Manhunt shakes Manitoba residents
RCMP search, aided by Indigenous group, moves to bogs, bush and forest
VANCOUVER— In the wake of three B.C. homicides, residents in small towns across a 5,000kilometre swath of northern Canada have been on edge as police hunt for the two suspects, who are still on the run.
Canadians have reported seeing Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19 — charged in the death of Vancouver man Len Dyck and suspected in the double homicide of Australian Lucas Fowler and American Chynna Deese — in Dease Lake, B.C., Cold Lake, Alta., and Meadow Lake, Sask., until the trail went cold near Gillam, Man.
The two have been on the run through some of the most inhospitable wilderness in Canada, and now the hunt is focused on the dense bush, forests and insect-infested bogs of northern Manitoba. RCMP thought they were close after they descended on tiny Gillam, population 1,200, where there is just one road in and out of town. But no amount of troops, dogs, drones or helicopters could turn up a trace of the pair, who are wanted on a Canada-wide warrant.
On Sunday, two volunteers with the Bear Clan Patrol, the Winnipeg-based Indigenous community-safety group, said they spotted the suspects at the dump in York Landing, a fourhour drive west of Gillam. Despite an “exhaustive search,” RCMP said they couldn’t substantiate the tip.
Now, an alarming uncertainty hangs over Gillam and York Landing. There is little residents can do but lock their doors and wait for Mounties to announce that the two have been apprehended.
The reported sighting of McLeod and Schmegelsky in York Landing on Sunday caused residents of Gillam to begin to let down their guard, believing the fugitives had moved on.
“People started to relax a little bit yesterday when (police) started to head for York,” Mario Catalano, manager of a fuel services company in the area, said in an interview Monday. “People will probably start being a lot more aware again, now that they can’t confirm (the sighting) was them.”
Catalano said police came to his home Sunday night as part of their door-to-door search for McLeod and Schmegelsky.
“They just wanted to know if I lived with anyone, if I was missing anything,” Catalano said. Police also asked him whether he’d heard of any neighbours or friends who may have inadvertently helped the pair leave the area.
The police presence in the town has made everyone anxious, he said.
“I don’t know what to think about the whole thing,” he said. “Everyone’s still unsure.”
It’s been a whirlwind 24 hours for residents of York Landing, a community of 450 people.
On Sunday, York Factory First Nation Chief Leroy Constant said there were about 30 police officers, a dog team, emergency response teams, helicopters and armed men on all-terrain vehicles searching the area.
York Landing resident Rhonda Saunders first heard police were in town in a Facebook message from her family Sunday afternoon.
“It’s making me nervous — I can hear choppers right now,” she said Sunday. “I think there’s two of them patrolling the area.”
Officers continued to search the York Landing area on Sunday evening, but Constant said heavy winds were limiting the use of helicopters and drones.
“We are urging everyone to remain indoors with windows and doors locked,” he wrote on Facebook.
Shortly after noon on Monday, Constant said, a Hercules plane had arrived. The heavy aircraft, used for search-andrescue efforts as well as transporting cargo and as many as 78 personnel, are known for their ability to make short takeoffs and landings on unprepared runways.
He was skeptical that McLeod and Schmegelsky could have made it to York Landing from Gillam on foot.
“You would have to go many miles to reach anything,” he said. “One of the challenges is it’s heavily wooded and we are primarily surrounded by water … there’s only limited areas they can access.”
Police asked the public not to post photos of RCMP in York Landing because it could reveal officers’ locations.
“Officers are searching cottages, cabins, waterways and along the rail line for any signs of the suspects. This search of remote areas is being conducted both on foot and in the air. The terrain is immense and varied (with) lakes, ponds, muskeg etc.,” the RCMP said in a statement.
But on Monday evening, Constant said, the RCMP planned to send their officers back to Gillam by Tuesday morning.
“RCMP have notified us to remain vigilant and to report any information or tips you may have directly to the authorities,” Constant posted on his Facebook page Monday evening.
Until the two suspects are captured, he said, residents of the community are living in fear.