CANADA - Lucas Fowler, Australian & g/f Chynna Deese, American, murdered, Alaska Hwy, BC, Jul 2019

[Strangeworld]

An Australian man and his American girlfriend have died in suspicious circumstances in Canada, sparking fears they may have been murdered.

Lucas Fowler is reported to be the son of senior NSW police officer, Inspector Stephen Fowler. He was found dead alongside his girlfriend, North Carolina woman Chynna Deese, in British Columbia earlier this week sparking fears of foul play.

Chynna’s sister Kennedy Deese wrote they pair were “homicide victims along a remote stretch of highway in Canada while on a road trip.”

An older style blue mini-van the pair was believed to have been travelling was found at the scene.

Canadian police are looking for anyone who saw the vehicle or offered assistance. They’re also appealing for anyone that travelled the stretch of highway around the time of the discovery to come forward, according to a RCMP media release.

Australian man found dead in Canada

 

[LadyL]

her FB:

https://www.facebook.com/chynna.deese

his FB:

Lucas Fowler

her Couchsurfing:

https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/chynna.deese

her Instagram is private so not linking here

her Youtube:

Chynna Deese

 

[Betty P]

Such a sad story. A lovely young couple brutally murdered while out enjoying a trip around the world.

Daily Mail mentions the location is the "Highway of Tears", where a serial killer is suspected of killing many women over the years

American woman and her Australian boyfriend are 'shot dead by a serial killer' in Canada | Daily Mail Online

I can't find which article, but one of the news articles this morning quoted a woman who said they saw their blue van broken down on the highway. She stopped and offered assistance, but they said they had help coming. Hope LE finds out if they called a towing service and questions them. Can't think of any other reason why they would have declined help fixing the van and if they had called a tow truck, it should have been the driver who found them deceased.

Will look again for that link. ETA: Here it is

Australian man found dead in Canada

A woman from Fort Nelson, in British Columbia, claimed she had seen them with the van broken down on Sunday.

“This makes my heart so sad,” Sandra Broughton wrote. “We seen the blue van broke down on our journey home on Sunday and we stopped and asked if they needed help.

“I can’t believe that this young couple are dead now.”

 

[LadyL]

so someone stopped and asked if they needed help according to the link in OP
I wonder what their response was? that they were waiting for a tow truck?
I can't imagine what else they would've said

 

[LadyL]

Such a sad story. A lovely young couple brutally murdered while out enjoying a trip around the world.

Daily Mail mentions the location is the "Highway of Tears", where a serial killer is suspected of killing many women over the years

American woman and her Australian boyfriend are 'shot dead by a serial killer' in Canada | Daily Mail Online

I can't find which article, but one of the news articles this morning quoted a woman who said they saw their blue van broken down on the highway. She stopped and offered assistance, but they said they had help coming. Hope LE finds out if they called a towing service and questions them. Can't think of any other reason why they would have declined help fixing the van and if they had called a tow truck, it should have been the driver who found them deceased.

Will look again for that link.

I was wondering if it was the Highway of Tears!
so freaking creepy

that article refers to the female victim as Charlotte, not Chynna - I wonder what her given name is - NEVER MIND it's a MISTAKE by the Daily Mail - she was from Charlotte, North Carolina


A North Carolina woman and her Australian boyfriend who were shot dead on the side of a Canadian roa

 

[Betty P]

I was wondering if it was the Highway of Tears!
so freaking creepy

that article refers to the female victim as Charlotte, not Chynna - I wonder what her given name is - NEVER MIND it's a MISTAKE by the Daily Mail - she was from Charlotte, North Carolina

Yes, that confused me, too. I can't think of any other reason they would have refused help unless they either

1. Called a tow truck or
2. Were fixing the van themselves

I'm sure LE has spoken with her, hopefully they'll get more information. Does that highway get a lot of traffic there? If she saw them on Sunday and they were discovered dead on Monday, one would think other cars passed them.

 

[LadyL]

The couple were travelling along a 450 mile stretch of road known as 'The Highway of Tears' at the time they disappeared.*

American woman and her Australian boyfriend are 'shot dead by a serial killer' in Canada | Daily Mail Online

(*obviously that sentence is incorrect as they did not 'disappear' - they were shot)

 

[Strangeworld]

BC, CANADA: Australian man found dead alongside his girlfriend in Canada - suspicious circumstances

Thread here

 

[tarabull]

Son of Australian chief inspector and his girlfriend are 'shot dead' in Canada and dumped on the side of a major highway - as police launch murder investigation

Snipped...
...Mr Fowler, from Sydney's Hills District, has been identified as the son of NSW Chief Inspector Stephen Fowler.

Northern Rockies officers were called to the highway, about 20 kilometres south of Liard Hot Springs, at 7.19am on Monday.

 

[tarabull]

https://www.energeticcity.ca/2019/07/australian-and-american-found-dead-along-alaska-highway/

Snipped...
...“We have lost our dear Lucas Fowler, son, brother, grandson and friend in the most terrible of circumstances. To lose someone so young and vibrant, who was travelling the world and just enjoying life to the full, is devastating.

To know his beautiful girlfriend, Chynna Deese of Charlotte, North Carolina, also lost her life in this violent event is too cruel. All our love and best wishes go to Chynna’s family and friends.

We are all now travelling to Canada to be with our boy and to bring him home.
Our deepest thanks for all your love and care. At this stage, we can only move forward a minute at a time, and those minutes are moving so slowly.

Please share this with all those who may have crossed paths anywhere in the world with these beautiful young people.”

 

[PaulR]

The Highway of Tears is Highway 16 which runs east-west: Highway of Tears - Wikipedia

Alaska Highway (which is what the original article mentioned) is north-south and starts well north of the Highway of Tears: Alaska Highway - Wikipedia

BC is huge, it's more than twice as big as California.

 

[Betty P]

Australian and American found dead along Alaska Highway - Energeticcity.ca

Snipped...
...“We have lost our dear Lucas Fowler, son, brother, grandson and friend in the most terrible of circumstances. To lose someone so young and vibrant, who was travelling the world and just enjoying life to the full, is devastating.

To know his beautiful girlfriend, Chynna Deese of Charlotte, North Carolina, also lost her life in this violent event is too cruel. All our love and best wishes go to Chynna’s family and friends.

We are all now travelling to Canada to be with our boy and to bring him home.
Our deepest thanks for all your love and care. At this stage, we can only move forward a minute at a time, and those minutes are moving so slowly.

Please share this with all those who may have crossed paths anywhere in the world with these beautiful young people.”

I'm so sorry for the pain and unbearable sadness they're going through. May the families find peace and comfort.

 

[dotr]

Were the couple known to be traveling in the blue van, or was one simply found nearby?
Aussie man, American woman killed in northern B.C.
"Investigators want to speak with anyone who may have travelled the stretch of highway between Sunday afternoon and Monday morning, and they are looking for dash cam video.

RCMP say an older blue minivan with Alberta plates was found near the bodies and they would like to speak with anyone who may have seen the vehicle.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Northern Rockies RCMP Detachment at 250-774-2700 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477."

 

[tarabull]

a post up thread by BettyP has a snipped quote from someone who stopped to see if they needed help with the blue van....fwiw

 

[Satchie]

They weren't on the 'Highway of Tears' (Highway 16), they were on the Alaska Highway. The Highway 16 crimes happened to vulnerable single women who live in the many communities along that traditional, aboriginal, east-west transportation corridor.

This happened on the highway north to Alaska. This time of year there's a steady flow of tourists in RVs but it's basically unpopulated for 500 km in the area where they were found.

A mechanical breakdown there would be a disaster, you'd be so far from a garage, a bank etc. Typically, travellers like that would have been on a shoestring, they'd probably want to try to fix the vehicle, or find someone who could fix it, rather than pay for towing.

Maybe the woman who offered help was going in the wrong direction to where help would be most likely found, IMO Fort Nelson.

Anyhow, once they'd decided what help they wanted, they'd have no trouble getting someone to stop. Normally, drivers would be happy to help fellow travellers in that isolated area. Unfortunately, it seems the person who did stop was that one rare person who doesn't want to help.

Since there's really nothing around there to see except miles of forest, I think many people travelling past would have noticed and remembered what they saw.

 

[Snoopster]

How terrible! They were on an adventure, and they somehow crossed paths with the wrong person.
Devastating. And with both of their families so far away it only adds to what they must be going through.

Rest in peace Chynna and Lucas.

 

[Ooohm]

Very sad. My condolences to their families.

 

[Kpossible]

I read that it took Canadian authorities 3 days to identify their bodies (meaning no wallets lying around), so robbery is a likely motive...

 

[otto]

The couple were travelling along a 450 mile stretch of road known as 'The Highway of Tears' at the time they disappeared.*

American woman and her Australian boyfriend are 'shot dead by a serial killer' in Canada | Daily Mail Online

(*obviously that sentence is incorrect as they did not 'disappear' - they were shot)

"From 1989 to 2006 nine young women went missing or were found murdered along the 724 kilometre length of highway 16 – now commonly referred to as the Highway of Tears."​

Highway of Tears Background Information - Highway of Tears



Highway of Tears - Wikipedia

 

[Snoopster]

I read that it took Canadian authorities 3 days to identify their bodies (meaning no wallets lying around), so robbery is a likely motive...

Definitely a likely motive, but it could also have been an attempt to slow down identification. (Although this latter motive seems weak considering they were so far off in the wilderness.)