Canada - Lucas Fowler, Chynna Deese, and Leonard Dyck, all murdered, Alaska Hwy, BC, Jul 2019 #21

[Kubirai]

... died from blunt force trauma before a coroner moved the body and they found a single entry and exit wound and a single bullet buried nearby.

the report says " single entry/exit wound " which is a bit confusing. Perhaps the coroner turned over the body, and discovered a single location where the bullet entered OR exited. The other location was perhaps not recognizable, due to other types of injuries on top.

 

[Satchie]

Surely, this can only be a best guess as to who shot who first? Either gun with either bullets could have been used by either suspect. Sure its likely Kam put the weasel out of his misery - he could have been ready to surrender or begin talking of politics - but with rcmp unwilling to confirm BS being shot in the head, there is more than one way these 'suicides' could have gone.

Then, there's that still photo from their cellphone which rcmp said showed Kam only from the waist up. What a strange, superfluous description to add to an ordinary photo. But, wasn't Kam found leaning up against a tree? Maybe dead?

The medical examiner/coroner determines this, not police, and it's a very precise science. They'd look primarily at the location of the entry wound: there's a lot of places it's not physically possible to shoot yourself. Also, they can determine how far away the gun was when it was fired, which gun it was, what fingerprints were on it, was the body moved after it fell, etc. Various things will add up to certainty, not a guess.

 

[1987]

the 101 code identifies unknown plant people republic of china in the index I linked last page

 

[CanadianSleuther]

Surely, this can only be a best guess as to who shot who first? Either gun with either bullets could have been used by either suspect. Sure its likely Kam put the weasel out of his misery - he could have been ready to surrender or begin talking of politics - but with RCMP unwilling to confirm BS being shot in the head, there is more than one way these 'suicides' could have gone.

Then, there's that still photo from their cellphone which rcmp said showed Kam only from the waist up. What a strange, superfluous description to add to an ordinary photo. But, wasn't Kam found leaning up against a tree? Maybe dead?

I think it's safe to say that Kam did kill Bryer. But I'm curious what the toxicology report will say. Was either one of them high on drugs and/or drunk? It was rumored (not sure if it was ever confirmed) that Bryer was ADHD and was on ritalin. So maybe Kam and Bryer took large amount of Ritalin to numb their emotions.

 

[Satchie]

I had a similar thought. I didnt understand why they thought they were trapped. If they got there, why couldn't they turn around and go back out the same way?

Maybe they did go back intending to 'kill more people' as they'd announced, but saw police patrolling and ran back to where they felt safe. I recall, in the first days a large contingent of police were searching around the abandoned hydro construction camp out that way.

Then, I wonder how much and what kind of food they had. I've gone backpacking and it's hard to carry enough food for more than a few days, even when it's freeze-dried and you have a lightweight cooking stove, fuel, pots and easy access to water. These guys were big eaters, I think.

Then there was the bugs.

Then, as Hackett said, the weather turned nasty after a few days: cold and rainy. Their sleeping bags may have gotten wet (I doubt they had a tent). They were sleeping on bare ground, I bet. And again, the bugs.

This was nothing like camping as most people experience it. No hot showers, roaring fires, s'mores. Miserable.

 

[FactFinder3000]

RCMP in British Columbia - Overview of Fort Nelson and Dease Lake Homicide Investigation

From the report is this summary of the six videos. Note how is appears that Schmegelsky does most of the talking and Kam agrees. Just part of why I feel Schmegelsky was the ideological leader. bbm.

1. The video is 58 seconds long and both McLeod and Schmegelsky are observed in the video. Schmegelsky states they are responsible for the three murders. They were going to march to Hudson Bay where they planned to highjack a boat and go to Europe or Africa;
2. This video is 51 seconds long and Schmegelsky states they had reached the river which is very big and fast moving and they may have to commit suicide to which McLeod agrees. They again take credit for killing 3 people and express no remorse;
3. This video is 32 seconds long and Schmegelsky says they have shaved in preparation for their own death. They now plan to go back to kill more people and expect to be dead in a week;
4. This video is 19 seconds long and they describe they are going to shoot themselves;
5. This video is 6 seconds long and appeared to have been taken unintentionally;
6. This video is 31 seconds long and McLeod and Schmegelsky state this is their last will and testament and express their wish to be cremated.

 

[LoisLane]

Reporters wouldn’t have received the stills until after July 19th because prior to the burning truck and camper hitting the radar and the two deemed missing, nobody was on the lookout for them. During one of the PCs, police told reporters they were focusing where they might presently be, not their prior route so that’s probably why there was no need to publish or confirm prior Yukon travels, since police knew they were no longer anywhere near there by the time the truck was found burning.

I guess there is a rationale to their decisions but considering the attempt on the guy at Haines Junction maybe he would have come forward sooner and also it could have reached more people to be on alert and could have led to their capture sooner.

 

[Arizona 123]

Based on that excellent article that went up Friday from the Globe and Mail I wanted to post the photos and an updated map on where exactly they found Kam and Bryer. I also included all the evidence markers in the Google Maps image I made. Interesting, Bryer and Kam did not make it as far as we were lead to believe according to the map shown in that mini video documentary with the Mayor of Gillam. The original map that went up had given them about an additional mile further down the river. Also notice, the spot where they killed themselves. I can't for the life of me believe they were ever trapped there or couldn't get back up the slope. The bottom of those cliff faces, absolutely, they would have been trapped. But those toppled trees falling down into the river where the bank collapsed would have made for fairly easy climbing back up to the woods. They chose this spot when they were ready.

Thank you very much for this most excellent post, and the photos.

Speaking as someone who has offtrail-overland mountain hiking as a major hobby, getting up an ovegrown/wooded ravine line that would be relatively trivial. They might, if it was more vertical than it looks, need to improvise in a few tough spots, such as break off tree limb to use as a helper. Still, the idea that two relatively healthy teens could be trapped there is not viable, not even at their massive level of incompetence, unless there was something else blocking them.

So, how did they get there? My original guess was they took Sundance creek to the water's edge, but it'd be a lot of slogging and rock-hopping to work their way along the foot of that river cliff. There is a sort of a trail along the clifftop, so what I'm speculating now is that the clifftop trail was what they were using, until searchers were looking in that area, causing the suspects to slither down the ravine to the river's edge, thus "trapping" themselves between the river, the cliffs, and the searchers.

 

[Chickadea]

Snippets from the RCMP report:

100% complete coincidence, that could never have been planned, I know.
Yet the time being the same is intriguing and a bit eerie. JMO

On Monday, July 15, 2019, at approximately 7:19 a.m., the Fort Nelson RCMP responded to a report of two deceased persons near Highway 97, south of the Liard River Hot Springs in British Columbia.

On July 19, 2019 at approximately 7:19 a.m., the Dease Lake RCMP responded to a vehicle fire on Highway 37.


RCMP in British Columbia - Overview of Fort Nelson and Dease Lake Homicide Investigation

Also from the same report
RCMP in British Columbia - Overview of Fort Nelson and Dease Lake Homicide Investigation[/QUOTE]

suspect movements across Canada
2019/07/14 0:00 Chetwynd, BC

2019/07/22 0:00 Gillam, MB

Weird

 

[LoisLane]

I have to wonder, though, if the rain pants weren't LD's. I honestly doubt whether KM and AS had enough foresight (or money) to think to bring foul weather gear along. They would have had to have known where they were ultimately headed.

While there are inexpensive versions of foul weather gear, the only type worth owning (IMO) are the quality of Helly Hansen, Gill, etc. I used to sail on deep sea-going tankers and the cheap stuff would just tear and fall apart if you even brushed up against something rough. Nobody who needed such "clothing" on a regular basis would have purchased the junky crap a person might find in a dollar store. Not that the two killers made common-sense decisions, of course.

If their end game was legit to hijack a ship maybe they did plan ahead. Most likely Kam had access to some quality wet gear from his home or dad’s business.

 

[bcgirl]

If only the world had more people like Ed Grennan. What a beautiful story.

He’s a trucker who travels down the Alaska Highway each week from Whitehorse to Fort Nelson then back, and on each trip he’d pass the spot where Chynna and Lucas were killed.

It bothered him to see no trace of the people who died there. He thought of his daughter, gone 20 years now. He thought of Chynna and Lucas and their family. He couldn’t let the spot sit empty.

One morning he put a flower arrangement in the 18-wheeler and started a makeshift memorial. Each time he’d pass, he’d bring something to add. A local television station did a story on him, and soon he connected with Chynna’s family and Lucas’s family and started personalizing it. He put sunflowers, her favorite flower, on top of a stake that holds the Australian flag. The family that owns the ranch where Lucas worked dropped off his old work boots. Now, passers-by bring things, mostly flowers, but sometimes handwritten notes and signs.

View attachment 206823

Before one of his runs, he sent Sheila a message to tell her he was leaving Fort Nelson. He said he’d let her know when he made it to the memorial in four or five hours. “I’ll be saying a prayer,” he said. “And if you say a prayer then, too, then we’ll be praying for her at the same time.”

“It just looks so beautiful, in every photo,” Sheila Deese tells me, flipping through the pictures from Grennan. It’s a beautiful place for a memorial, Grennan figures.

He contacted the Fort Nelson First Nation, the native people who’ve inhabited the land for thousands of years and told them he hoped the memorial would heal the “badness in the land,” brought on by the killers.

He worries about the bison trampling it, or the bears eating some of it. But for now, it remains undisturbed.

People come from hundreds of miles away just to visit. Others slam on the brakes after passing it. One day recently, Grennan parked and watched another trucker pull onto the shoulder and walk toward it.

The trucker stared down at the photos of Chynna and Lucas, flanked by the Australian flag and the U.S. flag and the boots. Grennan, whose daughter would be in her early 40s by now, kept watching the man, until he heard a sound. There in the quiet of northern British Columbia on the eve of autumn, the season when the tourists leave and nights grow long, the other trucker started humming “Amazing Grace,” before breaking down into tears, surrounded by mountains and clovers and wildflowers.

The world knows Chynna Deese because of how she died. Now her family wants to make sure we remember how she lived.

Thank you for posting this.......brought me to tears. SD shared a valid point.....I too am so tired of seeing "the faces of them" on every page. Must be so painful for the families of the victims.

 

[LoisLane]

Barge Towing service. But yes, based on photos on their company website, it looks like Kam had no problem obtaining rain pants. Not saying he was ever working for his dad though. I could never picture him doing that kind of manual labor. Or Bryer for that matter. Kam of course could have certainly purchased his own pair, if his parents didn't buy them for him. Perhaps Keith even asked him at one point to come work for him, but Kam probably said; "Thanks, but nothing got me thank you."

I’m totally the opposite about KM working with dad. He most likely started out at as a young boy on those boats and participated in excursions that were safer than others as he got older. The line of work may not have had something he could be involved in without experience and worksafe rules but I imagine they have other jobs he could have done. He had a pretty expensive truck and camper that he may have had to earn.

 

[SovereignSnake]

RCMP in British Columbia - Overview of Fort Nelson and Dease Lake Homicide Investigation

From the report is this summary of the six videos. Note how is appears that Schmegelsky does most of the talking and Kam agrees. Just part of why I feel Schmegelsky was the ideological leader. bbm.

1. The video is 58 seconds long and both McLeod and Schmegelsky are observed in the video. Schmegelsky states they are responsible for the three murders. They were going to march to Hudson Bay where they planned to highjack a boat and go to Europe or Africa;
2. This video is 51 seconds long and Schmegelsky states they had reached the river which is very big and fast moving and they may have to commit suicide to which McLeod agrees. They again take credit for killing 3 people and express no remorse;
3. This video is 32 seconds long and Schmegelsky says they have shaved in preparation for their own death. They now plan to go back to kill more people and expect to be dead in a week;
4. This video is 19 seconds long and they describe they are going to shoot themselves;
5. This video is 6 seconds long and appeared to have been taken unintentionally;
6. This video is 31 seconds long and McLeod and Schmegelsky state this is their last will and testament and express their wish to be cremated.

I would even also suggest there was some equal give and take on both sides. Bryer sounds like he was the entertainer, the hype and the spokesperson and the dreamer but Kam was like his supportive boyfriend or "husband" so to speak. Kam was like Bryer's rock it seems. I don't think he feared Kam, I think he was inspired and motivated by him. Bryer probably made Kam feel "alive" and for what it's worth, genuinely happy. Kam clearly had more responsibility than Bryer. He had a permit to buy a gun, he was the driver, he provided a vehicle, even provided the camper (their home away from home) and now with the Dease Lake surveillance photos surfacing earlier today we get a sense Kam was also footing a lot of the bills I suspect. Kam bought the new rifle at Cabela's. I bet he even paid for the majority of the gas. In fact I think most of the trip was financed by Kam. Food, their stops at the hardware stores in Vanderhoof and Meadow Lake. It was never brought up in the report but I don't think they ever bought a tent like I had originally wondered. Then again, it sounds more they planned to jump from vehicle to vehicle after they successfully made off with the RAV. I mentioned weeks ago it was possible they also could no longer afford a tent when they concluded they were "marching to the Hudson Bay." Another thing, I don't remember if it was ever totally established if Kam had worked at Walmart longer than the five weeks Bryer was there but I think Kam stockpiled most of his earnings. I bet he was also sitting on a big chunk of graduation money still from the previous summer. He probably got a considerable amount from his parents. I bet they even gave him the pickup when he got his driver's license. I think Kam's parents tried to give him as normal as of a life as possible. Anyway, factor in the unbelievable amount of miles they put on throughout, all that gas money, the new gun, food and any other supplies I think burned through their funds like wildfire. In fact I still sense that 15 dollars in gas they bought in Split Lake may have been their last. I wonder where Kam stored all the cash because I don't think there was any indication they paid anywhere electronically or hit up an ATM. I'm sure he emptied his bank account too before he left town.

 

[SovereignSnake]

I’m totally the opposite about KM working with dad. He most likely started out at as a young boy on those boats and participated in excursions that were safer than others as he got older. The line of work may not have had something he could be involved in without experience and workspace rules but I imagine they have other jobs he could have done. He had a pretty expensive truck and camper that he may have had to earn.

@LoisLane I feel you on this. I can agree Kam was perhaps doing some kind of minor role in his Dad's business at some point or growing up with it as a backdrop but I can't picture anything substantial. He may have even lost interest in it completely as he grew up and formed his own identity. I remember when we were kids, my Grandpa owned a "fur farm" (mink and fox) right down the road from our house. We used to help out and my brothers, the neighbor boy and I would all talk about how we were going to take it over when we got older. Obviously it was all just childhood fantasies. Then the business tanked in the early 90's and never recovered. In fact he had partnerships in Seattle and Toronto. Anyway, it was always there as a backdrop during our childhood and we helped out how we could in little roles. I guess, in a sense we were raised on it. Like it sounds ridiculous now, raising animals for fashion but at that time it was perfectly normal. Looking back on it now, I will always cherish that experience but I could never have done something like that for the rest of my life. What you said above though, I could see Kam having a similar experience growing up with his Dad's Barge Towing business, but ultimately it would never be for him.

P.S. Pardon my typo at the end of my original post there. It should have read; "Thanks, but nothing for me thank you."

 

[Iwondertoo]

Regarding whether KM shot BS, could it just be that BS had no recent gunshot residue on his hands so the RCMP know KM shot him? (Or the shot was to the back of the head as mentioned.)

 

[Optics]

Sleuthers check this article out look at #1 - 6 different locations for his crime scene. Also #4 - Didn't Alan Schmegelsky say he never owned a gun?
https://www.peacearchnews.com/video...uYT027SfNl-LBrAOCaeAbbAqwmJTf65dUxibSYEtaLAJQ
Police released new details into the nationwide case of two Port Alberni men in final report ASHLEY WADHWANISept. 29, 2019 9:35 a.m.
It was a two week manhunt that shook communities across Canada and made headlines as far as Australia and North Carolina. The case of three northern B.C. homicides and the hunt for suspects Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod came to a close Friday in a 5,000-word report released by the RCMP.

But while the report answered some long, lingering questions – such as confirmation that the two young Port Alberni men fatally shot botanist lecturer Leonard Dyck, American tourist Chynna Deese and her Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler – a number of pertinent details will likely never be known, including their motive for the slayings.

Here’s a look at six details in the case investigators found after McLeod and Schmegelsky were found dead by suicide on Aug. 7:

1. Leonard Dyck’s body was moved after he was killed
On July 19, just before 8:30 a.m., a highway worker notified a Dease Lake RCMP officer responding to a burnt truck along Highway 37 that he had found a dead man at a highway pullout just two kilometres south.

The man would later be identified as Dyck, a 56-year-old botanist lecturer from UBC in Vancouver. Police would also later determine from a recovered licence plate that the burnt out white Dodge truck belonged to McLeod.

While the BC Coroners Service could not confirm the exact day that Dyck was killed, police do know that McLeod and Schmegelsky killed Deese and Fowler on July 15 – 546 kilometres, or a 7.5 hour drive, away from where Dyck’s body was discovered.

On July 20, as police started processing the crime scene near Dease Lake, the coroner confirmed that Dyck’s body had been moved from an unknown location. Out of consideration for his family, police won’t be releasing any details about Dyck’s death, other than he was shot with a SKS semi-automatic rifle, as well as suffered injuries to his head and body, including bruises and burn marks.

A total of six scenes were found by police in connection to the fugitives and Dyck within a 50-kilometre radius of where the lecturer was found. Dyck’s silver RAV4 would not be found at any of these locations, as McLeod and Schmegelsky stole it and drove it 3,000 kilometres to Gillam, Man.

2. List of random items purchased by Schmegelsky, McLeod
Through surveillance footage and receipts, the police report included rather random details on the various items purchased by the pair over their two weeks on the lam.


The first and most relevant item, purchased when the two left Port Alberni on July 12, was a SKS semi-automatic rifle that Schmegelsky purchased with a Possession and Acquisition License at a Cabela’s outdoor sporting goods store in Nanaimo.

Other items included a cowboy hat purchased at a gas station in Fort Nelson on July 14, less than 24 hours before they killed Deese and Fowler.

On July 15, after crossing into the Yukon, the pair were in a Whitehorse gas station where McLeod was caught on surveillance footage buying a 20-litre gas jerry can, with the cowboy hat on. The jerry can nozzle was later found at the scene of their burnt white Dodge truck.

They also bought doughnut packages, a Coffee Crisp chocolate bar and two pairs of gloves at a local store in Dease Lake on the afternoon of July 18.

They went on to buy a crow bar and electrical tape at a Vanderhoof hardware store – the tape being used to make racing stripes on the hood of the stolen RAV4 to change its appearance.

3. 41 days worth of CCTV footage reviewed, 1,500 tips chased
As the manhunt led the provincial, national and even international news cycle within days of Schmegelsky and McLeod being named as suspects in the three killings, police officers parsed through more than 1,500 tips between July 16 to Aug. 4. While some were made through Crime Stoppers, 911 and the dedicated tip line, a number were made at detachment counters across the country.

ALSO READ: Photo spreading online is not B.C. fugitive Kam McLeod: RCMP

In B.C., there were up to 160 police officers and employees working extended shifts to review more than 1,000 hours (or 41 days) of surveillance footage as the ground and aerial search took place in Manitoba.

Some of the tips that were determined to be unfounded included the fugitives being spotted in the U.S. and as far as Ontario.

Kam McLeod (left) and Bryer Schmegelsky (right) spotted at a hardware store in Meadow Lake, Sask., on July 21, 2019. Both are wanted in a string of homicides in northern B.C. (RCMP handout)
4. Fugitives did head to the Yukon after all
According to police, the families of McLeod and Schmegelsky were under the impression the two had decided to leave their jobs at the Port Alberni Walmart and headed to the Yukon to look for work.


After their burnt truck was found, police contacted family members who described the pair as “good kids,” who had been sending them photos of their trip over text message. The last contact they had with their families was on July 17, police said.

Initially, police were treating them as missing persons until July 22 when they were added to the police database as suspects and arrestable in the murders of Dyck, Deese and Fowler. By then, the two were already in Thompson, Man., based on surveillance footage processed well after the two had left the area.

But before Manitoba, after they killed Deese and Fowler and before killing Dyck, the two did in fact cross the border into the Yukon on July 15, stopping at a gas station. According to police, Schmegelsky had hunted with his father in the area a number of times.

They stayed in the area until the evening of July 17. Over the course of those two days they were seen at two gas stations and by a traffic control supervisor who found them stopped along the Alaska Highway with apparent car troubles. The supervisor told police they offered assistance, but the fugitives declined help and continued heading back to B.C.

5. Police still don’t know where the second gun came from
Investigators found two SKS firearms near the bodies of Schmegelsky and McLeod in Gillam– one legally purchased in Nanaimo, and another of unknown origin.


Ashley Wadhwani@ashwadhwani
Replying to @ashwadhwani

Lastly: On Aug 7 police find bodies of the two young men, 8 km away from burnt RAV4
2 SKS semi-automatic rifles near bodies, used in killings of Deese, Fowler, Dyck --> one legally bought in Nanaimo, second remains unclear
Dyck's camera also found with 6 videos, 3 photos
3:03 PM - Sep 27, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy

See Ashley Wadhwani's other Tweets
Police have been able to link both guns to the three slayings, as well as what they have described as a “suicide pact” between the two young men.

Investigators likely won’t find the owner of the second gun, an older-style SKS, as it has numerous serial numbers leading police to believe it was created by parts from various different weapons.

6. Confessed murderers had plans to kill others
Although they didn’t leave behind any details as to why they committed the three murders, Schmegelsky and McLeod contemplated killing others while in Gillam.


Police recovered a digital camera, which belonged to Dyck, near the pair’s bodies. Although forensic specialists have been unable to recover any time stamps, six videos and three images were found. Within those six videos are a confession, a plan to march to Hudson Bay and hijack a boat to flee to Africa or Europe, and discussion of suicide.

The third video, 32 second longs, depicts Schmegelsky saying to the camera that they had shaved in preparation for their deaths and planned to “go back to kill more people and expect to be dead in a week.”

None of those videos or photos will ever be released to the public, police said, in order to avoid copycat killers or influence people to commit acts of targeted violence.

@ashwadhwani

ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

 

[LoisLane]

Sleuthers check this article out look at #1 - 6 different locations for his crime scene. Also #4 - Didn't Alan Schmegelsky say he never owned a gun?
https://www.peacearchnews.com/video...uYT027SfNl-LBrAOCaeAbbAqwmJTf65dUxibSYEtaLAJQ

Not only that he said he never gave his son a real gun. I guess he meant to say “except for hunting”. But not ever had he mentioned hunting in interviews.

SBM:

“But before Manitoba, after they killed Deese and Fowler and before killing Dyck, the two did in fact cross the border into the Yukon on July 15, stopping at a gas station. According to police, Schmegelsky had hunted with his father in the area a number of times.”
[/QUOTE]

 

[Trooper]

The last contact they had with their families was on July 17, police said.

police do know that McLeod and Schmegelsky killed Deese and Fowler on July 15 – 546 kilometres, or a 7.5 hour drive, away from where Dyck’s body was discovered.

The last time those parents spoke to their sons, they were already murderers. Of a woman and a man. That's what those parents have to carry. That they spoke to their son, a murderer.. a double murderer and they Did. Not. Have. A. Clue. They never picked it up, they never had, and they never would have.

That the last thing their son/s did was fool them, and K and B would have got a little jolt of thrill doing that. 'if only dad knew!".... titter , titter.

They would have been as cool as cucumbers too, because that's how psychopaths roll. You'd never know. Their heartrate would not have altered one iota. Not an extra squirt of adrenaline.

So when the police rang, about Prof Dycks vehicle, and then rang back with the news about Prof Dycks body, then linked it to Chynna and Lucas's murder, all those parents knew they'd been done over, like never before. Even AS knows this. Deep down, truly, he does. He may never come totally to grips with it, but in his bones, he knows.

 

[Iwondertoo]

Sleuthers check this article out look at #1 - 6 different locations for his crime scene. Also #4 - Didn't Alan Schmegelsky say he never owned a gun?
https://www.peacearchnews.com/video...uYT027SfNl-LBrAOCaeAbbAqwmJTf65dUxibSYEtaLAJQ
Police released new details into the nationwide case of two Port Alberni men in final report ASHLEY WADHWANISept. 29, 2019 9:35 a.m.
It was a two week manhunt that shook communities across Canada and made headlines as far as Australia and North Carolina. The case of three northern B.C. homicides and the hunt for suspects Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod came to a close Friday in a 5,000-word report released by the RCMP.

But while the report answered some long, lingering questions – such as confirmation that the two young Port Alberni men fatally shot botanist lecturer Leonard Dyck, American tourist Chynna Deese and her Australian boyfriend Lucas Fowler – a number of pertinent details will likely never be known, including their motive for the slayings.

Here’s a look at six details in the case investigators found after McLeod and Schmegelsky were found dead by suicide on Aug. 7:

1. Leonard Dyck’s body was moved after he was killed
On July 19, just before 8:30 a.m., a highway worker notified a Dease Lake RCMP officer responding to a burnt truck along Highway 37 that he had found a dead man at a highway pullout just two kilometres south.

The man would later be identified as Dyck, a 56-year-old botanist lecturer from UBC in Vancouver. Police would also later determine from a recovered licence plate that the burnt out white Dodge truck belonged to McLeod.

While the BC Coroners Service could not confirm the exact day that Dyck was killed, police do know that McLeod and Schmegelsky killed Deese and Fowler on July 15 – 546 kilometres, or a 7.5 hour drive, away from where Dyck’s body was discovered.

On July 20, as police started processing the crime scene near Dease Lake, the coroner confirmed that Dyck’s body had been moved from an unknown location. Out of consideration for his family, police won’t be releasing any details about Dyck’s death, other than he was shot with a SKS semi-automatic rifle, as well as suffered injuries to his head and body, including bruises and burn marks.

A total of six scenes were found by police in connection to the fugitives and Dyck within a 50-kilometre radius of where the lecturer was found. Dyck’s silver RAV4 would not be found at any of these locations, as McLeod and Schmegelsky stole it and drove it 3,000 kilometres to Gillam, Man.

2. List of random items purchased by Schmegelsky, McLeod
Through surveillance footage and receipts, the police report included rather random details on the various items purchased by the pair over their two weeks on the lam.


The first and most relevant item, purchased when the two left Port Alberni on July 12, was a SKS semi-automatic rifle that Schmegelsky purchased with a Possession and Acquisition License at a Cabela’s outdoor sporting goods store in Nanaimo.

Other items included a cowboy hat purchased at a gas station in Fort Nelson on July 14, less than 24 hours before they killed Deese and Fowler.

On July 15, after crossing into the Yukon, the pair were in a Whitehorse gas station where McLeod was caught on surveillance footage buying a 20-litre gas jerry can, with the cowboy hat on. The jerry can nozzle was later found at the scene of their burnt white Dodge truck.

They also bought doughnut packages, a Coffee Crisp chocolate bar and two pairs of gloves at a local store in Dease Lake on the afternoon of July 18.

They went on to buy a crow bar and electrical tape at a Vanderhoof hardware store – the tape being used to make racing stripes on the hood of the stolen RAV4 to change its appearance.

3. 41 days worth of CCTV footage reviewed, 1,500 tips chased
As the manhunt led the provincial, national and even international news cycle within days of Schmegelsky and McLeod being named as suspects in the three killings, police officers parsed through more than 1,500 tips between July 16 to Aug. 4. While some were made through Crime Stoppers, 911 and the dedicated tip line, a number were made at detachment counters across the country.

ALSO READ: Photo spreading online is not B.C. fugitive Kam McLeod: RCMP

In B.C., there were up to 160 police officers and employees working extended shifts to review more than 1,000 hours (or 41 days) of surveillance footage as the ground and aerial search took place in Manitoba.

Some of the tips that were determined to be unfounded included the fugitives being spotted in the U.S. and as far as Ontario.

Kam McLeod (left) and Bryer Schmegelsky (right) spotted at a hardware store in Meadow Lake, Sask., on July 21, 2019. Both are wanted in a string of homicides in northern B.C. (RCMP handout)
4. Fugitives did head to the Yukon after all
According to police, the families of McLeod and Schmegelsky were under the impression the two had decided to leave their jobs at the Port Alberni Walmart and headed to the Yukon to look for work.


After their burnt truck was found, police contacted family members who described the pair as “good kids,” who had been sending them photos of their trip over text message. The last contact they had with their families was on July 17, police said.

Initially, police were treating them as missing persons until July 22 when they were added to the police database as suspects and arrestable in the murders of Dyck, Deese and Fowler. By then, the two were already in Thompson, Man., based on surveillance footage processed well after the two had left the area.

But before Manitoba, after they killed Deese and Fowler and before killing Dyck, the two did in fact cross the border into the Yukon on July 15, stopping at a gas station. According to police, Schmegelsky had hunted with his father in the area a number of times.

They stayed in the area until the evening of July 17. Over the course of those two days they were seen at two gas stations and by a traffic control supervisor who found them stopped along the Alaska Highway with apparent car troubles. The supervisor told police they offered assistance, but the fugitives declined help and continued heading back to B.C.

5. Police still don’t know where the second gun came from
Investigators found two SKS firearms near the bodies of Schmegelsky and McLeod in Gillam– one legally purchased in Nanaimo, and another of unknown origin.


Ashley Wadhwani@ashwadhwani
Replying to @ashwadhwani

Lastly: On Aug 7 police find bodies of the two young men, 8 km away from burnt RAV4
2 SKS semi-automatic rifles near bodies, used in killings of Deese, Fowler, Dyck --> one legally bought in Nanaimo, second remains unclear
Dyck's camera also found with 6 videos, 3 photos
3:03 PM - Sep 27, 2019
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Police have been able to link both guns to the three slayings, as well as what they have described as a “suicide pact” between the two young men.

Investigators likely won’t find the owner of the second gun, an older-style SKS, as it has numerous serial numbers leading police to believe it was created by parts from various different weapons.

6. Confessed murderers had plans to kill others
Although they didn’t leave behind any details as to why they committed the three murders, Schmegelsky and McLeod contemplated killing others while in Gillam.


Police recovered a digital camera, which belonged to Dyck, near the pair’s bodies. Although forensic specialists have been unable to recover any time stamps, six videos and three images were found. Within those six videos are a confession, a plan to march to Hudson Bay and hijack a boat to flee to Africa or Europe, and discussion of suicide.

The third video, 32 second longs, depicts Schmegelsky saying to the camera that they had shaved in preparation for their deaths and planned to “go back to kill more people and expect to be dead in a week.”

None of those videos or photos will ever be released to the public, police said, in order to avoid copycat killers or influence people to commit acts of targeted violence.

@ashwadhwani

ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca

Well for starters, BS bought the jerry can and wore the cowboy hat, not KM as she states but where did she read this in the final report? Did I really miss this?

"According to police, Schmegelsky had hunted with his father in the area a number of times."

 

[Trooper]

Not only that he said he never gave his son a real gun. I guess he meant to say “except for hunting”. But not ever had he mentioned hunting in interviews.

SBM:

“But before Manitoba, after they killed Deese and Fowler and before killing Dyck, the two did in fact cross the border into the Yukon on July 15, stopping at a gas station. According to police, Schmegelsky had hunted with his father in the area a number of times.”

[/QUOTE]
He said he would never have anything to do with that, he would never give his son a real gun, he was adamant about that, it got quite a trot, in one of his interviews. He was utterly rejecting of that whole concept.

'no . no.. I wouldn't. '....