MURDER SUSPECTS COULD BE JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE, SURVIVAL EXPERTS SAY
Duo may find hiding out in city easier
Trudging through unpredictable terrain and knee-high swamps with ravenous, swarming insects has dominated the last nine days for Kam Mcleod, Bryer Schmegelsky and the team trying to hunt them down in the area around Gillam, Man.
It’s unclear if Mcleod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18, are lugging around supplies, but Sherman Kong, the founder and chief instructor of Maple Leaf Survival in Winnipeg says they may be scrambling to find civilization and restock.
“They may enter small towns and if they end up in a larger city, it’s a totally different discussion,” he said.
“How do they keep up with the news? Are they going to move apart because people expect to see them together, but not so far apart they can’t communicate? Are they going to recruit someone to help?”
Dave Macdonald, the founder and lead instructor at the International Canadian School of Survival, says doing so may even improve their odds.
“It’s a lot easier to find resources and it’s maybe easier to hide in the city,” he said.
“Everyone knows everyone in the country, people in the city don’t even know their next-door neighbour.”
But whether they do reach a town or stay in the woodlands, the duo’s mentality will be the difference between life, death and capture.
“If they’re not on the same page, you’ll see power struggles, disagreements and their relationship may start to deteriorate,” Kong said.
“If they agree on next steps, like what the ultimate goal is and if it should play out in a certain manner, that could help them in terms of encouragement and keeping each other calm.”
The triple murder suspects have been surviving near the isolated, blue-collar town since they were first spotted in the area on July 22.
The suspects have been reportedly seen multiple times and were stopped while driving for an alcohol check by band constables from the Tataskweyak Cree Nation reserves two hours away from Gillam. Each time, Mcleod and Schmegelsky have avoided attention.
The case has dragged on, with the RCMP combing through more than 11,000 km near Gillam, but with no sign of either suspect, the military pulled out of the nationwide search and police are scaling back.
“On a good day, it could take 48 hours to find someone,” Kong said.
“A lot of helicopters are flying relatively low and can make a lot of noise so it wouldn’t be hard for someone trying to evade to suddenly take cover.”
Macdonald says the search teams have it just as hard as the suspects due to the dense conditions.
“It’s exhausting doing aerial searches on the spotting windows. It’s just search with your eyes and they get tired,” he said.
“The heat can be brutal because you’re carrying equipment and gear, maybe even helmets, ballistic goggles ... it’s hard for the dogs too, with all the horseflies and mosquitoes.”
Gillam is home to black bears, polar bears, wolves and coyotes. It’s also known for its soggy conditions.
The alleged killers may use rivers and hydro lines as guides, finding abandoned cabins and trap lines along the way. Navigating through the thick brush on a sweltering day could burn a minimum of 5,000 calories, which is another priority to juggle along with the risk of injury from travelling and illness from water and poisonous plants.
And as suspects on the run, survival is different. Fires at night may attract attention, as will the sound of a gunshot, making self-defence against wild animals challenging. Being teenagers, Kong adds they may be more resilient but also make more irrational decisions.
But the B.C. teens who travelled more than 2,000 km in 16 days may not be amateurs in the woods, according to Schmegelsky’s father, Al.
“Knowing both of them are totally into that, if there was any threat, they would have done what they actually trained themselves to do and they would camouflage themselves in the woods,” he told CHEK news. “They know how to hide.”
Covering that much distance in 10 days also leads Kong to believe they may have more than just the shirts on their backs and hearts in their throats.
“People assumed they have limited supplies, but they came by vehicle. A vehicle carries a lot and we don’t know how much they have,” he said.
Experience in the outdoors could make it easier to forage for vegetation like cattails and berries and hunt smaller animals in the woods, although, both survival instructors stress it isn’t impossible to tough it out in the woods with no skills.
“Your mind will create a heaven or a hell for you,” Kong said.
“We have to consider the fact that assuming they’re highly motivated, the consequences of them being captured is quite dire — that motivation can help push a person to stay in the bush.”
A VEHICLE CARRIES A LOT AND WE DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH THEY HAVE.