Bodies of B.C. homicide suspects found in Manitoba wilderness, ending country-wide manhunt
Credit to Author: Stephanie Ip| Date: Wed, 07 Aug 2019 21:35:22 +0000
The bodies of two B.C. homicide suspects have been found following a police hunt that lasted three weeks and stretched across four provinces.
Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, were found dead in dense brush near the community of Gillam, Manitoba RCMP announced at a news conference on Wednesday.
The bodies were found around 10 a.m. Wednesday, said RCMP Asst. Commissioner Jane MacLatchy. An autopsy has been scheduled to take place in Winnipeg to confirm the identities and cause of death, though police believe the bodies are those of Schmegelsky and McLeod.
Kam McLeod (left) and Bryer Schmegelsky.
“We knew that we needed to just find that one critical piece of evidence,” said MacLatchy. “On Friday, Aug. 2, that one critical piece of evidence was found.”
MacLatchy said items linked to the suspects — including an abandoned aluminum boat — were found on the shoreline of the Nelson River on Friday.
That discovery allowed police to narrow down their search area; on Wednesday morning, police located the bodies of the two men about a kilometre from where the items were found, and about eight kilometres from where the suspects’ last known vehicle was found on fire.
The pair, from Port Alberni, B.C., had been in the Manitoba wilderness for two weeks, after the Toyota RAV4 they had been driving was found burned near Gillam on July 22.
Jane McLatchy, commanding officer of the Manitoba RCMP, announces police believe they have found the bodies of B.C. murder suspects Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky during a press conference at ‘D’ Division headquarters in Winnipeg.
The search in northern Manitoba included helicopters, a plane, heavily armed officers and police canine units that scoured the remote wilderness where the pair, believed to be survivalists, were thought to be hiding.
A dive team and search of the Nelson River was also prompted this past weekend by the discovery of a damaged aluminum boat spotted by aerial search teams.
This is the damaged aluminum boat found by RCMP officers on the shores of the Nelson River during a helicopter search on Friday afternoon near Gillam, Manitoba. The area was the focus for more than a week in the hunt for Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19.
“To the families of everyone affected by the series of events over the last few weeks, I know it has been so very difficult,” said MacLatchy.
“I hope today’s announcement can begin to bring some closure.
“Many of you lived with uncertainty and fear but throughout, you were resilient, you came together as communities, and you helped our officers get the job done.”
Schmegelsky and McLeod were charged with the second-degree murder in the death of University of B.C. lecturer Leonard Dyck and had also been named as suspects in the fatal shootings of Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese.
The travelling couple were found dead on July 15 on B.C.’s Alaska Highway 97, south of Liard Hot Springs. Their minivan was stranded nearby.
Chynna Noelle Deese and Lucas Robertson Fowler were found dead along the Alaska Highway in northern B.C. on July 15.
Just four days later, Dyck’s body was found on B.C.’s Highway 37 near Dease Lake, about two kilometres up the road from a burned-out truck. The vehicle was believed to have been driven by Schmegelsky and McLeod at one point.
Leonard Dyck is seen in March of 2017 in Clover Point Park in Victoria.
Various sightings allowed police to track the suspects from B.C. to Saskatchewan and then over to Manitoba, where their latest vehicle, a Toyota RAV4, was found on fire near Gillam in late July.
The last confirmed sighting of the pair was in Meadow Lake, Sask., when the pair were filmed on security camera walking through a store. After police released those images, more than 200 tips poured in over the course of five days.
RCMP search the area near Gillam, Man. in this photo posted to their Twitter page on Friday, July 26, 2019.
A volunteer with the Bear Clan Patrol, an Indigenous-led neighbourhood watch group, had also reported a possible sighting of the pair to police on July 28, prompting officers to focus their efforts on York Landing, Man.
A Canadian Air Force aircraft equipped with high-tech thermal detection gear was also deployed in the search.
No new sightings of suspects. Officers are searching cottages, cabins, waterways, & along the rail line for any signs of the suspects. This search of remote areas is being conducted both on foot & in the air. The terrain is immense & varied w/lakes, ponds, muskeg etc. #rcmpmb pic.twitter.com/9xp5eg8GnI
After the search uncovered no signs of Schmegelsky and McLeod, police scaled down their search in the York Landing and Gillam areas, focusing remaining resources in Gillam.
The end of the manhunt also ends days of living on edge, as police warned residents in the area to lock their doors and be on guard for any sightings of the pair, who were considered dangerous.
In a statement, B.C. Prosecution Service spokesman Dan McLaughlin said the second degree murder charge against McLeod and Schmegelsky in Dyck’s death will be “‘abated’ … if confirmation is received from the RCMP that the accused are deceased.”
“This will end the prosecution and the involvement of the BCPS,” said McLaughlin.
MORE TO COME
— With files from The Canadian Press
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