Two bodies found in search for teenage fugitives suspected of three murders, Canada police say

Childhood friends chased across country for weeks after university lecturer and young couple found dead

Police in Canada have found two bodies, believed to be the teenage fugitives suspected of three murders, including a US-Australian couple.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy said authorities located two male bodies in dense bush and believe they are 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryan Schmegelsky.

She said she was confident it was them but an autopsy will confirm the identities.

The news comes a day after police announced that items belonging to the pair were found along the Nelson River in Manitoba. The two bodies were located a kilometre from the items.

Mr McLeod and Mr Schmegelsky were charged with second-degree murder in the death of university lecturer Leonard Dyck and were suspects in the shootings of Australian Lucas Fowler and American Chynna Deese.

Police have been chasing the pair for weeks since they were connected to the killings.

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.

The manhunt began on 12 July when the 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.

But on 15 July police discovered the bodies of a young couple near Liard Hot Springs, back in British Columbia. The RCMP said the teenagers were suspects in the case and were 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 were charged with his murder.