After chasing nearly 300 tips, canvassing more than 500 homes, and searching hundreds of kilometres of northern Manitoba wilderness by foot and air, police are no closer to finding wanted B.C. murder suspects Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky.
Mounties left York Landing Tuesday morning after a feverish 24-hour search, and have returned their focus to the Gillam area. Manitoba RCMP say they continue to search "high probability areas" for signs of the fugitive teens, both on foot, and by air with the help of the Canadian air force. A checkstop leading into Gillam has been removed.
Manitoba RCMP in Gillam, where the search continues for B.C. murder suspects Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky. Photo via Manitoba RCMP
"Investigators have now received over 260 tips in the past seven days. None have established that the suspects are outside of the Gillam area," Cpl. Julie Courchaine said.
"However, the RCMP continues to remind the public that it is possible the suspects inadvertently received assistance and are no longer in the area. We continue to investigate all possibilities."
Police have spent the last week searching for McLeod, 19, and Schmegelsky, 18.
The two are wanted on Canada-wide arrest warrants for the murder of Leonard Dyck, a university professor, near Dease Lake on July 19. They are also suspects in the fatal shootings of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese, both international tourists, near Liard Hot Springs on July 15.
A community patrol believed it had spotted the teens at the York Landing landfill on Sunday afternoon, but RCMP couldn't confirm the claim after a "thorough and exhaustive" search of the area.
McLeod and Schmegelsky were last seen in Gillam on July 22, and where they torched and abandoned the vehicle they were last seen driving.
Since then, police have canvassed more than 500 homes in the remote town, as well as the neighbouring Fox Lake Cree Nation. They've also searched cottages, cabins, abandoned buildings, rail lines, and waterways.
