RCMP confirmed Monday the two bodies found in northern Manitoba last week are those of homicide suspects, Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, and said the two died in what appears to be suicides by gunfire.The bodies were found Wednesday, ending a 15-day cross-country search for the two men from Port Alberni, B.C.
Mounties had expressed confidence that the bodies belong to the men, but officers were not able to confirm the identities until autopsies were completed by the Manitoba medical examiner.
The autopsies suggest both individuals were dead for several days before they were found, but the exact time of their deaths is not known.
Schmegelsky and McLeod became suspects in the murders of Lucas Fowler, Chyna Deese, and Leonard Dyck in BC. This touched off a national search that eventually focused on northern Manitoba, bringing heavily armed RCMP to Gillam and the Fox Lake First Nation. Even members of the Bear Clan went up from Winnipeg to offer their assitance.
Very disappointed that it ended this way. I was hoping they could be captured alive. Then, if they had been proven to have committed the murders, they could serve long prison sentences not only for the murders but also for the terror that these northern communities felt as they became the focus of the search.