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The most recent search was Sunday when a dive team scoured the Nelson River but came up empty. Police revealed on Tuesday they had found items linked to the suspects on the shore Friday but would not say what they were.

Across the border

McLeod and Schmegelsky, from Port Alberni on Vancouver Island, face a second-degree murder charge in the death of Leonard Dyck and may be linked to the deaths of Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese, according to police.

They managed to move across four provinces in 10 days and were spotted in Gillam on July 22 — at that rate, Grant and Stroud say the RCMP should not rule out the chance that the suspects crossed the U.S. border.

Photo by Aaron Vincent Elkaim / The New York Times

“Technically speaking, they could be very far away,” Stroud said.

“Could they have flown? That’s unlikely but they could drive just about anywhere. There’s lots of places to get over the border from Canada to the United States without being detected…. For all we know, they could be in a car on their way to Mexico or in Mexico at this point.”

The RCMP confirmed they haven’t neglected this theory.

We have to be open to all possibilities

“We have to be open to all possibilities,” read a statement from Cpl. Chris Manseau, a media relations officer with the B.C. RCMP.

“As for me to speculate on them crossing an international border, I would suggest that it’s a possibility, however we have to continue searching near their last confirmed sighting.”

Grant also said McLeod and Schmegelsky could have gone south but believes the chances of them entering the U.S. are a “two out of 10.”