'Lock your doors': Police swarm remote town after 'new sighting' of teen fugitives

Authorities appear to be closing in on two teens suspected of killing three people in remote northern Canada as police descended on a small community 200km from their last known sighting.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police are utlilising “multiple resources” in York Landing following a tip off that Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegeslky, 18, may be in the area.

The pair have been missing for nearly a week and were believed to be hiding out in rugged bushland in the Gillam area, northeast of remote York Landing.

Leroy Constant, chief of York Factory First Nation, urged the community’s residents, some 460 people, to be on high alert.

“Everyone please remain indoors with your doors locked,” he said on Facebook late on Sunday (local time).

York Landing must be accessed via ferry from Split Lake, a suburb the teens were reportedly spotted in days before they were seen in Gillam.

A member of patrol group Bear Clan, who operate in Manitoba’s capital Winnipeg who offered their services to the search, made the tip off after spotting two men acting suspicious at the landfill site in York Landing, CBC reported.

Travis Bighetty said he saw two “tall, slender individuals” in the area and appeared to be “scavenging”.

He said they quickly fled, possibly spooked by the sound of his vehicle.

Unconfirmed reports on social media said police had a home surrounded in York Landing.

Amateur footage of a helicopter and police vehicle surrounding a home in what is believed to be York Landing is also circulating online.

Local police however have urged residents and media to avoid sharing imagery and footage of police operations in relation to the hunt.

Mr Constant moved to quash rumours over the teens’ capture circulating online revealing they are not in police custody.

“The suspects are still at large and have NOT been caught,” he said in a statement.

He said ground searches are ongoing while strong winds were hampering the helicopter’s involvement in the operation.

Locals reported on social media that gunshots were heard in the area.

The two teens are suspected of killing Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese after their bodies were found shot dead off the Alaska Highway on July 15.

McLeod and Schmegelsky have also been charged over the death of 64-year-old university teacher Leonard Dyck who was found dead on another highway, 470km away.

Authorities went door-to-door canvassing locals in their homes and searching abandoned buildings around the Gillam area in the hope of finding the duo or picking up clues.

The sweep included an abandoned hydroelectric building with 600 rooms.

The RCMP surmised the teenagers torched their RAV-4 and fled on foot in Gillam because there have been no reports of stolen cars or carjackings in the area.

After days of fruitless searching the RCMP on Friday admitted they were "exploring the possibility" the teenagers may have fled Gillam with the help of a third person unaware the two were fugitives.

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