Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said they are confident the two bodies found in the dense bush outside the remote community of Gillam, Manitoba are 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky and 19-year-old Kam McLeod.
The two childhood friends from Port Alberni on Vancouver Island were the subject of an intense manhunt lasting two weeks and spanning four provinces, after they were named as suspects in the killings of a young tourist couple and charged in the death of a 64-year-old Vancouver man in northern B.C., according to CTV News Canada.
RCMP say the massive manhunt for the two teenage murder suspects has come to an end with the discovery of two male bodies. jvrCTV reports: qFD6Cigz2Y
— CTV News (@CTVNews) August 8, 2019
“At 10 am 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),” the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement on Twitter. “The search is over,” officials said.
The two teens were considered suspects in the shooting deaths of 24-year-old American Chynna Deese and her 23-year-old Australian boyfriend, Lucas Fowler, whose bodies were discovered July 15 along a highway near Liard Hot Springs, in northwest Canada.
ABC News is reporting that four days later, the teen’s truck camper was found in flames along a highway near Dease Lake in northwest Canada, about 1.2 miles away from the body of 64-year-old Leonard Dyck of Vancouver. Canada-wide warrants for second-degree murder were then issued in connection with the death of Dyck.
Just before 9pm in Gillam, Mantioba RCMP officers offloaded the first of two metal boxes w/ what they believe are the remains of the B.C. triple murder suspects & carried it into a plane to be flown to Winnipeg. RenataDAliesio’s story: canadamanhunt 4rpIAcnvdM
— Melissa Tait (@meltait) August 8, 2019
RCMP Assistant Commissioner MacLatchy said autopsies on the teens will confirm the identities and cause of death. Critical evidence found last week on the shoreline of the Nelson River was directly linked to the two suspects and helped authorities in narrowing down the search to a particular area.
The two bodies were found within 0.6 miles from where the items were discovered and approximately 5.6 miles from where they left the burnt-out vehicle on July 22. “We are confident that these are the bodies of the two suspects wanted in connection with the homicides in British Columbia,” MacLatchy said.
