Gillam, Manitoba Mayor Dwayne Forman says northern Manitoba residents are breathing a sigh of relief today.

Forman says that it came as no surprise to him that the bodies of two BC triple-murder suspects were apparently found in the area's unforgiving terrain.

He says people in the northern Manitoba communities of Gillam and Fox Lake Cree Nation expected death would be the outcome for the fugitives at some point during a two-week manhunt.

Forman says anxious residents have been on an emotional rollercoaster hoping police would find the suspects, and they are relieved the search is over. He says that community members had been on edge and apprehensive while wondering where the suspects might be.

Autopsies are to be performed today in Winnipeg on the remains found yesterday in dense brush a kilometre from the banks of the Nelson River.

Police believe they are the bodies of 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelskyof Port Alberni, BC.