VICTIMS HAD LOVE OF ADVENTURE.
THREE B.C. MURDER VICTIMS HAD LOVE OF ADVENTURE
CHYNNA DEESE
Chynna Deese, 24, was an American tourist from Charlotte, N.C. She was the youngest in a large family who was known as a free spirit.
She met Lucas Fowler in Croatia, where she had been working at a hostel, and they bonded over a shared love of travel. Their families expected them to marry, and recalled with humour their plan to raise children in Australia for at least two years to ensure they had the accent.
The Globe and Mail reported that Sheila Deese described her daughter Chynna as a “beautiful soul” who volunteered at a camp for children with special needs, often donated blood, and had given away many of her possessions to pursue a less materialistic lifestyle. Her brother said in a Facebook post that she had recently been to see cow branding at a ranch Fowler worked at before embarking on their drive north.
“Chynna was a loving free spirit who travelled the world; she had a genuine passion for the well-being of all people,” her obituary reads. “She always had a positive outlook on life and she unfailingly brought joy to all that came in contact with her.”
LUCAS FOWLER
Lucas Fowler, 23, was an Australian tourist who had bought an old blue van and repurposed it as a camper so he and his girlfriend could drive to Alaska.
Travel was their passion, and they were skilled in the ways of the open road. Several people, for example, reported seeing Fowler and his girlfriend seated on the roadside in northern B.C., happily waiting for their van’s flooded engine to drain.
The last known images of them show them embracing at a Fort Nelson gas station, after he gassed up the van and she cleaned the windows.
Fowler was the son of Stephen Fowler, a senior Australian police officer. Officers from his police force flew to Canada to help liaise with Canadian police.
Lucas Fowler’s body was found July 15 near Liard Hot Springs. Both he and his girlfriend had been shot to death.