Two suspected serial killers have been spotted in Canada.
The manhunt for Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, intensified Sunday with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Manitoba tweeting: ‘Multiple RCMP resources are being sent to York Landing, MB, to investigate a tip that the two suspects are possibly in, or near, the community.
‘A heavy police presence can be expected in the area. We will continue to update you as information becomes available.’
Police have been working up to 20 hours per day searching around the small town of Gillam in northern Manitoba where the boys were last sighted, a local detective said.
On Saturday a Royal Canadian Air Force Hercules CC-130H Hercules was brought in to assist with the aerial search for the duo.
Still on the run: Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky are being hunted by Canadian police
The manhunt for Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, intensified Sunday with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Manitoba tweeting of the possible sighting
RCMP officers make an early morning check off a passenger train in Gillam Sunday, hoping to garner any shred of information which may lead to the whereabouts for murder suspects Kam Mcleod and Bryer Schmegelsky
RCMP Emergency Response Team (ERT) members load up for another day on the ground in the search for the suspected killers on Sunday
The Canadian airforce C-130 which is involved in the aerial search for suspected killers is seen above on Sunday
RCMP Inspector Kevin Lewis told DailyMail.com: ‘It’s probably about a thousand [officers working the case],’ he said.
‘Across Canada everybody’s engaged where there’s sightings and tips and all that, where people call up and they need to be investigated.
‘You have the resources over in BC still investigating, Saskatchewan are still investigating. Everybody’s hyper sensitive so they’re calling in tips on anybody who remotely looks like these fellas, or anyone who’s even suspicious. Everybody’s hyper vigilant.’
The inspector added that a Hercules military plane looking for the boys flew around 180 miles up to the town of Churchill on the banks of the Hudson Bay.
‘We had the Herc operating until it went dark,’ said Lewis. ‘It has high powered cameras with police officers and military folks looking down at the earth for anything that resembles a person or boat, or anything of evidentiary value. ‘It could be anywhere from Gillam all the way up to Churchill, even to the Hudson. Anywhere you would go from the Gillam area if you wanted to escape.
The bodies of Lucas Fowler, 24, and Chynna Deese, 23, (pictured) were found in British Columbia
The duo are also accused of murdering University of British Columbia botanist Leonard Dyck (pictured) in BC before driving more than 3,000km to Manitoba
This map plots the teenagers’ movements over the last few days and where the murders took place last week
RCMP have raised the possibility that they teens escaped the town either on the slow-moving trains that roll across the rural province, or got a ride from an unsuspecting passer-by before news of the manhunt reached Manitoba, though they have no sightings or evidence to confirm the suspicion.
‘Obviously if you’re coming to the end of the road at Gillam, your plan shouldn’t be to go back to Gillam, right? It should be to go up, keep going,’ said Lewis.
‘We’re going to have the Herc back up today. We’re doing some scans over northern Manitoba again, and we’re going to be continuing checking the trails again.’ Police have almost completed their door-to-door interviews of Gillam residents, but say that the exhaustive trawl has so far proved fruitless.
‘We’ve spoken with about three-quarters of the occupants so far, and all the big places were checked,’ the inspector told DailyMail.com. ‘Now it’s just following up the people who aren’t home, to see if there’s anything they can add.’
The inspector said despite the gruelling hours, police spirits were still high. ‘It’s just go, go, go until the day is done. Some of the folks are going for 16 hours, some for 20,’ he said.
‘Morale is good. Things are positive, everyone’s still smiling. Everybody’s hopeful and excited to be a part of this, because there’s such a national attention. Everybody wants to get the bad guys.’