River link to suspects

Items found in search for teen pair

POLICE hunting the teens suspected of murdering Australian backpacker Lucas Fowler in a cross-canada killing spree have found some of their scattered belongings along the side of a river.

The discovery on the banks of the Nelson River, 9km from the last known location of Kam Mcleod and Bryer Schmegelsky, was made four days ago.

Police also located a metal dinghy that may have been used by the pair.

It was the first new confirmed physical evidence in the nationwide manhunt since the pair ditched their burnt-out car on July 22.

It sparked an underwater search by police divers which found no further evidence and ended yesterday.

The police revealed in a tweet and in a Facebook post on Tuesday that they had located several items on a shoreline on Saturday, about 9km from where a burnt-out vehicle used by the suspects was found last month.

Police have not yet specified the nature of the items they found.

In a statement, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said they located the belongings on August 2 and that they had “confirmed that these items are directly linked to the suspects”.

“That same day, a damaged boat was also found along the Nelson River.

“Based on this information, RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT) ately deployed.

“On August 4, 2019, URT conducted a thorough underwater search approximately 29 metres around the location where the boat was found. The search did not uncover any additional items linked to the suspects.”

Police said they remained in the Gillam area and were continuing the search.

The last known location of Mcleod and Schmegelsky was were immediat the crash site north west of Gillam. They had been spotted earlier that day 170km away at the tiny indigenous town of Split Lake.

The pair had driven a stolen Toyota Rav4 from the other side of the country where Mr Fowler, his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, and Canadian father-of-two Leonard Dyck were killed.

Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were found by the side of a remote highway in British Columbia on July 15.

Mr Dyck’s body was found 470km away on July 19.