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

[zecats]

Yes, I think it's the same Lodge. Looks like there was also camping spots available, which may have been what they were seeking. I sense they were traveling on a budget and at their age, was probably what they preferred. They may have wanted to stop at the lodge to eat, though. Pretty sure it has a restaurant. Gas and store, too. For the time of day they broke down, it seems logical they were probably planning to stop there. Also why they may not have been in a big hurry when people passed because there was plenty of daylight left and the Hot Springs were only 15 or 20 miles ahead.

Yes it does. Restaurant, gas, food for takeaway - picnic and hiking. They could have planned to stocked up there. Looks like a nice place actually.

 

[otto]

A few questions that, as far as I can tell, we may not have heard the answers to.

I read that the intent was to camp while travelling. Tent camping? Sleeping bag on open ground camping? Sleeping in the van camping? Do we have any idea if they were killed before nightfall, or while sleeping in whatever style was planned?

It seems they were only a day or two into their adventure. When did CD arrive from Charlotte? How did she get to the ranch, if that is where she met up with LF? Where is the nearest airport that she would have flown in from? If they did not begin their adventure from the ranch, where did they stay initially after she arrived?

I read something a friend of LF's had said to the effect of CD being his first real girlfriend. Was he CD's first serious boyfriend? I seriously doubt that a jealous ex would travel that far to bring harm to someone, but it would not be completely unheard of.

Perhaps none of these things entered into this crime, but they are just some random questions that I have. JMO

She probably flew to Vancouver and then to Prince George. He must have picked her up in Prince George and taken her to the ranch before they set off on the trip.

 

[dotr]

Since Lucas had been working at the ranch and was about to either leave the job or head out for a vacation, he might have just been paid a handsome sum and Chynna likely also had a fair amount of cash at the start of the journey.
Wondering if they were followed by someone who is aware of when the ranch workers get paid? speculation, imo.

 

[otto]

Since Lucas had been working at the ranch and was about to either leave the job or head out for a vacation, he might have just been paid a handsome sum and Chynna likely also had a fair amount of cash at the start of the journey.

Wondering if they were followed by someone who is aware of when the ranch workers get paid? speculation, imo.

Why do you think they would be holding cash? I could see a couple of hundred dollars, but wouldn't they use debit and digital cash?

 

[Zella]

I doubt this has anything to do with "women." It sounds like a man and his wife passed the victims while they were alive and well 20 minutes apart. Another couple spoke to them.

Generally speaking, do people in Fort Nelson call police when they see a stalled vehicle on the side of the road?

I'm not talking about the couple who was together. I'm talking about the woman without her husband. It was just her and other female relatives and she specifically mentioned not stopping due to unnamed safety concerns, so it does have a lot to do with being a woman.

Tourists found dead along B.C.’s Alaska Highway appear to have been shot: NSW policeTourists found dead along B.C.’s Alaska Highway appear to have been shot: NSW police

 

[Betty P]

Why do you think they would be holding cash? I could see a couple of hundred dollars, but wouldn't they use debit and digital cash?

Unless some places didn't have ATMs. Looks pretty isolated traveling into the Yukon, if that's where they were headed. Hard to say, though. People will kill others for any number of insignificant reasons.

 

[zecats]

It seems almost nobody lives there, it's all government-owned land, which they lease to tourist operators like lodges and hunting/fishing camps. No hydro, no roads. But I think it's pretty wide open for public use by horseback, boat, atv, hiking.

Not sure if you mean where Lucas and Chynna were found? Or where Luke disappeared. Luke Neville went missing from Spences Bridge BC, closer to Merritt and our other mysteries involving Ben Tyner and Dean Morrison.

 

[otto]

I'm not talking about the couple who was together. I'm talking about the woman without her husband. It was just her and other female relatives and she specifically mentioned not stopping due to unnamed safety concerns, so it does have a lot to do with being a woman.

Tourists found dead along B.C.’s Alaska Highway appear to have been shot: NSW policeTourists found dead along B.C.’s Alaska Highway appear to have been shot: NSW police

Another article mentions that she did not have room in her vehicle, and there was traffic in both directions. Maybe the safety issues were related to traffic.

 

[Zella]

Another article mentions that she did not have room in her vehicle, and there was traffic in both directions. Maybe the safety issues were related to traffic.

That could be, but I know as a woman with lots of women friends, all the women I know are much less likely to pick people up off the side of the road or even pull over than men are simply due to fear that whoever is on the side of road is dangerous.

That's an interesting detail about the traffic in both directions. Sounds like there might be the potential for more witnesses than have come forward?

 

[cody22]

Since Lucas had been working at the ranch and was about to either leave the job or head out for a vacation, he might have just been paid a handsome sum and Chynna likely also had a fair amount of cash at the start of the journey.
Wondering if they were followed by someone who is aware of when the ranch workers get paid? speculation, imo.

Possibly another temporary Ranch employee, who had also left the Ranch, knowing of their trip plans ?.....moo

 

[Seattle1]

Police release chilling details of Australian man's grisly 'unique' murder in Canada | Daily Mail Online

• Chilling new details have been released about an Australian man's murder
• Lucas Fowler and Chynna Deese were discovered on Alaska Highway on Monday
• Couple were reportedly shot and police have launched murder investigation
• Mr Fowler has been identified as the son of NSW Chief Inspector Stephen Fowler
• Ms Deese's brother revealed the moment he learnt his sister had met violent end
• The Fowler family are in the process of flying to Canada to bring their son home

A third body has been discovered close to where Australian man Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend were murdered in British Colombia.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed the information today saying it is unclear if the two scenes are related.

Officers were called to a truck fire south of the Stikine River Bridge on Highway 37 when a passing motorist told them they had just seen what they believed to be a body at a nearby Highway pullout.

Attending officers located the body of a deceased male and a separate investigation has now commenced.

 

[Stratocaster]

Character profiling it's obviously a really violent ending for this couple.

As stated by someone's prior post they seem like the free spirited type of young love travellers that wouldn't stand in the way of a robbery.

Taking a guess at the evidence left behind would be bullet forensics, gun powder res, trajectory. Didn't hear anything about cell phones

 

[otto]

That could be, but I know as a woman with lots of women friends, all the women I know are much less likely to pick people up off the side of the road or even pull over than men are simply due to fear that whoever is on the side of road is dangerous.

That's an interesting detail about the traffic in both directions. Sounds like there might be the potential for more witnesses than have come forward?

My impression is that safety issues were related to the narrow highway and traffic.

"A woman who told CTV News she'd seen the van said it appeared to have broken down on the side of the northbound lanes.

"The hood was up and there was a young couple sitting in lawn chairs in the ditch. The girl got up and waved at me," Carrie Haruluk said.

She said she couldn't help - her vehicle was full and there were vehicles coming in both directions - so she kept driving.

"The next morning, we all heard the sirens," Haruluk said."​

What happened to tourist couple found dead on Alaska Highway?

 

[Zella]

"A woman who told CTV News she'd seen the van said it appeared to have broken down on the side of the northbound lanes.

"The hood was up and there was a young couple sitting in lawn chairs in the ditch. The girl got up and waved at me," Carrie Haruluk said.

She said she couldn't help - her vehicle was full and there were vehicles coming in both directions - so she kept driving.

"The next morning, we all heard the sirens," Haruluk said."​

What happened to tourist couple found dead on Alaska Highway?

Thank you!

 

[Seattle1]

Road-tripping couple 'just enjoying life to the full' found dead on the side of the road

Chynna Noelle Deese, 24, and Lucas Robertson Fowler, 23, were on a road trip in Canada, when police believe they were murdered. Their bodies were found Monday morning near Liard Hot Spring, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Deese is a native of North Carolina, The Charlotte Observer reports.
[...]

Deese’s father, Dwayne Deese, told the Observer that the family had not received much information about the crimes, but he believed the attack to be violent because it took police three days to identify the bodies. He said this also led him to believe all forms of identification were taken, the newspaper reported.

“This investigation is in it’s very infancy and it is not yet clear whether Lucas and Chynna were targeted or is this was a crime of opportunity,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a press release. "At this point, we have nothing to indicate that their deaths are linked to any other active and ongoing investigations in the area, or if there is a heightened risk to public safety."

Deese met Fowler in 2017 at a hostel in Croatia, the Observer.

 

[Seattle1]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article232881247.html

Investigators believe Deese and Fowler were likely killed between 4 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, and have asked witnesses who may have seen the couple’s van to help “determine a timeline leading up to their deaths.”

Their bodies were found along the Alaska Highway, 12 miles south of Liard Hot Springs, a popular tourist attraction in British Columbia, a press release said. Parked nearby was Fowler’s blue minivan.

[...]

Chynna Deese and Fowler were veteran travelers, which British Deese says adds to the mystery of how became victims on the road in Canada. The two met at a hostel in Croatia in 2017, and later traveled extensively through Europe, Central America and Asia, he said.

 

[otto]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article232881247.html

Investigators believe Deese and Fowler were likely killed between 4 p.m. Sunday and 8 a.m. Monday, and have asked witnesses who may have seen the couple’s van to help “determine a timeline leading up to their deaths.”

Their bodies were found along the Alaska Highway, 12 miles south of Liard Hot Springs, a popular tourist attraction in British Columbia, a press release said. Parked nearby was Fowler’s blue minivan.

[...]

Chynna Deese and Fowler were veteran travelers, which British Deese says adds to the mystery of how became victims on the road in Canada. The two met at a hostel in Croatia in 2017, and later traveled extensively through Europe, Central America and Asia, he said.

It seems to be wrong place wrong time, as with many crimes.

The Deese family is also wondering why there isn't a travel warning, but what would it say: two people were randomly murdered in a country with 35 million people, don't go there?

"What worries us is that person is still on the loose and they have a head start. This is going to happen again. There needs to be some kind of a warning system in place for tourists.”​

Alaska Highway homicide victims last seen smiling, planned to visit Canada's parks

 

[Seattle1]

Officials said that the couple is thought to have died between July 14 and July 15. The bodies were discovered on July 15 at 7:20 p.m. local time. The pair were found along the Alaska Highway, Highway 97, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. They were found less than 50 miles from the Liard River Hot Springs, a notable tourist attraction.

[...]

The Australian Daily Telegraph reports that there is a theory that Deese and Fowler were the victims of a serial killer. That theory is based in part on the number of women who have vanished along the stretch of highway where the pair were found dead. The road is close to the area known as the “Highway of Tears” whereas many of 50 women have vanished since 1970.

Most recently, Chantelle Simpson, 34, disappeared in the area with her car being found along the highway. Two weeks later, her body was found in the Skeena River. While in September 2018, Jessica Patrick, 18, was found dead in the area having last been seen in a McDonald’s along the highway.

The Telegraph reports adds that two detectives from the Australian State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad have traveled to Canada to aid in the investigation.

Deese’s brother, British, told the Charlotte Observer that the family does not believe the serial killer scenario saying, “I don’t think it’s a serial killer. I think of someone who has been convicted of violent crimes before, someone on drugs.

Chynna Deese: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

 

[otto]

Officials said that the couple is thought to have died between July 14 and July 15. The bodies were discovered on July 15 at 7:20 p.m. local time. The pair were found along the Alaska Highway, Highway 97, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. They were found less than 50 miles from the Liard River Hot Springs, a notable tourist attraction.

[...]

The Australian Daily Telegraph reports that there is a theory that Deese and Fowler were the victims of a serial killer. That theory is based in part on the number of women who have vanished along the stretch of highway where the pair were found dead. The road is close to the area known as the “Highway of Tears” whereas many of 50 women have vanished since 1970.

Most recently, Chantelle Simpson, 34, disappeared in the area with her car being found along the highway. Two weeks later, her body was found in the Skeena River. While in September 2018, Jessica Patrick, 18, was found dead in the area having last been seen in a McDonald’s along the highway.

The Telegraph reports adds that two detectives from the Australian State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad have traveled to Canada to aid in the investigation.

Deese’s brother, British, told the Charlotte Observer that the family does not believe the serial killer scenario saying, “I don’t think it’s a serial killer. I think of someone who has been convicted of violent crimes before, someone on drugs.

Chynna Deese: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know | Heavy.com

They were found 12 miles from Liard Hot Springs.

Police received a call at 7:19AM on Monday and went to the scene.

Police have said that there is no serial killer and there is no connection between these murders and any other ongoing investigation. No women have vanished on the highway where they were found.

ref: police press release posted earlier today

 

[LadyL]

Police release chilling details of Australian man's grisly 'unique' murder in Canada | Daily Mail Online

A third body has been discovered close to where Australian man Lucas Fowler and his American girlfriend were murdered in British Colombia.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police revealed the information today saying it is unclear if the two scenes are related.

Officers were called to a truck fire south of the Stikine River Bridge on Highway 37 when a passing motorist told them they had just seen what they believed to be a body at a nearby Highway pullout.

Attending officers located the body of a deceased male and a separate investigation has now commenced.

[bbm]