B.C. RCMP, Monday, August 12, 2019: Presser Confirms Suicides
“The Manitoba Medical Examiner has completed the autopsies and confirmed that the two deceased men located in Manitoba on August 7, 2019 were Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky. Their next of kin have been notified and they have been offered support.
“The RCMP can also confirm that the two died in what appears to be suicides by gunfire. While both individuals were deceased for a number of days before they were found, the exact time and date of their deaths are not known. However, there are strong indications that they had been alive for a few days since last seen in July and during the extensive search efforts in the Gillam area.
“Police can also confirm that two firearms were also located with the two deceased males and forensic analysis is underway in order to definitively confirm that these weapons are connected with the northern BC homicide investigations. The Manitoba RCMP have completed their search of the area where the two male bodies were discovered, approximately 8 km from where Mr. Dyck’s burnt RAV4 was located on July 22, 2019.”
(Globe and Mail)
From the RCMP’s search patterns, it appears their initial analysis had the teens thrust out of the rowboat and into the churning waters of the Nelson River, where they possibly drowned. Now we know it was the boat that was swept downstream. That they didn’t drown. That they didn’t get their blaze of glory either.
Their suicides bring the long search for the B.C. murder suspects to an end. But not the mysteries surrounding the murders. The first killings — of Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler — still pose the deepest conundrum. From a certain remove, they appear random, even thrill-seeking in their expression. That said, Deese’s brother hinted at an outcome so violent that an open casket was out of the question.
The second murder, seemingly instrumental in nature, looks to be more firmly attached to a motive. The teens wanted a different car and were willing to kill Mr. Dyck to get one. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. They all were.
Order “What Happened In Craig,” HERE and HERE. True crime from Epicenter Press about Alaska’s Worst Unsolved Mass Murder.