Specialized equipment and personnel are being employed as Manitoba RCMP search for B.C. homicide suspects Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, in the Gillam area, where a vehicle the fugitives had been driving was found abandoned and burnt July 22.
Armoured RCMP vehicles rolled through Thompson July 24 en route to Gillam, where the CBC reports that drones, dogs and heavily armed officers are searching for the two men.
McLeod and Schmegelsky are wanted in connection with the killings of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese, found dead on the Alaska Highway in B.C. July 15 and have been charged with second-degree murder in the death Leonard Dyck of Vancouver, whose body was found south of Dease Lake, B.C. July 19. Dyck’s body was discovered about two kilometres from a burnt-out camper truck that McLeod and Schmegelsky had been driving when they left Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, ostensibly on the way to Alberta to look for work.
CBC said there was a possible sighting of the two in Split Lake but that RCMP wouldn’t confirm if they had been seen there. A man driving in the Leaf Rapids area told CBC that he and a man he was travelling with were pulled over and made to lie facedown in the gravel and be handcuffed until police confirmed they were not McLeod and Schmegelsky.
A burned-out car found in the area between Gillam and Fox Lake Cree Nation was confirmed by RCMP July 24 to be a Toyota Rav4 the pair had been driving when they were spotted in Saskatchewan.
“Based on this information, we have sent a number of resources to the Gillam area,” said Manitoba RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Julie Courchaine July 24. “There will be a heavier police presence in the community.”
Informational checkstops were set up at the intersection of Provincial Road 280 and Provincial Road 290 in northeastern Manitoba. Fox Lake is located near the end of PR 290 and there is no other road out of the Gillam area besides PR 280 heading southwest towards Provincial Road 391, which begins in Thompson and heads northwest towards Leaf Rapids and Lynn Lake. Provincial Road 396 leads southwest from Lynn Lake before coming to a dead end at Fox Mine. Provincial Road 394 goes northwest from Lynn Lake to Kinoosao, Saskatchewan, which has no other road access.
“With respect to public safety, we understand the concerns being raised,” said Coruchaine. “This is a complex, ongoing investigation, involving multiple jurisdictions. We are engaged with police across Canada. We are investigating all tips and are continuing to ask for the public’s assistance.We are also reminding everyone that these suspects should not be approached if seen and to call 911 or your local police immediately.”
