Bodies likely those of fugitive killers, police say
TORONTO — Canadian police said Wednesday they believe two fugitives suspected of killing a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend as well as another man have been found dead in dense brush in northern Manitoba.
Authorities located two male bodies and are confident they are 19-year-old Kam Mcleod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane Maclatchy. She said an autopsy will confirm their identities and causes of death.
Critical evidence found last week when police discovered items directly linked to the suspects helped locate the bodies, Maclatchy said. Following that discovery, authorities were able to narrow down the search.
Police sent in specialized teams and began searching high-probability areas. On Wednesday morning, police located the two bodies within 0.6 miles from where the items were found and approximately 5.6 miles from where they left a burnt-out vehicle on July 22.
“We are confident that these are the bodies of the two suspects wanted in connection with the homicides in British Columbia,” Maclatchy said.
Mcleod and Schmegelsky were charged with seconddegree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck, a University of British Columbia lecturer whose body was found July 19 along a highway in British Columbia.
They were also suspects in the fatal shootings of Australian Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose bodies were found July 15 along the Alaska Highway about 300 miles from where Dyck was killed.
A manhunt for the pair had spread across three provinces. The suspects had not been seen since the burntout car was found on July 22.
The bodies were found near Gillam, Manitoba — more than 2,000 miles from northern British Columbia.
Police had said Tuesday they were investigating all possibilities, including the possibility that the suspects might have drowned.
Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said last month that he expected the nationwide manhunt to end in the death of his son, who he said was on “a suicide mission.”