Canadian highway murders: Police say 2 bodies found, believed to be fugitives
Two bodies found in Canada are believed to be of the two teen suspects wanted for multiple murders, officials said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"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.
Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were wanted on Canada-wide warrants for second-degree murder in connection with the death of a man whose body was found along a highway near Dease Lake in northwest Canada on July 19.
The teens' truck camper was found in flames about 1.2 miles away from the body, identified as 64-year-old Leonard Dyck of Vancouver, according to police.
The teens, both Canadian, were also 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, also in northwest Canada.
Canadian police had sent divers into a river over the weekend to search for signs of two teenage boys and discovered "several items" along the bank of the Nelson River, as well as a damaged aluminum boat, while conducting a helicopter search over Canada's northeast Manitoba province on Friday afternoon. Those items, which police confirmed are "directly linked to the suspects," were located six miles from where a burning vehicle belonging to the teens was found two weeks ago, police said.
After the discovery, "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," police said.
Autopsies will be conducted to officially identify the remains and determine cause of death.
The teens' families hadn't heard from them in weeks, police said.
The last confirmed sighting of the fugitives occurred near Gillam on July 22, just before authorities discovered a car on fire in a remote area. Police later confirmed that the burning vehicle was the same one McLeod and Schmegelsky were last known to be travelling in.
Gillam, a riverside community of just over 1,200 people, is some 2,000 miles east of where the three bodies were found last month.
After a week of exhaustive ground and air search efforts of the dense forest, brush and bog surrounding the area, and no confirmed sightings, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy announced that they would be scaling down the deployment of resources to Gillam. Investigators are considering the possibility that McLeod and Schmegelsky "had some sort of assistance to flee the area," MacLatchy said.
"To be clear, we're not ending the search -- a number of tactical resources and specialized assets will remain positioned in the Gillam area, and will continue with the efforts to locate the murder suspects," MacLatchy told reporters at a press conference on July 31. "But when searching for people in vast, remote and rugged locations, it is always a possibility that they are not immediately located."
In an emotional interview with The Canadian Press last Wednesday, Schmegelsky's father said he believes his son, whom he described as an introvert, is on a "suicide mission" and intends to go out in a "blaze of glory" when police finally confront him.
"A normal child doesn't travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does," Alan Schmegelsky told The Canadian Press.
"Basically, he's going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that," he added. "Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I'm so sorry all this had to happen. I'm so sorry that I couldn't rescue you."
Kam McLeod's father told ABC News in a statement that he's "staying close to the phone because I don't want to miss a call if it is word about Kam."
"To the people who truly care; I am sitting at home worrying about my son. Relentless media [are] hounding us for answers we don't have," Keith McLeod said in his statement. "My family and I do know that Kam is a kind, considerate and caring young man who has always been concerned about other people's feelings. As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap her head around what is happening. We hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story."
