RCMP find several items linked to homicide suspects on northern Manitoba shoreline
Canadian police have revealed they have found several items along a stretch of river “directly linked” to the suspected killers of Australian Lucas Fowler and his girlfriend Chynna Deese.
Police hunting the teens suspected of murdering Australian backpacker Lucas Fowler in a cross-Canada killing spree have found some of their scattered belongings along the side of a river.
The discovery on the banks of the Nelson River, 9km from the last known location of Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, was made four days ago.
Police also located a metal dinghy the pair may have used.
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It was the first new confirmed physical evidence in the nationwide manhunt since the pair ditched their burnt out car on July 22.
It sparked an underwater search by police divers which found no further evidence and ended yesterday.
The police revealed in a tweet and in a Facebook post on Tuesday that they located several items on a shoreline on Saturday, about nine kilometres from where a burnt out vehicle used by the suspects was found last month.
Police have not yet specified the nature of the items they found.
Despite bringing specialist divers to the area, police did not find any additional items underwater.
In a statement, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said they located the belongings on August 2 and that they had “confirmed that these items are directly linked to the suspects”.
“That same day, a damaged boat was also found along the Nelson River. Based on this information, RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT) were immediately deployed.
“On August 4, 2019, URT conducted a thorough underwater search approximately 29 metres around the location where the boat was found. The search did not uncover any additional items linked to the suspects.”
Police said they remained in the Gillam area and were continuing the search.
They said they would not confirm what items were located, “to ensure the integrity of the investigation”.
The last known location of McLeod and Schmegelsky was at the crash site north west of Gillam.
They had been spotted earlier that day 170km away at the tiny indigenous town of Split Lake.
The pair had driven a stolen Toyota Rav4 from the other side of the country where Mr Fowler, his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, and Canadian father-of-two Leonard Dyck were killed.
Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were found by the side of a remote highway in British Columbia on July 15. Mr Dyck’s body was found 470km away on July 19.
The Canadian air force was part of a 1000-strong team hunting the pair last week, but over the weekend the search was significantly scaled back.
Police have been criticised for not releasing information about the suspects in a timely manner, with the pair passing through a community police checkpoint in Split Lake a day before they were publicly revealed as suspects.
A day earlier a good Samaritan dragged their bogged car out of a field 1300km away in Saskatchewan province.
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