Winnipeg police have started a search for homicide victim Rebecca Contois at the Brady Road landfill.
The 24-year-old’s partial remains were found near an apartment block in the 200 block of Edison Avenue May 16. Global News saw officers investigating near a garbage bin at the scene that morning.
Three days later, police said Jeremy Anthony Michael Skibicki, 35, had been charged with first-degree murder in connection with Contois’ death.
Homicide investigators have not ruled out the possibility of additional victims.
On Thursday, police said a search for Contois’ remains at the landfill has gotten underway after poor weather and preparation of the site delayed earlier plans for the search.
Police say 10 officers are involved in the search, each fitted with respirators, methane detection equipment and other protective gear to guard against the hazards of searching in a landfill.
They say an area of the landfill where investigators think Contois’ remains may be has been secured, and there’s been no further dumping at the site.
Investigators have previously said the search may also involve drones and the canine search team.
Police say a Sacred Fire was lit at the search site Monday and tobacco was passed to a Grandmother, who did a ceremony in honour of Contois, her family and loved ones, as well as the officers involved.
Police have said Contois and Skibicki were previously known to each other.
A family friend told Global News Contois leaves behind a daughter.
Those who knew Contois have described her as someone who was bright and friendly with a good sense of humour.
She had been active in the community with various Indigenous street-watch programs, a family spokesperson said, including helping to find Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
He described Contois as a well-known and loved woman in the community.
— with files from Global’s Michelle Karlenzig and The Canadian Press