National Post (National Edition)
Link between murders, missing teens ‘possible’
Northern B.C. residents on edge
Northern British Columbia’s vast, untamed wilderness beckons adventure seekers, nature lovers and those seeking escape from the urban chaos.
But in the past week, the roadside murders of a foreign couple, plus the suspicious death of a man found near a burning truck and the disappearance of two young men who were driving that truck have left residents in this remote and sparsely populated part of Canada on edge.
On Monday, after previously saying there was nothing to indicate a link between these various incidents — which took place hundreds of kilometres apart — RCMP officials told reporters it was “possible” there was a connection and urged the public to be on alert.
“We would like to stress the importance of heightened vigilance and awareness for anybody travelling in and around the area,” RCMP Sgt. Janelle Shoihet told reporters.
Prior to the RCMP’s revised statement, there had been rampant speculation on social media of a possible serial killer at work.
“Everyone’s talking about it. It’s just scary. What’s going on with the highway?” said Meghan Fisher, an employee of the Pink Mountain Campsite and General Store in northern B.C.’s Peace River region.
Fisher said she’d been warning people not to pick up hitchhikers and couldn’t help but cast a suspicious eye on solo travellers.
“I’m a little more paranoid,” she said.
On the morning of July 15, the bodies of Chynna Noelle Deese, 24, of Charlotte, N.C., and her boyfriend Lucas Fowler, 23, of Australia — described by family as an “inseparable pair” — were found on the side of the historic Alaska Highway, about 20 kilometres south of Liard Hot Springs, B.C. Their 1986 Chevrolet van — which had broken down the day before, according to witnesses — was parked on the shoulder nearby. RCMP confirmed they had been shot.
RCMP released a composite sketch of a man who was seen talking to the couple on the night of July 14. He was described as a Caucasian man with a beard and driving an older Jeep Cherokee with a black racing stripe on the hood.
Australia’s 9News had previously spoken with a woman, Alandra Hull, who said she saw a man who appeared to be “frustrated” talking to the couple that night from the middle of the highway.
Meanwhile, about 470 kilometres to the west of the double homicide, police were called Friday to a truck fire on Highway 37, about 50 kilometres south of Dease Lake, B.C. About two kilometres away, they found the remains of a man in a highway pull-out. The man, who had yet to be identified Monday, was described as Caucasian with a heavy build, 50 to 60 years old, with a grey beard. The cause of death was not revealed.
RCMP said they were also continuing their search for two teens from Port Alberni, B.C. — Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18 — who had been driving the red and grey Dodge pickup truck.
According to police, the two young men had set off in search of work in the Yukon. The pair had been in contact with family and friends periodically over the past week but had since gone quiet, police said. It was not clear why they had returned to the province.
At this point they are classified as “missing persons,” police said.
While police didn’t share any information directly linking the various cases, they said it was a possible there was a nexus.
“Our investigators are speaking to each other, sharing information and certainly looking at the possibility they may be linked,” Shoihet told reporters.
“It’s unusual to have two major investigations undergoing of this nature in northern B.C. at the same time.”
Some communities had already been taking extra precautions. In the First Nations community of Iskut, south of Dease Lake, Chief Maria Quock wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend that people were volunteering to patrol the area at night by car. She told the Post Monday that a lot of residents are living in fear.
“There’s been a lot of fear because this has never happened before in this area. Nobody knows what’s going on,” she said, adding that there is no RCMP detachment in the immediate area.
Tributes continued to pour in for Fowler and Deese, who were on a road trip exploring national parks.
“I may be an experienced police officer but today I’m standing here as the father of a murder victim. We’re just distraught,” Stephen Fowler, a chief inspector with New South Wales police, told reporters after travelling to B.C.
“Our son Lucas was having the time of his life travelling the world. He met a beautiful young lady and they teamed up. They were a great pair and they fell in love,” he said. “It’s a love story that’s ended tragically.”
Sheila Deese told WSOC in North Carolina that she found comfort knowing her daughter Chynna died next to the man she loved.
Curtis and Sandra Broughton of Fort Nelson, B.C., had previously told Postmedia News they had spotted the couple off the side of the highway with their hood propped open on the afternoon of July 14 and asked if they needed help.
The Broughtons said Fowler and Deese, who were sitting in lawn chairs, mentioned the engine had flooded. But they seemed in control of the situation, so the Broughtons continued on.
The two missing teenagers, Schmegelsky and McLeod, were last seen Thursday afternoon at the Super A general store in Dease Lake heading south, police said.
A store manager said Monday he didn’t want to say anything that could compromise the investigation.
But he did share that he found the speculation about a serial killer a “little absurd,” though he said there were people in the community who were genuinely frightened.