Canadian police have dispatched police divers to comb a riverbed in the search for two teens accused of murdering an Australian and his American girlfriend.
Canadian police announced on Saturday it is sending dive recovery teams to search the Nelson River near Gillam, the small Manitoba town where Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, dumped their stolen Toyota RAV4 on July 23 and disappeared.
Schmegelsky and McLeod are the only suspects in the bloody highway murder of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese.
Despite unconfirmed sightings of the duo as far away as the neighbouring province of Ontario, the RCMP continues to search around Gillam.
Survival experts predict the teenagers would struggle to stay alive if they attempted to hide in the swampy, bug-infested wilderness around Gillam without shelter and equipment.
The dive team is the latest attempt by the RCMP to bring closure to a manhunt that began more than 3000 kilometres away on July 14 in Canada’s western province of British Columbia.
The search for two teenagers accused of killing Australian tourist Lucas Fowler (left) and US girlfriend Chynna Deese (right) has moved to the eastern Canadian province of Ontario
Canadian police are sending dive recovery teams to search the Nelson River near Gillam, the small Manitoba town where Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and Kam McLeod, 19, dumped their stolen Toyota RAV4 on July 23 and disappeared
The manhunt that began more than 3000 kilometres away on July 14 in Canada’s western province of British Columbia (the lake pictured is not the lake divers are currently searching)
The bodies of Mr Fowler, 23, from Sydney, and his North Carolina girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, were found in a ditch on the side of a BC highway. They had been shot.
Four days later on another BC highway the teenagers allegedly murdered botanist Leonard Dyck and then drove east across Canada’s north to Gillam.
Royal Canadian Air Force planes with infrared and other search technology failed to find the fugitives around Gillam.
‘To assist in the ongoing search for the 2 BC suspects, Manitoba RCMP’s Underwater Recovery Team (URT) will be arriving in Gillam tonight & divers will begin to search a section of the Nelson River tomorrow, Sunday, August 4,’ RCMP wrote in a tweet.
Canada has been gripped by the nationwide manhunt.
The Ontario Provincial Police announced on Friday it had set up an investigative team to follow up on potential sightings of Schmegelsky and McLeod in their province.
Survival experts predict the teenagers would struggle to stay alive if they attempted to hide in the swampy, bug-infested wilderness around Gillam without shelter and equipment
The OPP received more than 30 tips in less than eight hours on Thursday.
‘We ask anyone who believes they have observed these two suspects to report it to police immediately,’ Ontario Provincial Police Sergeant Carolle Dionne said.
If the fugitives are in Ontario they have eluded authorities while travelling more than 5000km. That’s 1000km further than the distance between Sydney and Perth.
One unconfirmed sighting of the duo in recent days was of ‘a suspicious’ white vehicle driving through a construction zone on a highway in the small community of Kapuskasing, Ontario.
OPP Criminal Investigation Branch Detective Inspector Matt Watson will lead the new investigative team.
The crime spree began on July 14 in the western province of British Columbia when the bodies of Mr Fowler, 23, from Sydney, and his North Carolina girlfriend Chynna Deese, 24, were found shot dead on the side of a highway.
Four days later on another BC highway the teenagers allegedly murdered botanist Leonard Dyck and then drove 3000km east across Canada’s north to the tiny town of Gillam, Manitoba.
On July 23 their stolen Toyota RAV4 was dumped outside of Gillam and set on fire.
There have been no confirmed sightings of the duo since.
Kapuskasing is 2360km southeast of Gillam.
Sheila was first introduced to Lucas during Christmas last year after the pair met at a hostel in Croatia
Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Royal Canadian Air Force, using teams on the ground and planes in the air with infrared cameras and imaging radar, unsuccessfully searched 11,000 square kilometres around the town of Gillam and surrounding wilderness before scaling back the hunt.
The RCMP and OPP have urged members of the public to call them immediately to report a possible sighting instead of posting information on social media.
If the suspects are spotted, authorities urged the public to take note of every detail.
‘Sharing as much information as possible on your observation is important such as type of vehicle, vehicle plate, description of clothing, direction of travel,’ Sgt Dionne said.
‘But most importantly, do not approach them as they are considered to be dangerous.’
Police and others have spent the past nine days searching for Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, in a remote and rugged part of northern Manitoba
The latest development in the search comes after a funeral service was held to farewell Mr Fowler and his girlfriend in Sydney’s north on Friday.
His father and New South Wales Police Chief Inspector Stephen Fowler focused on the young couple’s joyful love affair, and spoke admiringly of his son’s achievements in life – most of all, Ms Deese.
‘(A Canadian ranch owner) said that every now and then she’d look up and see Chynna had walked over to Lucas and given him a hug or just a look,’ Mr Fowler said.
‘They were full of happiness and joy just being together.’
A composed and reflective Inspector Fowler praised his son, an apprentice mechanic, for turning his dream of travelling around the world into reality.
He met his girlfriend Chynna in Croatia but kept it from his parents for some time – largely because his mother had warned him not to run off with ‘foreign girls’.
‘The day she stole Lucas’s heart she became part of her family,’ Mr Fowler said. ‘We were so happy he had met a life partner,’ Mr Fowler said.
Hand in hand: The parents of Lucas Fowler, NSW Police chief inspector Stephen Fowler and wife Shanaugh, at the memorial service on Friday