“Why did they stomp out the last tiny vestiges of self-worth from this child? What wrong had he committed? Why was he kicked and beaten, raped and abused in both mind and body? Why?” Lamb wrote. “The baby is the wrong nationality, expendable. Send the child away, damn the damage this may cause.”
His lawyer, Aaron Seib, told court this was a deeply damaged soul. “It’s clear his upbringing was fraught with physical abuse, mental abuse and sexual abuse. At a very young age he was abusing alcohol, drugs, whatever he can get his hands on. It’s something he still struggles with,” Seib told court.
Lamb began running away from home at the age of 12, often spending long periods of time living on the streets of Toronto. He also began experimenting with mushrooms, acid, cocaine and heroin in his early teens and became hooked. Lamb told court there were many times he wanted to end his own life, especially after he began committing crimes to support his habit. He also had stints in psychiatric care in Toronto. “I felt really bad about what I’d done. I wanted to kill myself,” he said. Lamb said he was diagnosed in 2001 as being bipolar and took solace in expressing his deepest, darkest feelings through the written word.
Lamb also had several sexual relationships and became the father of three children, none of which he maintained any relationship with, court was told. They include two sons, aged 26 and 20 and an 18-year-old daughter. Lamb said both his adoptive and biological parents were deceased, but he wanted to try to rebuild the non-existent relationship with his children plus other biological family members. He also expressed a desire to begin connecting with his aboriginal heritage.
“Throughout all a dim light, glimmer of hope, a feeling of worth. Ask for help, unload the shame. I’m wanting and worthy of a better life,” he concluded in the excerpt presented to court.
Crown attorney Susan Helenchilde was skeptical about his chance of success. “It remains to be seen how committed he really is. Hopefully he’ll get the message this time around,” she said.
MONDAY JUNE 25, 2012
It was the break a police task force had been hoping for—and the announcement many had feared. Winnipeg police had caught a suspected serial killer. Shawn Lamb had been linked to three unsolved slayings of young aboriginal women—Tanya Nepinak, Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith. He was back in custody, a familiar place for him, facing three counts of second-degree murder.
Winnipeg police Chief Keith McCaskill told reporters how a 36-year-old woman had come forward just days earlier, saying she had been the victim of a serious sexual assault at the hands of Lamb. That triggered an interview with Lamb and sufficient evidence for members of the Project Devote task force to link him to the three cases. Police were being tight-lipped about the specifics of their investigation, knowing anything they say in this high-profile case could be used against them in court. “Sometimes you get a break in the case, and that’s what happened here,” McCaskill said during a news conference.
McCaskill said this was the very first sign that a serial killer might be at work. “We never said there was no serial killer, we said we had no evidence to suggest there is one. Now we have that evidence. I don’t think we dropped the ball on this,” he said. “The most important thing at the end of the day is that we do the best we possibly can and get that evidence before the courts.”
There was another twist in the case: The body of Nepinak had yet to be found. Sinclair, 25, had been found in March 2012 in a dumpster in a back lane near Notre Dame Avenue and Toronto Street. She had been missing for three months at the time. Blacksmith, 18, had last been seen January 2012 in the West End. Her body was discovered just last week, on the same day as Lamb’s sexual assault arrest, near a dumpster on Simcoe Street. Nepinak, a 31-year-old mother of two, was last seen around Sherbrook Street and Ellice Avenue in September 2011. Police admitted all three victims were living what would be considered a “high-risk lifestyle” but said that never impacted their resolve to solve the cases. “They are victims and they should never have been,” said McCaskill.
A team of 24 “Project Devote” investigators—10 from the Winnipeg Police Service and 14 from the RCMP – were continuing their task-force investigation and wouldn’t rule out the possibility of linking Lamb to other unsolved cases. There were still 20 slain women, and eight missing women, on the Devote list. Not to mention dozens of other potential victims across the country. Their work was really only just beginning.
THURSDAY JUNE 28, 2012
He had spent the past week stewing in a prison cell as his name dominated newspaper headlines and television newscasts. Shawn Lamb could stay silent no more. And despite the advice of his lawyer to keep his mouth shut, Lamb picked up the telephone and contacted a reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press.
It would be the first of numerous conversations over many months in which Lamb appeared to be reveling in the spotlight and doing everything possible to ensure it continued to shine brightly on him. On this day, Lamb noted how Winnipeg police were in the middle of conducting an extensive sweep of downtown and West End yards, buildings and dumpsters.
“I imagine they’re out there looking for one thing. They’re looking for bodies,” Lamb said in a 20-minute telephone interview from the downtown Remand Centre. “They have a list with so many names on it.” But Lamb denied suggestions he could be linked to any other unsolved homicides in Winnipeg or across Canada. “I’ve given them voluntary DNA, not to include myself but to exclude myself,” he said. “The police are going to say what they’re going to say.”
Lamb described how he was arrested on the sex assault charge, then spent more than 48 hours in custody while going through a grilling marathon interrogation with homicide investigators, before the three charges of second-degree murder were laid. “The main thing for me is the victims. There are many people who are suffering out there,” Lamb claimed. He said police wanted to show “their goodwill” to the community by making such a public display of their search.
Lamb said police confronted him with the names of dozens of other young Manitoba women who had been killed or gone missing. There were also ongoing investigations in other provinces to determine whether Lamb could be connected to any cold cases.
“I hope everyone who’s responsible will be caught,” said Lamb. He was asked to clarify if that meant there were many killers still walking the streets.
“Exactly,” he replied. “It’s a sad thing for the victims and their loved ones. There are so many questions.”
Lamb was specifically asked if he planned to fight the allegations he killed Blacksmith, Sinclair and Nepinak. He refused to give a direct answer.
“I’m definitely going to fight to make sure this is done properly,” said Lamb. He said that meant his “charter rights” must be upheld, but he offered no further details.
Lamb decried the conditions in jail, where he was confined to a maximum-security segregated cell 23 1/2 hours per day. “I know I’m not getting out of here any time soon,” said Lamb. “I don’t have a radio, I’m last on the list to get a newspaper. I get out for half an hour a day to shower and use the phone, that’s it.”
Still, Lamb expressed concern about some of the news coverage he’d been able to catch, wondering why media outlets were focusing so much on his tragic background. Lamb said he was able to visit the grave of his birth mother for the first time during a visit to Ontario last month. It was on the day he returned to Winnipeg that he was arrested.
“I found the closure I was looking for,” he said.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 25, 2013
Shawn Lamb was playing games again. Frustrated that his case was dragging—and his name had largely disappeared from the public eye—Lamb was back on the phone. He claimed he had specific information that could help police solve at least five more cases of missing and slain women. And he expressed growing frustration that homicide investigators and a joint task force involving the RCMP, dubbed Project Devote, hadn�
�t acted on his claims quickly.
Lamb said he was willing to co-operate and police were denying closure and justice for several grieving families. “Homicide doesn’t seem interested in finding some more bodies,” he said. Lamb threatened to go public to local aboriginal leaders and even begin calling families personally from the Remand Centre if immediate action wasn’t taken. “I’m sure the cops don’t want that to happen,” Lamb said. “I told them I want to clear this up, for myself and to give closure to these people. Today would be ideal.”
Lamb had also dismissed his lawyer, Evan Roitenberg, and was planning to represent himself. Lamb and Roitenberg had repeatedly clashed in recent months because of Lamb’s continued desire to speak to a reporter.
Police and justice officials declined to comment publicly, citing the sensitive nature of the probe. But several sources said there remained much work to be done to verify much of the detailed information that had come their way. However, officials were proceeding cautiously because Lamb was a highly intelligent manipulator.
Homicide investigators had spoken with Lamb several times in recent weeks and planned to continue doing so. But those meetings provided more frustration than results. “He’s very much... a chronic BSer. However he does come through when the timing is right,” said a veteran police officer. “And sifting through the BS is what it’s all about with these types, I guess.”
Lamb repeatedly accused homicide investigators of having “serious tunnel vision” as it pertained to some of the cases of missing and slain women. “They’re not interested in veering off the path they think... even if it means closure,” he said. “I’m not saying I had anything to do with these five. I’m saying I have information. I’m denying any involvement with anything.”
Lamb denied he was trying to “bargain” with police, saying he expected nothing in return. And he said he didn’t want the public to think of him as a “media whore” who craved the spotlight. He then went on to conduct a series of interviews with local TV reporters later in the day.
Not everyone agreed with the way police were conducting the investigation. A recently retired Winnipeg homicide investigator said officers had dropped the ball in their investigation. James Jewell said it was a “travesty” police hadn’t acted with more urgency since their initial arrest and interrogation of Lamb last summer. “Inexperience, lack of direction, lack of courage or combinations of all the above created significant delays for investigators who so desperately wanted to cut the red tape and get down to the business of a second interrogation,” Jewell said in a public blog post. “It seems to me, incompetence of this magnitude should come with some sort of consequence(s).”
Jewell said police owed it to the public and victims’ families to quickly get to the truth. “Sins of the past aside, the time has come for the police service to realize that a thorough debrief of alleged serial killer Shawn Lamb is in order. It’s time to cut the red tape and end the debate regarding process and protocol. Sometimes, you just have to dance with the devil,” he said.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 27, 2013
“JUST ADDING TO THE PAIN”
Column by Lindor Reynolds in The Winnipeg Free Press
Accused serial killer Shawn Lamb is tormenting the families of Manitoba’s slain and missing women by claiming to have information that would help solve at least five of their cases. He says police aren’t taking him seriously and he’s threatening to call the families personally.
Winnipeg police are taking Lamb seriously enough to have him locked up for the slayings of Tanya Nepinak, Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith. And, despite what a man with a three-decade-long rap sheet says, they’re closely examining his latest set of allegations.
Bernadette Smith, the sister of missing woman Claudette Osborne, says officers from the Project Devote task force called her Monday to give her a head’s up Lamb was claiming to have valuable information. She says her family isn’t holding its breath he’s telling the truth.
“We’re just kind of waiting it out. We know he’s kind of an attention-seeker,” Smith says. “He says he wants to give these families closure. Why grow a conscience now? I just think he’s talking out his ass.”
She says police assured her they were taking Lamb’s claims seriously and looking into them.
Kyle Kematch, brother of missing woman Amber Guiboche, is frustrated with Lamb’s apparent confessions and retractions to the media.
“It’s honestly f -- up,” says Kematch. “Is he saying this to cause more pain? It’s getting me angry. I don’t understand what we’ve done to deserve this.”
Joyce Nepinak, the mother of Tanya Nepinak, says her family is shocked by the twist.
“We don’t know what to think. Whether he’s lying or not, you have to get to the bottom of it. If it happens to be true, moms can get some closure. We need that. I don’t even know where my daughter is.”
Gail Nepinak, Tanya’s sister, says Lamb is “playing mind games.”
“He’s heartless. He’s torturing us,” she says. “He just wants publicity. He just wants the attention.”
Community activist Chickadee Richard says it’s possible Lamb does have more information to offer.
She believes he didn’t act alone in the killings of Nepinak, Sinclair and Blacksmith. She thinks others in the community are preying on aboriginal people and there may be more than one serial killer.
“The families know that Shawn Lamb, he has no moral conscience. He says he wants to connect with the families. Why’s he doing this? What’s he after?”
Richard says the large number of missing and slain women speak to how aboriginal women are viewed.
“There’s racism here. It’s like these women don’t matter.”
Shawn Lamb seems a little short in the attributes column. He’s been convicted of assaulting police officers, uttering threats, robbery, carrying weapons, forgery, possessing stolen property, break-and-enter and breaching numerous court orders.
He got 19 months in jail, in addition to nearly 14 months of time already served, plus three years of supervised probation. His crimes, according to a story by Free Press reporter Mike McIntyre, included mugging a young mother of her purse, threatening to stab another man for his beer, stealing a car and passing numerous bad cheques.
He was arrested for the murders of the three women in June 2012.
Winnipeg police believe Lamb is a highly intelligent manipulator. He’s cunning and he’s likely bored silly sitting in jail. He says he has film and keepsakes to back up his latest claims. He’s got the police hopping and shattered families hoping for resolution.
Our police aren’t ignoring him. They can’t. After the debacle in the case of B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, no law-enforcement team would risk slacking off and miss the chance to solve these killings.
Project Devote has to take every tip seriously, even if the source is an accused serial killer who may be acting out of spite or tedium.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 14, 2013
He was a master manipulator, a sociopath who craved attention and took pleasure in the pain of others. So you can imagine the disgust among senior Manitoba justice officials who took a long, hard look at the case against accused serial killer Shawn Lamb and realized one alarming fact. Lamb held all the cards. They would be forced to play the game by his rules. The end result was a so-called deal with the devil.
Lamb appeared in court, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of Carolyn Sinclair, 25, and Lorna Blacksmith, 18. Second-degree murder charges were dropped. He was given a 20-year sentence, with a requirement that he serve at least half before being eligible for parole. A “light at the end of the tunnel” is how defence lawyer Martin Glazer described it.
Extensive details of the investigation emerged publicly for the first time. The Crown revealed how Lamb, arrested for a sexual assault back in June 2012, stunn
ed police by telling them he knew where to find a body. Police were led to Blacksmith’s remains at the rear of a vacant home at 797 Simcoe St., partially covered by pallets and a metal cot. Her body was wrapped in plastic and in an advanced state of decomposition. Medical officials could not determine a cause of death.
He eventually implicated himself in Sinclair’s death, which police had already been investigating since her remains were found March 31, 2012, wrapped in plastic inside a duffle bag near a garbage can on Notre Dame Avenue. Lamb admitted to both homicides, describing exactly how they went down.
He met Sinclair on Dec. 18, 2011, said they purchased crack cocaine and then went back to his apartment at 822 Notre Dame Ave. But the night took a violent turn when Sinclair grabbed the remaining drugs and locked herself in the bathroom. Lamb began smashing the door with an axe handle until she opened it. “What the fuck are you doing... why are you stealing this?” he asked. Lamb then struck Sinclair in the head several times with the handle, and then strangled her until she was lifeless. Lamb smoked some more crack, bought beer and eventually passed out. He finally disposed of Sinclair’s body a few days later.
Blacksmith was killed in a similar drug-related dispute, just three weeks after Sinclair’s slaying. Lamb claimed she grabbed his phone to call a drug dealer, prompting him to violently attack. Blacksmith was knocked to the ground and choked with an electrical cord. Lamb claimed he tried to revive her but she was already dead. So he wrapped her body in plastic stolen from a nearby construction site, and then left her behind the home on Simcoe.
Lawyers told court how there was no solid forensic evidence against Lamb. The only real case against him came from his own statement. “There were no eyewitnesses to the killings and despite the best efforts of police, only limited forensic evidence is available to be put before the court,” Crown attorney Sheila Leinburd told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Rick Saull. “Consequently, the description of the killing of both women is taken solely from... Lamb’s statement,” said Leinburd. However, there were serious concerns it would hold up to a legal challenge. That’s because of a controversial exchange of cash between police and Lamb. This marked the first time a payment had been mentioned. But no other details were presented in court, raising even more questions.
Mike on Crime Page 21
