Column: Female, desperate, vulnerable, Indigenous — and human | Saskatoon StarPhoenix

25.11.17

Column: Female, desperate, vulnerable, Indigenous — and human | Saskatoon StarPhoenix: [BARB PACHOLIK, REGINA LEADER-POST] In October 1994, a hunter stumbled upon the skeletal remains of three women in heavy brush southwest of Saskatoon. Crawford had killed Shelley Napope, 16, Eva Taysup, 30, and Calinda Waterhen, 22, two years earlier — two agonizing years for their families who searched and wondered. He was also suspected — though never convicted — of killing three other Indigenous women around the same time. And he had previously served time for killing another Indigenous woman in Alberta.

Crawford’s cold, callous indifference still rings in my ears. He never testified at trial, but filed a sworn affidavit when he appeared before the appeal court in Regina. It gave a glimpse into his mindset at the same time he professed his nuanced innocence. (He claimed, unsuccessfully, that the killings were accidents.)

Of one of his victims, Crawford said, “I remember thinking, she’s only worth $50. I’m not going to jail. She has no right to live.”

When next he killed, Crawford thought, “f—, here goes another one,” he wrote.