Shropshire Star

Missing men named suspects in Canada murders probe

American Chynna Deese, 24, and 23-year-old Australian Lucas Fowler were found shot dead a week ago.

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Royal Mounted Police Sergeant Janelle Shoihet gestures toward security camera images of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18

Two young men thought missing are now suspects in the murders of an American woman and her Australian boyfriend as well as the death of another man in northern British Columbia, Canadian police said.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) had said on Monday they were searching for 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, whose burning car had been discovered south of Dease Lake.

During that investigation, they found the body of an unidentified man roughly a mile from the car.

It is about 300 miles along remote roads from the spot where 24-year-old American Chynna Deese and 23-year-old Australian Lucas Fowler were found shot dead over a week ago.

Police display security camera images of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and a Toyota RAV4 vehicle
Police display security camera images of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and a Toyota RAV4 vehicle (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

RCMP Sergeant Janelle Shoihet said on Tuesday that McLeod and Schmegelsky left British Columbia and have been travelling in northern Saskatchewan in a grey 2011 Toyota Rav 4.

“The RCMP are now considering Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky suspects in the Dease Lake suspicious death and the double homicide of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese,” Ms Shoihet said

Ms Shoihet said they are considered dangerous and urged the public not to approach them and to call police.

Police released surveillance photos of the two in Saskatchewan.

The burned vehicle belonged to McLeod and Schmegelsky, both of Port Alberni, British Columbia.

Police had said on Monday the two were travelling to Whitehorse in the Yukon to look for work and had not been in contact with their families for the past few days.

Police said on Tuesday they were still working to identify the male body that was found nearby their burned-out vehicle, but said he appeared to be in his 50s or 60s.

They released a sketch of the man, with a heavy build with a grey beard and grey hair, and asked for public help in identifying him.

Mr Fowler and Ms Deese were found shot dead along the Alaska Highway near Liard Hot Springs.

Mr Fowler, the son of a chief inspector with the New South Wales Police Department, was living in British Columbia and Ms Deese was visiting him.

The couple had met at a hostel in Croatia before they ventured across the US, Mexico, Peru and elsewhere, the woman’s older brother said.

The couple was on a trip to visit Canadian national parks when they were killed. It is believed they must have had engine trouble in their van.

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