Search of Brady Road landfill for remains of Ashlee Shingoose begins, province says

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The search for the remains of Ashlee Shingoose has officially begun at Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg, Premier Wab Kinew says.

Around 8:45 a.m. on Monday, the first truckload with landfill debris drove down the hill to a search facility where workers will comb through it to search for the remains.

“I hope we will be able to bring … her home soon,” Kinew told reporters at an unrelated news conference on Monday, after taking part in a ceremony with Shingoose’s parents and her sister at the landfill to mark the start of the search.

Shingoose, originally from St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation, was identified in March as the previously unknown victim of a serial killer also convicted in the deaths of Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26 — both originally from Long Plain First Nation — and Rebecca Contois, 24, a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation.

The 30-year-old was the first of four women killed by Jeremy Skibicki. It is believed she died in March 2022. 

Police previously said investigators believe her body was placed in a garbage bin behind a business on Henderson Highway, in Winnipeg’s North Kildonan area, before it was taken to the Brady landfill in March 2022. 

Her remains are still believed to be in the landfill.

A file picture shows posters put up along the fence of the Brady Road landfill on Jan. 15, 2023. The remains of Ashlee Shingoose are believed to be at the facility, where crews have started a targeted search in hopes of finding them. (Travis Golby/CBC)

The province has done tests to narrow the search area and pulled off and stored a layer of landfill debris, known as overburden. 

From there, crews began removing material from the targeted zone to a facility that was moved to Brady Road after it was used to find the remains of Harris and Myran at privately run Prairie Green landfill, in a search that started last December.

“This is the same process that brought Morgan and Mercedes home. Now hopefully we’ll bring Ashley home,” Kinew said. 

“We’ve just done some tweaks and maybe some specific tailoring of what that process looks like given the Brady site.”

The initial effort is expected to last six months, but the province is budgeting for the operation to continue, if needed, Kinew said.

The search at Prairie Green, which ended in the summer, was “dramatically underbudget,” the premier said, and the remaining funds will be used for additional searches. 

The province previously announced plans to search the same landfill for Tanya Nepinak, who has not been seen or heard from since Sept. 13, 2011. Police did a six-day search for her remains at the Brady Road landfill in 2012 but didn’t find her.

Shawn Lamb was previously charged with second-degree murder in Nepinak’s death. That charge was later dropped and Lamb was convicted of manslaughter in the 2012 killings of Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith.

A search for Nepinak will be different because of how long it has been since she disappeared, and because it may target a different part of the landfill, Kinew said.

Tanya Nepinak is seen in an undated photo alongside her kids. Vernon Mann, the children’s father, says he is happy with the province starting a search at the Brady landfill where Nepinak’s remains are believed to be. (Submitted by Jasmine Mann)

Vernon Mann, who had two children with Nepinak, is happy the search will eventually begin once again, after more than a decade of frustration and waiting on the province to start combing through debris at the Brady site.

“We just want to bring her home,” he told CBC News on Sunday. “I’ve always had a hard time going there just knowing that she’s there, but hopefully the search will go well.”

Mann’s son was 14 and his daughter 10 when Nepinak went missing. Both had to grow into adulthood without their mother, and under the public eye with attention surrounding her case, he said. 

The siblings will support the search for their mother in any way they can, their father said. 

“We really want this to happen …  it’s been way too long,” Mann said. “I’m hoping she’ll be happy and proud of us for everything we’ve done … We’ve fought hard for her. It’s been pretty difficult, but we just can’t quit.” 

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said that while it might take longer to find Nepinak’s remains, the organization will make sure the search doesn’t stop until she is brought home.

“The families that have been impacted by this will receive justice,” she said.

Times have changed since the last search for Nepinak was halted, Wilson said, with Manitoba’s government now signaling they are more committed to look for a missing person.

“The initial message was that it was impossible to find the women that were at the Prairie Green landfill. We came out with a success in returning our loved ones [there],” she said. “I’m hopeful for this second landfill search.”

“This is something that we all need to come together,” she said.