Canada police have cut down the scale of search for two teenage suspects in the murder of three people.
Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, were last seen near the remote community of Gillam, Manitoba province. The police focused their search in that area for over a week but have found no trace of the duo.
Suspects Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 and Kam McLeod, 19 // RCMP photos
Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner Jane MacLatchy said: “I know that today’s news is not what the victims’ families and the people of northern Manitoba wanted to hear, however this is always a possibility when searching in vast, remote and rugged areas with terrain that is difficult,”
The manhunt for the two teenagers is not over but it is being scaled down highly. Searches have been done on foot and air since July 23rd but there is no clues of their locations. Homes and abandoned buildings in the area have been searched.
The two men are charged with the murder of a university professor and suspected in the murder of a young Australian-American couple.
The town is more than 2,000km from Highway 37 in northern British Columbia. This is where the body of Leonard Dyck, 64, was discovered on July 19th near the burned-out first car McLeod and Schmegelsky had been known to be travelling in. Four days prior, the Australian-US couple were found shot dead 500km away on the same highway.
The boys were classed as missing when the car they were travelling in was found burnt out. A survival expert has said that the suspects could have died already. Sherman Kong, who runs a survival company in Winnipeg, said the swampy terrain around Gillam is home to bears and insects. They believe the boys could have already died by an animal attack, dehydration or an injury.
Kong said: “If we expect these two gentlemen are motivated, and even if they have a certain level of survival skills, that coupled with their intent on not being captured can often be enough to allow someone to remain at large in the bush and survive longer,”
The search will low key continue until they are found…
