Alleged serial killer's video confession to be revealed in Winnipeg courtroom

WARNING: This story contains distressing details.

Jeremy Skibicki unexpectedly confessed to killing three more women in Winnipeg during a lengthy police interrogation as police grilled him about the discovery of the remains of Rebecca Contois in 2022.

Part of that 20-hour interrogation video is expected to be shown as evidence this week, as Skibicki's first-degree murder trial in the deaths of Contois and three other women gets underway. 

That video was shown in a voir dire — a sort of trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence — during pretrial motions in November and was previously under a publication ban.

CBC News can now reveal details about it because the trial is no longer slated to be heard by a jury.

One of the detectives who testified during those pretrial motions told the court he was surprised when Skibicki suddenly said he'd killed four women, including Contois.

"I was shocked at the beginning.… I kind of froze in my chair," said Det.-Sgt. Adam Danylyshen.

The other detective who was in that interview — Greg Allan, who is set to testify Wednesday — told court he had had no knowledge of three additional killings until Skibicki confessed.

Skibicki, 37, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Contois and two other First Nations women — Morgan Harris, 39 and Marcedes Myran, 26 — as well as a fourth woman. She is still unidentified, but has been given the name Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, by community members.

This week, his lawyers said they intend to argue that while he admits he killed the women, he was not criminally responsible due to mental disorder.

During the police interview, Skibicki admitted to strangling, choking or drowning the four women, most of whom he said he met at or near homeless shelters in Winnipeg. He also confessed to performing sex acts on their bodies in his apartment. 

While he initially told police he recognized Contois from the Siloam Mission shelter when they showed him her photo, it took some time before Skibicki provided any other details. But hours into the interview, after asking to see a priest to "confess [his] sins," he ended up also telling police about the three other killings.

The Crown will present a shorter version of the interview video — just under seven hours long — once Skibicki's trial officially begins on Wednesday, after about a week of additional pretrial motions in the case.

His police interview also sheds light on what Skibicki told investigators about the unidentified woman known as Mashkode Bizhiki'ikwe. That includes the fact he initially gave them what he said was her name, only to have police tell him they were able to locate that woman, and she was alive.