Canada highway triple murder fugitives found dead
The manhunt for Canadian teenage killers Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky is over — but there’s been a last twist.
The family of one of the Canadian teens who murdered an Australian and his partner has left a note on their front door lashing out at the media branding the focus on their killer son a “nuisance”.
“To all media reporters and camera people. We request that you respect our privacy at this time, by keeping off our property and not ringing the door bell or banging on our door,” read the note, left by the family of Bryer Schmegelsky.
“You have become a nuicance (sic) to us and our neighbours.
“We will not be making any statement.”
The manhunt for the Canadian teen killers is over — but frustrated police concede they may never be able to fully explain why the pair went on a crime spree.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the central province of Manitoba said the bodies of Kam McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18, were discovered in dense bush near the shores of the Nelson River, not far from where they last week recovered items linked to the suspects.
The pair was wanted over the murders of Mr Fowler, 23, and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, as well as Canadian biology professor Leonard Dyck, 64, and had been on the run since late July when the victims’ bodies were found in northern British Columbia.
“At this time, we believe these are the bodies of the two suspects wanted in connection with the homicides in British Columbia,” RCMP spokeswoman Jane MacLatchy said.
“I’m confident it is them but to identify them officially and to be sure we have to go to autopsy.”
But families of the victims may never know why their loved ones were killed.
Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett told a media conference: “It’s going to be extremely difficult for us to ascertain definitively what the motive was.”
“Obviously we will not have the opportunity to speak with the suspects.”
Injuries of Leonard Dyck will not be revealed out of respect for the family, he added.
“There is significant evidence linking the two events together,” Mr Hackett said. Evidence also linked the two suspects to the two crime scenes, but he declined to give details.
Several mystery objects led to the discovery of the bodies of the fugitives.
In a massive breakthrough on Saturday, police recovered several items connected to the pair on the banks of the Nelson River, close to the isolated town of Gillam in northern Manitoba.
The unspecified objects were found some 9km from where their stolen grey Toyota RAV4 was abandoned in bushland close to a rail line on July 22.
The RCMP said the items led directly to the discovery of the boys’ bodies, which were found around 10am Wednesday local time, 1km from the boat and 8km from their burned out Toyota car.
The cause of death in both cases is yet to be determined and would not be announced until after the autopsies were completed.
“I hope today’s announcement can begin to bring some closure,” Ms MacLatchy said.
“To the officers involved in the search, I commend you in your determination.”
The search is over.  At 10am this morning, Manitoba RCMP officers located the bodies of two males, believed to be the BC suspects, near the shoreline of the Nelson River (approx 8km from the burnt vehicle). #rcmpmb pic.twitter.com/tZ7EBFsNDr
— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 7, 2019
Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were found shot to death alongside their campervan on the Alaska Highway on July 15. Mr Dyck’s body was found four days later on another highway — 2km from the suspects’ burnt-out Dodge pick up truck.
The two teenagers were nowhere to be seen and soon sparked a major manhunt using helicopters, drones, boats and dogs that stretched across three provinces in the country’s remote north.
Specialized RCMP teams begin searching nearby high-probability areas, leading officers to the discovery of the two male bodies, in the dense brush, within 1 km from where the items were found. #rcmpmb
— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 7, 2019
Thanks to the communities & the leadership of Gillam, Fox Lake Cree Nation, Ilford War Lake First Nation & York Landing - your lives have been disrupted, many of you lived with uncertainty & fear, but throughout, you were resilient & helped our officers get the job done. #rcmpmb
— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 7, 2019
Our officers knew we needed just one piece of evidence to move the search forward & on Friday, August 2nd, the items found on the shoreline of the Nelson River & directly linked to the suspects, enables officers to narrow down the search. #rcmpmb
— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 7, 2019
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
The investigation was not over and would now focus on the timeline from when the crime spree began until the discovery of the bodies.
RCMP sent an Underwater Recovery Team to the area after a damaged aluminium row boat known locally as a “jon boat” was spotted during an aerial search on Friday.
But a dive over the weekend failed to find any further trace of McLeod or Schmegelsky in the river.
Ground, air and water searches for the pair were concentrated on the remote area, about 3,300km east of where the victims were murdered, because it was the last place Schmegelsky and McLeod were confirmed to have been seen alive.
Last week, the RCMP pulled its military-scale search operation out of the tiny river community of York Landing and returned to Gillam, to continue the manhunt.
The massive operation descended on York Landing after a sighting of Schmegelsky and McLeod rummaging for food at a landfill before fleeing into bushes after realising they’d been seen.
Despite dozens of officers, sniffer dogs and drones combing the remote towns — about 90km apart — there was no trace found of the pair and police said they were “unable to substantiate the tip”.
“The heavy police presence in York Landing has been withdrawn and policing resources in the community will return to normal. The RCMP thanks the community for their patience and understanding,” police said in a statement last Wednesday.
The York Landing tip included information that the two people sighted were wearing the same clothing — Schmegelsky in a camouflage jacket and McLeod in a blue T-shirt — that they were pictured in on CCTV footage from a hardware store in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.
An exhaustive search of the area failed to locate the duo, childhood friends and former Walmart employees from Vancouver Island, who had either managed another miraculous escape or were never there in the first place.
The emergency response team and other resources that flooded the town were then sent back to Gillam.
It was a move that ultimately paid off but an outcome few had hoped for. The question as to why three innocent people were brutally killed now unlikely to ever to be answered.
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