.

Skibicki has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

The 100-person courtroom was packed with family and friends of the four women to hear the verdict.

Judge Joyal said the case had a “profound and undeniable impact on the entire Manitoba community, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous.”

While Skibicki faces life in prison, the focus is now shifting to the search for the remains of two of his victims, Myran and Harris, believed to be in a Winnipeg landfill.

An official search has been set for this fall, after months of pressure from their families.

According to court records, Skibicki killed the women between March and May 2022, with Ms. Contois believed to be the final victim.

He met at least two people at homeless shelters in Winnipeg, a city of 820,000 in the Prairies.

Judge Joyal agreed with prosecutors that he deliberately targeted and exploited “vulnerable” women.

During the trial, the court heard that Skibicki attacked the women, strangled or drowned them and then performed sexual acts on them before dismembering their bodies and dumping them in the trash.

The murder went undetected for months, until a man searching for scrap metal in a trash bin outside Skibicki’s apartment discovered partial human remains in May 2022 and called the police.

“It’s obvious she’s been murdered,” the man said in the 911 call, played in court.

Police were able to identify the remains as those of Ms. Contois.

The following month, more of her remains were discovered at a city-run landfill.

During police interviews shortly after his arrest, Skibicki surprised police by admitting to killing Ms Contois as well as three others.

At the time, police knew nothing about the other deaths.

Speaking outside court, Ms Fox said she believed it was only by finding Ms Contois’s body that other families could get justice.

Skibicki’s lawyers tried to argue that he was unaware of the severity of his actions due to delusions caused by his schizophrenia. They argued that he heard voices telling him to commit the crime as part of a mission from God.

Prosecutors argued that Skibicki was fully aware of his actions, saying they were “intentional, purposeful and racially motivated”.

They proved this through a combination of forensic DNA evidence, surveillance footage showing Skibicki with the women in his final days, as well as testimony from his ex-wife, who detailed the physical abuse.

If Skibicki is found not criminally responsible for the four murders, it would be a rare occurrence in Canadian law.

According to data from Statistics Canada and reported by the Globe and Mail, from 2000 to 2022, of the 8,883,749 criminal cases prosecuted nationwide, only 5,178 — or 0.06 percent — resulted in such a verdict.

The case has stirred deep grief in Canada’s Indigenous community, which has long struggled with a growing number of missing or murdered women.

Winnipeg — a city near many Indigenous communities — had the highest number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada between 2018 and 2022, according to an investigation by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.

According to a 2019 survey, across Canada, Indigenous women are 12 times more likely to be murdered or go missing than other women.

Several local women in the city remain missing, leaving families concerned that Skibicki has more victims.

However, prosecutors said they do not believe he killed more women.

Even as he felt relieved by the guilty verdict, Rebecca’s brother, Mr Contois, said he still wondered why his sister – who was also the mother of a young daughter – was murdered in such a brutal manner.

“Why would he do that?” he said. “I wish I knew.”