Photo: getty
Is there a serial killer on the loose?
By Kaitlin Kaiser — Written on Jul 24, 2019
Canada has been wracked with worry ever since a couple road tripping to see the country's national parks were found murdered on the side of the road. Chynna Deese from North Carolina and Lucas Fowler from Australia were discovered dead on Monday July 15. They were found on a remote stretch of highway next to their van that had broken down. After they were discovered, police found another body just 150 miles down the road. They are wary to say whether or not the two are related. But in the wake of all of this terror, we must ask ourselves, who are Chynna Deese and Lucas Fowler?
1. They were traveling together
The couple was traveling across Canada together. They wanted to visit all of Canada's National Parks. They were traveling in a blue van that Fowler fixed up especially for the occasion. When asked about it Deese's little brother British said: “They were deeply in love. They met traveling and that’s just what they did — travel. He was working in Canada and they were planning an extensive road trip there for three weeks. They were going to spend a week on the ranch and the second half of the trip going to national parks in Canada.”
2. The couple met overseas
The couple met in Croatia. Deese was on vacation with her brother British and when they ran into Fowler it was love at first sight. When Chynna's mother, Sheila Deese, was asked about her daughter's relationship, she spoke about how she was happy that her daughter passed being with the man she loved. She said, "It is a love story. A Southern girl goes out of the country, meets this Australian and they were just the same personality. It was like two butterflies that found each other, and they were going to be forever."
3. The bearded man
Before the couple was murdered, their van was stopped on the side of the highway. A woman named Alandra Hull stopped to see if she could help. However when she slowed down her car she could see that there was a bearded man standing in the middle of the highway. According to Hull, the man seemed very agitated. She got a bad feeling about the whole thing so instead of offering her help she drove away. Hull is the woman who gave the description of the bearded man to the police.
4. A new couple has come forward
A couple recently made news in Canada for coming forward saying that they stopped and talked to the young couple before they died. Curtis and Sandra Broughton said that they saw who they are sure to be Fowler and Deese on the side of the road because their van had broken down. They described the couple as "happy and smiley." “They seemed like they kind of had it under control. It was mechanical issues with the van," Curtis told Global News."They were having a picnic waiting for the van to unflood, I guess, and try to start it again."
5. They believe they have a serial killer on the loose
Canadian police are reticent to use the term serial killer, but they aren't wary to imply that the murder of this young couple could be related to the murder of another man found dead 150 miles down the road. Crimes of this nature almost never happen in this part of British Columbia, so they are not ruling out the possibility of the crimes being related.
Another weird part of the case is that on a another highway not far from where the murders took place, police found a camper burned to a crisp. The camper was said to belong to two teen boys, Bryer Schmegelsky, 19, and Kam McLeod, 18. The boys have yet to be found, and while they had been in contact with their families earlier in the week, it is said that perhaps they are out of range of any cell towers now.
6. Fowler's dad is a police chief in Australia
He released a statement on behalf of both families saying: "It really is the worst ever love story. We now have two young people who had everything ahead of them. Tragically murdered." In another statement he said: "To lose someone so young and vibrant, who was traveling 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."