The two Port Alberni teens suspected in three B.C. deaths have been found dead in Manitoba.
Assistant commissioner Jane MacLatchy, commanding officer of the Manitoba RCMP said two bodies found not far from a burned out car located earlier are believed to be those of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18.
"I'm confident it's them," she said. "To identify them officially and to be sure, we have to go to autopsy."
The pair led police on a cross-country chase since two bodies were found on the side of the Alaska Highway in northeastern B.C. Four days later, another body was found on Highway 37 near Dease Lake.
Police appeared to be closing in the past few days after reporting finding items confirmed as belonging to the pair as well as a boat connected to them.
Police said they found the items on a Nelson River shoreline nine kilometers from where a burnt-out vehicle the suspects are believed to have used.
As a result, police brought in a dive team to search the area.
MacLatchy called the finds critical pieces of evidence allowing for further targeted searches that led to the bodies.
It was that information that led to deployment of a dive team, which searched an area 29 meters around the area where the boat was found.
"The search did not uncover any additional items linked to the suspects," police said.
Canada-wide warrants were issued two weeks for McLeod and Schmegelsky, who are charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of Leonard Dyck, who was found a few kilometres from the teens' burned-out pickup truck on Highway 37 near Dease Lake.
The Port Alberni childhood friends are also suspects in the killings of American Chynna Deese and Australian Lucas Fowler. Their bodies were found along the Alaska Highway on July 15 near a van they had been travelling in.
Charges have yet to be announced in that investigation.
The pair were spotted in Saskatchewan and then a car reportedly connected to them was found torched near Gillam, Manitoba. A house-to-house search was undertaken before forces moved to nearby York Factory after an unconfirmed sighting of two men scavenging in the town dump.
The sighting led to a community lockdown and heavy search. A similar search was done around Gillam and police remain in the area.
More to come.
