The vast area of rugged land where teenage Canadian murder suspects are believed to be hiding is dangerous, hard to navigate and full of swamps, bugs and abandoned cabins.
Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, have been on the run since July 15 when they are accused of killing Lucas Fowler, 24, and Chynna Deese, 23, in British Columbia.
Since then, they have moved east, traveling almost half the width of Canada, to the province of Manitoba.
They were seen twice in the extremely remote town of Gillam at the start of the week and have since gone to ground, ditching the car they were traveling in.
Still on the run: Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky are being hunted by Canadian police
This is the remote part of Manitoba in Canada where Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod are believed to be hiding
The tiny town of Gillam (shown) has only one road leading into it which has now been blocked
An aerial view of northwestern Manitoba shows the vast forest police are now combing looking for the pair
Now, there is a huge police effort underway to find them but with thousands of miles of forest, marsh and baron land to comb, when the pair will be found remains to be seen.
The northwest pocket of Manitoba, where they are thought to be, is a harsh landscape.
There is only one road in and out of the town and that has now been blocked off with police checkpoints.
The boys are not thought to have stolen another car, leading police to believe they are traveling on foot.
It can get pretty trying to survive out there without good supplies.
Gillam Deputy Mayor John MacDonald
It is unclear what kind of supplies they have, if any, and where they are taking shelter.
Residents who say the town is surrounded by abandoned cabins now fear they may try to break into one of those, if not their own homes.
‘They could break into one of those buildings and they could be hiding in there. It’s scary,’ Tanya Wavey, 40, said.
Beyond the town, however, there is not much in the way of shelter.
‘There’s not a lot of shelter out there. You could pick a direction and walk in and hope to bump into something,’ Gillam Deputy Mayor John MacDonald said, adding: ‘It can get pretty trying to survive out there without good supplies.
‘None of us would want to be put in that situation.’
This map plots the teenagers’ movements over the last few days and where the murders took place last week
Canadian Mountain Police are using tactical teams to try to find the pair and have employed drones and infrared technology as well as search parties
Police map their strategy to find the pair on Thursday as the hunt for them continues
Armed police are now looking through the rural area in teams. Bryer’s father believes they will be shot dead if they haven’t already killed themselves
The boys are now believed to be travelling on foot after torching their car (shown on Monday) after seeing their faces in the media
To try to narrow down their search, they are using drones and are likely employing infrared technology to scour the landscape for heat.
‘They don’t know where exactly these two are. They could be within feet of them and not know it.
‘It happens all the time, where police officers find themselves on a containment and at the end of the day, the suspects were within feet of them and they just couldn’t see it,’ he said.
‘If they see movement, if an infrared from the air sees a heat source that looks really good and isn’t an animal…footprints, or clothing or trash,’ Jack Schonely, a former police officer, told CBC.
Police in Manitoba have not revealed the exact size of their search perimeter and they are not fielding questions.
The enormous Hudson Bay which at the tip of northwest Manitoba. The boys’ are experienced campers, one of their father’s said, but the conditions where they are would be testing for anyone
An overhead view of the land in Manitoba is shown. Much of the province is similarly vast and sparse
On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the force said they had brought in help from other departments in western Canada and were using every means necessary to find the boys.
Bryer’s father Alan said that he believes they will be shot dead by police and that they want to ‘go out in a blaze of glory’.
He has also told how his son enjoys playing strategy-based, military style video games.
The teenager’s mother issued him an emotional plea, however, on Thursday begging him to turn himself in.
What may have driven them to commit murder remains a mystery.
The two teenagers, who are childhood friends, left Vancouver Island in search of better jobs, they told their parents.
How they encountered their alleged victims or even acquired the weapons they would have needed to kill them remains unknown.
Residents in Gillam have been warned not to approach either of the boys if they see them.
They are considered dangerous and likely are still armed.
Anyone who does see the pair has been told to call 911 or their local police department.