B.C. murders: Discovery of suspects' bodies leaves key question. Why?
Credit to Author: Gordon McIntyre| Date: Thu, 08 Aug 2019 01:16:28 +0000
The discovery of the bodies of the two Port Alberni teens wanted for three murders leaves a frustrating number of questions unanswered.
Questions that likely will never be answered.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult for us to ascertain definitively what the motive was,” RCMP Asst. Commissioner Kevin Hackett, who is in charge of criminal investigations in B.C., said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference in Surrey. “Obviously, we will not have the opportunity to speak with these individuals.
“And, again, the examination of the area where they were located today is still being dealt with and searched so there may be additional items that could help in that regard, identifying a motive, et cetera. … But we don’t have that information yet.”
Hackett would not confirm whether the cause of death of Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, was self-inflicted wounds or exposure until after an autopsy is performed in Winnipeg Wednesday morning.
Nor will the families of the victims find the answers they’re looking for.
Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese.
Why were Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and Chynna Deese, 24, of North Carolina, a couple in love and on an adventure, targeted 20 kilometres south of Liard Hot Springs on Highway 97, the Alaska Highway?
Their bodies were found next to their blue Chevy van on July 15.
Deese’s brother, British Deese, told The Associated Press the family needed time to process the news about the bodies being found.
“We are speechless,” he said in a text message and declined further comment.
And how did 64-year-old UBC botany lecturer Leonard Dyck, the third victim and the only one whose death McLeod and Schmegelsky had been charged with, sustain his unspecified injuries?
RCMP have identified the man discovered deceased on July 19, 2019 at a Highway pullout about 2 kilometres south of the vehicle fire south of Stikine River Bridge on Highway 37 is Leonard Dyck from Vancouver.
His body was discovered on a highway turnout two kilometres south of Dease Lake on July 19, not far from where the burnt-out truck Schmegelsky and McLeod had been driving was discovered.
“I don’t believe there’s any kind of operational necessity to speak to the injuries (Dyck sustained) out of respect and sensitivities for the family’s sake,” Hackett said.
Schmegelsky and McLeod, who had told their families they were heading to Yukon to look for work, were first treated as merely missing persons after their burning truck was discovered. But their status was changed to suspects after they were captured by surveillance camera in a convenience store in Meadow Lake, Sask.
Details later emerged about Schmegelsky’s fondness for Nazi and Soviet symbols and violent video games.
One of his gaming acquaintances told Postmedia Schmegelsky came across as “edgy, kind of like he talks about darker stuff that most would consider maybe not appropriate.”
At NanaTech, a Port Alberni computer store where gamers hang out, owner Ozren Nemec remembered Kam McLeod as a polite 16-year-old with a bright future ahead of him.
“Now that they are gone, I fear that it will be next to impossible to get to the truth of what actually happened,” Nemec said.
RCMP received more than 1,000 tips and Hackett called the investigation one of the most dynamic and unpredictable he’s seen.
RCMP officers conduct search for two fugitive teenagers wanted in the killing of three people, including an American women and her Australian boyfriend, near Gillam in northern Manitoba.
In Manitoba on Wednesday, RCMP said items belonging to the pair of fugitives discovered last week and a damaged aluminum boat on the shore of the Nelson River led directly to the discovery of the boys’ bodies in dense brush near Fox Lake Cree Nation, which is 70 kilometres northeast of Gillam, where the two were last seen.
The remains were a kilometre from where Schmegelsky’s and McLeod’s personal items were discovered and eight kilometres from where Dyck’s torched RAV4 was found.
The boys had not been seen since July 22 in Gillam, 3,000 kilometres from Port Alberni. Dyck’s burnt-out Toyota was found the next day.
After a lengthy manhunt from B.C. to the Manitoba wilderness, the bodies of murder suspects Kam McLeod (left) and Bryer Schmegelsky were found on Wednesday.
In Port Alberni, there was no answer to phone calls to the McLeod residence, while Schmegelsky’s family posted this notice on the front door:
“We request that you respect our privacy at this time by keeping off our property and not ringing the doorbell or banging on our door. … We will not be making any statement.”
Even the FBI, because victim Deese was American, had visited Port Alberni, according to a friend of the McLeods. And the community found itself in the uncomfortable position of being the centre of worldwide media attention.
“I hope this brings closure to the people of Gillam and surroundings, and maybe it will bring closure to the victims’ families,” Port Alberni Mayor Sharie Minions said. “I don’t think it will bring any closure to our community at this point, unfortunately. … This wasn’t the outcome we’d hoped for and now we may not get the answers we’d hoped for.”
Her sentiments were echoed by Bill Collett, CEO of the Alberni Valley Chamber of Commerce, who said the vast majority of the people in Port Alberni have been horrified, he said.
“It’s just a horrible thing everybody had to deal with in our community,” Collett said. “I don’t think we’ll ever know the answer, it’s so hard to understand.
“It’s like throwing darts at the wall trying to figure out why.”
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