‘A happy, happy cry’: Ashlee Shingoose’s identification brings bittersweet relief to her parents

‘She was a loving, caring person’

Through tears, the family of a Manitoba woman identified as a victim of a convicted serial killer renewed calls to search the landfill for her remains – an initiative multiple levels of governments and the Winnipeg Police Service have vowed to carry out.

“My wife and I, we had a very hard time these past few years. It’s good to hear all the top people accept they’re going to look for Ashlee, our loved one, your sister,” her dad Albert said at a news conference Thursday.

Albert and Theresa Shingoose described their daughter Ashlee, 31, as a loving person who adored being a mother.

They said Ashlee moved to Winnipeg from St. Theresa Point First Nation because there wasn’t housing for her in the fly-in community about 650 kilometres north of the city.

She stayed in a women’s shelter when she first arrived in Winnipeg with her children.

“She wanted to watch her kids the best she knows how and find a place for them. She was making it good after that,” Theresa said.

They said Ashlee struggled afterwards with addiction.

After she went missing, Theresa prayed for her daughter, unsure of what had happened.

“It’s still hard to lose your daughter, not knowing where she is,” Theresa said.

“I’m not scared to say that I put my daughter in the hands of God.”

After so many years of uncertainty, the Shingooses say confirmation that their daughter was a victim of convicted serial killer Jeremey Skibicki came as some relief.

“We cried. It was a happy, happy cry. It was good to hear where my daughter is now. Now, we all gotta work hard to bring her home,” Albert said.

Three women killed by Skibicki, Morgan Harris, Marcedes Myran, and Rebecca Contois, were identified during the years-long investigation that began in March 2022, while Shingoose’s identity remained a mystery.

She was given the name Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, which means Buffalo Woman, by a group of Indigenous grassroots community members, including Thelma Morrisseau.

“We did not want her to be continue to be identified as an unidentified female or Jane Doe,” Morrisseau said at the news conference. “We wanted her to have a name because she deserved it, because she was important, and because whoever her family was loves her, loved her, and they were looking for her.”

As a thank you, the Shingooses gifted Morrisseau with tobacco.

Morrisseau and First Nations leaders say Shingoose’s death highlights the need for better housing on reserves and remote communities.

“It’s a basic human right,” Morrisseau said.

“She didn’t have that right, and that’s why she had to go. How many of us would continue to live in accommodations where we’re forced to live with many families? Our people shouldn’t have to do that, so part of this is an awakening.”

‘We’re not garbage’

After years of trying to identify Buffalo Woman, police received new information in December during a post-conviction interview with Skibicki, who is currently serving four life sentences for the murders of the women.

Investigators say he pointed to a pair of pants that hadn’t been DNA tested. They sent it to the lab, and earlier this week, results came back matching the sample to Shingoose.

Police said they now believe Shingoose’s body was put in a garbage bin behind a commercial business in the 1300 block of Henderson Highway and taken to the Brady Landfill in March of 2022.

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew vowed Wednesday to search the landfill for Shingoose’s remains, with Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham and Winnipeg Police Chief Gene Bowers vowing to support the project.

A similar search of the Prairie Green Landfill for the remains of Harris and Myran was carried out by the province in December 2024, after the previous Progressive Conservative government and the Winnipeg Police Service declined to conduct a search due to safety and logistical concerns.

Their remains were found last month and identified by DNA testing.

Thursday, Albert called for the search for their daughter to start as soon as possible.

“It’s too long. It’s not good. The landfill is not a burial ground. The landfill ground is not a burial ground for anybody. We’re not garbage. Nobody’s garbage. Let’s make it work, all of us. Get your voices going.”

- With files from CTV’s Danton Unger