SURREY, B.C. – The deputy mayor of a remote northern Manitoba town says residents are locking their doors earlier than usual after word of a police manhunt in the area for two suspects in the deaths of three people in northern British Columbia.

John McDonald says people in Gillam are also making sure their vehicles are locked while the RCMP search for 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky.

The Mounties have said the teens are suspects in the shooting of Lucas Fowler of Sydney, Australia, his girlfriend Chynna Deese of Charlotte, N.C., and the death of another man who has yet to be identified publicly.

McLeod and Schmegelsky had originally been heading to Whitehorse.

McDonald says residents are used to seeing strangers come and go from Manitoba Hydro projects. But they’re paying closer attention to faces since the release of photos of the suspects and word Tuesday that both may be in the area.

He says extra officers have been brought in for a search focused about 70 kilometres northwest of the town near Fox Lake Cree Nation, where Chief Walter Spence had said police would be patrolling all Tuesday night.

If McLeod and Schmegelsky are there, McDonald said, they are in country known for its thick bush, swamps and pesky insects – and where it’s easy to get lost.

“If they are wandering around in the bush, they couldn’t have picked a worse time because the sandflies came out three days ago and they’re just voracious,” he said today.

“I’m quite sure they’ll be more than happy to have someone find them.”

They had previously been seen in northern Saskatchewan, driving a grey 2011 Toyota Rav 4.

In Surrey, RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet says if anyone spots these teens, both six-foot-four inches tall and weighing around 169 pounds, consider them dangerous and don’t approach; instead, call 911.

She says police initially thought the pair had been missing when their burned-out truck and camper was found a few kilometres from the body of the unidentified man near Dease Lake.

Now, she says, investigators have new information that leads them to believe the teenagers are suspects in all three deaths.

Fowler’s father said Monday the deaths are a tragic end to a love story between the inseparable couple.

Chief Insp. Stephen Fowler of the New South Wales Police Force said he spoke with his globe-trotting 23-year-old son within hours of his leaving on a road trip from northern B.C. with the 24-year-old Deese.

“Our son Lucas was having the time of his life travelling the world. He met a beautiful young lady and they teamed up, were a great pair and they fell in love,” Fowler told a news conference.

“We were overjoyed for Lucas. He came to Canada and he planned a trip in a van with Chynna,” Fowler said.

His son had saved up his money after working in Sydney, Australia, so he could travel to B.C. and join the love of his life, he said of Deese, who had arrived from her home in Charlotte

Fowler said the murders have devastated two families. Nothing in his job as a police officer had prepared him for the news he received about his son’s shooting death on the Alaska Highway, where the couple’s bodies were found on July 15.

He joined the RCMP in appealing for any information that could help the investigation.

“However little, please contact police,” Fowler said of the couple, who were driving a 1986 blue Chevrolet van bearing Alberta licence plates.

Sgt. Shoihet asked the public to take safety precautions and “remain vigilant” as the force investigates the couple’s homicides as well as the death of an unidentified man whose body was found four days later near Dease Lake, about 470 kilometres away.

Two kilometres from the body, a burned-out vehicle was found and the two teenaged suspects who had been travelling to the Yukon in the truck remain missing.

The cases have people in northern British Columbia on edge.

“With respect to public safety, we share the concerns that are being raised, given the tragic and unusual nature of these two investigations that we have underway,” Shoihet said.

“We would like to stress the importance of heightened vigilance and awareness for anybody travelling in and around the area. We encourage people to camp in known or established areas or locations.”

Travellers should inform their family about their plans and check in if plans change, she said.

“It’s unusual to have two major investigations undergoing of this nature in northern B.C. at the same time and so we recognize that there’s a possibility that these could be linked,” Shoihet said.

Before naming the two teens as suspects, police had released a composite sketch of a man a witness saw speaking with the pair on the Alaska Highway, also known as Highway 97, on the evening of July 14.

Shoihet said the man was driving an older-model Jeep Cherokee with a black stripe on the hood. Police would like him to contact them.

“We’re looking for anybody who has dash cam video,” she said, adding the man may have had a beard.

The RCMP have released surveillance video on their website of Fowler and Deese at a gas station in Fort Nelson on July 13, when they arrived at 7:30 p.m. and left 13 minutes later.

The couple are seen embracing, and Deese washes the van’s windshield with a squeegee.

In the other case, the force also released a composite drawing of man who was found dead about two kilometres from the suspects’ burned-out red and grey older-model Dodge pickup truck with a sleeping camper, near Dease Lake.

Police also released a composite drawing of the dead man hoping for help in identifying him.

He had a beard, a heavy build, and was between age 50 and 60 years old.

Police say McLeod and Schmegelsky are from the Vancouver Island community of Port Alberni – and have not been in contact with their families.

“At this time, investigators are sharing information, and police would like to ensure awareness around both investigations,” RCMP said in a news release.

“We also remind travellers to share your plans with family and friends, establish check-in times and notify someone if your plans change.”

THE CANADIAN PRESS