An end without answers as teen Canadian suspects found dead

A manhunt spanning thousands of kilometres has ended with the discovery of the bodies of two Canadian teenagers.

Kam McLeod, left, and Bryer Schmegelsky, whose bodies were found yesterday after a massive manhunt over their suspected killings of three people.

A manhunt spanning thousands of kilometres has ended with the discovery of the bodies of two Canadian teenagers, suspected of killing Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend, Chynna Deese.

Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod were found dead in dense bushland in northern Manitoba at 10am on Wednesday (1am yesterday, AEST), after a highway killing spree investigators are still trying to piece together.

“It’s going to be extremely difficul­t for us to ascertain definit­ively what the motive was,” said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett yesterday.

Police suspect the teens murdered­ Fowler and Deese three weeks ago, dumping their bodies in a ditch beside the Alaska Highway in British Columbia, then days later killed university lectur­er Leonard Dyck.

“Those kids murdered the ­nicest, ­happiest couple they could find,” Deese’s brother, stetson, told The Australian yesterday.

The RCMP narrowed the search for the pair after a local tour guide, Clint Sawchuk, found a blue sleeping bag tangled in bushes on the Nelson River last Friday, ­Canadian media reported.

That was followed by the discovery of a damaged aluminium rowboat the same day, possibly used in their getaway.

A professional tracker was with police when they found the bodies of McLeod and Schmegelsky.­ The site was about 8km from where they had torched a Toyota RAV4, near the small Manitoba town of Gillam, little more than two weeks ago.

They had stolen the car from Dyck, 64, police have now confirmed. He was found dead in a highway rest stop near a burning Dodge pick-up truck the teens had been driving previously.

Autopsies were being conducted in Winnipeg on the two bodies discovered yesterday to confirm identities and establish the cause of death.

RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki wrote in internal corres­pondence that the Mounties “worked 24/7, logging more than 4500 investigation hours during the search”, and followed up on more than 250 tips.

“We searched more than 11,000sq km of terrain across north­ern Manitoba, scouring rail lines, trains, hydro corridors, winter roads, waterways, coast line and vast areas of forest and trails,” she wrote. “I’m thankful to say that all of this ­extraordinary work has paid off.”

Fowler’s family said through the NSW Police Force that it greatly appreciated ongoing community support but requested privacy. Dyck’s sister, Doris Fleck, said it was “a relief, and at the same time, it has been such a needless loss of life”. Relatives of the suspects asked to be left alone.