Vancouver Island is a lovely place to live, but there’s a caveat to this island paradise. Life on Vancouver Island can be relaxed, beautiful and easygoing. However, job opportunities aren’t always plentiful for younger people in communities outside of Nanaimo and Victoria, since much of the Vancouver Island area has been transformed into a retirement zone. Moreover, Port Alberni is a single-industry town with a tremendous reliance on forestry. And British Columbia’s forest production has been slumping for several years for a host of reasons.
The city north of Nanaimo with a population of 18,000 connects to some of the most wonderful places in the world, including Ucluelet, Bamfield and Tofino. Port Alberni is a hub with great potential, but the economy in the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District of over 6,600 square kilometres continues to falter along with BC’s troubled forest industry.
Kam McLeod and Bryer Schmegelsky, two teenage residents of Port Alberni, were found dead in the Manitoba brush near the Nelson River on August 7. Earlier this summer, the pair had left their hometown on Vancouver Island to seek their fortunes up north. They were both working at the Walmart Port Alberni Super Centre and were unhappy with their prospects in Port Alberni, so the teenagers decided to search for better opportunities in Whitehorse. But after returning from the Yukon, their bizarre and gruesome misadventures began.
The pair were charged on July 24 with second-degree murder in the death of UBC botanist, Leonard Dyck. The 64-year-old was found dead on July 19 about two kilometres away from a burned-out camper truck believed to have been driven by McLeod and Schmegelsky in an area near the Stikine River Bridge on Highway 37. McLeod and Schmegelsky were also suspects in the fatal shootings of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese. The bodies of the Australian and American tourists were discovered near Liard Hot Springs on July 15.
Thereafter, McLeod and Schmegelsky fled British Columbia, drove east to Manitoba and hid in the bush. Specialized RCMP investigators and personnel from the Royal Canadian Air Force searched the Gilliam area. Nearly 11,000 square kilometres of northern Manitoba were combed over for the two young idiots who’d ruined the lives of so many, including their own.
We might never discover the motivations directing McLeod and Schmegelsky to commit the murders of three very likable, intelligent and inspiring people. What led these teenagers without violent histories to go on this killing spree? There are a few indicators, but there is nothing substantial to suggest the pair would kill three people and then exterminate themselves over the summer.
Reports say McLeod and Schmegelsky were interested in differing brands of political extremism. McLeod’s online activities appear to have displayed a curiosity with politics on the far left, but this link is uncertain and perhaps not even relevant. On the other hand, Schmegelsky was fascinated with views on the far right. Although his father claimed his 18-year-old son wasn’t a Neo-Nazi, Schmegelsky had sent photographs of a swastika armband and a Hitler Youth knife to an online friend. There are also photographs of Bryer Schmegelsky in military fatigues, holding an Airsoft replica rifle and wearing a gas mask. So, were McLeod and Schmegelsky just a pair of bored teenagers searching for a set of doctrines to believe in? What convinced these boys to transform their job search and northern adventure into a massacre and an eventual police hunt? Excuse the cliché, but there are still more questions than answers.
The story of Kam McLeod and Byer Schmegelsky has become a tragedy for all the victims and their families. Also, the murderous legacy of these young men has continued to influence the mindset of many people living in Western Canada’s northern communities, where they no longer feel safe in these remote areas. In time, the horrific actions executed by these directionless teenagers from Port Alberni will soon be forgotten. However, if McLeod and Schmegelsky were still alive, many would have been able to get at least a morsel of closure over these senseless killings.
