US Woman, Boyfriend Found by Canadian Highway

A double-murder in Canada has police scouring a remote area and reporters floating theories from random violence to a possible serial killer, the Charlotte Observer reports. Chynna Deese, a 24-year-old American, was visiting her boyfriend Lucas Fowler, 23, in British Columbia when their remains were found Monday on a desolate stretch of highway. Details are scant but the bodies took three days to identify, suggesting a violent death, and a blue Chevrolet van was at the scene. Police are seeking the public's help and saying little. "We are particularly interested in speaking with anyone who may have dashcam footage," police say. For more, including a possible serial killer on the "Highway of Tears":

• Deeply in love: Deese had gone up from Charlotte, NC, to be with Fowler, an Australian working on a cattle farm. "They were deeply in love," says brother British Deese. "They met traveling and that's just what they did—travel."

• 'Van broke down': They planned to spend time on the ranch, then visit national parks and drive to Alaska. "They had mapped out their route," mom Sheila Deese tells WSOC. "And, to my understanding, the van broke down and that’s where the tragedy happened."
• Possible shooting: NBC News reports that Fowler's father, a senior police commissioner in Australia, says they might have been shot. WSOC is reporting the death as a shooting.
• Motive: The RCMP says it's unclear whether the couple was "targeted" or if it was "a crime of opportunity."
• Serial killer: One theory is that a serial killer stumbled on Deese and Fowler, the Daily Mail reports. Other women have disappeared in that area, and a nearby "Highway of Tears" has seen up to 50 women go missing since 1970.
• A 'violent criminal': Father Dwayne Deese doesn't buy the serial killer angle, saying the profile fits a violent criminal, "someone on drugs." He adds: "Something happened on that road, some sort of conflict. We don't know because they (Canadian authorities) are not telling us anything."
• 'Doesn't add up': "They were found brutally murdered and most of their belongings left there," British Deese said on Good Morning America, per CTV News. "It doesn’t add up and it’s concerning. We're never going to get full closure on this and it's going to hurt the rest of our lives."
• 'Too cruel': "To lose someone so young and vibrant, who was traveling the world and just enjoying life to the full, is devastating," Fowler's family said in a statement, per CNN. "To know his beautiful girlfriend ... also lost her life in this violent event is too cruel."

(More murder stories.)