Manhunt for Canada Teens Focuses on Remote Area

Vehicle used by pair found near Manitoba town
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 25, 2019 1:17 AM CDT
Manhunt for Canada Teens Focuses on Remote Area
Security camera images of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are displayed during a news conference in Surrey, British Columbia, Tuesday, July 23, 2019.   (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

The Mounties are searching rough terrain in northern Manitoba for two fugitive teenagers suspected of killing three people in British Columbia. Authorities confirmed Wednesday that a burned-out 2011 Toyota Rav 4 believed to have been used by Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, was found near the town Monday, NBC reports. Residents in the remote area are on high alert and a Royal Canadian Mounted Police "informational check-stop" has been placed on Highway 290, which is the only road leading in or out of the town, the Winnipeg Free Press reports. The Mounties say members of the public should not try to approach the teens, who are both described as six-foot-four and weighing around 170 pounds. The Mounties say they should be considered armed and dangerous.

The Vancouver Island teens are suspected of killing North Carolina woman Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler, her Australian boyfriend, earlier this month. A third suspected victim, found in northern BC Friday near a burned-out camper truck that belonged to the teens, has been identified as Leonard Dyck, the CBC reports. The Vancouver resident was a University of British Columbia lecturer in botany who often went on camping trips in the region, sometimes alone and sometimes with his wife and two children, colleagues say. Mounties are believed to be using drones and dogs in the search for the fugitives. Gillam Mayor Dwayne Forman tells the CBC that residents have been advised to "stay safe, stay indoors"—and not to travel alone. He describes the region as "all swamp, heavy trees," and visited by the occasional polar bear. (More Canada stories.)

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