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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Dumpster discovery probed as homicide

By: Gabrielle Giroday

Posted: 02/22/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Enlarge Image

A police cruiser sits outside an apartment building on Thomas Berry Street Tuesday.

Warning: Some readers may find some details disturbing

CITY police were investigating a second scene Tuesday believed to be where the victim was killed in Winnipeg's fifth homicide of the year.

Enlarge Image

Investigators sift through a garbage bin Monday after body parts were discovered in it Monday. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Officers were at an apartment block on Thomas Berry Street in St. Boniface for most of the day and well into the evening, searching for clues in a basement suite.

Sources tell the Free Press one person is in custody, although police would not confirm that late Tuesday night.

The probe at the apartment came a day after a grisly discovery by a homeless man in a downtown Dumpster about 11:15 a.m. Monday, where it's believed body parts of the victim were found.

"We have evidence to support that a homicide has taken place," said Winnipeg Police Service spokesman Const. Jason Michalyshen, who said the circumstances around the death are "very, very unique."

Police haven't commented on whether the remains belong to a man or woman, but said they were trying to reach the victim's family.

Police are expected to release more details this morning.

Sources say surveillance footage from a security camera in the area picked up images of a vehicle parked near the Dumpster -- and that played a huge role in detectives' ability to make a quick arrest.

On Monday, officers held up tarps to hide the scene from passersby as they pulled what were characterized as "items of concern" from a trash bin behind a building at the corner of Smith Street and York Avenue.

The discovery came to light after a homeless man who roots through Dumpsters for bottles and cans saw the remains and then went into a nearby business on Donald Street so he could use a phone to alert police.

An employee of the business said he saw parts of a hand that appeared to belong to a Caucasian person, inside a bag in the Dumpster.

"I saw the fingers," said the man, who did not want his name used. The man said he lost sleep over what he saw.

On Tuesday night on Thomas Berry Street, police had yellow tape strung across the stairway leading to the basement.

One resident said officers arrived at the building in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday.

Another man, who has lived in the block for more than 20 years, said he was shocked that a violent crime likely occurred a few floors below.

"Nothing like this has happened before. I don't even know what's going on," said the man, who wouldn't give his name.

But a man who lives just down from the block has his suspicions that criminal activity occurs in the area.

"There's a lot of drugs going on around here," said Denis Pattyn. "I've seen a lot of things happen over there (in the building). I've heard people arguing and I've seen people fighting. It's a little bit scary... we don't know what's going on here (in this neighbourhood) anymore."

Speaking Tuesday, forensics experts noted there are different methods that can be used if needed to identify body parts that are found.

"Basically, it's a puzzle that one tries to put the pieces together," said Peter Markesteyn, formerly the province's chief medical examiner for about 18 years.

He said in cases where fingerprinting of a body part is available, it will be used.

He also said body parts will be X-rayed and examined for marks such as tattoos, scars, moles and pimples.

He said cases where body parts are recovered are "unusual."

"We don't get many of those," he said. He said DNA can be collected from people's belongings, such as tissue.

"The identification can be quite easy or can be quite complex.

"If it is depending on DNA alone, it can take a while before that's completed," he said.

-- with files from Jenny Ford

gabrielle.giroday@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 22, 2012 A3

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