Multiple sources close to the ongoing manhunt for Myles Sanderson, the second suspect in the stabbing rampage that killed 11 people in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan on Sunday, say he made a final trip to the city of Regina with the intention of seeing friends and family members there in the hours after the horrific attacks.
According to one of the sources source involved in the investigation into the horrific slayings in James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby town of Weldon, Saskatchewan, Myles Sanderson made a three-hour trip across the wide-open Canadian prairie—in broad daylight, on one of the busiest highway travel days of the year—“to see [those Regina connections] for the last time.”
The sources told The Daily Beast that they suspect Myles has since died by suicide. “If Myles Sanderson was alive and being harbored somewhere by someone, we’d know about it by now,” one of the sources told The Daily Beast.
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His sighting in Regina was reported three days ago, at around 11:45 a.m. Sunday, or approximately six hours after the first 911 calls began pouring into local law enforcement dispatchers near James Smith Cree Nation.
The city is approximately 160 miles south of the communities now mourning the victims of the knifing rampage. Sources say Myles Sanderson was spotted in the front seat of a black Nissan Rogue. No further sightings of Sanderson or the vehicle have been reported in the hours and days since.
Whether Myles reached any of his intended stops in Regina remains unclear. The odds that Sanderson is still in or around the city are slim to none, the sources said.
His alleged accomplice and brother, 31-year-old Damien Sanderson, was found dead in a field on Monday while police were investigating a nearby house.
The shocking stabbing rampage left at least 15 others injured. Some of the attacks appeared to have been targeted while others seemed to be random, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said in the hours after the stabbings.
The brothers have since been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in absentia, in addition to charges of attempted murder and breaking and entering.
Earlier reports suggested that Damien Sanderson—whose body was found with “visible injuries” that “are not believed to be self-inflicted,” according to the RCMP—may have been attacked by Myles Sanderson. “It is an investigative avenue that we are following up on, but we can’t say that definitively at this point,” RCMP spokeswoman Rhonda Blackmore said on Monday.
Myles Sanderson reportedly had a lengthy criminal history, including robbery and assault convictions, and had been wanted by police at the time of the attacks for breaching parole.
“Sadly over these past years tragedies like these have become all too commonplace,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday. “We’ll do what we always do in times of difficulty and anguish; we’ll be there for each other, be there for our neighbors, lean on each other, help grieve and help heal.”
Members of the community who spoke with The Daily Beast described feeling “shocked” and “angry” about the attacks, which sent shockwaves throughout Canada.
In an interview with The Daily Beast earlier this week, one 17-year-old resident recounted what he heard had happened to his aunt, who he said was one of the residents injured in the Sunday rampage. “They knocked on her door at night,” he said, “and after my auntie opened the door, she was slashed on the face, and stabbed on the shoulder, and stabbed on the back.”
He told The Daily Beast he knew of at least one friend who he’d been told had been killed in the attack. “It hurts,” he said. “I can’t really do anything about it.”
According to one of the sources who spoke to The Daily Beast, investigators are still looking in the fields of James Smith Cree Nation “to see if they find more [victims].”
