Canada - Lucas Fowler, Chynna Deese, and Leonard Dyck, all murdered, Alaska Hwy, BC, Jul 2019 #8

[Deleted member 248860]

EXCLUSIVE: 'I should have done something': RCMP officer says he let fugitives slip through his fingers after they blew through a police checkpoint

Josh Boswell In Split Lake, Manitoba For Dailymail.com
24 mins ago
A police officer described to DailyMailTV how he stopped - but then let go - the two murder suspects because news of their alleged triple murder spree had not reached his small town in Manitoba.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Albert Saunders stopped teenagers Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and searched their 2011 gray Toyota RAV4, after they blew through a police checkpoint at Split Lake, northern Manitoba on July 22.

In an exclusive interview, Saunders said, 'I didn't really know those guys were on the run, that's why I didn't think much about it at first, until after they posted the pictures of them the next day,' Saunders said.

...
But RCMP only warned its officers to be on the lookout for McLeod and Schmegelsky, both of Port Alberni, British Columbia, on July 23 - the day after Saunders spotted them.

Saunders described how he is now wracked with guilt after discovering he could have stopped the alleged serial killers in their tracks.


'I feel I could have done something more, like I should have done something earlier,' he said.
© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Kam McLeod Saunders said the teens drove past him and RCMP partner Morgan Spence at a traffic checkpoint in the RAV4, which had not yet been reported stolen from murder victim Leonard Dyck.

Saunders said,'They slowed down and then they drove by. I had the lights on and I was standing outside the truck. Me and my partner jumped in the truck and we went to stop them.'

Saunders said the boys saw the police in pursuit and pulled over.

He said, 'They turned off their engine, and I asked them why didn't they stop, they were supposed to stop when the lights are on.

© Provided by Associated Newspapers Limited Bryer Schmegelsky 'They were just telling me 'sorry'. I asked them where they came from. 'Vancouver' they told me. They looked scared.

'I spoke to the one with the mustache, Kam McLeod. He just kept saying, 'Sorry'. They didn't say where they were going.'

Saunders said he and his partner then inspected the vehicle.

'I told them I was going to do a quick search, and then I searched up,' Saunders said. 'They kept looking at each other. There was a couple of boxes in the back.'

Saunders only found survival gear and maps when he searched the car. He did not see any weapons.

Saunders said, 'I told them to stop next time there's a situation like this, and they said 'yep' and 'sorry', and they went. They pulled into town, got some gas, then went. They were heading up towards Gillam.'

...

They did head to Gillam, a small town 100 miles east of Split Lake. The stolen RAV4 was discovered burnt out there on July 23.

As officers at the Split Lake traffic stop are unarmed and have no bullet-proof vests, Saunders said he felt he also had a close brush with death that day.

'After I found out who they were I realised I could have got shot, or something could have happened to us. I was thinking about it a lot after I found out,' he said.
...
He told DailyMailTV, 'Morgan was talking to the thinner one, Schmegelsky. He was quiet. Morgan said that they'd have to take a look around, check their vehicle for alcohol or drugs.

'But looking at the vehicle that they were driving in, the constable said all that was in there was survival gear, blankets and a lot of maps.

'They said that they were just going to come into the community, fuel up and head back out.'
...
'They were pretty freaked out about it. They said that anything could have happened, especially two constables that weren't equipped or supplied with personal protective gear,' he told DailyMailTV.

'[Spence and Saunders were] dressed just like you and I, just regular clothes, no uniforms, no guns, no pepper spray, no batons, no nothing,' he added.

'All they do is stop the vehicle traffic coming into the community checking for alcohol and drugs. They were pretty damn lucky they didn't get shot or killed for stopping those two individuals.'

...

The Daily Mail has apparently now retracted the statement that these people are RCMP officers. I suggest that you read that whole article with a grain of salt.

 

[Deleted member 248860]

A good point was made here. If there were in fact two people seen by the "dump" who weren't the suspects, why were they not found?

Two people were spotted darting into the woods, the RCMP apparently arrived by air 30 minutes later, search all day, and find no one. Suspects or otherwise?

Mr. Bighetty does not say in his own video statement that he saw someone dart into the woods.

 

[Francie Starr]

The very first report was that the witness saw two people "scuffling" around at the dump. He wasn't sure what he was seeing. He checked the suspect's description and confirmed the description matched the people scavenging at the dump.

The suspects apparently were unconcerned about the witness and his vehicle, and after the witness confirmed their identities, they ran into the trees. That's hard to believe. The suspects would have been watching for vehicles in the distance and disappeared before anyone could get close enough to confirm that they were the suspects.

Also, not to forget, these witnesses are from Winnipeg. They could have some, little or no familiarity with the residents of this little community. There was also another group of strangers onboard that day - the repair guys who were working on the sewage treatment problem.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Super behind after work. Will diligently try to get caught up but might miss something speed-reading. So can anyone tell me if anything significant has happened or been discovered since this morning’s press conference?

 

[Xyzzia]

Others say it was NOT the RCMP and I tend to agree, especially as the article states RCMP don't carry weapons, which is absolutely incorrect!

They're kind of like citizens on patrol. And because it's a dry Community probably because they had a lot of drinking and drugs problems up there in the past they have these citizens on patrol all types of groups who will help keep the community clean and dry. And help community members if they are in need. So they probably have no authority to check license and registration. They stopped the vehicle and searched it looking for drugs and alcohol. That's why they don't carry guns or have bulletproof vests or anything like that like a Royal Canadian Mounted Police or our local detachments in cities.
Up in the north and in remote locations like that where local police and RCMP are not easily available they have community people taking care of one another..... Like citizens on patrol.

These types of organizations and citizens are an asset to a country like Canada.

 

[Jen-Knee]

Another thing I forgot to mention is that there are burner phones sold as a complete package, which is far more rare now here in Ontario where I am and then there is the option of walking in and buying a phone/just the SIM card, activating prepaid online in Canada (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Fido*(Rogers owned - prepaid primary)) and online activation doesn't require any actual confirmation of address, etc. You can then keep topping up the prepaid account and have data cheaper.

There is a good chance that if they picked up a prepaid phone before their adventure, which is common for people travelling who don't want to add roaming/etc to their main line - and that using this phone they have been tracking news, twitter, etc about themselves.

Once before going boating, I picked up a Rogers prepaid and Bell prepaid just to have a voice and data connection, cash, no ID. So even the network operator wouldn't have any details

Yeah, I'm in BC so I'm not sure if other provinces have the speakout 7-11 plan like we do here. I know that their phones aren't as cheap as they were pre-smartphones but you can get them in the store for $80+ and like you mention, online activation and top-ups don't require ID. It would be easy enough for them to do if they can get a signal where ever they are, and they can check it for some time so long as those looks are quick and they turn it off again. Depending on how often they look to get updates they might have enough juice still. My teenage lives on her phone and it would have died on her day one. These two don't seem to have much of a social media presence/activity and so if they are missing any technology atm, it's their gaming PC's.

7-11's plans also don't have to be refilled every 30 days like some others do. Instead it is every 365 days.

 

[Deleted member 158085]

Oh, and can anyone tell me where RCMP’s geographical focus is now?

 

[Moonlitnight]

This whole York story is unravelling by the minute. On TV tonight, Global was reporting that the Bear Clan people saw the two men "rummaging through a dumpster" and that they staggered off into the bush when they heard a vehicle. This in broad daylight. With these two seemingly vanished, or at least evading authorities for over a week, why in heaven's name would they be out "rummaging" during the day? It just seems incongruous. I guess the RCMP figured this out for themselves (with or without cat ears). So what now? I have no clue. I do, however, suspect that these guys are brighter than we give them credit for. Either this or they sank into the muskeg a few days ago. JMO

 

[1987]

Burner phones have data capabilities, but its extremely expensive. A prepaid/burner phone has a set balance of dollars on it, say like $50 where the user is charged 5c/min talk or 5c/KB of data, and the user can use it in any way they wish until it runs out of the prepaid balance.

Modern internet webpages and resources consume a lot of data so the $50 or whatever else balance on the phone was would be consumed extremely quickly.

about $35 per 1GB

 

[PaulR]

Why do people think they have cell phones, much less a connection?

 

[steelybird]

I’m not saying that it wasn’t them. I’m saying that Bighetty’s description on video and what Bear Clan head James Favel told the press are not the same. I’m also very surprised that Bighetty has not said that the people he saw were white. As for whether the two took off, find me that in Bighetty’s video. A rather important detail, and he doesn’t even mention it.

RCMP heading to York Landing after possible sighting of suspected BC murderers

Here you go. It was actually James Favel of the Bear Clan that says they bolted. This one doesn’t specify “into the bushes” so I am either mistaken about that part or I just can’t find it at the moment. I’m pretty sure it was in the initial reporting yesterday evening though.

 

[Xyzzia]

Yes and we have to wonder if somethings got stuffed in an inside pocket of the camo jacket that was being buttoned up in that coop store video

I'm not convinced that bee was buttoning up his shirt. I think he was just fiddling. Wasn't it known that he was on Ritalin? If so and he hasn't had his medication he could be just fidgeting and paranoid type of actions. So we don't know if he stole something and was hiding it in his coat.

 

[tcfpne]

Why do people think they have cell phones, much less a connection?

Because burner phones or SIM-only purchases are cheap, easy and common.

Like I mentioned previously, getting a phone just for going into any adventure is common and easy.

 

[Snoop Sister]

Another thing I forgot to mention is that there are burner phones sold as a complete package, which is far more rare now here in Ontario where I am and then there is the option of walking in and buying a phone/just the SIM card, activating prepaid online in Canada (Bell, Rogers, Telus, Fido*(Rogers owned - prepaid primary)) and online activation doesn't require any actual confirmation of address, etc. You can then keep topping up the prepaid account and have data cheaper.

There is a good chance that if they picked up a prepaid phone before their adventure, which is common for people travelling who don't want to add roaming/etc to their main line - and that using this phone they have been tracking news, twitter, etc about themselves.

Once before going boating, I picked up a Rogers prepaid and Bell prepaid just to have a voice and data connection, cash, no ID. So even the network operator wouldn't have any details

There is a difference between burners and pre paid phones...is there not?

 

[puppyraiser]

Why do people think they have cell phones, much less a connection?

I don't think they are using a cell phone at all but wasn't sure how burner/pre-paid phones work so asked.

 

[Deleted member 248860]

RCMP heading to York Landing after possible sighting of suspected BC murderers

Here you go. It was actually James Favel of the Bear Clan that says they bolted. This one doesn’t specify “into the bushes” so I am either mistaken about that part or I just can’t find it at the moment. I’m pretty sure it was in the initial reporting yesterday evening though.

Here I go, what? Mr. Favel isn’t the person who saw it, is he. Mr. Bighetty was the witness, and his brief video is quite the eye opener.

Mr. Favel does like talking to the press, though

 

[Moonlitnight]

I'm not convinced that bee was buttoning up his shirt. I think he was just fiddling. Wasn't it known that he was on Ritalin? If so and he hasn't had his medication he could be just fidgeting and paranoid type of actions. So we don't know if he stole something and was hiding it in his coat.

I don't believe anyone has said he was "on" ritalin. He was apparently snorting some as a recreational drug during a campout. I would say this was somewhat different.

 

[ldlager]

This whole York story is unravelling by the minute. On TV tonight, Global was reporting that the Bear Clan people saw the two men "rummaging through a dumpster" and that they staggered off into the bush when they heard a vehicle. This in broad daylight. With these two seemingly vanished, or at least evading authorities for over a week, why in heaven's name would they be out "rummaging" during the day? It just seems incongruous. I guess the RCMP figured this out for themselves (with or without cat ears). So what now? I have no clue. I do, however, suspect that these guys are brighter than we give them credit for. Either this or they sank into the muskeg a few days ago. JMO

Either 1 group is smarter than we thought, or 1 group isn’t as smart as we thought

 

[Xyzzia]

Would they have multipurpose dogs, too, anyone?

Certain dogs are trained for certain things. Some dogs are trained to pick up cocaine and marijuana. Some dogs are trained to hunt humans. Different dogs are trained for different aspects of their careers.
But their senses to get muddled when they're overwhelmed with a variety of different senses.
I actually watched a show about it a police show. I can't remember what it's called it was on the documentary Channel.

Also BS dad said all this before we suspected they were hiding in the MB bush

 

[Tee404]

That's ok.. that's ok ( pat, pat ) .. it's ok.. shh.. sleep, now.. sleeeeeep , rest .. the RCMP is on the trail.. here.. climb up onto Troopers knee... pat, pat.

Excellent points , and much to think on there....

Thanks Troop, it's only lunch time and not only am I tired from reading about this all night AGAIN but I've got hardly any work done AGAIN. At least I look busy typing away at my desk so no one can really tell I'm lollygagging about on the interwebs haha