Murder suspect Schmegelsky posted Nazi comments online

July 26, 2019, 4:24 am

One of the two BC men who are the subject of a national manhunt after three murders posted Nazi propaganda and praised Adolf Hitler online.

Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and his Kam McLeod, 19, are on the run from police after being charged by RCMP with second-degree murder in the death of Leonard Dyck of Vancouver. They are also suspects in the deaths of Australian Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese.

Many online gamers said they stopped interracting with Schmegelsky after he posted racist messages and messages praising Adolf Hitler.

Schmegelsky posted photos of himself wearing army fatigues while holding a rifle and wearing a gas mask, and he posted a photo that shows a swastika arm band and a knife with the inscription “Blut und Ehre ,” which means blood and honour in German.


Alan Schmegelsky, the father of Bryer Schmegelsky, said in an emotional interview with Global News that his son is in “serious pain” and expects that the nationwide manhunt will end with his death.

“A normal child doesn’t travel across the country killing people. A child in some very serious pain does,” Alan said in an interview Wednesday in Mill Bay, B.C., near his home in Victoria.

Alan added that his son had a troubled upbringing, struggling through his parents’ split in 2005. Bryer spent much of his time on video games and YouTube from that point on, according to his father.

The bodies of Fowler and Deese were found along the side of a highway in northeastern B.C. on July 15 — four days before Dyck’s body was discovered several hundred kilometres from where the couple was found.

Police initially treated the young men as missing but announced they were suspects after they were spotted in Meadow Lake Saskatchewan. The manhunt stretched into northern Manitoba this week when a burned-out car in which the young men were travelling was found near the community of Gillam.

Dyck’s body was found on a highway pullout approximately two kilometres from a burned-out truck and camper that police say the young men had been driving. Police initially had trouble identifying Dyck and released a composite drawing.

Alan said he doesn’t think his son will survive a confrontation with police.

“He’s on a suicide mission. He wants his pain to end,” he said, breaking down in tears. “Basically, he’s going to be dead today or tomorrow. I know that. Rest in peace, Bryer. I love you. I’m so sorry all this had to happen.”

Global reports the suspect’s father continued: “He wants his hurt to end. They’re going to go out in a blaze of glory. Trust me on this. That’s what they’re going to do.”

In an interview with Global News, Madison Hempsted said she shared one Grade 7 class with Schmegelsky in Port Alberni when they were both 13 years old. While she only had limited contact with Bryer, Hempsted said the few interactions she did have with him were troubling.

“There were times he would tell me and my friends ways he wanted to kill us and then himself, which is scary,” she said. “One of my friends commented that Bryer said he wanted to kill his whole family.

“I never really thought anything of it until now because we all thought he was just making jokes,” she added.

Extra officers have been brought in to search the Manitoba region of Gillam and Fox Lake Cree Nation for the two young men. Police are currently patrolling about 70 kilometres northwest of Gillam, and police have set up a check-stop at an intersection near Gillam.

According to people in Port Alberni, the two suspects spent the last two and half years