Lucas Fowler murder: suspect on a ‘suicide mission’, according to his father
Lucas Fowler-Chynna Deese murder suspect “wants the pain to end”, according to his father.
One of the teenage suspects in the murders of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese is on a “suicide mission” and will likely die in a confrontation with police, his father says.
Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and childhood friend Kam McLeod, 19, are at the centre of a nationwide manhunt in Canada after police declared they were dangerous and should not be approached.
They are believed to have travelled thousands of kilometres from the scene of the double murder in British Columbia, with police confirming a vehicle they were driving had been found burnt-out near Gillam, Manitoba.
Police were “coming from all over” to Gillam to find the teenagers. Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, says his son was in “very serious pain”. He fears a violent ending is inevitable.
“A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does,” a tearful Mr Schmegelsky told the Canadian Press.
“He’s on a suicide mission. He wants his 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.”
His son’s life was over either way, he said.
“He wants his hurt to end. They’re going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this.”
McLeod’s father, Keith McLeod, issued a statement saying his son was “a kind considerate, caring young man”. He said the family was being hounded “for information that we don’t have”.
“As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap our heads around what is happening and hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story,” he said.
Schmegelsky pictured with Nazi imagery
Mr Schmegelsky’s comments come as it is revealed the pair shared far-right imagery and pictures involving weapons online.
The pair played games together via the online platforms Steam and Twitch, with pictures obtained by The Globe and Mail showing Schmegelsky in military fatigues. In another he is wearing a gas mask, while another picture shared with a fellow gamer shows a Nazi armband and a knife inscribed with the German words “blut und ehre”, which translated is “blood and honour”.
The pair played games together under the banner “Illusive Gameing” (sic), with their accounts also featuring Communist themes and sexualised Japanese anime.
Cops zero in after burnt-out car find
The manhunt for the teenage duo has zeroed in on the small town of Gillam, Manitoba following the discovery of a burnt-out vehicle.
Gillam, in a wild and remote area of northern Canada with a population of just 1265, is so isolated the mayor describes it as “the end of the road”.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police are swarming the area and locals, some who believe they have encountered McLeod and Schmegelsky in recent days, have been warned to be careful.
A car, possibly the teenagers’ vehicle, was found torched in a reserve. “An all-night patrol for the community has been prepared as a caution,” Lake Cree First Nation Chief Walter Spence told residents.
“The RCMP are carefully conducting their work with a large presence and I would like to ask all community members to report anything of concern directly to RCMP.”
Gillam is 2943km east of Liard Hot Springs, British Columbia, where Mr Fowler, 23, from Sydney, and Ms Deese, 24, from North Carolina, were found shot dead and left in a ditch near their broken down van nine days ago.
McLeod and Schmegelsky are also suspects in the death of a man whose body was found near a British Columbia highway. The identity of the man is yet to be confirmed.
McLeod and Schmegelsky first came on the RCMP’s radar on Friday when their Dodge pickup truck was found burning near the dead man and the duo were missing. On Tuesday, the RCMP named the teenagers as suspects in what appears to be a murderous rampage across northern Canada.
Surveillance camera photos of the duo and a grey 2011 Toyota RAV4 they were believed to be driving have been released by the RCMP in the hope of generating leads.
A petrol station attendant at Split Lake, Manitoba, about a two-hour drive west of Gillam, told CBC News she served the teenagers.
McLeod paid for $Can20 of fuel while Schmegelsky asked if they could consume alcohol in the community. The community is dry.
“The guy who paid for the gas — he was quiet, he didn’t say anything, he was just looking down,” Mychelle Keeper said. “They seemed like, I don’t know, normal. I’m just so nervous right now thinking about it.”
Gillam mayor Dwayne Forman told the National Post he was surprised the suspects chose to drive to Gillam because to get out of the town, they would have to turn around and go back along the provincial road they drove in on. Or they could catch a train north to the town of Churchill.
“We’re the end of the road,” Mr Forman said. “You can’t go any further beyond us.”
The two suspects are experienced in camouflage and “know how to hide”.
The pair, are childhood friends from Port Alberni, British Columbia, who worked at Walmart before hitting the road two weeks ago in search of a bigger payday.
Earlier, when police were describing the teens as merely missing, Mr Schmegelsky’s father, Al Schmegelsky, said they would have hidden if threatened. Both were fans of airsoft, a shooting game involving the use of replica firearms, and liked to go into the woods and “play war”. Two years ago, his son asked for one of the replica guns for Christmas.
“If there was any threat, they would have done what they’ve actually trained themselves to do,” he told CHEK News.
“They would have camouflaged themselves in the woods. If there’s any hope that Bryer and Kam are alive, it’s because they play airsoft and they would have gone in the woods and they know how to hide because they’ve been doing this for the last 2½ years.”
Mr Schmegelsky said his son last contacted him via a mobile phone message three days before the double murder. It read: “Me and Kam are going to Alberta today, so won’t have internet for a while. I’ll talk to you when I can.”
He later said that if his son was involved in the murders, he didn’t know him and that there were no red flags.
Police released images of the teenagers — both 193cm — that had been taken in northern Saskatchewan. They were last seen driving a Toyota RAV4.
Mr Schmegelsky’s father said he was “smart kid” and that neither of the teenagers were violent or used drugs.
He learned the boys were missing through a newspaper article. “No one contacted me,” he told the Vancouver Sun.
With AAP
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