Canadian police divers search river for missing teen murder suspects

Officers find damaged aluminium boat near remote town

Canadian police divers are searching a river for two missing teenagers suspected of a double murder, after finding an abandoned boat on its shores.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been chasing Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, for weeks since the pair were connected to two separate killings in British Columbia earlier this month.

Authorities announced on 31 July that they were scaling back the search, which had taken officers to the remote town of Gillam in northern Manitoba.

On Friday RCMP officers, travelling in a helicopter, spotted a damaged aluminium boat on the shores of the Nelson River, near Gillam.

RCMP divers have now travelled to the town to search a section of the river.

Officers found an abandoned aluminium boat by a riverbank (RCMP)

Their hunt began on Sunday.

“RCMP Underwater Recovery Team (URT) will conduct a thorough underwater search of significant areas of interest today,” the force said on Twitter.

The teenagers have been tracked in a series of stolen cars as they have travelled thousands of miles across Canada, from its Pacific coast in the west all to the way east to rural Manitoba.

Kam McLeod, 19 and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, wanted by Canadian police (RCMP via Reuters)

RCMP units believe the pair have been cornered in this region of rural Manitoba.

The manhunt began on 12 July when Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky, childhood friends, left their home in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island and travelled 1,500 miles north to Whitehorse, in the Yukon, claiming that they were looking for work.

Officers are searching the River Nelson (RCMP)

But on 15 July police discovered the bodies of a young couple near Liard Hot Springs, back in British Columbia. The RCMP has said the teenagers are suspects in the case and are wanted for questioning.

A few days later a burnt-out truck driven by the pair was discovered, along with the body of Leonard Dyck. Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky have been charged with his murder and chased across Canada by the RCMP ever since.

The father of Mr Schmegelsky has told reporters he believes his son is on a “suicide mission” and expects him to eventually die in a confrontation with the police.

“A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people,” he said. “A child in some very serious pain does.”