Man reveals his chance encounter with Canadian fugitives
A man has revealed how he helped the two Canadian fugitives suspected of three murders before realising they were on the run.
There has been a manhunt for Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky in remote northern Canada for two weeks after Australian tourist Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese were shot dead and left on the side of a British Colombia highway.
Police have been hunting for McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18, in the wilderness but so far have come up empty-handed, despite the pair being stopped last week by Split Lake First Nations safety officers as they drove through an alcohol safety checkpoint.
The pair were ushered through only for local authorities to be told hours later to be on the look-out for the men.
In the wake of the new twist, another man has come out saying he spotted the fugitives – and helped them get out of trouble.
Tommy Ste-Croix detailed his chance encounter with the pair on July 21 when they got bogged in mud.
“My big heart could of got me killed,” he said in a Facebook post.
“One shot to the back and that would of been it.
“I pulled these guys out Sunday around 11am, they still appear the same as in these pictures, same shaggy beard, tall skinny fella was wearing a white shirt with camo pants i believe.”
Mr Ste-Croix said the pair was struck behind Cold Lake Hospital in a grey RAV4 and he helped free them.
“Wish I’d of known something wasn’t right with these guys,” he said.
“Even shook their hands after getting them unstuck.
“Blows my mind, guess I look like a mean motherf***** cause they were too and could of got my truck to take off with especially for being murder suspects.
“Was in the back alley alone with them.
“They gave me their real names also.”
Hunt for fugitives hits dead end
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Tuesday it had withdrawn its heavy presence from another area near Gillam, where the duo crashed their Toyota RAV4, set fire to it and vanished.
Police turned their sights on the remote community of York Landing, where they received a tip on Sunday that two men matching the suspects’ descriptions were foraging in a garbage tip.
However a search of the area, including the use of helicopters, drones, military resources and door-to-door canvasses proved fruitless.
“RCMP is unable to substantiate the tip that the suspects had been in the area,” police said.
"The heavy police presence in York Landing has been withdrawn and policing resources in the community is back to normal."
The RCMP also said officers had completed more than 500 door-to-door canvasses in Fox Lake Cree Nation and Gillam, and admitted "it is possible the suspects inadvertently received assistance and are no longer in the area".
‘They eat you alive’
Dave Arama, who is one of Canada’s leading survival experts, says he knows the dangers lurking in the swampy boreal forest around Gillam where the teens are suspected of hiding out.
If the duo did enter the wilderness and did not find some type of shelter, Mr Arama predicts they are dead or close to it.
It's the insects they really need to be worried about, according to the expert.
There's relentless blood-sucking deer flies, mosquitos, sand flies and other bugs.
"They eat you alive," Mr Arama, owner of the Ontario-based WSC Survival School, told AAP on Tuesday.
"They won't stop biting until your eyes close and you can't see no more.
"Or, if you get enough bites you can go anaphylaxis and then end up with a serious life-threatening reaction."
Water might be plentiful in northern Canada during summer but instead of keeping the teenagers alive it could also prove highly-hazardous.
"If they drink any water it is likely filled with parasites, giardia and they'd get sick as hell from that," he said.
Mr Arama claimed they would also need to be wearing waterproofed wool and microfleece gear.
The camouflage attire Schmegelsky is seen wearing in video surveillance footage was inadequate and the t-shirt McLeod was in is a certain death sentence.
Mr Arama said he has had groups in the wilderness for nine or 10 days who on average lost 9kg to 23kg "just to try to stay warm".
"I'll be honest. With 40 years of experience, if you threw me out there with no knife, no tin can, no flint to start a fire, no tarp, no nothing, I'd rather die," Mr Arama said.
"This is no Crocodile Dundee movie.
"This is real."
– With AAP
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