Defence claims Jeremy Skibicki has borderline personality disorder and PTSD
Warning: This article contains content that may be disturbing to readers. Discretion is advised.
APTN News: Serial killer Jeremy Skibicki calmly took detectives through the last minutes of his victims’ lives on a video played in a Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday.
The seven-hour conversation-turned-confession shows a casual-looking Skibicki sitting in a small room at Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) headquarters, often leaning his head against a wall.
Homicide detectives who interviewed him said they found, among other evidence, women’s clothing and underwear in his North Kildonan home, some spattered with blood.
“I guess I got sloppy,” Skibicki said on the video.
“Do you think you would have stopped?” asked Det. Greg Allan.
“No,” Skibicki replied. “I wanted to.”
The 37-year-old Winnipeg man was arrested May 17, 2022 and charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the death of First Nations woman Rebecca Contois.
Police added three more counts of first-degree murder in December 2022 for the deaths of Marcedes Myran and Morgan Harris – who are also First Nations – and Buffalo Woman, an unidentified victim also believed to be Indigenous.
All four women were killed within weeks of each other between March and the end of May, 2022.
Skibicki, dressed in a white sweatshirt and sweat pants, discussed the violent murders with detectives in a calm, matter-of-fact way.
“She came over Saturday and was killed?” Allan said of Myran.
“Yeah,” said Skibicki, noting she was the “heaviest” of the four victims to maneuver in and out of his bathtub.
After choking or strangling the women, Skibicki said he drowned them in the tub. He told Allan he left some of the bodies in there for hours and relied on Pine-Sol liquid cleaner to mask the smell.
Some of the facts were hazy, Skibicki said, because he was frequently high on drugs.
He said he killed Buffalo Woman first after coming down off magic mushrooms, although he didn’t know her name and felt “bad” about it afterwards.
He shared snippets of conversations, interactions, sex acts – and even the kind of garbage bags used to dispose of the women’s remains.
At one point he laughed, and claimed he was motivated by “hatred and disgust.” He said he did what he did to protect the “survival of my people if we don’t start doing things like this.”
Skibicki told investigators he encountered the women, who were homeless and sometimes intoxicated, on the street. He said he felt some of them were using him for a place to stay.
“She said she loved me, too,” he added of Contois, whom he claimed to be in a relationship with. “She was bullshitting me to get what she wanted.”
He said he got angry when the young mother “started talking back” to him.
Skibicki originally pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. But on Monday, he changed his plea to not criminally responsible (NCR) due to mental disorder.
A verdict of NCR means a mental illness made it impossible for the accused to understand the nature and quality of what they did or understand what they did was morally wrong.
Indigenous court support workers handed out red tobacco ties as the start of the Wednesday’s testimony. The ceremonial items absorb prayers in the physical world and take them to the spirit world.
A therapy dog was also brought into the courtroom to help onlookers deal with the gruesome evidence.
After Contois, Skibicki said he killed Morgan Harris on May 1, 2022 – a 39-year-old mother and grandmother.
“The first two you didn’t dismember,” said Det. Allan.
“Yeah,” answered Skibicki.
Surveillance video obtained by police show Skibicki disposed of the remains of both women in nearby garbage bins. He told Allan he was high on methamphetamine for the last three murders.
He guessed Buffalo Woman’s first name might have been “Angel.”
The detectives learned Skibicki used marijuana, killed a rabbit when he was a child, and some cats when he was a young adult.
Preceding a bathroom break, Skibicki said he would only speak with “White” police officers.
The interview seemed to jump from one victim to another.
As the detectives showed him photos, Skibicki said he didn’t know any of the victims’ names. He said he recognized one of the women after seeing her face on a Bear Clan Patrol missing person poster.
He claimed he was acting as a member of the “savior system” when he committed the murders.
“I believe this was something that God called me to do,” he said.
As victims’ family members looked on, Skibicki described their loved ones’ body types, hairstyles, and how they were willing to trade sex for marijuana, food or a place to brush their teeth.
He said he had no problem physically controlling his victims – demonstrating how he strangled Buffalo Woman after she tried to “power” her way past him. She died after he strangled her on the living room floor, he told Allan.
Skibicki said Contois, 24, fought him hard.
“She took so long to die, I probably crushed her throat. I tried not to allow her to suffer,” he said.
“She just wouldn’t die.”
He said he had some regret over the death of Myran, 26 and a mother of one, but “it was her time to go.”
He suggested he showed Harris some mercy.
“This is going to be her last smoke so I let her enjoy that.”
After he put her in a headlock, he said Harris became unconscious and fell into the bathtub he had filled with water, where he drowned her.
Crown attorney Renee Lagimodiere said investigators found evidence on Skibicki’s computer that he searched for ways to dispose of bodies. They also found women’s jewelry in his home.
Under questioning from Crown attorney Christian Vanderhooft, Allan said at no time did Skibicki claim to be “hearing voices”, having hallucinations or experiencing delusions.
But defence lawyer Leonard Tailleur told court his client did inform the police he suffered from borderline personality disorder and PTSD.
The trial is scheduled to resume Thursday morning.
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