Two bodies found near Canadian river believed to be teens suspected of 3 murders

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the two bodies found along a river in  northeast Manitoba on Wednesday are believed to be those of a pair of teens wanted as suspects in three killings in British Columbia.

Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were the subject of an intense manhunt in rugged wilderness after being sighted around the small town of Gillam, more than 2,000 miles from the site of the three killings. 

The Manitoba RCMP said on Twitter that  the bodies of the suspects were found in dense brush near the shoreline of the Nelson River, about 5 miles from where their burned out vehicle was discovered earlier. 

A police helicopter initially spotted a damaged boat along the Nelson River last week and a follow-up search in the area uncovered the items directly linked to the two.

Jane MacLatchy, assistant commissioner  of the Manitoba RCMP said an autopsy will formally identify the bodies, but that she is confident they are the two suspects.

She did not indicate the cause of death. Police had said Tuesday they were investigating all possibilities including the possibility that the suspects might have drowned.

“It is very tough terrain,” MacLatchy said.
 

The search is over.  At 10am this morning, Manitoba RCMP officers located the bodies of two males, believed to be the BC suspects, near the shoreline of the Nelson River (approx 8km from the burnt vehicle). #rcmpmb pic.twitter.com/tZ7EBFsNDr

— RCMP Manitoba (@rcmpmb) August 7, 2019

McLeod and Schmegelsky, lifelong friends from Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, were charged with second-degree murder in the shooting of a Vancouver man, Leonard Dyck, 64.

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They were also suspects in the earlier double homicide of an American, Chynna Deese, 24, and an Australian, Lucas Fowler, 23, whose bodies were discovered July 15 along the Alaska Highway in British Columbia about 300 miles from the Dyck murder scene.

Dyck's body was found about a mile from a burned-out camper that two teens had originally been driving. 

The two teens, who had worked together at a Walmart in their town, were purportedly heading to the Yukon area to look for work, according to Schmegelsky's father, Alan Schmegelsky. 

He told the Canadian Press two weeks ago that he feared his son, who had a troubled upbringing, 

was on a "suicide mission."

“He wants his hurt to end," he said. "They’re going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this. That’s what they’re going to do.”

Police also said they were investigating a photograph of Nazi paraphernalia allegedly sent online by one of the suspects.

Schmegelsky allegedly sent photographs of a swastika armband and a Hitler Youth knife to an online friend on the video game network Steam.