The discarded item that led police to bodies of Canadian fugitives
While it is unclear how Canadian teen fugitives Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky met their demise, several food items and other belongings paint a picture of how they lived their final days.
RCMP announced on Wednesday (local time) they found the bodies of the two 19-year-olds in dense bushland just 8km from where their burnt out getaway car was found 16 days earlier 50km northeast of the small town of Gillam in remote Manitoba.
The pair, suspected of killing three people including Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend, had eluded police since they fled British Columbia nearly three weeks ago.
With police struggling to find a lead into their whereabouts and announcing they were cutting back the search on July 31, a key piece of evidence was found by a passing tour guide on the Nelson River.
Clint Sawchuk was taking a group of tourists to the historic site of York Factory last Friday when he noticed a sleeping bag tangled in willows on the river’s edge near the abandoned town of Sundance, The Globe and Mail reported.
He quickly called authorities who were then able to find the damaged rowboat the suspects are believed to have used.
“I’m so happy I made that call,” he said.
Police ramped up their search, finding further items of interest that led them to the teen’s bodies.
Authorities are yet to confirm what those items were while admitting they are unable to provide a timeframe for when autopsy results will be available.
Schmegelsky turned 19 several days ago, but whether he was alive to welcome the arrival of his final year as a teenager is in question.
How soon after they fled the burnt out RAV4 did they die is unclear, however a series of food items found near the vehicle and assessments from survival experts in the area suggest it could have been as little as a few days.
Fox Lake residents Tamara Beardy was first to spot the burnt out car southwest of Sundance and called RCMP immediately.
In and around the vehicle limited food supplies were found, with half eaten pork chops and orange peel discarded at the scene, she told the Globe and Mail.
The pair had left behind small propane bottles, cans of sardines and other tools indicating they had little intention to set up camp as they headed into the unknown.
According to Global News, the teen’s bodies were found in an area too difficult to access by foot, another indicator they’d used the aluminium boat to head down the Nelson River.
When recovering the bodies, the RCMP loaded them onto a boat to be taken to a loading dock.
Manhunt eventually comes to an end
The heartbreaking saga began on July 15 in the western province of British Columbia when the bodies of Mr Fowler, 23, from Sydney, and Chynna Deese, 24, from North Carolina were found in a ditch beside their broken down blue 1986 Chevrolet van.
The couple were on a Canadian road trip.
Four days later Leonard Dyck, a 64-year-old botanist, was found dead on another BC highway, his Toyota RAV4 was missing and two kilometres away a Dodge pickup truck was set on fire – the first vehicle abandoned by McLeod and Schmegelsky.
The teenagers drove the stolen RAV4 3000km east along Canada's north to Gillam and on July 22 dumped it in bushland and set it on fire.
On July 24 the RCMP named the two teenagers as suspects in the three murders.
Canadian authorities have declined to make many facets of their investigation public, including how they were able to determine Schmegelsky and McLeod were responsible for the three BC deaths.
Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were killed 467km away from Mr Dyck.
"Suffice to say that there is significant evidence that links both crime scenes together," Inspector Hackett said.
With AAP
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