Canada - Lucas Fowler, Chynna Deese, and Leonard Dyck, all murdered, Alaska Hwy, BC, Jul 2019 #14

[KR72]

If not that extreme, things can be, at the very least, purchased more cheaply.

AS lives in Victoria I believe. I’ve never taken the ferry from Victoria to Seattle so can’t speak to how stringent the customs officers are, and I’m sure it has ratcheted up quite a bit over the past 18 years. But it isn’t a difficult thing to go over to the US for a day to grab some cheaper, American items.

We used to do it all the time when I went to school in Kingston, Ontario, across to Watertown or even Syracuse, NY.

I've wondered about that too, but then I wonder whether or not AS would even have a passport?

Edit - Also, would he even be eligible for entry into the US given his criminal record?

 

[sprucetip]

Yes, where I live in the United States, firearms are very common in many people's homes. I realize the laws about it in Canada are quite different, but I also get the impression hunting is a popular hobby for many Canadians, so the idea that one of them had a relative with a firearm is not unlikely.

The kind of guns we can have are different but yeah, lots of families have gun collections. Or people I know did! It’s also Alberta so.... lol.

But it looks like PA has a gun club/shooting range. Maybe they went there or did some small game hunting? Who knows but it’s possible KM was familiar with and had access to guns.

 

[Massasauga Rattler]

It's odd that the Australian reporter does not have a source for the breaking news.

"Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod were wanted over the deaths of three people, including Australian man Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend, Chynna Deese. They were connected to the crimes after local university Professor Leonard Dyck was found shot dead on the side of a highway in regional far north Canada."
​

Dad of Lucas Fowler's alleged killer gave son rifle 'for play'

Reporters get all sorts of info the public does not. Most of it they don't publish because of either risk of prosecution, violation of ethics rules, or risk of being blackballed by their inside sources and losing the ability to get info in the future. Foreign reporters get the same info sometimes but are not bound or compelled to respect those same boundaries. Very good chance this Austrailian reporter knows for a fact that LD was shot.

Remember the Bernardo-Homolka trial? Canadian press had no ability to reveal most details, while the Buffalo news was putting it all on the front page.

Rembmer the Yonge Street van attack? It was US network news that spilled the name of the suspect before any Canadian press did.

 

[SnooperDuper]

Ok, this is highly amusing: the Canadian police and military use AirSoft rifles for training???

"As 60 Minutes reveals, the rifle is not just considered a harmless toy: the Canadian police and military use similar weapons for training."

Dad of Lucas Fowler's alleged killer gave son rifle 'for play'

I think not:

"Learn about the weapons used by Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members during training and operations."

Weapons - Canada.ca

Where does the Australian press come up with this stuff???

 

[Zella]

I just got through watching the "60 Minutes - Australia" piece with the AS interview. My thoughts:

-- At times, I found myself choking up, seeing the obvious pain suffered by AS as he discussed what has happened. He is tormented and will always regret the way his life, and that of Breyer, evolved. It was a painful interview to watch.

The poor man has, possibly, lost his son forever and it seemed, at times, as if the realization of that and its ramifications were just starting to hit him while he was being interviewed. It probably was not the best time for such a thing...when emotions are still so raw without having time for reflection and some settling down first.

-- The way the piece played out...it again raised some doubts deep in my mind that these two boys had anything to do with the crimes in BC...but yet, it seems obvious they were responsible for Dyck's death and the nagging real possibility that they were somehow responsible for the murder of LF and CD.

I know this has been hashed and re-hashed in the, now, 14 threads on this case...but it is still kind of surreal, like it was a movie plot and not real life. But real life has no script and can take any number of twists and turns.

-- I agree with AS that we need to see the proof connecting these teenagers with the crimes they are suspected of committing.

-- It is very, very sad that the only picture of Breyer that AS has to carry with him in his wallet is one of Breyer as a little boy...a picture that is nearly faded and scratched and not too clear to see.

-- Sarah Abo, the reporter, kept leading AS with questions accusing the boys of all three crimes.

-- I was glad the piece did include an interview with one of Kam's friends...since we know so little about him.

-- Toward the end, with the conflicting images of LF and CD hugging and the pictorial montage of them being so happy with their entire lives ahead of them, the confident and satisfied look of Professor Dyck...and the steely-eyed gaze of KM and insecure looks of BS at the co-op...I was reminded of what a tragic story this is for everyone involved, including the friends and families of all victims. It's just a heartbreaking story.

-- Maybe it will take some getting used to...but I prefer the production values of the American "60 Minutes"...maybe because I have watched it for so many years...preferring its stopwatch and set to the Australian version! (I know that's a trivial detail but I'm just laying out my thoughts and impressions here).

That battered photo in his wallet was sad. I suspect the grief will hit him even worse as the media circus dies down. I'm sure he really looked forward to those bimonthly visits, and as those come and go with no Bryer, that will really eat at him.

I also didn't much care for the reporter, to be honest. I know a journalist's job is to ask tough questions, but I felt like she ignored reasonable tough questions and instead asked him kind of stupid ones that seemed intended to make him uncomfortable and implicate him. It was kind of like she was going for a "gotcha!" tone. That's just me, though.

 

[NJSleuth91]

I suspect there is also a bit of absent father guilt there too...look at these expensive things AS got his son: the air soft gun, the tower computer for gaming (pretty sure AS said he bought that in the interview with CHEK tv), and in the last text message on July 12 to Bryer, AS mentions a $100 bottle of cologne he had just picked up for BS.

I totally agree that absent father guilt is how we get the situation of a guy living in a van yet spending hundreds of dollars on his son.

Bryer did earn the computer though -- his dad got it for him as payment for the construction work he did.

Yes, I'm sure it was! I think Bryer still probably had some underlying resentment toward his father, too, though they ostensibly were getting along. I noticed that he didn't bother telling his dad they were leaving on the 12th, despite knowing that would have been when he would come to visit, though at the very least, the day before he was telling his great-uncle and grandma he was leaving. That struck me as quite rude--I would never do that to my dad, but he and I are very close. It seemed really passive-aggressive to me, actually.

Edited to add: He also apparently responded to messages from grandma early in the trip but never even viewed his father's attempts to contact him.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was still a lot of residual resentments.

AS is a weird mix of poor judgment, guilelessness, probable substance abuse, and at times astute insight often out of reach of normal parents. It’s really quite a confounding melange.

Yeah this is such a great way of putting it...it's like a roller coaster. I guess with as odd and going between two extremes (polite and quiet vs. angry and psycho) as Bryer seemed to be, makes sense that his dad would also be a maelstrom of contradictions and weirdities.

Would that still be true if Bryer were found to have a severe developmental disability? If his mental age was, say, 8 years old? Just curious. Is it hard and fast, and based only on chronological age? Would that have been enough for him to plead innocent based on mental health?

I'm guessing that any good defense attorney would ask that he be assessed thoroughly and I wonder what would have happened if he turned out to be both emotionally and mentally way below his apparent age.

I highly doubt it because I think the school system would have realized it if it were that extreme, and he wouldn't have been able to work construction or get as far as he did in school. Now, these guys clearly weren't Rhodes Scholars, but I don't think they were at the level of severe intellectual impairment...they seemed fairly average.

 

[ktm44]

Yes, where I live in the United States, firearms are very common in many people's homes. I realize the laws about it in Canada are quite different, but I also get the impression hunting is a popular hobby for many Canadians, so the idea that one of them had a relative with a firearm is not unlikely.

I don't think members from other countries fully understand the full extent of Canadian firearms laws. If a firearm was provided by a family member before they departed, that family member and and would very likely be charged, if neither was legally able to posess a firearm (PAL).

If they simply stole a firearm from a family member, there is still a chance that family member could be charged because of our safe storage laws. Firearms are to be locked up in such a way that they can't be easily accessed. Failure to comply will result in the owner being charged and losing their PAL and firearms.

Hunting is popular up here but the fear of losing one's firearms is great. If you loan a firearm to someone who is caught hunting illegally, that firearm will be seized.

 

[Seattle1]

It's odd that the Australian reporter does not have a source for the breaking news.

You can't have it both ways!

RCMP may very well have provided the information to the investigative reporter but would not go on record.

I believe they were confident in their source to report it just as they reported Lucas and Chynna shot without confirmation from RCMP.

MOO

 

[10ofRods]

I’ve been struck by the failure of journalists to pursue the subject of Bryer Schmegelsky’s Airsoft gun. This post combines, and slightly amends, some earlier comments.

There is an obvious question that the journalist from Australian 60 Minutes, and for that matter other journalists, should have asked Alan Schmegelsky: Do you have the Airsoft gun?

If he has it, one would think that Australian 60 Minutes would show it. If he doesn’t, one would think that the programme would say where Schmegelsky thinks it is and last saw it. It’s possible, of course, that the RCMP have it, but even that would tell us that the Airsoft did not go with Schmegelsky and McLeod when they left Port Alberni.

I also would have thought that the show, or some other journalist, would say what model Airsoft gun it is and show a decent picture of it in addition to the indistinct photo of Bryer Schmegelsky lying on the ground with it.

60 Minutes, presumably speaking of Australian dollars, says that Alan Schmegelsky paid $600 for the gun. That’s CAD540. Less 12% sales tax, that’s about CAD475 or USD375.

I am struck by the fact that Alan Schmegelsky paid that kind of money for one. He is clearly not well off, and that is at the higher end of the Airsoft market. It is overkill for what Alan Schmegelsky says was the purpose, playing around with friends in the woods (about which, more below).

He purchased the gun for Bryer when Bryer was 17. I’m no expert on who Airsoft purchasers are, but I would have thought that a 17 year old would be more interested in learning to use a real gun, especially with that kind of money being spent.

In Alan’s place, I would have encouraged Bryer to join the Port Alberni Fish and Game Club: Alberni Fish and Game Club

This option would have been quite a bit cheaper, and more useful, than paying CAD540 (with tax) for a toy gun. The club’s annual fee is fairly low and it has an active shooting programme. If it’s like my club, it encourages young people, members teach for free and there is probably a club gun that young people can borrow. Bryer could shoot at the club without a gun license, but he would be encouraged to take the gun safety course, which costs about CAD160. This would make it possible to get a full gun license when he turned 18.

In the meantime, with the gun safety course under his belt, he could get a Minor’s License, which would enable him to borrow a gun if he wanted to go target shooting on his own. But the fact is, if you have a gun club membership, target shooting in the woods is not particularly alluring.

Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but I also wonder whether being in a shooting club environment would have set him on a path different from the one he was on.

Alan Schmegelsky says that he purchased the Airsoft gun so that Bryer could shoot in the woods with his friends. Who are these friends? Do they even exist? As far as I know, not a single person who Bryer Schmegelsky was playing Airsoft games with in the woods, presumably also an Airsoft owner, has been identified or interviewed. In any event, for that purpose paint guns would have made more sense.

Edit: @CanadianMade points out that paint guns are environmentally unfriendly and messy. That may be so, but I know for a fact that neither deters some players in rural areas.

I agree that he should have been part of a gun club and that would have been the best route for a teen gun lover (I know several, some of them definitely quite troubled during their teens; gun club was a real benefit to them). However, I think you're overestimating B's social abilities. Apparently, he didn't fit in anywhere. Although he was polite to adults, it doesn't sound like he did a lot of activities that brought him into consistent contact with adults (alternative school can mean way less social interaction, mostly one-on-one in many cases, not the way to learn the ropes of actual adult social interaction). Gun club members don't brook any nonsense whatsoever, IME. Almost any kid can be polite to an adult when it gets them something, but over time, cracks appear in that demeanor if the kid is truly as troubled as I think BS was.

Did anyone figure out what model the expensive air soft gun was? What its fps might be? Does it really qualify as an "airsoft" gun under Canadian law or is it classified as a gun? I'm still betting that something that expensive was in the so-called "sniper" class and was well over the 500 fps that gets it qualified, under Canadian law as an "air gun" rather a toy gun. At that price, it's consistent with the highest velocity air guns on the market, and those often come with the extras shown in the pictures.

Air Guns - Royal Canadian Mounted Police


MOO

 

[SnooperDuper]

Reporters get all sorts of info the public does not. Most of it they don't publish because of either risk of prosecution, violation of ethics rules, or risk of being blackballed by their inside sources and losing the ability to get info in the future. Foreign reporters get the same info sometimes but are not bound or compelled to respect those same boundaries. Very good chance this Austrailian reporter knows for a fact that LD was shot.

Remember the Bernardo-Homolka trial? Canadian press had no ability to reveal most details, while the Buffalo news was putting it all on the front page.

Rembmer the Yonge Street van attack? It was US network news that spilled the name of the suspect before any Canadian press did.

Social media beat the US media in announcing Alek Minassian's name.

I think the Aus press is making up a lot of "facts", like the idea (lol) that the Canadian military trains with AirSoft guns.

 

[CanadianMade]

You can't have it both ways!

RCMP may very well have provided the information to the investigative reporter but would not go on record.

I believe they were confident in their source to report it just as they reported Lucas and Chynna shot without confirmation from RCMP.

MOO

Whether it is truthful or not, isn't it a bit disrespectful to the family of the victim who asked for the COD to not be released?

 

[Zella]

I highly doubt it because I think the school system would have realized it if it were that extreme, and he wouldn't have been able to work construction or get as far as he did in school. Now, these guys clearly weren't Rhodes Scholars, but I don't think they were at the level of severe intellectual impairment...they seemed fairly average.

SBM

Agreed! I don't think either of them were future Einsteins, but I also don't get the impression either of them were intellectually disabled. In fact, I would think if they had been so impaired, that would have been announced as a matter of urgency when they were considered missing. They give the impression of being fairly average. I would like to see video footage of them talking, just to get a better impression of them, but everybody who encountered them on their road trip odyssey seemed to find them average and relatively unremarkable. I think it was the clerk at that last gas station who just kept saying over and over again that they seemed like normal, quiet guys.

I don't think members from other countries fully understand the full extent of Canadian firearms laws. If a firearm was provided by a family member before they departed, that family member and and would very likely be charged, if neither was legally able to posess a firearm (PAL).

If they simply stole a firearm from a family member, there is still a chance that family member could be charged because of our safe storage laws. Firearms are to be locked up in such a way that they can't be easily accessed. Failure to comply will result in the owner being charged and losing their PAL and firearms.

Hunting is popular up here but the fear of losing one's firearms is great. If you loan a firearm to someone who is caught hunting illegally, that firearm will be seized.

That's fair enough! Thank you for the information!

 

[Massasauga Rattler]

Social media beat the US media in announcing Alek Minassian's name.

I think the Aus press is making up a lot of "facts", like the idea (lol) that the Canadian military trains with AirSoft guns.

Social media beat the US media in announcing Alek Minassian's name.

And your point is what? The US media was not constrained by any social or legal necessity, hence revealed the name. So what if it was on social media first? If it was on SM first, then the Canadian press had the same access, but either did not post it because they were strongarmed into not posting it (for whatever reasons, political or otherwise), OR they were were much less competent than the US press.

I think the Aus press is making up a lot of "facts", like the idea (lol) that the Canadian military trains with AirSoft guns.

Not saying the do, but how do you know they don't?

 

[Deleted member 248860]

Yes, where I live in the United States, firearms are very common in many people's homes. I realize the laws about it in Canada are quite different, but I also get the impression hunting is a popular hobby for many Canadians, so the idea that one of them had a relative with a firearm is not unlikely.

It’s entirely possible that Kam McLeod had a gun license and a gun of his own, or “borrowed” one from a relative. If so, the RCMP undoubtedly know all about it. For one thing, the RCMP runs the national gun license registry.

Port Alberni is rural enough that there are probably a fair number of people who hunt, making rifles and shotguns not uncommon, and there is also a local fish and game/shooting club.

 

[Link Haze]

That battered photo in his wallet was sad. I suspect the grief will hit him even worse as the media circus dies down. I'm sure he really looked forward to those bimonthly visits, and as those come and go with no Bryer, that will really eat at him.

I also didn't much care for the reporter, to be honest. I know a journalist's job is to ask tough questions, but I felt like she ignored reasonable tough questions and instead asked him kind of stupid ones that seemed intended to make him uncomfortable and implicate him. It was kind of like she was going for a "gotcha!" tone. That's just me, though.

That's the impression I got from the journalist. She comes across as very cold and without empathy, very accusatory. She made ME feel uncomfortable just watching her. She has a bit of a smirk on her face, as if she delights in trying to call him out for what's happened.

 

[otto]

You can't have it both ways!

RCMP may very well have provided the information to the investigative reporter but would not go on record.

I believe they were confident in their source to report it just as they reported Lucas and Chynna shot without confirmation from RCMP.

MOO

The RCMP secretly gave information to an Australian reporter while publicly stating that the cause of death would not be released out of respect for Dr Dyck and his family? That's odd.

 

[Zella]

That's the impression I got from the journalist. She comes across as very cold and without empathy, very accusatory. She made ME feel uncomfortable just watching her. She has a bit of a smirk on her face, as if she delights in trying to call him out for what's happened.

It was the smirk that got me too! I'd have to rewatch the piece, but I think if she had asked the same questions with a more neutral facial expression, it wouldn't have rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[Massasauga Rattler]

The RCMP secretly gave information to an Australian reporter while publicly stating that the cause of death would not be released out of respect for Dr Dyck and his family? That's odd.

Leaks happen all the time. To think they don't is completely naive. Ever invested in the stock market?

 

[KR72]

That's the impression I got from the journalist. She comes across as very cold and without empathy, very accusatory. She made ME feel uncomfortable just watching her. She has a bit of a smirk on her face, as if she delights in trying to call him out for what's happened.

She's also not very good at her job. She called Canadian provinces states, and referred to Manitoba as being remote, when she should have said that parts of Northern Manitoba are remote.

 

[CanadianMade]

Not sure if this is allowed to be posted here, but I have found that most of the photos I have seen of him actually haven't made him look that happy, and I think this one is great so I wanted to share(sorry if it Has been posted or if it's not allowed).

Plant Biologist Killed on Solo Camping Trip in British Columbia