Manitoba RCMP have announced that two bodies discovered in deep forest of the northern Manitoba wilderness are the young men wanted in connection with the deaths of three people in BC. The discovery of the bodies, said to have been found near the shoreline of the Nelson River early Wednesday morning, caps off a three-week manhunt for the murder suspects that spanned three provinces and involved the Lakeland Region near Lac La Biche County.
In the first week of the search for Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, two friends from Port Alberni, BC who were suspects in the shooting deaths of three people along highways in northwestern BC, Cold Lake RCMP confirmed the two had been in that community. On July 21, a Cold Lake resident helped two young men get the SUV they were driving out of mud behind the Cold Lake hospital. The men were later identified as the murder suspects.
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Although one route from Northern British Columbia to Cold Lake could take their travels along Highway 55 through Lac La Biche, south on Highway 36 and then east on the continuation of Highway 55 to Cold Lake, local RCMP say they have no evidence to suggest the pair stopped in the community or even passed through.
"We have nothing putting the two wanted males in our area and have no idea if they had gone through here," Lac La Biche Staff Sgt. Jerry Nutbrown told the POST. "No reports nor tips as far as I am aware."
The duo were next spotted at a convenience store in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan before sightings of them — and material RCMP say connects to the men — were reported in northern Manitoba, near the community of Gillam, about 1,000 north of Winnipeg. A burned out SUV believed to be the one the men had been driving through Cold Lake was also located near the northern community. As RCMP covered the rural area with searchers, a damaged boat was also found floating in the Nelson River. Police say that boat was also linked to the men.
In their social media postings, the Manitoba RCMP say that autopsies will be conducted to positively identity the bodies, and find a cause of death.
