Suspected killers of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese may be on a ‘thrill killing’ spree
The two Canadian teenagers suspected of killing Australian Lucas Fowler and his girlfriend are likely on a thrill kill and may have more victims, a criminal profiler has warned.
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A week ago two teenage boys who had been best friends since elementary school set out on a road trip to find work in Whitehorse, capital of the picturesque Canadian wilderness territory of Yukon.
Described by their parents as everyday good kids, the boys had never been in trouble with the law nor caused their families any serious grief. They didn’t do drugs. The worst they were known to do was play violent video games.
But within two days of leaving their small town homes in pretty Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky have somehow turned into suspected homicidal maniacs on a gruesome shooting and killing spree across the top of Canada.
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So far three of their alleged murder victims have been identified — Aussie tourist Lucas Fowler, 23, his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, and University of British Columbia Botany lecturer Leonard Dyck.
The pair have also left a trail of burning vehicles, their own pick-up truck and a stolen Toyota Rav 4 as they drove thousands of kilometres east across four states.
It is possible there are more victims that haven’t been found according to criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro.
Watson-Munro said the teenagers had travelled such a long way it is extraordinary there are not more victims but “it is entirely possible there are and they haven’t been found yet.”
There are reports of two men missing near Logan’s Lake in British Columbia.
Their vehicle was found abandoned and the two men have not been seen for days.
The police as yet don’t believe the case is linked to the teenagers alleged rampage.
A nationwide arrest warrant for the two teenagers for the second-degree murder of Dyck was issued by the Royal Canadian Mounties on Thursday and one of the biggest manhunts ever mounted is underway in the remote tiny town of Gillam, Manitoba, for the fugitives.
There is only one road in and out of Gillam and police have road blocks at each end. But the teenagers may have already skipped town.
It is not known whether the teenagers are on foot or in another stolen car but the police dragnet is closing in on them. Drones, dogs and police from all over Canada have been called in to help in the manhunt.
Late today police armed with rifles and armoured bulletproof shields boarded a light plane flying out of Gillam headed west.
Whatever happened to the teenagers between the time they left their homes in the quiet mill town where nothing much happens and when they started their alleged crime spree with the murders of Lucas and Chynna sometime between July 14-15 and then Leonard Dyck some days later, appears to be a mystery.
But Watson-Munro believes the trip was clearly planned.
“The decision to leave to look for work was likely a ruse and they have set out for a thrill kill.”
He said they appeared to be “bad not mad”, capable of forward planning and they were armed.
“Some people are vulnerable to violent video games and become desensitised to violence,” said Watson-Munro.
“When that happens they need more and more stimulation to get the same thrill.”
Watson-Munro agreed it is likely a thrill kill for the teenagers.
“It is like an addiction to pornography, it escalates they starting acting out … One bounces off the other, wouldn’t it be fun to do this … then they think they can do anything and get away with it.”
When their burnt-out truck was discovered a few hundred kilometres away from the site of the double murder of Lucas and Chynna, police said they were reported missing.
When another body was found 2km away, there were fears a serial killer was on the loose and the teenagers may also be victims.
But then the story took a bizarre and unexpected twist when police revealed the two teenagers were no longer considered missing, but were on the run as prime suspects in the string of brutal killings.
Bryer’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said the last contact he had from the teens was a text message from his son on July 12.
It read: “We are going to Alberta today so I won’t have internet for a while. I’ll talk to you when I can”, he told CHEK News.
“They’re kids on an adventure, they’re good boys, they’ve been friends since elementary school. They just did five weeks of working at Walmart. They just graduated and their first job, they said: ‘this isn’t cutting it. Lets go find the real money. Alberta is where the money is at’.”
Now Schmegelsky says he is fearful his son will die in “a blaze of glory”.
He said his son had a difficult childhood and struggled to cope with his parents’ divorce.
He was five at the time and buried himself in online games and later on, running his own YouTube channel.
“A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does,” Mr Shmegelsky told media outlets.
“He hasn’t been nurtured. He doesn’t have a driver’s licence.
“He never learned to ride a bike. He craved love and affection.”
Bryer’s mother has reportedly pleaded for Bryer to come home in a letter published by the Daily Mail.
“’Bryer is a careing, loveing (sic) boy, that would never hurt anyone. He grew up in a loveing (sic) home. WE miss, and love him dearly. WE want both boys to come home safe.”
Kam’s father, Keith McLeod, said he does not know what is happening with his son but stressed he is a kind, considerate, and a caring young man who has always been concerned about other people’s feelings.
“As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap our heads around what is happening,” he writes.
“(We) hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story.”
But as news of the rampage escalated a different picture started to emerge of the teens who are fans of a popular British survivalist game in which players are encouraged to kill and eat their victims.
They also had links to network of game players touting far-right views, support for Germany’s Third Reich.
Mr Shmegelsky said Bryer had told him he and Kam had been “training in war” in the woods for more than two years and were masters of camouflage.
“My son he’s like, they’re huge into video games — all kids are — and two Christmases ago he asked me for an Airsoft gun, which is a replica gun, right?” Mr Schmegelsky told CHEK News.
“So he was telling me: ‘well me and the fellas, we like to go in the woods and play war’ right?”
“So knowing that the both of them are totally into that, if there was any threat, they would have done what they’ve actually trained themselves to do and they would have camouflaged themselves in the woods.”
Disturbing new photos of Bryer have also emerged; in one he is dressed in army fatigues brandishing the Airsoft replica machine gun which fires plastic pellets.
Another, sent from what is believed to be his account used for an online gaming service, shows Nazi memorabilia including a knife with the inscription “blut und ehre” (blood and honour) and a swastika armband.
A third is believed to show the 19-year-old in a black gas mask.
The unidentified gamer he shared them with is also said to have stopped playing with him after he praised Hitler’s Germany.
The friends’ Steam accounts, used for gaming, are said to have been active just one week before they were first reported missing.
The pair are also linked to a YouTube account Illusive Gaming, now taken down.
Former classmates of Bryer have revealed he had a history of making disturbing statements describing murder and suicide.
In an interview with Global News Canada, Madison Hempsted said she shared one class in Grade 7 with Bryer in Port Alberni, when they were both 13 years old.
“I don’t want to be rude, but he was kind of a weird kid,” she said.
“He didn’t really talk to anyone, super into himself. But when he did talk to people, the things he said were kind of scary. All he ever said to me was how he wanted to kill me and ways he would do it.
“I never really thought anything of it until now, because we all thought he was just making jokes.”
Hempsted said Schmegelsky would allegedly describe violent acts to her and her friends.
“There were times he would tell me and my friends ways he wanted to kill us and then himself, which is scary,” she said.
“One of my friends commented that Bryer said he wanted to kill his whole family.”
“ (Schmegelsky) would say things about how he would cut our heads off … Pretty detailed stuff,” she said.
Lisa and Glenn Lucas say their son, now 19, used to play with Schmegelsky when the two were in junior high school.
“He was a nice kid, very quiet but after a while he quit coming around,” Lisa said of Bryer whom she described as very interested in violent video games.
“He would mention things about if this was real when they were playing video games, like ‘Can you imagine if this was real?’ kind of a thing. And he’d get a little too excited about it,” said Lisa.
The suspected third victim of the teenagers, was Leonard Dyck a University a lecturer in Botany from Vancouver, whose body was found near Dease Lake about 2km from the teenagers abandoned and burnout pick-up truck.
Dyck was killed about 500km away from where Sydney man Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese were shot to death.
A statement released by the Dyck family said “We are truly heart broken by the sudden and tragic loss of Len.”
“He was a loving husband and father. His death has created unthinkable grief and we are struggling to understand what has happened. While we understand there will be interest in knowing more about him and the impact he had during his life, we are asking for the public and the media to please respect our privacy during this difficult time.”
Schmegelsky is also grieving in a different way. He believes his son is now on a death mission.
“He wants this pain to end … Basically, he’s going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that. Rest in peace, Bryer.
“I love you. I’m so sorry all this had to happen.”
Originally published as Suspected killers of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese may be on a ‘thrill killing’ spree
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