Volunteers canvas downtown Winnipeg for tips to identify victim of alleged serial killer | 24CA News
WARNING: This story incorporates distressing particulars.
A grassroots staff set out at 9 o’clock sharp on New Year’s Day, strolling southbound on Main Street, with about 300 posters in hand: “Help us identify Buffalo Woman,” is written in purple capital letters. “Who is Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe?”
Darryl Contois and George Robinson led the initiative Sunday, taping posters to poles and talking to folks on the road and in encampments. They are gathering suggestions from the neighborhood within the hope that this 12 months will carry solutions in regards to the girl police consider was the fourth sufferer of alleged serial killer Jeremy Skibicki.
“We’re trying to bring closure to somebody’s family and let them know that there are people that are in Winnipeg that care,” Contois stated.
“Everybody deserves to come home.”
Community members gave the slain girl the title Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe (Buffalo Woman) after police have been unable to establish her. Police have stated they do not but know the place Buffalo Woman’s stays are.
Skibicki, a 35-year-old Winnipeg man, has been charged with first-degree homicide in her demise.
He can be dealing with three different first-degree homicide prices for the deaths of Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran and Rebecca Contois.
‘How else would they discover out?’
Darryl Contois, who is just not instantly associated to Rebecca Contois, and Robinson are among the many greater than 200 individuals who joined a Facebook group known as Justice for Buffalo Woman. The group was created to share updates and details about lacking ladies who may very well be the unidentified murder sufferer.
Robinson says hitting the pavement and truly talking to folks in the neighborhood is essential.
“Our homeless population, they don’t have access to TVs or social media and stuff like that,” he stated. “If we weren’t [hanging up posters and talking to people], then most of them wouldn’t know.”
Harris, Myran and Rebecca Contois used shelter providers on and round Main Street, and it is attainable Buffalo Woman did, too
Robinson says many individuals the pair spoke to on Sunday — homeless or not — did not know in regards to the killings.
Contois says about 18 different folks joined the pair, choosing up posters and distributing them from Main Street to West Broadway.
Winnipeg police launched a photograph of a jacket they are saying is just like one Buffalo Woman wore. It’s a reversible Baby Phat jacket with a fur hood and a cat-like emblem on the back and front.
“I approach [people] and ask them if they recognize this jacket, if they know who was wearing it around March,” stated Contois.
Beyond the jacket, the details about Buffalo Woman is scarce. Police say they consider she was in her mid-20s, Indigenous and had a median construct.
“A lot of the people that we talk to, they don’t want to talk to the police, but they come and talk to us,” Robinson stated. “So it’s kind of a good [connection] between the people on the street and the police.”
Contois and Robinson say they’re forwarding any info to detectives investigating the case. The aim is to establish Buffalo Woman and to make sure her stays — and the stays of the opposite ladies — are retrieved.
Today, Contois says he is feeling hopeful their efforts can be fruitful. They’ve coated lots of floor and seen lots of help.
“God willing, we’ll find out who Buffalo Woman is,” he stated.
Support is offered for anybody affected by particulars of this case. If you require help, you may contact Ka Ni Kanichihk’s Medicine Bear Counselling, Support and Elder Services at 204-594-6500, ext. 102 or 104, (inside Winnipeg) or 1-888-953-5264 (outdoors Winnipeg). Support can be obtainable through Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison unit at 1-800-442-0488 or 204-677-1648.
