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Cop father says couple’s double homicide in B.C. devastating for two families

Jul 22, 2019 | 4:27 PM

SURREY, B.C. — The father of an Australian man who was gunned down with his girlfriend while travelling on a remote British Columbia highway says the deaths are a tragic end to a love story between the inseparable couple.

Chief Insp. Stephen Fowler of the New South Wales Police Force says he spoke with his globe-trotting son Lucas Fowler before he and his American girlfriend Chynna Deese left on a road trip from northern B.C.

Fowler says nothing in his job as a police officer had prepared him for the devastating news he received about his son’s shooting death at the side of the Alaska Highway, where the couple’s bodies were found a week ago.

RCMP have released a composite sketch of a bearded man a witness saw speaking with the pair, who were driving a 1986 blue Chevrolet van.

Sgt. Janelle Shoihet says the man was driving an older-model Jeep Cherokee with a black stripe on the hood and police would like him to contact them.

She says police are unaware if the couple’s murders are linked to the death of a man found on the side of another highway hundreds of kilometres away but are asking the public to be vigilant and take safety precautions while travelling.

 

The Canadian Press