NJSleuth91
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IIRC, a classmate of BS told a reporter they had seen BS snorting Adderall off of a knife, or something like that... If that is true, and either of them had access to those meds and had maybe been stockpiling them, then perhaps they were taking massive doses of that, or another stimulant, on this trip. Would explain their ability to just keep driving on and on to cover huge distances, and might also have contributed to their (non-linear) erratic, impulsive, and dreadful actions...
It absolutely could have. My husband took Adderall in his 20s (legally prescribed and not abused) and he started having these overwhelming impulses to beat people up and start fights with people. And he's not a belligerent person at all in general. He didn't actually harm anyone of course, but he did have to stop taking it because these thoughts were scaring him. If they were wired off that it would actually explain a lot of their baffling decisions and that could have pushed them over the edge from having violent fantasies to acting on them.
Maybe I’m just getting too old, but I can’t seem to reach these kids, they seem so disconnected - almost to the point of disassociation, a weird flattening of affect, and I see again and again an unsettling kind of thousand yard stare.
Adderall and benzo abuse, and depression are very common among that generation, and could cause the symptoms you describe. JMO.
CBC News - https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1583914051800
An interview with the family spokesman for Bryer Schmegelsky his Great Uncle John McNabb gives a good interview
That makes it even sadder. It's easy to say "well that person was just evil" and throw them away, but few people are 100% good or 100% evil. If even a few things had gone differently none of this would have happened and maybe the scale would have been tipped and he would have ended up as a decent person in the end. Same goes for Kam.
I wish the families had come forward with a strong positive unified voice asking their sons to please turn themselves in and reassuring them that this could be sorted out. The messaging about books being written and parental conflict would have sent them running in the opposite direction.
I don't know. 18 and 19 years old is young and they did completely high school before doing this, so it seems that death may not have been their ultimate goal. There may have been a window of time to reach them and turn things around. No one tried, so we'll never know, but I think some effort should have been made. I understand that the families were probably first in disbelief, in shock, overwhelmed and many other things, but ...
Yes, what teenager would not be horrified by the bad parental press. How sad that the father assured the world that his son wouldn't be taken alive and would go out in a blaze of glory. The RCMP were kinder, stating that the suspects would be taken to hospital as soon as they were found.
I think you're forgetting that they weren't named as suspects until they were long gone in the muskeg. The "blaze of glory" statement and book statements were released at a time when they were either dead already or lost in the wilderness. It's doubtful they ever even heard any of those statements. But I agree there were probably missed opportunities to turn things around in their lives before they set out on this trip.
And you know what, I feel like his dad was just being brutally accurate. He did turn out to be wrong about the blaze of glory part, but was he wrong in the end about Bryer being dead "today or tomorrow"? Bryer was probably dead already when he made that statement.
@otto Most definitely in terms of the Mcleod family. Bryer's father and now his great uncle have spoke. I find it disturbing the Mcleods have not said a word, I also strongly feel Kam was the leader on all of this. It's easy to paint Bryer with a brush, however Kam was right there at his side through the years, Kam drove, Kam had the vehicle, Kam burnt his own vehicle (which I'm sure Dad bought or gave to him) - Kam's image is the one felt talking to Lucas/Chynna. I have a little personal resentment right now for the McLeod family staying so eerily silent and letting Bryer take the fall in media etc. I feel there is an unwritten Code of Silence from anyone connected to Kam's family. His parents are affluent, own a big business in Port Alberni, and when the Mayor warned the people not to talk about anything - that doesn't usually happen. Bryer may have 'talked big' but I am convinced the oh so quiet apparently polite and kind Kam was the lead man and Bryer his idolizing follower. I feel there is a whole huge amount of information on Kam that some in Port Alberni have worked really hard to try keep covered up.
I agree. If my son had killed (or was suspected of killing) the son of another as well as a lovely young woman and an older gentleman, I sure as heck would not be hiding out. At least Bryer's family came forward. Say what you will about the father, he IS mentally unwell. Bryer had no immediate family to guide him. He appeared to be a lost soul. Not so Kam.
Kam's family has no obligation to say anything to the world at large, and inevitably open themselves up to being trashed by the media. They're in shock and grieving. Also, they are not responsible for the decisions Kam made as an adult, IMO. They did release a statement originally though, saying they knew Kam as a kind person who always cared about other peoples' feelings.
I do agree he was probably the dominant one in their friendship. I talked about this a few days ago, but Bryer was likely very dependent on him because Kam had better social skills and more friends, a more stable home life, more money and resources, a driver's license, etc. But I think ultimately this was a mutual decision. I also doubt either of them would have ever killed without the other.
“At least one of the individuals seemed to be highly influenced by violent video games,” he said. “His father has spoken publicly about what he believed would happen — death, suicide, going out in a blaze of glory.
“That all goes to motive.”
The tougher problem, he said, will be determining why the suspects did what they did in the sequence they did.
It may also be difficult to determine why they ended up in Gillam, he said.
“Did they have some sort of a plan that flowed from a video game that they end up in northern Manitoba? What was the next step for them?”
You know what, people always roll their eyes when violent video games are blamed...but you can't tell me they don't sometimes negatively influence people who are already going in a bad direction. Like, ok, they're not a problem for most people who play them, but I think for some people they are, and Bryer was one of those people (probably Kam too).