Winnipeg home searched as part of missing women investigation

Police were searching a Winnipeg home as part of an ongoing investigation into more than two dozen cases of missing and murdered women in Manitoba. Remains of one missing woman were found there this week.

Police are searching a Winnipeg home as part of an ongoing investigation into more than two dozen cases of missing and murdered women in Manitoba, CTV News has learned.

Police have been tight-lipped about their search of the Point Douglas home, but sources tell CTV Winnipeg’s Caroline Barghout the investigation is connected to Project Devote, a joint effort by the RCMP and Winnipeg police to address unsolved murders and missing person cases.

Police have been at the home on Lorne Avenue since early Tuesday morning. Neighbours said the officers seem to be focusing on the main floor and basement suites.

Barghout reported that both units have been vacant for months, but three sisters who were sex trade workers once lived in one of the apartments.

RCMP would only say that a criminal investigation is underway. Local authorities said they are assisting the RCMP, but would not comment further.

A forensic identification unit arrived at the house on Wednesday and investigators were seen coming in and out of the two-storey home.

Cameras were visible in the front and back windows on the main floor. A neighbour said they were installed in the winter.

It is not clear which of the missing or murdered woman cases police are working on or what exactly they are looking for inside the Winnipeg home.

However, there may be a B.C. link to the investigation.

Jennifer McPherson of Hanson Island, B.C., was recently found dead and her husband, 37-year-old Traigo Andretti, has been charged with second-degree murder.

Sources told Barghout that the couple lived in Winnipeg five years ago and police received information suggesting they should look into Andretti’s past.