It’s a stunning number: More than 1,000 indigenous women were killed in Canada between 1980 and 2012. More than 100 of those cases remain unsolved. The reality is that there are countless killers who are currently walking the streets, no doubt feeling like they are untouchable. Shawn Lamb certainly fell into that category. He absolutely thought he would get away with his crimes. But a combination of factors—some luck, good timing, a controversial police tactic and Lamb’s own big mouth—proved to be his undoing.
I followed this case as close as any I’ve covered in my career, due largely to the fact Lamb began calling me frequently from jail following his release. For whatever reason, I became his personal sounding board. Those lengthy conversations would reveal his true colours.
MAY 2010
“It’s come true, one of my worst nightmares. I’m old and in jail.”
Shawn Lamb stood before the judge in a scene that was all-too-familiar. The 50-year-old drifter and career criminal had just pleaded guilty to 15 more charges, increasing his total to more than 100 in a 30-year span. Like always, Lamb jumped at the opportunity all criminals were given to speak. He had plenty to say.
Lamb described how he was in the process of writing a revealing tell-all book about his troubled past, claiming he wanted to help steer vulnerable individuals away from making the same mistakes he’d made. “The elements-for-life concept is something I’ve embraced,” Lamb said, in explaining the working title of his inspirational book. His lawyer then handed a sample of his writings to the court clerk, who passed them on to provincial court Judge Linda Giesbrecht and marked them as an exhibit.
“I’m just a coward pretending not to be afraid, sounding confident, powerful looking bold and fearsome as if I could rip off the heads of my opponents,” Lamb wrote. “But in my belly, the wee bottom of my little belly, is a boy still afraid, feeling alone, unknown if what he has will be enough to win, to survive.”
Lamb said he’d been working closely with native elders and a chaplain behind bars to come up with a blueprint for success that he, and others, would follow. “I am now in control of what I do, because I now know what it is that made me do the things I did do,” Lamb said. “I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t want to hurt anybody anymore. I want to take responsibility for what I’ve done, to use my writing skills in a positive way to help myself and others in the future.”
Lamb was sentenced to 19 months in jail, in addition to nearly 14 months of time already served, plus three years of supervised probation. His crimes 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 on a conditional sentence at the time for a similar robbery in which he attacked a young mother for her bank card, flipping over a stroller carrying the victim’s baby.
Lamb described how all his previous offences had been committed to help feed a drug and alcohol addiction he’d been fighting since the age of nine—when his adoptive parents first started forcing him to play the role of a “bartender” while they entertained other drunken guests in their home.
Giesbrecht told Lamb she was impressed by his honesty—and hopeful he had finally turned a corner following many previous attempts that ended with him back in jail. “You’re clearly an intelligent, well-spoken person. You have a gift in your writing and your speaking. It’s really too bad you’ve wasted so many years of the potential that you had. I really hope you’re sincere. You appear to be sincere, you appear to be genuine,” said Giesbrecht. “You seem to have very good insight into your past behaviour. If you don’t achieve what you hope to achieve when you get out next time, I think you’ve burned your bridges. Ultimately it is your choice.”
Giesbrecht also expressed sympathy after hearing of Lamb’s upbringing, which would be the focus of much of his writing. “I appreciate you had a bad childhood and didn’t have the benefits a child should have,” said Giesbrecht.
He was born as Darryl Dokis on a First Nation near Sarnia, Ontario, to a 17-year-old single mother. He told court he was “ripped” away by social services at the age of 2 1/2 as part of the “60s scoop,” taken from his First Nation community and put in foster care for a year before being sent to live with an adoptive white family near Sarnia.
“Once upon a time there was born a baby boy, a little Indian boy as sweet and fat-cheeked and gifted by the Creator as any baby anywhere. He was born innocent, as innocent as a puppy. An innocent baby deserves not to be torn apart from its mother,” Lamb wrote. “Now take a puppy, when he comes up to you, wanting you to pick him up and love him. If you kick that innocent puppy instead, and when he’s hungry you throw him out into the cold without food, and when he wants to be warm and safe you let the vicious neighbourhood dogs rip and tear at him. Well, what about that puppy? How will that innocent puppy grow up?”
Lamb admitted to harbouring years of pent-up anger over what he says were years of neglect and abuse at the hands of several important women in his life. Lamb claimed his now-deceased foster mother sexually and physically abused him while also introducing him to alcohol when he was just nine. He made similar claims against his now-estranged stepsister, saying she would play “doctor” with him as a young child and molest him.
“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, stunned 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.
Defence lawyer Martin Glazer negotiated for months with justice officials, saying Lamb would only plead guilty to manslaughter. Keep the murder charge and they would see them in court, where convictions were anything but a guarantee. “This is, in fact, the quintessential instance of a true quid pro quo [meaning ‘this for that’],” Leinburd told court.
Glazer said it was obvious Lamb’s statement would have been tossed out at trial. “Police were faced with a windfall because they had no clue he was involved. He provided the answers they needed... today he stands up in court and stands by his confession,” said Glazer. “In effect, it is a life sentence. He will be in his 70s when he does get released—if he lives that long.”
Naturally, news of the plea deal was not received well by the public. Social media lit up with outrage. Families of the victims erupted in anger. Even those involved in the prosecution held their noses.
“We’re not happy at all. But you have to look at the big picture,” mumbled one veteran cop.
No doubt their uneasiness was magnified on this day, when Lamb tried to hijack his own sentencing hearing. It was a pathetic, but not entirely surprising, performance by a man who did the “woe-is-me” act better than anyone. When given his chance to speak, Lamb stood up and claimed he wanted to withdraw his guilty pleas after the word “sociopath” was used to describe him in a report he said he never saw or read. “That is enough to make me want to rescind my pleas,” Lamb said.
Glazer ultimately talked some sense into his client. Lamb then continued with his speech. “I wanted to take responsibility. Apologizing isn’t going to do any good. An apology is nothing. It doesn’t change what happened. I am sorry, and I mean that. I have empathy and I have remorse, for sure. I’ve taken responsibility,” he said. “I left the door open for my addiction to take control. I grew up damaged and lost. Under the influence of drugs and alcohol... I turn into a monster at times.”
It was the type of insight you rarely see from offenders, and typically not expressed as eloquently as Lamb did. And on the surface you may have wished to applaud him for his candour. Problem is, Lamb had pulled out this same spiel countless times. His comments on this day were eerily similar to ones he’d impressed many other judges with, convincing them this poor, lost soul was worthy of yet another chance at redemption and freedom. It was apparent to anyone in the courtroom that Lamb loved being in the position of power.
“You’re a fucking monster, take some responsibility,” screamed one of the victims’ family members in court. He was promptly ushered out by sheriffs, clearly at his wit’s end being forced to watch Lamb relish the spotlight.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15, 2013
It was the day after the deal went down. And now Winnipeg police were forced to explain their role in what many saw as a botched investigation and prosecution. At a hastily called news conference, police said desperation to bring closure to grieving families drove them to pay off Lamb—a move that was now under legal scrutiny and could have sunk the case against him. Full details emerged of a $1,500 deal, one day after Lamb’s defence lawyer first raised eyebrows by accusing police of crossing a line and essentially buying a confession from his client, which likely would have been ruled inadmissible at trial.
Supt. Danny Smyth of the criminal investigations unit defended the decision, saying officers had the tough job of trying to break open a high-profile and sensitive investigation. “This is an extraordinary measure we considered,” said Smyth. “The Winnipeg Police Service is sensitive to the fact there are many missing and murdered women in Manitoba and in Canada. These investigations are a priority for us. In this case, the investigators explored all available options in the interest of justice and public safety.”
Police outlined in detail how their contact and payment to Lamb came about. “I would say this is very unusual. In my time, this is the first time I can recall us going to that kind of a measure,” said Smyth. Lamb was initially arrested on a sexual assault unrelated to any homicide. While being processed, “Mr. Lamb indicated he knew where a body was. This statement triggered a homicide investigation,” said Smyth. In fact, court documents spelled out the scenario in greater detail.
“There is a human body, and it is in the city,” Lamb said, according to police affidavits. He declined an offer to consult with a lawyer at this point.
“Mr. Lamb said he was going to do another crime and that he touched the body,” police said. He provided directions to a back lane in the West End, where the body could be found among pallets and wooden crates behind a garage with an antique car inside. “Mr. Lamb indicated he had touched the body three months ago,” police stated. Lamb went on to draw a map and lead police to the body of Lorna Blacksmith. Lamb then suggested he could offer a lot more to police – for a price. “He indicated he had more information to relate about the homicide and other crimes he committed,” said Smyth.
Police consulted the Crown about how to proceed and set up a special “canteen fund” at the Winnipeg Remand Centre for Lamb. An initial $600 was deposited, which Lamb could use to buy personal items such as snacks and magazines. Smyth said it was important to note police were still treating Lamb as a potential informant at that time, not as a suspect.
Investigators then sat down with Lamb, who had plenty to say. He not only confessed to killing Blacksmith, but also slaying Carolyn Sinclair. Lamb was charged with the murders, but told police he would keep talking in exchange for money. “He continued to contact investigators, indicating he would provide more information about other homicides he was involved in,” Smyth said. Police met with Lamb on two further occasions, depositing another $600 and then $300 into his account.” Neither provided investigators with any additional evidence,” said Smyth.
The issue hit the legislature when Progressive Conservative justice critic Reg Helwer said the government needed to review whether it’s appropriate to pay criminals to solve crimes they commit. “The other real issue is, did the justice minister approve this beforehand?” Helwer said. “It’s a very distressing way to go about prosecuting a crime if the only way that we can prove guilt is by paying the criminal himself or herself. Is that the direction that our justice system is supposed to operate?”
A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Andrew Swan confirmed the Crown attorney’s office advised police after they made a request. Smyth said police were put in a difficult position, knowing there would be no case without Lamb’s co-operation. “This brought closure to the families of Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith,” said Smyth. “It was hoped subsequent information would be forthcoming to bring closure to the families of other victims that Mr. Lamb may have been involved in.”
Shawn Lamb wasn’t done talking. One day after resolving his high-profile case in court, Lamb was back on the phone from the Remand Centre with a Free Press reporter. Lamb claimed police were hoping to pin “as many as 80” homicides on him as part of a massive, Canada-wide investigation. “Their eyes lit up, bells went off. They thought they’d have everything in the past 30 years solved. They thought every murder, especially of an aboriginal person, was at my hands,” Lamb said. Lamb said police showed him dozens of photos and lists of names of other young missing or slain women, hoping he would confess. They included local victims and those from other provinces.
He said the $1,500 police paid him was part of their desperate attempts to clear as many cases as possible. “I had admitted to these [two killings] without any inducement. But then after that, police went off the rails,” said Lamb. Lamb said the money was deposited into his jail canteen so he could buy magazines, crossword puzzles, snacks and running shoes. And while he admitted being in a position of power over the police, he denied manipulating them or the victims’ families. “I took responsibility for what I did do. As for the other stuff, I don’t know. I guess police will have to go find the people who did it,” he said.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 22, 2013
It was the result many suspected was coming. And now it was official. The third, and final, homicide case against Shawn Lamb was being dropped. There just wasn’t enough evidence to link him to the death of Tanya Nepinak. The biggest obstacle was the fact her body had still not been found despite an exhaustive search of the landfill where it was believed she had been taken. Nepinak had last been seen Sept. 13, 2011 – the day court documents had alleged Lamb murdered her.
“In terms of the murder charge, based on the evidence to date and a careful reassessment of all of the evidence, the Crown has determined that there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction at this time,” Crown attorney Sheila Leinburd told court. “Consequently, the Crown will be entering a stay of proceedings. Should new evidence be discovered, the case can be reviewed for possible future prosecution.”
Lamb had always denied involvement in Nepinak’s death. “There really was no evidence against him—there never was,” defence lawyer Martin Glazer said outside court. “In my view, he should have never been charged. To this day, there is no evidence that it’s a murder.”
Nepinak’s relatives expressed shock at the Crown’s decision. Her aunt, Sue Caribou, said they were unaware of what had happened until contacted by the Free Press following court. “We had no clue,” Caribou, the sister of Nepinak’s mother, Joyce, said. “No clue this was going on.”
Family members held a rally earlier in the week, angered by the fact Nepinak’s case seemed to be ignored while Blacksmith and Sinclair’s deaths were being wrapped up. “They didn’t pay for my daughter; why didn’t they do that?” Tanya’s mother, Joyce Nepinak, said in reference to the controversial payment police gave to Lamb.
In his final jailhouse interview, Shawn Lamb also took aim at the Lorna Blacksmith and Carolyn Sinclair families, who criticized justice officials for cutting a deal with him. “I’m amazed. All of the family knew this was happening. They were all quite content. Then they all go in front of the cameras and sing a different song,” said Lamb. He didn’t stop there, questioning Sinclair’s family for not submitting a victim impact statement to the court. “If you cared so much about her, you couldn’t even take the time to write a victim impact statement? Come on,” said Lamb.
He also bristled at suggestions he wasn’t sorry for his actions. Lamb said he had no doubt he would have walked free if he’d chosen to reject a plea deal and go to trial. “There was no evidence against me except for me. I am the evidence,” said Lamb. “I could have dragged this out for years. Step 1 is taking responsibility. Sorry is not enough. I can say it until I turn blue. It’s not going to change what happened. Nobody wants to focus on my remorse, responsibility and empathy. [Regardless] of whether I would have walked or not, I took responsibility. If they don’t want to hear that, that’s their choice.”
Lamb also commented about the lifestyle choices of his two victims, saying it was “really not their fault.” “Even if these women are prostitutes, you can’t blame that. That’s how their issues evolved,” said Lamb. “They’re living a dangerous lifestyle. Some people get out of it with a minor scare, some with a major one, or some don’t until they die.”
Lamb also offered a grim prediction for those fearing he will return to society. “I’m going to be out in a decade,” he said, vowing to get parole at his earliest eligibility date. “Oh yeah. I’ve got my release date marked down. I’ll get out. I’m going to work to make myself a better person.”
Shawn Lamb stopped calling me a few weeks after his sentencing hearing. In his final voice mail message, he ranted about how “pathetic” I was and claimed I had repeatedly twisted his words. To be honest, I was relieved the phone stopped ringing. I didn’t believe a single word that came out of his mouth and truly felt like he was wasting my time.
Lamb had become a frequent caller to my Sunday-night radio show. It made for some truly surreal moments. One night, he called to ask my guest, Manitoba provincial court Judge Ray Wyant, a question about the criminal justice system. It wasn’t until he was on-air that we recognized the voice. Obviously an accused serial killer asking a sitting judge questions on live radio isn’t an everyday scenario. But Lamb relished it. On another occasion, Lamb wanted to tell listeners how a Quebec filmmaker making videos of models pretending to be raped and murdered was “cool.” And then there was the time he told me how he thought Col. Russell Williams, convicted of brutally murdering two Ontario women and raping several others, “looked good” in pictures tendered in court of him wearing the panties of his victims.
There was no reason for him to be making these outlandish statements short of the “look-at-me” attitude he clearly possesses. I’m just glad he’s finally been silenced and is where he belongs. And I’m glad at least a couple families have found the justice they were looking for.