Investigators say two Vancouver Island teens wanted in connection with multiple homicides may have left the Gillam, Man. area with help from an unsuspecting person.
In a news conference Friday, Manitoba RCMP said Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 may have "inadvertently received assitance" in leaving the small northern Manitoba town that police have been searching for the last four days.
"It is possible someone may not have been aware of who they were providing assistance to and may now be hesitant to come forward," said Cpl. Julie Courchaine, adding the suspects may have changed their appearances since they went on the run.
Courchaine urged anyone who may have had contact with the duo to contact police immediately.
She said there have been no confirmed sightings outside of Gillam, where the Toyota RAV-4 the pair was believed to be driving was found torched on Monday.
Courchaine also cautioned against what she called false information being spread about the pair's whereabouts, saying it has created "fear and panic." She specifically referred to a photo shared on social media purporting to be McLeod. It was later disproven by police.
"Be assured that it is in our best interest to share confirmed facts as soon as possible," said Courchaine.
Investigators will be going door-to-door in the next three days in Gillam and nearby Fox Lake Cree Nation to canvass for more information.
Earlier in the day, police were searching every train that entered Gillam as the search for the two Port Alberni fugitives stretched into its fourth day.
McLeod and Schmegelsky were originally thought to be missing, but in a shocking twist police charged them both with second-degree murder in connection to the death of a UBC lecturer and wanted on Canada-wide warrants for the death of a young couple.
Rain and cooler temperatures will also complicate things for the two men, who are likely dealing with difficult terrain.
Police believe they may be hiding in a rugged wooded area and locals say they would now battling “nasty” conditions.
“If the bears don’t get them the bugs will. They’re going to be wet and cold now probably a little bit desperate if they are still alive,” said longtime Gillam resident Dennis Champagne. “There is nowhere to go.”
Champagne said his town is the end of the road and doesn’t know why the pair would come to Gillam.
"I got grandkids in town here and we are all a little bit freaked out. They could be anywhere, who knows," he said.
Champagne said the two could have jumped on one of the trains.
"There are a number of places they could get on this train…the grain trains you can hop inbetween the cars because the HPR has been doing a load of work."
People in Gillam tell CTV News they are jittery and want the manhunt to be over before someone else gets hurt.
“I don’t sleep at night," said Champagne. "If they are around town here…we are the closest ones if they are coming out of the bush."
Karen Donnellan-Fisher, owner of the only gas station and grocery store in Gillam, said her employees are working in pairs and not alone anymore.
“We wanted it to be over the minute it started, we want them caught and taken care of,” she said.
The story so far
On July 15, a young couple was found dead on the side of the Alaska Highway. Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, were on a three-week road trip through Canada to Alaska when they were killed.
Surveillance footage shows the couple at a gas station in Fort Nelson on July 13 and police believe they were shot to death between July 14 and 15.
A few days later, a torched truck and camper belonging to McLeod and Schmegelsky was found near Dease Lake on Highway 37 and the body of an unknown man was found just two kilometres from the truck.
Police later confirmed the body was of Leonard Dyck, 64, who is being remembered as a cherished lecturer in UBC’s Department of Botany.
Fellow professor Patrick Martone said Dyck is a special man who is irreplaceable.
“He had an amazing depth of knowledge, and a way of opening students’ eyes to the diversity of life that we study,” said Martone. “His passion for learning about bizarre and beautiful organisms that few people ever get to see, inspired our students to feel that same passion and awe.”
Martone said he will miss Len’s laugh the most.
“It makes me tear up thinking that I won’t get to hear it again,” he said.
None of the charges against the Vancouver Island teens. have been proven in court.
Childhood friends, McLeod and Schmegelsky worked at Walmart Supercentre in Port Alberni before deciding to leave Vancouver Island and head to the Yukon to allegedly look for work.
A 2011 Toyota RAV-4 that the pair were believed to have been driving was found burned and abanonded 55 kilometrres northeast of Gillam on Monday and police confirmed it was the vehicle the young men were travelling in.
With files from CTV News Winnipeg
