Bodies found in northern Manitoba thought to be teenagers suspected of three killings

The bodies of fugitives Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, are believed to have been found in northern Manitoba, Canadian police have announced.

At a Wednesday afternoon press conference, Manitoba Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner Jane MacLatchy told reporters that two male bodies believed to be those of Schmegelsky and McLeod were found at 10am by RCMP officers.

Underwater team being sent to search river in Gillam after ‘significantly damaged’ rowboat discovered

Canadian police are sending an underwater search team to northern Manitoba after a rowboat that detectives believe triple murder suspects Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, may have used to evade a manhunt was discovered on a river.

The boat was spotted on Friday afternoon on the Nelson river near the town of Gillam where the search for the pair had been concentrated, the Globe and Mail reports. “It had gone through some rapids and had been significantly damaged,” a police inspector told the Globe. A water jug was found nearby.

Fugitives Bryer Schmegelsky and Kam McLeod, wanted in connection with three murders, are believed to be on foot

If they have not already managed to evade a police dragnet, Bryer Schmegelsky,18, and Kam McLeod, 19, are believed to be stumbling around the unforgiving terrain that surrounds the remote Canadian town of Gillam.

Police believe the two fugitives are still close to the sprawling settlement of about 1,300 residents dotted across 2,000 square km. They are not thought to have a vehicle, and there is only one road in and out of town.

A burned-out vehicle known to have been driven by Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky was found near community of Gillam

Canadian police believe that two men charged with the murder of a Vancouver university professor – and suspected in the murder of a young Australian-American couple – are still on the run in the inhospitable surroundings of a remote town in northern Manitoba.

Authorities have deployed an emergency response team, crisis negotiators and “air service assets” to track the teenagers down, who they believe still on the run in the community of Gillam.

• Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky sighted in Saskatchewan
• Australian and US citizen were found dead on remote highway

Two Canadian teenagers who were originally feared missing in northern British Columbia are now the subject of a national manhunt, as police continue to investigate the murders of the US citizen Chynna Deese, 24 and Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, on a remote highway.

The search for Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, suspects in the double murder and in the death of a second unidentified man, is now focusing around the town of Gillam in northern Manitoba, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Wednesday.

Police name Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky as suspects in murder of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese in British Columbia

Two teenagers who were previously feared missing have been named as suspects in the double murder of Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and US citizen Chynna Deese, 24, who were shot dead on a remote highway in northern Canada.

Related: Three deaths and disappearance of two teenagers in Canada might be linked, say police

Case of dead man and murdered couple might be connected to missing pair who were also headed to Alaska on remote highway

Police in Canada are investigating three suspicious deaths and the disappearance of two teenagers which took place within days of each other along a remote Canadian highway.

At a press conference on Monday, representatives of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the two cases might be linked, despite earlier assurances that there was “nothing to indicate” that the double murder of Australian Lucas Fowler, 23, and US citizen Chynna Deese, 24, was related to the discovery of a burning car and a man’s body some 500km south, and the disappearance of two Canadian teenagers.