RCMP continue to investigate prostitute’s death

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This article was published 11/05/2007 (6780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RCMP are continuing to investigate the death of Winnipeg prostitute Crystal Shannon Saunders whose body was found about a month ago 45 kilometres away from where another city sex trade worker was found dead in 2004.

Saunders, 24, was found in a ditch north of St. Ambroise on Lake Manitoba April 19 almost straight north on Provincial Road 430 from where the body of Divas Boulanger was found Nov. 3, 2004.

Boulanger, a 28-year-old transgendered street prostitute, went missing Oct. 1. The body was found by two motorists in a bushy area at a rest stop on the Trans-Canada Highway about eight kilometres east of Portage la Prairie.

Mounties have only said Boulanger died of trauma. A cause of death has not been released for Saunders.

“We are aware of the geographic similarities,” RCMP spokesman Sgt. Steve Saunders said. “But we are not prepared to go into any particulars beyond that.”

The deaths are two of 17 unsolved homicides involving Winnipeg sex trade workers since 1983.

Police say these deaths are the most difficult to investigate because the people involved are often transient and involved in the drug trade. Many male customers also do not want to be identified so they do not come forward with information.

Anyone with information about Saunders, Boulanger or any of the other cases can call anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 786-8477 in Winnipeg or (800) 222-8477 outside Winnipeg.

In Saunder’s case, she had recently been released from the Winnipeg Remand Centre before disappearing.

Crystal’s mother, Sandra Saunders, said her daughter became addicted to crack cocaine and was forced to work in the sex trade. Sandra doesn’t think her daughter was killed by a john, but someone else with whom her daughter had other dealings.

Boulanger was last seen in the early morning hours of Oct. 1, 2004 at about 3:30 a.m. walking near the intersection of Martha Street and Higgins Avenue. She was also observed in the vicinity of Direct Transport/Canada Movers and the Kings Hotel at 114 Higgins.

Boulanger was to move into a new apartment on Spence Street at the beginning of October, but never picked up the keys.

bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca