Stephen Fowler was grim-faced but steady as he talked to B.C. journalists on Monday, speaking of the unbreakable bond between his son Lucas and Lucas’s girlfriend Chynna Deese, who were murdered on Highway 97 last week.
“I may be an experienced police officer,” said Fowler, a chief inspector with the New South Wales police in Australia, “but today I stand here as a father of a murder victim. We are just distraught. This has torn two families apart.”
Fowler is staying with his family in Vancouver as the murder investigation intensifies.
“Lucas was a fun-loving guy who had a goal to travel the world. He saved up all his money while he was working in Sydney. He set out on an adventure with a mate and along that tour he met Chynna and they became an inseparable pair.
“It was a love story that’s ended tragically. It’s the worst-ever love story because we now have two young people, who had everything before them, tragically murdered.”
Lucas Fowler, 23, and Deese, 24, from North Carolina, were found shot to death at the side of Highway 97 in northern B.C. on the morning of July 15.
Their van is believed to have broken down the previous evening, several kilometres south of the Liard Hot Springs, with the couple turning down an offer to help fix the vehicle. According to reports, Fowler was confident he could deal with what he thought was an overheated engine.
On Monday, Mounties revealed Fowler was seen having a conversation on the evening of July 14 with a man police now want to speak with.
RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Janelle Shoihet said that man was Caucasian, with darker skin and dark hair. Police made public a sketch of that person.
“There was a man who was seen speaking to Lucas Fowler,” Shoihet said. “He’s shorter than Lucas, who stood six-foot-three, and has a possible beard or glasses.” She said the man may be driving an older model Jeep Cherokee with a black stripe on the hood and a bull-bar.
Shoihet also revealed the RCMP were looking at possible links between the slaying of Fowler and Deese and another case 470 km to the west, on Highway 37.
Four days after Fowler and Deese were found dead, emergency services went to a vehicle fire 50 km south of Dease Lake.
While investigating the vehicle, additional information led police to discover a body at a highway pullout about two kilometres away. Police are looking for the two men from Port Alberni who were driving the burned vehicle — Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 — who were travelling to visit Whitehorse to look for work.
“We are looking into the possibility that they may be linked,” Shoihet said. “This is unusual, to have two major investigations of this nature in northern B.C. at the same time, so we recognize that these two investigations may be linked.”
She also issued a warning to travellers in the region, saying people should stick to campsites and keep family and friends posted on their whereabouts.
“We share the concerns that are being raised given the tragic and unusual nature of these two investigations that we have underway,” Shoihet said. “We would like to stress the importance of heightened vigilance and awareness for anyone travelling in and around that area.”
Stephen Fowler confirmed he was accompanied by two NSW police detectives, who were helping his family liaise with the RCMP.
“We were overjoyed for Lucas,” he said. “He came to Canada and planned a trip in a van with Chynna. We had been talking about his trip and he communicated with us as they were leaving. What happened after that, time will tell I guess. We are hopeful of a positive outcome and we are appealing for anyone with any information to contact police.”
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
