# Strange things in Northern BC: quintuple murder, by one guy, or triple murder by two guys?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [July 24, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524 "2019-07-24T01:44:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/1 "2019-07-24T01:44:20Z")
Strange story out of northern British Columbia.
On the weekend, there was a story about a young traveling couple found brutally murdered: he was an Aussie, she was an American. The young woman’s mom told the media that they wouldn’t be able to have an open casket because of the extent of her injuries. The guy’s dead is an inspector with the police in New South Wales and came to Canada to see his son’s body and work with the RCMP on the case.
The couple was last seen arguing with a bearded man by the side of the highway.
> **[Killer ‘still on the loose’ with headstart](https://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/third-body-found-on-highway-37-the-same-week-lucas-fowler-and-chynna-deese-were-killed/news-story/8c0f9c7ed62b67508be94b88936a2f9e)**
>
> A witness had come forward to say she saw a mystery bearded man in a heated exchange with Aussie tourist Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese before their murders.
Then yesterday, the police announced they were looking for a couple of late teenage guys who had been driving north to Yukon, looking for work. Their families had reported them missing and were worried.
Last night, the police reported they’d found the vehicle of the two guys, burning on the side of the road in northern BC. Quite a distance from where the couple had been found, but fears started to circulate of a serial killer in northern BC.
Then the police announced they had found the body if a fifth person - a heavily bearded man near the burning van of the two teenaged guys. Did he match the description of the bearded guy seen arguing with the US-Aussie couple? Police didn’t say. It’s not like northern BC is short of heavily bearded guys. Or had he been killed by the killer, who had kidnapped the two teenagers? Were they even still alive?
Then just befor 5 pm this evening, the RCMP announced that the two teenaged boys are considered suspects in at least one murder. They are said to have been spotted in northern Saskatchewan, and possibly northern Manitoba (“north” here presumably meaning south if the tree line, but north of the Yellowhead, travelling on lesser-used highways?)
And the Mounties have issued a public bulletin: they are considered dangerous. If seen, do not approach. Call 911 at the earliest safe opportunity.
And one the teenagers is bearded.
Did they kill the couple, then some other guy to take his vehicle, and set their own on fire?
Things that make you go hmmm…
> **[Northern B.C. homicides: Teen murder suspects subject of a nationwide manhunt](https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/northern-b-c-the-dead-the-missing-and-the-police-investigation)**
>
> Two Port Alberni teens thought to be missing are now considered suspects in a double homicide and a suspicious death in northern B.C.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/2 "2019-07-24T02:55:45Z")
An older article about the dead man found near the burning truck:
> **[Body found near missing B.C. teens' burning truck still not identified](https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/british-columbia/2019/7/22/1_4518599.html)**
>
> Police are still trying to identify the remains of a body found near a burning pickup truck in northern B.C. last week as they search for the teens who were driving the vehicle.
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/3 "2019-07-24T03:00:35Z")
I read about this a few days ago, when the couple were found. It just gets stranger and more horrorshow with every day, it seems.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/4 "2019-07-24T03:01:41Z")
And another story, with reactions to the news from family and friends of the two guys:
> **[Missing B.C. teens now suspects in deaths of tourist couple and unidentified...](https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/kam-mcleod-bryer-schmegelsky-suspects-british-columbia-murders)**
>
> 'We're asking for the public, if you spot Bryer or Kam, consider them dangerous. Do not approach. Take no action. And call immediately 911'
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/5 "2019-07-24T03:05:06Z")
And, it’s not clear if they’re considered suspects in three deaths, or just the one man found near their burnt-out van. Their van was several hundred kilometres from the young couple. Teenage guys’ movements are not known. Northern BC is big. So could the one death of the man perhaps not be related at all to the couple?
Wait and see …
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### Author:  [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/6 "2019-07-24T06:04:07Z")
I’m from Port Alberni - the town where the two boys are from. I’ve seen them both at Walmart where they worked. I was talking to Kam’s babysitter (from years ago) today and we’re all just stunned at the turn of events. We’ve all gone from thinking those poor boys were dead somewhere out in the forest to realizing that they are the murderers.
Last I heard is they’ve made it to Manitoba. There’s a very good chance that more people will die and I’m guessing they’ll die in some sort of shoot-out.
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### Author:  [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/7 "2019-07-24T06:33:12Z")
This has been all over the national and even local news. If they are heading eastward and have arrived in Manitoba right now, I wonder what they’re hoping to do.
Continue heading eastward into Ontario? There’s only one road crossing (at Nipigon, which the OPP could shut down pretty quickly), and two rail crossings, one at Nipigon, alongside the road crossing; and one farther north, but which has no road access, and nothing but tiny settlements until you get to Capreol. Other than those routes, going from Manitoba to Ontario involves dealing with Canadian Shield bush.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 24, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/8 "2019-07-24T14:45:59Z")
It’s now a nation-wide hunt, but you’re right **Spoons** - there’s the choke point travelling east.
Apparently the two more recent photos are from a store in Meadow Lake in northern Sask.
[B.C. teens charged with 2nd-degree murder as Canada-wide manhunt continues | Globalnews.ca](https://globalnews.ca/news/5675920/2-teen-suspects-three-people-killed-north-bc-manhunt/amp/)
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rN7BrJYJrDI)
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2019, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/9 "2019-07-25T01:24:28Z")
It looks like they may well be in the Gillam area. The RCMP have found another burnt-out vehicle near the Fox Lake Cree Nation, which they think is the grey Rav 4 that they were driving when they were in Meadow Lake.
If so, they’re definitely staying way north: Meadow Lake is near the tree line in Saskatchewan, and Gillam is the end of the road. The mayor commented that the only way out is to go back to Thomson Manitoba to the south, or get on the train to Churchill on the shore of Hudson Bay.
[Manitoba RCMP finds burned vehicle of men wanted in connection with three northern B.C. deaths](https://winnipeg.citynews.ca/2019/07/24/burned-vehicle-manitoba-manhunt-men-three-bc-deaths/)
[Meadow Lake, SK](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow_Lake,_Saskatchewan)
[Gillam, Manitoba](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gillam,_Manitoba)
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2019, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/10 "2019-07-25T03:57:29Z")
AP story: [Father: Canadian manhunt will end in son’s death](https://apnews.com/259c4dc206014f459817aca6d607152b)
> [@](#):
>
> The father of one of the suspects in the slaying of an American woman, her Australian boyfriend and another man said Wednesday he expects a nationwide manhunt to end in the death of his son, who is on “a suicide mission.”
>
> The grim prediction came as Canadian police said they were setting up roadblocks around the remote Manitoba town of Gillam, where two young suspects, 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, recently left a burned-out vehicle they had been traveling in.
>
> Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Julie Courchaine said police “are coming from all over” to Gillam, which is more than 2,000 miles away from a region in northern British Columbia where another burned vehicle was found Friday and where the three people were apparently killed.
> [@](#):
>
> Schmegelsky’s father, Alan Schmegelsky, said Wednesday that his son had a troubled upbringing and is in “very serious pain.” His son struggled through his parents’ acrimonious split in 2005 and his main influences became video games and YouTube, the father said.
>
> “A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does,” Alan Schmegelsky told Canadian Press. He said he expects his son will die in a confrontation with police.
>
> “He’s on a suicide mission. He wants his pain to end,” the father said, breaking into tears. “Basically, he’s going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that. Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I’m so sorry all this had to happen.”
>
> Even if his son is caught, his life will be over, he said. “He wants his hurt to end. They’re going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this.”
This is very, very sad.
> [@](#):
>
> His son doesn’t own any firearms and doesn’t know how to drive, Alan Schmegelsky said. He worked at the Port Alberni Walmart after graduating from high school earlier this year, but was disappointed with the job and told his dad he was setting off to Alberta with McLeod to look for work.
>
> The father recalled that his son bought a nice black suit with his second paycheck from Walmart.
>
> “Now I realize it’s his funeral suit,” he said.
> [@](#):
>
> In Port Alberni, signs with “No Trespassing” were staked outside McLeod’s large waterfront family home. His father, Keith McLeod, released a written statement.
>
> “This is what I do know — Kam is a kind, considerate, caring young man (who) always has been concerned about other people’s feelings,” McLeod said.
>
> “As we are trapped in our homes due to media people, we try to wrap our heads around what is happening and hope that Kam will come home to us safely so we can all get to the bottom of this story.”
:(☹
3 lives already ended, 2 more a likely possibility and all for naught.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/11 "2019-07-25T13:20:36Z")
They’ve now been charged with the murder of the man who was found near their first vehicle. The dead man has been identified as a professor of marine botany from UBC.
No charges in relation to the young couple, but they are considered suspects by the police.
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### Author:  [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)
#### Post date: [July 25, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/12 "2019-07-25T14:09:05Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#):
>
> AP story: [Father: Canadian manhunt will end in son’s death](https://apnews.com/259c4dc206014f459817aca6d607152b)This is very, very sad.:(☹
>
> 3 lives already ended, 2 more a likely possibility and all for naught.
That father comes across as a nutter. Instead of encouraging his son to turn himself in and stopping the madness, he encourages him to go down shooting.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2019, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/13 "2019-07-28T15:04:54Z")
No news.
RCMP, military and First Nations groups are all putting resources into the search near Gillam and Fox River First Nation.
Terrain sounds horrible: marshy, muskeg, bugs, forest.
One news item suggested someone may have inadvertently helped them leave Gillam (hitchhiking?) but that item seems to have petered out.
[RCMP pour gear, personnel into search for B.C. murder suspects in northern Manitoba](https://globalnews.ca/news/5694558/rcmp-bc-murder-suspects-manhunt/)
> [@](#):
>
> Canadian Forces aircraft arrived in Gillam to assist with the search on Saturday. In a statement, the military said a CC-130H Hercules aircraft from 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron in Winnipeg would be joining the efforts. The Bear Clan Patrol, an Indigenous-led foot patrol group, also has volunteers on the ground in Fox Lake Cree Nation and York Landing First Nation, according to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.
> [@](#):
>
> As a result of the prolonged searches, the town of Gillam has been on high alert, Karen Donnellan-Fisher, the general manager of the local Co-op, told Global News.
>
> “We have a couple of locations where employees will generally work by themselves because it’s quieter locations, and now we’ve upped that where nobody is being left alone at any time,” she said.
>
> Gillam resident Christine Massan locked her doors for the first time in nearly two decades this past week, when her normally quiet town was thrust into the national spotlight.
>
> “I locked my doors for the first time in 19 years on Tuesday night,” she said. “Brought my keys in from my vehicle and locked the doors.”
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### Author:  [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2019, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/14 "2019-07-28T20:03:38Z")
The Mounties will get their man.
Anyone else automatically think of Dudley Do-Right and Snidely Whiplash? 😉
But seriously, I hope these two killers are captured soon. The RCMP has an excellent reputation in law enforcement.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2019, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/15 "2019-07-28T21:17:29Z")
[CBC](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-murder-suspect-not-a-neo-nazi-dad-says-1.5187809)
> [@](#):
>
> Alan Schmegelsky said that his son took him to an Army Surplus store eight months ago in his hometown of Port Alberni, B.C., and that Bryer was excited about the Nazi items there.
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### Author:  [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2019, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/16 "2019-07-28T23:16:12Z")
> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> The Mounties will get their man.
>
> Anyone else automatically think of Dudley Do-Right and Snidely Whiplash? 😉
Kam certainly has the Snidely mustache.
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### Author:  [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/17 "2019-07-29T03:34:31Z")
This may turn out to be one of those situations where there are simultaneous sightings all over the country:
> [@](#):
>
> Mounties in Manitoba have pivoted to York Landing after two B.C. murder suspects were spotted scavenging at a landfill earlier today.
>
> In an update on Sunday, Manitoba RCMP said they were responding to a tip that Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky were spotted in the community. Despite reports on social media, neither are in custody, RCMP said in a tweet. “RCMP officers remain in the community of York Landing & continue to investigate the reported sighting of the two suspects,” it said. “All required resources are being used in this ongoing investigation.”
>
> York Landing is around 200 kilometres southwest of Gillam, Manitoba, where RCMP and the military had been focusing their search efforts over the last week. Police closed in on the community after security patrollers saw two men scavenging at the local dump.
[https://www.humboldtjournal.ca/northern-b-c-murders-rcmp-descend-on-york-landing-after-suspects-spotted-scavenging-1.23899024](https://www.humboldtjournal.ca/northern-b-c-murders-rcmp-descend-on-york-landing-after-suspects-spotted-scavenging-1.23899024)
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### Author:  [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)
#### Post date: [July 29, 2019, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/18 "2019-07-29T13:17:13Z")
The one Dad has already written a book. Nothing like capitalizing on your son’s murder spree before he is even caught…
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### Author:  [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/19 "2019-08-01T00:33:40Z")
[Canadian police scale down manhunt for fugitive teenagers](https://apnews.com/b1b34ae74bec4c04a7399e13d84c607a).
> [@](#):
>
> Canadian police said Wednesday they are scaling down but not abandoning the hunt in a remote and rugged part of northern Manitoba for two teenagers suspected of killing a college professor, a North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend.
>
> Over the last nine days, police and others have used helicopters, drones, boats and dogs to search approximately 4,200 square miles (11,000 square kilometers) of tundra, muskeg and dense forests. At one point a military Hercules aircraft was used in the search, which has stretched across three provinces.
>
> “To be clear, we’re not ending the search,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy told a news conference in Winnipeg.
>
> “I know that today’s news is not what the families of the victims and the communities of northern Manitoba wanted to hear. But when searching for people in vast, remote and rugged locations, it is always a possibility that they are not immediately located,” she said.
>
> Over the next week there will be a phased withdrawal of RCMP and military personnel and assets from the Gillam area, about 660 miles (1,100 kilometers) north of Winnipeg, where a burnt out vehicle belonging to the suspects was found last week. MacLatchy wouldn’t say how many officers will remain involved in the search.
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### Author:  [@Dongyang2016](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dongyang2016)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2019, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-things-in-northern-bc-quintuple-murder-by-one-guy-or-triple-murder-by-two-guys/837524/20 "2019-08-01T03:40:23Z")
Has any Canadian criminal on the run try to make it to the USA to hide? I know that sometimes American criminals go north to Canada.
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