Lucas Fowler murder: Canadian police end dive search, no news about whereabouts of suspected teen killers

The underwater manhunt for the suspected teenage killers of Australian tourist Lucas Fowler and his girlfriend Chynna Deese has concluded with no news of their whereabouts.

The underwater search in Canada for the suspected teenage killers of Australian tourist Lucas Fowler and his US girlfriend Chynna Deese has ended off as police continue to look for new leads.

Police announced yesterday there would be no more dives by a recovery team. They reported no news about the whereabouts of the suspects after the dive searches or whether they had found anything in the river that might help with the search.

The search focus shifted to the shores of Nelson River late last week after a police helicopter search spotted a damaged aluminium boat on the shores of the river.

Police believed the damage could have been caused by travelling down rapids as the fugitives tried to escape.

The Underwater Recovery Team has completed their work following the discovery of a boat on the shore of the Nelson River. They will not be conducting any additional dives. A police roadblock has been put in place today in the Sundance, MB, area for ongoing search efforts. #rcmpmb pic.twitter.com/mKSR7xieVh

— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 5, 2019

Royal Canadian Mounted Police of Manitoba sent a dive recovery team to search the river near Gillam, the small town where Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, dumped their stolen Toyota RAV4 on July 23 and disappeared.

The damaged aluminium boat found by Canadian police. Picture: AFP

Police have now set up a roadblock at Sundance, near Gillam.

The underwater search followed days of investigations approximately 40km from the town of Gillam and close to Fox Lake Cree Nation, an area about 1000km north of the US border in Canada’s remote wilderness.

This is the damaged aluminum boat found by #rcmpmb officers on the shores of the Nelson River during a helicopter search on friday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/56Ez8alVTs

— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 4, 2019

Despite unconfirmed sightings of the duo as far away as the neighbouring province of Ontario, the RCMP continues to search around Gillam. Survival experts predict the teenagers would struggle to stay alive if they attempted to hide in the swampy, bug-infested wilderness around Gillam without shelter and equipment.

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Members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Emergency Response Team prepare to search an area near where the burned out Toyota Rav4 was found. Picture: Angus Mordant

The dive team was the latest attempt by the RCMP to bring closure to a manhunt that began more than 3000 kilometres away on July 14 in Canada’s western province of British Columbia.

The bodies of Mr Fowler, 23, from Sydney, and his North Carolina girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, were found in a ditch on the side of a BC highway. They had been shot.

On Friday afternoon, #rcmpmb officers searching from a helicopter, located a damaged aluminum boat on the shore of the Nelson River. RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT) will conduct a thorough underwater search of significant areas of interest today. pic.twitter.com/NwewjD9qH1

— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 4, 2019

Four days later on another BC highway the teenagers allegedly murdered botanist Leonard Dyck and then drove east across Canada’s north to Gillam. Royal Canadian air force planes with infra-red and other search technology failed to find the fugitives around Gillam.

“To assist in the ongoing search for the 2 BC suspects, Manitoba RCMP’s Underwater Recovery Team (URT) will be arriving in Gillam tonight & divers will begin to search a section of the Nelson River tomorrow, Sunday, August 4,” RCMP wrote in a tweet.

Canada has been gripped by the nationwide manhunt.

The Ontario Provincial Police announced days ago it had set up an investigative team to follow up on potential sightings of Schmegelsky and McLeod in their province.

The OPP received more than 30 tips in less than eight hours on Thursday.

The suspected killers Bryer Schmegelsky, left, and his friend Kam McLeod. Picture: Supplied

The RCMP said they would not disclose any specifics about where their Underwater Recovery Team would be searching.

However The Globe and Mail reported this morning that an abandoned row boat had been found along the shore in Gillam.

It’s not clear whether the green coloured boat had been used by the runaway teens.

It was pulled ashore with “significant damage”.

Meanwhile the OPP said they were searching for a car with two men who a witness said matched the pair’s description. The car was driven through a construction site on Highway 11 in the mainly French-speaking rural mill town of Kapuskasing on Wednesday morning, local time.

“At this time the OPP cannot confirm the identity of the people in the vehicle that was occupied by two males,” police said in a statement.

“The OPP is continuing to investigate this incident and is actively looking for the vehicle.”

Police have returned to Gillam, Manitoba, to search for evidence that may have been missed. Picture: Angus Mordant for News Corp Australia

The development comes days after the heartbroken family of Lucas Fowler farewelled him at a memorial service on Sydney’s north shore.

Senior police officer Stephen Fowler asked family and friends to circle September 30 in their calendar, the day of Lucas’s birthday.

“Lucas would have celebrated his 24th birthday on the 30th of September. We will always celebrate his life on that date,” Chief Inspector Fowler told hundreds of mourners at the Turramurra Uniting Church.

Delivering a heart-rending eulogy for his son, Ch-Insp Fowler paid tribute to Lucas’ obsession with travel and the love of his life Chynna Deese.

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RCMP Emergency Response Team in the area near where a burnt-out Toyota Rav 4 driven by the murder suspects was found near Gillam, Manitoba, Canada. Picture: Angus Mordant for News Corp Australia

More than 40 officers working out of Gillam were “rechecking areas they (the pair) may have returned to.”

It came as the mother of Mr Fowler’s girlfriend, Chynna Deese, said she wanted police to find the teens who are suspected of killing her daughter.

Lucas Fowler, left, Chynna Deese, centre, and her mother Sheila Deese. Picture: Supplied

“I want them caught. I want them to have consequences,” Sheila Deese said.

“That’s what so much of everything is about. The story is about Chynna and Lucas, but so much of the focus is these boys, these evil, evil boys.”