WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
The body of a 33-year-old mother from a First Nation in Manitoba has been found in a Winnipeg landfill, and police say they consider the circumstances surrounding her death suspicious.
Staff at Winnipeg’s Brady Road Resource Management Facility discovered the remains of Linda Mary Beardy on Monday afternoon and reported their finding to police around 3 p.m., police said.
“I can confirm at this time we have no information to suggest that there are any other victims or that this investigation is related to any previous incidents,” Insp. Shawn Pike, with the Winnipeg Police Service’s major crimes division, said at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.
“I wish to express our sincerest condolences.”
Pike would not talk about the cause of death, and it isn’t clear when Beardy died, he said.
Her death is considered suspicious but isn’t yet classified as a homicide, Pike said.
Beardy, who was from Lake St. Martin First Nation in Manitoba, was living in Winnipeg before her death, he said.
Investigators believe Beardy’s remains were left at the landfill by a garbage truck and found within a couple of hours of being deposited, he said.
The entire Brady Road landfill operation has been paused while investigators work there, he said.
Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham credited Brady landfill staff for their vigilance.
“We as a society can never grow numb to this,” he said at city hall Tuesday afternoon.
“This is horrible. We can never get used to this. This always needs to spark within us outrage, concern, grief,” the mayor said. “We need to value Indigenous women.”
Sandy Bay Ojibway First Nation Chief Trevor Prince, who knew Beardy, said he was devastated by the news.
He met Beardy 15 years ago, and she was also the ex-partner of a friend of his who has also since died, Prince said. That friend and Beardy had children together, the chief said.
“It’s very sad and it breaks my heart … to hear that we lost another First Nation woman to violence,” he said. “She was a caring, loving mother.”
Prince said crisis response teams would be on hand at a vigil planned for Tuesday evening at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre’s Gathering Place for Truth and Reconciliation, located at 445 King St. in Winnipeg.
He believes a broader search of the landfill should be conducted.
The news comes months after the Brady Road landfill was closed for several weeks amid protests and calls for a site-wide search for the remains of missing people.
The remains of Rebecca Contois — one of four women police believe were killed by Jeremy Skibicki — were found at the Brady Road landfill last June.
Skibicki is charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Late last year, Skibicki’s lawyer said he plans to plead not guilty on all counts.
Investigators believe Skibicki also killed Morgan Harris and Marcedes Myran, and that their remains were taken to Prairie Green landfill north of Winnipeg. In February, the federal government committed $500,000 for a feasibility study of a search of that landfill.
The location of the remains of a fourth, unidentified woman, whom community members have named Mashkode Bizhiki’ikwe, or Buffalo Woman, are unknown, but Skibicki has also been charged in connection with her death.
Pike said investigators have no reason to believe Beardy’s death is connected to any other cases.
Her next of kin have been notified and Winnipeg investigators remain in touch with Indigenous leadership, Pike said.
Cambria Harris, Morgan Harris’s daughter, said Winnipeg police notified her of the news before the announcement.
“I appreciated it, but I still felt a little bit saddened and disrespected that it has happened again only a few months after what happened to my mom,” she said. “It’s traumatizing.”
She has been among many in the Indigenous community calling for complete searches of the Prairie Green and Brady Road landfills, a call Harris repeated Tuesday.
“When you say that you’re not going to search the landfill, you’re sending the message that it’s OK to dump people or Indigenous women like trash,” she said.
“May justice be brought to this woman and her family.”
Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller said the federal government will be discussing the latest death with Mayor Gillingham and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
The “horrific and devastating” discovery of the 33-year-old woman’s body “represents a fear that Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQI+ people live with on a daily basis,” he said in a statement, promising to work “with partners in Winnipeg, and across Canada, to end this crisis.”
Anyone with information that could help investigators is asked to contact Winnipeg police at 204-986-6508.
WATCH | Body found in Winnipeg’s Brady Road landfill:
WARNING: This story contains distressing details. The body of 33-year-old Linda Mary Beardy from a First Nation in Manitoba has been found in a Winnipeg landfill, and police say they consider the circumstances surrounding her death suspicious.
If you or someone you know needs immediate emotional assistance, call 1-844-413-6649. This is a national, toll-free 24/7 crisis call line providing support for anyone who requires emotional assistance related to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
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