The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) are still searching for suspected killers, Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, who are wanted in relation to three murders including those of Australian man Lucas Fowler and his girlfriend Chynna Deese.
The fugitives were last seen on Monday in the Gillam area, where police are now going door to door in the hope of finding fresh leads.
There has been a number of rumours circulated online during the search, with police trying to keep the public informed on exactly what is true and what is not.
Here’s what we know so far.
Debunking rumours
On Friday (local time) the RCMP confirmed that a photo circulating online with a man who had a strong resemblance to Kam McLeod was not the fugitive.
The photo, seen above, went viral on Twitter, showing a smiling man holding up the front page of his local newspaper featuring the fugitives.
“We can confirm that the current photo circulating online of a man posing with the front page of yesterday’s paper IS NOT one of our suspects,” RCMP established.
The police added: “We understand many people are experiencing fear and uncertainty over this incident but spreading online rumours doesn’t help. There continues to be a heavy police presence in the Gillam area, as our officers conduct detailed and thorough searches of potential areas of interest.”
Manhunt in the Gillam area
The police are continuing their search around Gillam, a town of just over 1,200 people situated along the Nelson River in Canada’s northeast Manitoba province.
"Over the next 72 hours, investigators will conduct door-to-door canvases in the town of Gillam and Fox Lake Cree Nation, in hopes of generating new tips and information," said Julie Courchaine, media relations officer for the RCMP.
Since police recovered a Toyota RAV4 that the suspects were travelling in, the police have shared: "There are no reported stolen vehicles that could be attributed to Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky. Therefore, we believe they are still in the area."
Although the police continue their search in Gillam, they are also open to the possibility the teenagers could have escaped the town.
On Friday (local time) Canadian police revealed they are exploring whether the fugitives "may have changed their appearance and inadvertently been given assistance to leave the area by someone that was not aware of who they were."
New CCTV footage
The police have also released new footage of the two teenagers casually walking through a hardware store, as they hope to generate fresh leads from the public.
Police have released video CCTV footage of suspected killers Kam McLeod & Bryer Schmegelsky.
The video was obtained in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, on July 21, 2019.
The murderous rampage
Police believe the teenagers murdered Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, who were found shot to death near their broken-down van on July 15 along the Alaska Highway in northern British Columbia.
Four days later, Leonard Dyck's body was discovered two kilometres from McLeod and Schmegelsky's burned-out truck on Highway 27 near Dease Lake, about 470 kilometres from the Alaska Highway crime scene.
The teens were previously believed to be missing until investigators released a shocking update that they were suspects in the three homicides.
They have since been charged with one count of second-degree murder over Dyck's death
There is a Canada-wide warrant out for their arrest.
Top Comments
With the police trying to give accurate information, including going out of their way to clarify the guy in that picture is not one of the fugitives, WHY are you running that picture as the header and thumbnail to a story about the case?!
This really is the most tragic situation for all concerned. The grief experienced by the families of the victims is unimaginable. Those beautiful young kids cut down in their prime! There’s just no sense in it. The families of the other victims will be wondering why and will probably never get an answer. That’s the worst part, the stupid senselessness of it.
However, the footage I saw of the father of one of these boys broke my heart. He’d been valiantly defending his son a day earlier, saying they were good kids. As the mother of an adult son, I know how easy it is to think they’re perfect and we all make excuses for our kids when we shouldn’t. When I saw the interview with him on Thursday, he was a broken man. He was crying and just kept saying how sorry he is. He will blame himself forever for this but how much blame does he bear?
It’s my view that peers, social media and video games have a much greater effect on the development of kids in the age group of these boys than parents. I really do believe that violent video games remove kids from the reality of violence and death and should be much more stringently regulated by censors, but much more importantly, by parents.
Every psychological study of the last few decades disagrees with the video games theory unfortunately. Early upbringing particularly abuse are still considered the source of most criminal tendencies.
Video games have been available for fewer than 40 years. So that’s three decades. It would take at least ten years for the results of any new technology on human behaviour to become available. Every American shooter of the last several years has been heavily involved in playing video games. Some of those boys came from good, loving families.
When I was growing up, almost all kids were subjected to what’s now regarded as abuse. We were smacked for bad behaviour. Under no theory, could anyone say that my generation, I’m 73, be said to be more violent than the current generation. Immersion in those games for hours a day (we were out riding our bikes or building cubby houses) can’t possibly have a positive effect on the players. Death becomes routine and meaningless. Two recent cases of domestic violence, one a high profile Rugby League player, occurred because they were interrupted while gaming. It will be many more years before the real effects of these games becomes obvious and something is done about it.