National Post (National Edition)
TEEN SUSPECTS IN TRIPLE MURDER
TWO FRIENDS BELIEVED ON THE RUN WANTED OVER HIGHWAY HOMICIDES
For days, the two childhood friends from Vancouver Island were considered missing, their link to a series of troubling incidents spanning hundreds of kilometres of the B.C. interior — a burning truck, an unidentified body, and a double murder of a lovestruck couple — uncertain.
Did they get lost in the woods? Maybe they got spooked and ran? Even so, the link between the three deaths was tenuous, with police saying it was only a possibility, and the two missing friends were somehow caught up in the mystery.
But on Tuesday, in a shocking twist, police declared Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky were suspects in the trio of deaths, the pair of them fleeing British Columbia to remote northern Saskatchewan.
“We’re asking for the public, if you spot Bryer or Kam, consider them dangerous. Do not approach. Take no action. And call immediately 911,” said RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet at a press conference.
Last Monday, the bodies of two travellers, Lucas Fowler, 23, of Australia and Chynna Deese, 24, from North Carolina, were found about 20 kilometres outside of Liard Hot Springs, a popular tourist stop en route to the Yukon. The two were travelling the country in their blue 1986 Chevrolet van.
Police later confirmed the couple had been shot.
Then, last Friday, a Dodge Ram 250 pickup truck and camper were found burned along Highway 37, some 470 kilometres from where Deese and Fowler were found. A body, that of an as-yet unidentified man, was found two kilometres away from the truck, at a highway pullout.
McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18, of Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, who were in the Dodge truck were officially designated missing on Monday; loved ones had not heard from them for several days, but understood they were on the road looking for work, either in Whitehorse or Alberta.
But, on Tuesday, that changed, with the RCMP declaring them suspects in the three deaths.
“Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky have left British Columbia,” Shoihet said. “We believe that they’re likely continuing to travel.”
By Tuesday afternoon, the Manitoba RCMP said the two were believed to have recently been in Gillam, some 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Gillam Mayor Dwayne Forman said Tuesday evening that he had been forwarded the RCMP tweet by one of his colleagues. He said he hadn’t yet read the reports out of B.C.
But he said he was surprised the suspects chose to end up in Gillam.
“We’re the end of the road,” Forman said. “You can’t go any further beyond us.”
To get to Gillam from Saskatchewan, they would’ve had to drive Provincial Road 280 through Thompson, Man. To get out of town, you either have to go back along the same road, or hop on a train north to Churchill, Man.
News of the pair being declared suspects spread quickly through their hometown of Port Alberni, B.C., becoming the subject of intense chatter on group chats and in local businesses. Bryer Schmegelsky’s father Alan, via Facebook messenger, reacted to the news that they were suspects with “No way, I know my son.”
Jayden Iversen, who graduated just this year from Port Alberni Secondary School and has friends who know Schmegelsky, said they were in disbelief.
“From what I understand all of Bryer’s friends … are saying they could never see him doing that,” he told the Post.
The manager of the Little Valley Deli near the high school said she instantly recognized the picture of Schmegelsky as the person who came into her store a couple of months ago.
She said a young, tall man had come in and ordered two butter chicken poutines and left without paying for them. He told her that his bank card had been declined and that he would go back to his locker to retrieve some cash. But he never came back.
She said she tried looking up security footage Tuesday but she was unable to retrieve it. She said she was owed $18.90.
“Everybody’s pretty shocked,” she said of the community’s reaction.
One customer, she said, tried to give the young men the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they saw the man get killed and got spooked and ran. But another customer chimed in and asked: why would they run to Saskatchewan?
“I can’t wrap my head around this,” she said. “It’s sad for the parents involved, and the kids who passed.”
Police, describing the tight-lipped news conference as “unprecedented,” pleaded for information from the public, but refused to give details on what made them consider the two teens suspects, didn’t say whether they considered them armed and asked for patience from the public in the release of information. Carol Starkey, Schmegelsky’s grandmother, told the Victoria Times-Colonist the two had begun their trip on July 12, but found Whitehorse wasn’t what they expected. She last heard from him on July 13 or 14. Her grandson had been living with her for the past two years.
“He was a great kid. I really enjoyed having him,” she told the paper.
On Monday afternoon, police said, they confirmed tips that McLeod and Schmegelsky were last seen in northern Saskatchewan. Less than 24 hours after the news conference where they were officially declared missing, police said the investigation had changed, and they were now considered suspects in three deaths.
Police cautioned the public not to approach McLeod and Schmegelsky and said they were believed to have been in a grey 2011 Toyota RAV4 SUV, though they may have changed their appearances or found a new vehicle.
No cause of death has been identified in the case of the unknown man found near McLeod and Schmegelsky’s torched vehicle.
“The manner in which he died is not important at this point,” Shoihet said.
On Monday evening, Alan Schmegelsky said he’d found out from the newspaper on Monday morning that his son was missing. He’d stopped at Starbucks for coffee on the way to work, and saw his son’s face on the front page of the Vancouver Sun.
He described McLeod and his son as “best friends” since elementary school, and last spoke to his son on July 12.
Schmegelsky had been working overnights at the Walmart in Port Alberni, which is about 200 kilometres northwest of Victoria, in the interior of Vancouver Island.
The elder Schmegelsky said his understanding was the boys were heading for Alberta, where Bryer has family. He said the two enjoyed video games and playing with Airsoft guns with their friends.
The pair did not have much of an online presence. McLeod’s Facebook cover photo depicted a skull — one side in black and white, the other in bright colours.
Schmegelsky updated his Facebook page in 2015 with a poster that depicted a handgun and the tagline: “Guns don’t kill people — It’s mostly the bullets.”