Winnipeg police set to identify Mashkode Bizihiki Ikwe or Buffalo Woman as Ashlee Shingoose

Warning: This story contains details that may be triggering. Ashlee Shingoose from St. Theresa Point First Nation is Mashkode Bizihiki’ Ikwe or Buffalo Woman, APTN News has learned. Winnipeg police have announced a press conference for Wednesday to reveal more details. Multiple sources would only confirm her name. A spokesperson for the Manitoba government confirmed Tuesday night that Premier Wab Kinew will be in attendance. Shingoose, 31, was last seen in downtown Winnipeg near the Salvation Army on March 11, 2022. She’s one of four First Nations women murdered by Jeremy Skibicki, 37, in the spring of 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison for four first-degree murder convictions in the deaths of Rebecca Contois, 24, Morgan Harris, 39, Marcedes Myran, 26, and Shingoose. On May 9, 2024, during court proceedings, it was revealed that Shingoose’s DNA had been found on a cigarette butt in Skibicki’s suburban Winnipeg apartment. A missing poster in Winnipeg. Photo: APTN. At the time, her parents, Theresa and Albert Shingoose, attended the proceedings. On July 11, when Chief Justice Glenn Joyal gave his oral verdict, the Shingoose family didn’t attend court, instead, they participated in a Sundance ceremony on the outskirts of the city. On Aug. 28, Albert was present for the written decision and sentencing. Back in July 2024, APTN News visited the Shingoose family in their home in St Theresa Point, a fly-in community 465 km northeast of Winnipeg. At the time, Albert already believed his daughter was Buffalo Woman, even though in January 2023 his family had been tested for DNA and police later announced Shingoose was not Buffalo Woman. Albert told APTN the investigators on Ashlee’s case contacted him and said once the trial was finished, they had a plan. “What they were saying to me, ‘We are not giving up yet,’” Albert said. He added that police told him they planned to go back to Skibicki, “and ask him questions. If (he) really seen her or if they know that’s her he killed or what not, that’s what they were going to try find out.” The Winnipeg police would not confirm or deny what Albert said of his conversation with the two investigators on his daughter’s case at the time, but sources have confirmed this happened. Read More:  ‘She was always a loving person’: Parents of Ashlee Shingoose share their grief  APTN has reached out to the Shingoose family but they have not responded. On March 17, the province announced that remains found at a private landfill north of the city were those of Myran. Harris’ remains were identified on March 7. The partial remains of Contois were found in a garbage bin near Skibicki’s residence on May 16, 2022. Police commenced a search at the city=owned Brady Road Landfill on June 2, 2022 and recovered additional human remains of Contois on June 14. Buffalo Woman is believed to be Skibicki’s first victim. Continue Reading