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Winnipeg police say the body of a First Nations woman was discovered at the city dump Monday afternoon.
Insp. Shawn Pike said workers at the Brady Road landfill in Winnipeg’s south end called police at about 3 p.m.
Pike identified the deceased as Linda Mary Beardy, a 33-year-old mother of four with ties to the community of Lake St. Martin in Manitoba’s Interlake region.
Police are calling the death “suspicious.” Although Pike noted he had no information to suggest there were more victims or the death was related to other cases.
Pike was referring to the case of Jeremy Skibicki of Winnipeg, who police charged last November in connection with the homicides of four Indigenous women.
Skibicki was charged after police said they discovered the remains of Rebecca Contois in the Brady landfill last June. They said the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran are believed to be in the private Prairie Green landfill just north of Winnipeg, while those of the fourth alleged victim – who police say is an unidentified Indigenous woman – have not been found.
Skibicki has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder that police allege occurred between March and May of 2022. None of the allegations against him have yet been tested in court.
Pike said Beardy’s remains were only “a couple hours” old and part of a load from a garbage truck. He said landfill employees immediately called police right and tried to protect the scene.
“It’s a slow process, a very detail-oriented process and it takes time,” Pike said. “We’re really working backwards as we do in a lot of investigations.”
Pike said Beardy had not been reported missing and police don’t know how or where she died.
“She’d been in Winnipeg recently, for sure,” he added.
Meanwhile, the results of a First Nations-led study into how best to search the Prairie Green landfill for the remains of Harris and Myran are expected sometime this month.
Family members continue to press for a search after police said they don’t have the capacity to comb through the layers of debris and see little chance of success.
