Disaster Two teens previously thought missing now under suspicion for murder in BC - Port Alberni Teens not lost, just on the lam

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globalnews.ca

Teens thought missing now suspects in northern B.C. double murder, unidentified body | Globalnews.ca

There has been a dramatic new twist in a pair of related cases of serious crime in northern B.C.
globalnews.ca globalnews.ca
There has been a dramatic new twist in a pair of related cases of serious crime in northern B.C.

Two Port Alberni teens who police had initially believed were missing from Highway 37, are now considered suspects in the murders of Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler, who were found shot dead on Highway 97 on July 15.

Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are also wanted in connection with the death of a man found about two kilometres from their burning pickup truck on Highway 37 last Friday, the BC RCMP said Tuesday.

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Police had been treating the two as missing persons, saying they were travelling towards Whitehorse, Yukon to look for work.

WATCH: New video shows couple days before their murders in northern B.C.

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“If you spot Bryer or Kam, consider them dangerous. Do not approach. Take no action and call immediately 911,” RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said.

READ MORE: RCMP seeking missing teens after vehicle fire and body found

B.C. RCMP said McLeod and Schmegelsky have been spotted in northern Saskatchewan, and released new images taken of the pair in the prairie province.

They were last seen in a grey 2011 Toyota RAV 4. Police did not say when or specifically where the two were sighted.

Saskatchewan RCMP issued a warning Tuesday, describing McLeod and Schmegelsky as “armed and extremely dangerous.”

It said the two men were seen in Meadow Lake, SK on Sunday, July 21.


RCMP Manitoba
✔@rcmpmb
https://twitter.com/rcmpmb/status/1153782711984648193

PUBLIC SAFETY - Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky MAY be in Manitoba and are considered dangerous. We have reasons to believe they were recently in the Gillam area. If you spot them - take no actions – do not approach – call 911 or your local police immediately. #rcmpmb
View image on Twitter
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4:43 PM - Jul 23, 2019
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Mounties in Mantioba have also issued an alert warning the public that the suspects may have been seen in the Gillam area, about 270 kilometres south of Churchill, MB.

Investigators said they are believed to still be travelling and may have changed their appearance or vehicle.

McLeod is described as six-foot-four, 169 pounds with dark hair and facial hair, and brown eyes. Schmegelsky is described as six-foot-four and 169 pounds with sandy hair.


Sarah MacDonald@smacdonald__
· 2h
Replying to @smacdonald__
#UPDATE: @BCRCMP is conducting a grid search at a second crime scene, in connection to the still unidentified deceased male whose body was discovered near #DeaseLake last week. Officers say new evidence has led them here—roughly 50km north of where the body was found. @GlobalBC
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Sarah MacDonald@smacdonald__

To clarify: this is a new crime scene that we are told was not on the radar of @BCRCMP until today. The initial crime scene in relation to this incident is two-fold: the truck, and the spot where the body was discovered, roughly two kilometres away. All scenes are still active.
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8:04 PM - Jul 23, 2019
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On Tuesday, RCMP also began a grid search of a second crime scene associated with the suspicious death of the still-unidentified man who was found south of Dease Lake.

Officers said new evidence has led them to the second site, roughly 50 kilometres north of where the body was found.

Suspects sighted between deaths
Claudia Bunce, the co-owner-operator of the Jade City Store north of Dease Lake said the suspects stopped at her business on Thursday, July 18.

She said she believes the teens stopped to take advantage of the free coffee the shop offers to motorists, to keep them alert and safe on the region’s windy highways.

“It was a very, very busy day,” she said. “A lot was happening. We know that one of our staff may have potentially served them.”

“The people on this highway, we all take care of each other and we work together, so to have something like this happen is devastating and it takes away that safety thing that we believe in, but it also takes away the ability that we’re helpful … there’s a fear now, and it’s going to take a long time to get that trust back.”

Bunche said someone later recognized McLeod and Schmegelsky and the distinctive red pickup truck they were driving, and reported it to the RCMP. The shop also recorded surveillance video she said has now been turned over to police.

Family speaks
Keith McLeod, Kam’s father, released a statement Tuesday, pleading for privacy as the media spotlight turned to the suspects’ families.

“This is what I do know- Kam is a kind, considerate, caring young man [who] always has been concerned about other people’s feelings,” wrote McLeod.

“As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap our heads around what is happening and hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story.”

Unanswered questions
The RCMP’s bombshell confirmation that the two investigations are, in fact, linked has highlighted many unanswered questions surrounding the case.

The identity of the man found on Highway 37, and the manner of his death remain unknown. On Tuesday, police were unwilling to confirm whether his death was a homicide or any details about how he died.

Police would also not speak to what had changed in the investigation that led investigators to decide the pair were now suspects.

WATCH: RCMP ask for help in finding two suspects in northern B.C. murders

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“I understand the media’s need or want to get as much information as they possibly can. But in any homicide investigation, it takes time. The amount of time that’s passed since the onset of these investigations is relatively quick,” RCMP Assistant Commissioner Kevin Hackett said.

“We don’t make assumptions, we’re relying on evidence and facts. We also have to keep in mind the sensitivities around identifying the individual and contacting his family.”

Police would not comment on whether Schmegelsky or McLeod have criminal records. How or why the pair came into contact with Fowler and Deese also remains a mystery.
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Well, that escalated quickly. In initial reports, the father of one of the boys said that he'd last spoken to his son via text 10 days prior to the news report and they said something about going where there probably won't be any internet. They also told him they'd be visiting one of the boys' relatives in Alberta (probably turned out to be a huge lie). If they did indeed SHOOT people dead, I'd love to know where they got the gun.

The boys are from Port Alberni which is like a mini-Florida in the florida clone that is British Columbia. The news interviewed an unidentified teen who knew the boys and said one of them tried to lure him out in the woods during a party late at night and the anon teen was creeped out and fled, and this was before the "disappearance" that turned into a freaking manhunt.

Who do these kids think they are, the next Highway of Tears serial killer (yeah I know it's not exactly THAT highway, but it's up there)?!

Also the fact that the third body is unidentified means someone's got his wallet, and likely his car as well.

This shit made INTERNATIONAL news because one of the murder victims is Australian and his also-murdered girlfriend is from the US.
 
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19 and 18 year olds arent teens, that makes them sound uwu naive and they dont understand what they're doing.
Haul their adult asses off to adult jail, and see if they have any asses left once the prisoners are done with them.
 
wylfım said:
19 and 18 year olds arent teens, that makes them sound uwu naive and they dont understand what they're doing.
Haul their adult asses off to adult jail, and see if they have any asses left once the prisoners are done with them.
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Although described as teens in the article and technically teenaged, they are very much going to be tried as adults (the age of majority in BC is 18 ).
 
I would like to present this related article as it comes with a side of butter chicken poutine. And the last line = priceless Canadian journalism.

Missing B.C. teens now suspects in deaths of tourist couple and unidentified man: police'We're asking for the public, if you spot Bryer or Kam, consider them dangerous. Do not approach. Take no action. And call immediately 911'
Tyler Dawson and
Douglas Quan
July 23, 2019
8:36 PM EDT

For days, the two childhood friends from Vancouver Island were considered missing, their link to a series of troubling incidents spanning hundreds of kilometres of the B.C. interior — a burning truck, an unidentified body, and a double murder of a lovestruck couple — uncertain.
Did they get lost in the woods? Maybe they got spooked and ran? Even so, the link between the three deaths was tenuous, with police saying it was only a possibility, and the two missing friends were somehow caught up in the mystery.
But on Tuesday, in a shocking twist, police declared Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky were suspects in the trio of deaths, the pair fleeing British Columbia to remote northern Saskatchewan.
“We’re asking for the public, if you spot Bryer or Kam, consider them dangerous. Do not approach. Take no action. And call immediately 911,” said RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet at a press conference.
Last Monday, the bodies of two travellers, Lucas Fowler, 23, of Australia and Chynna Deese, 24, from North Carolina, were found about 20 kilometres outside of Liard Hot Springs, a popular tourist stop en route to the Yukon. The two were travelling the country in their blue 1986 Chevrolet van.
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Chynna Deese pictured with Lucas Fowler. The two were found murdered off the Alaska highway last week. Facebook
Police later confirmed the couple had been shot.
Then, last Friday, a Dodge Ram 250 pickup truck and camper were found burned along Highway 37, some 470 kilometres from where Deese and Fowler were found. A body, that of an as-yet unidentified man, was found two kilometres away from the truck, at a highway pullout.
McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18, of Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, who had been driving the truck, were officially designated missing on Monday; loved ones had not heard from them for several days, but understood they were on the road looking for work, either in Whitehorse or Alberta.
But, on Tuesday, that changed, with the RCMP declaring them suspects in the three deaths.
“Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky have left British Columbia,” said Shoihet. “We believe that they’re likely continuing to travel.”
By Tuesday afternoon, the Manitoba RCMP said the two were believed to have recently been in Gillam, some 1,000 kilometres north of Winnipeg. Gillam Mayor Dwayne Forman said Tuesday evening that he had been forwarded the RCMP tweet by one of his colleagues. He said he hadn’t yet read the reports out of B.C.
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19-year-old Kam McLeod, left, and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky are considered suspects in the deaths of Australian Lucas Fowler, his American girlfriend Chynna Deese and an unidentified man found a few kilometres from the teens’ burned-out vehicle. RCMP
But he said he was surprised the suspects chose to end up in Gillam.
“We’re the end of the road,” Forman said. “You can’t go any further beyond us.”
To get to Gillam from Saskatchewan, they would’ve had to drive Provincial Road 280 through Thompson, Man. To get out of town, you either have to go back along the same road, or hop on a train north to Churchill, Man.
News of the pair being declared suspects spread quickly through their hometown of Port Alberni, B.C., becoming the subject of intense chatter on group chats and in local businesses. Bryer Schmegelsky’s father Alan, via Facebook messenger, reacted to the news that they were suspects with “No way, I know my son.”
Jayden Iversen, who just graduated this year from Port Alberni Secondary School and has friends who know Schmegelsky, said they were in disbelief.
“From what I understand all of Bryer’s friends … are saying they could never see him doing that,” he told the Post.
The manager of the Little Valley Deli near the high school said she instantly recognized the picture of Schmegelsky as the person who came into her store a couple of months ago.
She said a young, tall man had come in and ordered two butter chicken poutines and left without paying for them. He told her that his bank card had been declined and that he would go back to his locker to retrieve some cash. But he never came back.
She said she tried looking up security footage Tuesday but she was unable to retrieve it. She said she was owed $18.90.
“Everybody’s pretty shocked,” she said of the community’s reaction.
One customer, she said, tried to give the young men the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they saw the man get killed and got spooked and ran. But another customer chimed in and asked: why would they run to Saskatchewan?
“I can’t wrap my head around this,” she said. “It’s sad for the parents involved, and the kids who passed.”
Police, describing the tight-lipped press conference as “unprecedented,” pleaded for information from the public, but refused to give details on what made them consider the two teens suspects, didn’t say whether they considered them armed and asked for patience from the public in the release of information.
Everybody's pretty shocked
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Carol Starkey, Schmegelsky’s grandmother, told the Victoria Times-Colonist the two had begun their trip on July 12, but found Whitehorse wasn’t what they expected. She last heard from him on July 13 or 14. Her grandson had been living with her for the past two years.
“He was a great kid. I really enjoyed having him,” she told the paper.
On Monday afternoon, police said, they confirmed tips that McLeod and Schmegelsky were last seen in northern Saskatchewan. Less than 24 hours after the press conference where they were officially declared missing, police said the investigation had changed, and they were now considered suspects in three deaths.
Police cautioned the public not to approach McLeod and Schmegelsky and said they were believed to have been in a grey 2011 Toyota Rav4 SUV, though they may have changed their appearances or found a new vehicle.
No cause of death has been identified in the case of the unknown man found near McLeod and Schmegelsky’s torched vehicle.
“The manner in which he died is not important at this point,” Shoihet said.
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Security camera images recorded in Saskatchewan of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are displayed at a RCMP news conference. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
On Monday evening, Alan Schmegelsky said he’d found out from the newspaper on Monday morning that his son was missing. He’d stopped at Starbucks for coffee on the way to work, and saw his son’s face on the front page of the Vancouver Sun.
He described McLeod and his son as “best friends” since elementary school, and last spoke to his son on July 12; Schmegelsky had been working overnights at the Walmart in Port Alberni, which is about 200 kilometres northwest of Victoria, in the interior of Vancouver Island.
The elder Schmegelsky said his understanding was the boys were heading for Alberta, where Bryer has family. He said the two enjoyed video games and playing with Airsoft guns with their friends.
The pair did not have much of an online presence. McLeod’s Facebook cover photo depicted a skull — one side in black and white, the other in bright colours.
Schmegelsky updated his Facebook page in 2015 with a poster that depicted a handgun and the tagline: “Guns don’t kill people – It’s mostly the bullets.”

Not recently active on facebook.
Bryer Schmgelsky Facebook (I am unable to archive it right now)
Kam McLeod Facebook
 
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The one kid sounds like a real psycho from what little news there was of him (Shmegelsky) - the aforementioned luring incident - and I'm sure more shit will come out as the story unfolds. If this is the first bad thing they have done, this might be a case of "don't shit where you live".
 
Koby_Fish said:
The one kid sounds like a real psycho from what little news there was of him (Shmegelsky) - the aforementioned luring incident - and I'm sure more shit will come out as the story unfolds. If this is the first bad thing they have done, this might be a case of "don't shit where you live".
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Wondering if Shmegelsky will turn out to have killed his accomplice.
 
wylfım said:
19 and 18 year olds arent teens, that makes them sound uwu naive and they dont understand what they're doing.
Haul their adult asses off to adult jail, and see if they have any asses left once the prisoners are done with them.
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NineTEEN and eightTEEN.

That's where the "teen" comes from, right? And prison, not jail. But yes, definitely grown-up prison, agreed.
 
856338

Found this posted in a Twitter thread. Nothing too important but the way it's typed out hints that Bryer has a couple screws loose.
 
Imagine being in their families. What's your best outcome to hope for? You either raised a serial killer, or a serial killer murdered your kid and his friend, but the cops haven't found the bodies yet.
 
wylfım said:
19 and 18 year olds arent teens, that makes them sound uwu naive and they dont understand what they're doing.
Haul their adult asses off to adult jail, and see if they have any asses left once the prisoners are done with them.
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Come on, you almost sound like you've never done something silly in your teens. Like, you know, killing people.
 
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