‘Screaming into silence’: Ashlee Shingoose’s father tells court of desperation in search for her | CBC News

The family of a woman murdered by a serial killer in Winnipeg more than three years ago got the chance Friday to tell a court how deeply her death affected them — and, after years of the woman’s identity not being known, they finally got to say her name before a judge.

“Her name is Ashlee Shingoose, and we are blessed to be her parents,” said a victim impact statement written by her father, Albert Shingoose, read in a Winnipeg courtroom by the chief of their First Nation in an unusual hearing, held a year after Ashlee Shingoose’s killer was sentenced.

Albert Shingoose told court how desperate his family felt when his daughter went missing, and how he travelled from their home in St. Theresa Point Anisinew Nation, in northeastern Manitoba, to Winnipeg, where he spent months searching the streets for her.

“It felt like no one heard us. No one acted. And for the longest time, Ashlee remained unidentified while we were out here, screaming into silence,” Chief Raymond Flett read from the statement before Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal.

But it wasn’t until March of this year that police finally shared publicly what Albert Shingoose said he believed all along: his daughter was the lone unidentified victim of Jeremy Skibicki, who was last year convicted of murdering the woman now known to be Ashlee Shingoose and three other First Nations women.

“We knew something terrible had happened,” Flett read from the statement, with Shingoose’s parents and other supporters behind him. “We felt it in our hearts.”

Prior to being identified, Ashlee Shingoose was known only as Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman. The 30-year-old was the first of the four women killed, and is believed to have died in March 2022.

Skibicki was also convicted of first-degree murder in the deaths of Morgan Harris, 39, and Marcedes Myran, 26 — both originally from Long Plain First Nation — and Rebecca Contois, 24, a member of O-Chi-Chak-Ko-Sipi First Nation. 

While the other women’s families and communities had the opportunity to read impact statements when Skibicki was sentenced in August 2024, Ashlee Shingoose’s identity was at that time still unknown.

Skibicki was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, after a weeks-long trial last year that heard he targeted vulnerable First Nations women before killing them and disposing of their remains.

‘I want an eye for an eye’

Albert Shingoose, in comments he made directly to Joyal before Chief Flett read the victim impact statement, said he was frustrated Skibicki was not in attendance at the hearing.

“If he was here, your honour, I would have said to him, ‘I want an eye for an eye,'” Shingoose said, his booming voice carrying across the large, high-ceilinged courtroom. “He took my Ashlee away.”

Peter Kingsley, the executive director of Legal Aid Manitoba, appeared as counsel for Skibicki at the hearing. He said his client chose not to come to court not as a sign of disrespect, but because “it is his firm belief that his presence in the courtroom would bring further harm” to the women’s families and others.

Theresa Shingoose, Ashlee’s mother, was emotional and spoke in a quiet voice as she told court how difficult losing her daughter was — and how it felt to finally have the jacket Ashlee last wore returned to her family this week.

“It was a very heavy day for me,” she said, her husband at times putting his hand on her back and handing her tissues. “It’s so painful, what has happened.”

Skibicki unexpectedly confessed to killing the four women during a police interview in May 2022, after Contois’s partial remains were found in a garbage bin in Winnipeg.

Skibicki initially gave police the name of a person who he believed was his first victim, but that woman was found alive, leaving the question of the victim’s true identity to linger.

Police said they were later able to confirm Shingoose’s identity through DNA testing and Skibicki identifying her in a photo.

While Contois’s remains were found shortly after her death, and remains belonging to Harris and Myran were discovered more recently during a search of a Winnipeg-area landfill, a search for Shingoose’s remains at the city’s Brady Road landfill has yet to begin. Premier Wab Kinew says the test phase has been started in that search.

‘A chance to bring forward closure’

Before the courtroom opened to the public on Friday, Joseph Douglas Flett — a cousin of Theresa Shingoose — sat outside with a black box. 

Inside it were a pipe and tobacco he brought to smudge the room, a spiritual cleansing before the family’s impact statements were delivered.

Joseph Flett said he remembers Ashlee Shingoose for her warmth, kindness, and being a quiet but upfront person.

Her family has demonstrated great courage to come this far, and speaking at court will take them a step forward in healing, he said.

“Albert and Theresa have a chance to bring forward closure to what they have been through over the last few years,” said Joseph Flett.

“For the rest of us who are watching … we are able to see forward movement for the missing women and children.”

He acknowledged how rare it is to let a family speak in court after a sentencing is completed, but said he hopes this won’t be the only case where it happens. Other families affected by the same circumstances should get the same benefit, he said. 

Bringing Ashlee Shingoose’s body back to her home community of St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation will be imperative for her family to find closure, said Flett.

“It’s a big job to do … but it has to be done,” he said. “Like her father said — we are not disposable people.”

Chief Justice Joyal, who also presided over Skibicki’s trial last year, called the special hearing a “necessary and appropriate” one given the unique circumstances of the case.

“Today’s hearing is intended to provide the Shingoose family with the same opportunity as was provided to the families of Mr. Skibicki’s other victims,” he said in court.

“It is an opportunity to acknowledge the dignity of Ashlee Shingoose, to acknowledge who she was, where she came from, who she loved, and what was lost with her murder.”