Embarrassing RCMP filter fail: Police livestream double homicide press conference - with a cat face

A Canadian police force were left red-faced when a livestream of a press conference went viral for all the wrong reasons.

Sgt. Janelle Shoihet, from The Royal Canadian Mounted Police of British Columbia, was announcing the news about the killing of an American woman and her Australian boyfriend live via the force’s Facebook page.

However, a cat filter setting had been applied to the recording, adding two cat ears, whiskers and brown nose to Sgt. Shoihet’s face.

Tyler Dawson, Alberta correspondent for the National Post, spotted the error and tweeted: “The B.C. RCMP are giving a press conference on the two people murdered on the Alaska Highway, and they have the cat ear filter on.”

Others reacted with anger at the slip-up.

The RCMP responded quickly saying: “Yes we are aware and addressing it as it's an automatic setting. Thank you, we will rectify and issue a video shortly.”

Chynna Noelle Deese, 24, and Lucas Robertson Fowler, 23, were found dead on a remote highway in B.C earlier this week.

The young couple's bodies were discovered along the Alaska Highway, 20 kilometres south of Liard Hot Springs, a popular tourist destination in B.C. Australian Police believe they were shot.

Paying tribute to her daughter, Deese's mother, Sheila Deese said: “She was a giver. She volunteered, she loved people — all cultures," she says. "I'm trying to hold on to my memories and really not let my mind get much past that."

The Fowler family added: “To lose someone so young and vibrant, who was travelling the world and just enjoying life to the full, is devastating.”

RCMP now say they are investigating the deaths as a double homicide and have asked anyone with information to come forward.