RCMP reported around 6 p.m. July 28 that police were being sent to York Landing to investigate a tip that Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, who are charged with one murder in B.C. and suspects in two others, had been sighted in or near the community, which is south of Split Lake, approximately halfway between Thompson and Gillam, where the pair were last sighted July 22.
Police asked people in York Landing not to disclose officer locations on social media.
RCMP reported about 4 p.m. Sunday that they had completed door-to-door canvassing in Fox Lake Cree Nation and would cotinue going door-to-door in Gillam, where they have already visited about 250 homes. They were also searching cottage, cabins, waterways and along the Hudson Bay Rilway around Gillam for any signs of McLeod and Schmegelsky.
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. Manitoba RCMP said July 25 that they believe McLeod and Schmegelsky were still in the Gillam area, based upon two confirmed sightings prior to the pair’s burnt vehicle being discovered in the area July 22 and the fact that no vehicles in the area have been reported stolen.
While the search for McLeod and Schmegelsky remains centred in Gillam, police were not discounting the possibility the two may no longer be in the area, since there had been no new confirmed sightings in the past four days.
“Our investigators are also exploring the possibility that the suspects may have inadvertently received assistance in leaving the area,” Manitoba RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Julie Courchaine said at a July 26 press conference. “There have been no confirmed sightings outside of the Gillam area [since July 22], however we remain open to the possibility.”
The suspects may have changed their appearance, police say.
RCMP said checkstops at the intersection of Provincial Road 280 and Provincial Road 290 to Fox Lake and Gillam, respectively, will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
The search is being assisted by the RCMP’s emergency response team, crisis negotiation team and air services assets, as well as the major crime unit, the RCMP North District and RCMP officers from other provinces.
Anyone who spots McLeod and Schmegelsky should call Gillam RCMP at 204-652-2200, Thompson RCMP at 204-677-6911 or 911 or their local police in other areas. RCMP said July 28 that several sighting tips had been posted on social media before being reported to them over the previous few days, which can create a delay in investigating them.
