Police say they believe they have found the bodies of two young men who were wanted in the deaths of three people in northern B.C. Here’s a timeline of events:
A CROSS-CANADA SEARCH FOR TWO FUGITIVES
July 18, Jade City:
Suspects spotted
July 15, near Liard Hot Springs:
Two bodies found on Alaska Highway
July 21,
Cold Lake:
Suspects spotted
CANADA
ALTA.
SASK.
B.C.
MAN.
July 19, Dease Lake:
A body found two
kilometres from truck
belonging to suspects
July 21,
Meadow Lake:
Suspects spotted
0
300
UNITED STATES
KM
Aug. 2-7, Approximate
location of RCMP search area
along the Nelson River, where
police say they found a
damaged rowboat and several
items linked to Schmegelsky
and McLeod
Nelson River
0
10
KM
July 22,
Suspects’
burned-out
vehicle
found
Sundance
Stephens Lake
Gillam
MANITOBA
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN;
OPENSTREETMAP; GOOGLEMAPS
A CROSS-CANADA SEARCH FOR TWO FUGITIVES
July 18, Jade City:
Suspects spotted
July 15, near Liard Hot Springs:
Two bodies found on Alaska Highway
July 21,
Cold Lake:
Suspects spotted
CANADA
ALTA.
SASK.
B.C.
MAN.
July 19, Dease Lake:
A body found two
kilometres from truck
belonging to suspects
July 21,
Meadow Lake:
Suspects spotted
0
300
UNITED STATES
KM
Aug. 2-7, Approximate location of
RCMP search area along the
Nelson River, where police say
they found a damaged rowboat
and several items linked to
Schmegelsky and McLeod
Nelson River
0
10
KM
July 22,
Suspects’
burned-out
vehicle found
280
Sundance
290
Stephens Lake
280
Gillam
MANITOBA
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP; GOOGLEMAPS
A CROSS-CANADA SEARCH FOR TWO FUGITIVES
July 18, Jade City:
Suspects spotted
July 15, near Liard Hot Springs:
Two bodies found on Alaska Highway
July 21,
Cold Lake:
Suspects spotted
CANADA
DETAIL
ALTA.
SASK.
B.C.
MAN.
July 19, Dease Lake:
A body found two
kilometres from truck
belonging to suspects
July 21,
Meadow Lake:
Suspects spotted
0
300
UNITED STATES
KM
Nelson River
Aug. 2-7, Approximate location of
RCMP search area along the Nelson
River, where police say they found a
damaged rowboat and several items
linked to Schmegelsky and McLeod
0
10
KM
July 22,
Suspects’
burned-out
vehicle found
280
Sundance
290
Stephens Lake
280
Gillam
MANITOBA
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP; GOOGLEMAPS
July 15 – The bodies of a man and a woman are found near a blue van on the Alaska Highway, also known as Highway 97, near Liard Hot Springs, B.C.
July 17 – RCMP say the deaths are suspicious.
July 18 – RCMP announce Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and his 24-year-old American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, are homicide victims. Meanwhile, in Jade City, B.C., Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are spotted in a store where they stopped for free coffee. Jade City is about 350 kilometres from where the two bodies were found.
July 19 – Police announce the body of a man has been found two kilometres from a burned-out truck belonging to Mr. McLeod and Mr. Schmegelsky near Dease Lake, B.C. The two teens are missing. Dease Lake is about 470 kilometres from the first crime scene.
July 21 – Mr. McLeod and Mr. Schmegelsky are spotted in Cold Lake, Alta., where a local resident, not knowing who they are, helps them free a stuck Toyota RAV4 they are driving. The are also captured on security-camera footage at a store in Meadow Lake, Sask.
July 22 – Mounties say Mr. Fowler and Ms. Deese were shot. They release composite sketches of a man seen speaking with the couple on the highway where they were found dead and a sketch of the unidentified man found dead near the burned truck. Mr. Fowler’s father, an Australian police inspector, pleads for public help in the investigation. At the same time, band constables with Tataskweyak Cree Nation at Split Lake in northern Manitoba talk with Mr. McLeod and Mr. Schmegelsky at a checkstop, unaware of who they are. The constables see camping gear and maps in their vehicle.
July 23 – RCMP announce Mr. Schmegelsky and Mr. McLeod are suspects in the three deaths. They release photos of the men and a 2011 grey Toyota RAV4 they may have been driving. Fox Lake Cree Nation says a burned-out vehicle is found near Gillam, Man., about 170 kilometres east of Split Lake. Police search that area.
July 24 – RCMP confirm the burned-out vehicle near Gillam is the Toyota RAV4 the suspects are believed to have been driving. The third victim is identified as 64-year-old Leonard Dyck of Vancouver. He was a lecturer in the University of British Columbia’s botany department.
July 25 – Manitoba Mounties confirm two sightings of Mr. Schmegelsky and Mr. McLeod in the Gillam area. RCMP say the sightings, along with no reports of stolen vehicles, lead investigators to believe the suspects are still in the region. They say they are investigating a photograph of Nazi paraphernalia allegedly sent by Mr. Schmegelsky to another user on a video-game network. Mr. Schmegelsky is also pictured in military fatigues brandishing an airsoft rifle and wearing a gas mask.
July 28 – RCMP descend on York Landing, an isolated community southwest of Gillam, after it’s reported the suspects were seen at the local dump.
July 29 – RCMP are unable to confirm the sighting and pull back to Gillam.
July 31 – Police announce they have done everything they can and are scaling back the search, although not ending it.
Aug. 2 – RCMP say they found a damaged rowboat on the Nelson River.
Aug. 4 – An RCMP dive team conducts an underwater search “of significant areas of interest.”
Aug. 6 – RCMP say they have found several items linked to Mr. Schmegelsky and Mr. McLeod on the shore of the Nelson River in northern Manitoba. The Mounties would not disclose what the items are, but say they were found nine kilometres from the vehicle they were driving.
Aug. 7 – Police say they believe they have found the bodies of Mr. McLeod and Mr. Schmegelsky in dense brush in northern Manitoba. RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said the bodies were found earlier in the morning near the shoreline of the Nelson River, within a kilometre of where several items linked to the two suspects were found. Autopsies are scheduled to confirm their identities.
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