Two childhood friends from Port Alberni who were first thought to be missing have now been named suspects in connection to three deaths.
In a shocking update on Tuesday, police said Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are suspects in the deaths that occurred across northern B.C and are on the loose.
Lucas Fowler, 23, and Chynna Deese, 24, were found shot to death on July 15 along the Alaska Highway.
On Friday, an unidentified man's body was discovered kilometres from the pair's burned-out truck near Dease Lake, B.C.
McLeod and Schmegelsky are believed to have left B.C. and were last seen in northern Saskatchewan.
Both teens are being described as 6’4”, 170 pounds and are considered dangerous, according to police.
Both McLeod and Schmegelsky are believed to have attended Alberni District Secondary School and worked at Port Alberni’s Walmart before leaving and looking for work in Alberta.
There are very few posts visible on the young men’s social media accounts, but among them is a photo of a 18-year-old Schmegelsky holding an alcohol bottle.
A photo posted to Schmegelsky's Faceboook page in 2015 reads "guns don't kill people, it's mostly the bullets."
McLeod’s Facebook account does not reveal much about him as it has very few photographs, but does have one of a cartoon skull.
New comments left on an Instagram account appearing to belong to McLeod reference that he is being hunted by police, with one person commenting “clock’s ticking bud.”
An acquaintance of Schmegelsky and McLeod's who asked not to be identified told CTV News they were just average kids and weren't known to be troublemakers.
"I never heard from anyone, coworkers, friends in town, that they were bad kids," they said. "I just met them a couple times, seen [them] at hockey and around town, they seemed nice."
Employees at Walmart were told not to speak with reporters. CTV News reached out to Walmart, but did not receive a response by 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
The revelation that the two are now considered suspects has rocked the community of Port Alberni.
"It's just been difficult for the community for sure with reasonably limited information to go off of," said Port Alberni Mayor Shari Minions. "Definitely surprised. That's not the outcome we were expecting or hoping for for sure, so our focus goes now to how can we support the families of the victim and of the boys?"
Minions said whether residents know the boys personally or not, everyone is relatively connected in the city, which has a population of just under 18,000.
McLeod and Schmegelsky were last seen driving a grey 2011 Toyota Rav 4. If anyone sees them, they should call police immediately and not approach them.
