Winnipeg police investigating after man’s body found in trash bin

A man found dead in a trash bin in north Winnipeg Wednesday is the city’s latest homicide, say police.

A homeowner found the man’s body in a bin near a home in the back lane of the 200 block of Lansdowne Avenue around 7:40 p.m., said Winnipeg police spokesperson Const. Rob Carver.

“I believe that the homeowner is quite traumatized as I imagine anyone would be opening up a trash bin and finding that there’s a deceased inside,” Carver said at a Thursday press conference.

Carver said the man is between the ages of 20 and 40, and while investigators have identified him, police aren’t releasing that information until his next of kin are notified.

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Police also aren’t saying how the man was killed.

When asked how long investigators believe his body was in the trash bin, Carver said it didn’t “appear (to be) a really long time.”

“They weren’t in a state of decomposition, if that’s what you mean,” he told reporters.

Carver couldn’t say whether or not the trash bin belonged to the person who found it, but did say there may be some indication it had been moved in from another area.

The homicide is the city’s ninth of 2020.

Police had a section of that street’s back lane taped off Thursday morning and Carver said the area would remain closed-off as investigators continue their work.

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Police are asking residents in the area to report any suspicious activity in the area over the last few days.

“We’d be very interested if anyone said, you know, ‘I saw a vehicle or I saw some people’ or anything that would look a little unusual within your neighbourhood,” said Carver.

Homicide detectives are also asking homeowners and businesses in the area to check their security cameras for any unusual activity.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

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