Winnipeg police defend decision to not search landfill for women's remains

Winnipeg police have released more details of their decision to not search a landfill for the remains of two Indigenous women believed to have been the victims of a serial killer.

Police believe the remains of Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran ended up in the Prairie Green landfill north of the city in the spring.

Insp. Cam MacKid, head of the forensics unit, says police have no starting point to search the 1.6-hectare site, where trash is compacted with heavy mud at a depth of about 12 metres.

MacKid also says given the compacting and the passage of time, any human remains might not be discernible from animal remains.

The partial remains of Rebecca Contois were found in June at a different landfill south of the city, where refuse is not compacted and police had a starting location pinpointed.

Jeremy Skibicki has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of the three women and a fourth who has not been identified but has been given the name Buffalo Woman by police and community leaders.