Remains found at landfill confirmed to be woman slain by serial killer

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Human remains found in the Prairie Green landfill belong to Morgan Beatrice Harris, one of four victims of serial killer Jeremy Skibicki, RCMP have confirmed.

The Manitoba government issued an update late Friday evening that said the Harris family had been notified; it asked that the family’s privacy be respected.

On social media, Premier Wab Kinew posted a short message: “Morgan Harris we honour you.”

The remains were found on Feb. 26 during a humanitarian search for the remains of Harris and Marcedes Myran, two of the four women who were killed by Skibicki in spring 2022.

The bodies of 39-year-old Harris and 26-year-old Marcedes Myran, both of whom were from Long Plain First Nation, were put in a garbage bin off Henderson Highway in North Kildonan. The bin’s contents were deposited at Prairie Green in the Rural Municipality of Rosser.

The news release said Harris’s remains are one of two sets recovered in the search and further information would be provided when it becomes available.

The search, which began in December, involved forensic anthropologists and was funded by the federal and provincial governments. RCMP and the Manitoba chief medical examiner were contacted, and the families were notified and went to the landfill, when the sets of remains were found last week.

In 2024, Skibicki was convicted of their deaths, as well as Rebecca Contois, 24, and an unidentified woman named Buffalo Woman by Indigenous elders.

Elle Harris, the daughter of Morgan, said last week that when she got the call about the discovery, she had a sinking feeling.

“My heart dropped right down to my stomach,” she told a news conference organized by the Assembly of Manitoba chiefs, that included her mother’s cousin Melissa Robinson.

“That scary movie we’ve been living for the past couple of years has become a reality,” she said. “I think the shock of everything has finally hit me,” said Robinson, whose husband had been taking part in the search.

Both levels of government got behind the search after Winnipeg police declined to conduct one, arguing too much material had been dumped on the site and there was a huge amount of toxic material in the area.

The matter became a political issue during the 2023 Manitoba election campaign after a feasibility study pegged the cost at up to $184 million and warned about potential health hazards.

The NDP, who won the vote, promised to search the landfill, while the governing Tories campaigned against it. The provincial and federal governments each put up $20 million for the search.

This week, the Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba issued an “unconditional apology” to the loved ones of the four women.

“Our government erred. It’s as simple as that,” said interim party leader Wayne Ewasko during his opening remarks as the spring legislative session began Wednesday.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca