RCMP have poured into Cranbrook from around the province as local mounties grapple with a gruesome double homicide Saturday in an unassuming house 8.5 km east of the city on Highway 3/93 in Mayook.

Dead by gunshot wounds are Leanne MacFarlane, 43, and Jeffrey Taylor, 42, who had been living in the rental property for three months.

RCMP Corporal Chris Faulkner said there was evidence found at the scene that indicates the possibility the double-murder could have been a case of mistaken identity.

“There was some evidence at the scene that leads us to believe they may not have been the intended target. But it doesn’t mean they weren’t the intended targets. It’s just that they may not have been. It’s kind of speculative on our part.”

Faulkner would provide no other details and said at this point police do not have a motive for the crime and don’t have a suspect. However the rural house where the murders took place has been investigated in the past in connection with a shooting outside the Sam Steele Hotel Oct. 29, 2009.

It’s believed one of the three men charged in connection with the drug-related shooting was living in the house while on bail prior to the murdered couple moving in. Now facing attempted murder charges arising out of the of the Sam Steele shooting are Donald Faid, who was on parole at the time of the incident, Kevin William Winters and Doug Mahon.

Meanwhile Faulkner says a couple in a car on Highway 3/93 saw a man dressed in camouflage gear walking along the highway near the house where the murders took place around 9:30 a.m. May 29, 2010. But they were doing around 100 km/h at the time and didn’t get more than a fleeting look at the man who was walking along the shoulder of the road, he said.

The couple didn’t report anything suspicious about the man other than he was walking near the crime scene at the time the crime took place, Faulkner said.

The murdered couple were known to the police but not in a significant way. “They were not known to us in a criminal environment,” Faulkner said, Names get on the police radar all the time but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re criminals, he said.

Faulkner said 20 RCMP members are working on the case, including special investigating officers from the major crime units in Kelowna and Vancouver.

“We’re doing the leg work. They’re taking statements and the experts and forensics people are inside (the house) examining the scene. Other experts are there gathering evidence which will be sent off to the (RCMP) lab.”

The veteran Cranbrook crime officer said nothing like this has been seen in Cranbrook for at least a decade. “Unless it’s something I’m not aware of, not in the last 10 years has there been anything as tragic and atrocious as this.”