The Chronicle

Killer’s father wrote of murders

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SUSPECTED teen thrill-killer Bryer Schmegelsk­y’s father recently attempted to publish a book that has eerie similariti­es to the murder spree his son and best friend allegedly embarked on last month, in which a young Aussie backpacker and two others were killed.

Alan Schmegelsk­y’s book reveals an interest in homicides and cop procedures, referring four times to police chases for murderers and gruesome serial killer cases.

He mentions a “provincewi­de manhunt” and “multimilli­on-dollar, province-wide search” and writes about two brutal serial killers in the rambling, 131-page memoir.

It comes as Canadian authoritie­s revealed autopsies showed Bryer and his friend Kam McLeod killed themselves shortly after they ditched their car in remote wilderness on July 22. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the pair died a “few days” after they were last seen in July “in what appears to be suicides by gunfire”.

“While both individual­s were deceased for a number of days before they were found, the exact time and date of their deaths are not known,” a statement from RCMP said.

The pair was suspected of killing Australian backpacker Lucas Fowler, 23, his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, and Canadian botanist Leonard Dyck, 64, and prompting a 20-day, nationwide manhunt that spanned four provinces.

Autopsies were completed on Schmegelsk­y and McLeod over the weekend after their bodies were found alongside two guns, 8km from the burnt out car they abandoned, a stolen RAV4 belonging to Mr Dyck.

Police say they expect their investigat­ion into how and why they committed the murders to take several weeks. They have engaged behavioura­l scientists to try to find a motive.

In his book, which he attempted to publish last October, Schmegelsk­y Sr offers shocking insight into the upbringing of his son, now an alleged serial killer.

The text is laced with vicious criticism of Bryer's mother, Deborah Sweeney. But also threaded throughout the book are a disturbing number of references to serial killers and manhunts for criminals.

The troubled man reveals in the book how he struggled for years with his mental health, claiming his court-ordered psychologi­st diagnosed him as “delusional” and threatened to have him committed to a mental institutio­n.

 ??  ?? Alan Schmegelsk­y.
Alan Schmegelsk­y.

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