Latest / NO FILTER / Episode 17_ The Murders of Austin Wenner and Jessica Lewis aka The Murders Discovered by a TikTok(M4A_128K)

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Episode 17_ The Murders of Austin Wenner and Jessica Lewis aka The Murders Discovered by a TikTok(M4A_128K) · NO FILTER

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: What's up you guys. I'm Haley and I'm Andrea.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: And welcome back to Inhuman. So today we are going
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: to be covering the viral TikTok case as a lot
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: of people know it. We're going to be covering the
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: murders of Austin Wenner and Jessica Lewis. This is I mean,
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: we're kind of staying on the social media theme because
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: the last case I did was like dubbed the Snapchat
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: murders by a lot of people, so we're staying on
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: this little social media train. But this was a case
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that went viral because something was found in a TikTok
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: video and that's what went viral. So I'm gonna talk
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: about it and explain what happened. And it's it's a lot,
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: it's a lot.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: It is. It's a doozy. Yeah, it's it's a doozy.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: But this is probably gonna be like overall once you
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: once the case, like once you get into it, it
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: is like the case assaulved really quick, but it's all
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: the lead up that's so crazy.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Before we get into it, I want to mention Kendall
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Ray on YouTube covered this case and she was so
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: helpful in like the outline and some of the details
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: that I kind of wasn't sure about because I was
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: seeing details in multiple places that were a little bit different,
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: and she did a really good job putting it together.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: So I just wanted to like shout that out because
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: she was like a big source that I used. And
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: she also has a whole bunch of other cases on
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: her YouTube channel, so it was really awesome. And she
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: had cute dogs in her videos.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: So you know that's always a plus.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So before we get into the actual true crime
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: part of the case, you need to understand what random
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: nodding is. And let me tell you, it is a doozy.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: It's it's crazy, it's stupid.
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: It sounds really stupid too, at least the parts of
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: about it.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Although now that I've read about it, I want to
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: do it. So I'm idea trying it this weekend and
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: seeing where we get.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Okay, you'll see, just be careful, turn your tell me
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: your what we're saying location.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Okay, So there's an app called random Nautica, and before
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: I knew about this case, I had not heard anything
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: about it. Like I'm on TikTok all the time, and
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: I still hadn't heard about it, but apparently it became
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: a TikTok trend and I don't even think I like
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: remember it being a TikTok trend, Like I really don't
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: remember it, and like I'm on TikTok a lot.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: So yeah, I had heard. I had heard of it
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: in one other situation and it wasn't through TikTok. But
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: it reminded me of like this movie. There was a
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: movie that was kind of like that where people would like, oh,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: explain it, but yeah, right, if you've seen it, but
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: it's kind of like.
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I can't think of anything, but yeah, it it like
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: people were talking about how big it was on TikTok,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and it seemed like it was really big when I
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: was reading articles about it, but I don't remember it.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: But also, there's like a million sides of TikTok, so
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: you never know what you get. So I looked on
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the Apple app Store first just to try to get
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: an understanding, and it is advertised on there as the
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: first ever quantumly generated adventure game that takes you on
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: a journey of true randomness.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: It's an adventure, right, yeah.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a choose your own adventure. Basically, it's
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: an app that takes you on adventures when you're bored.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: But the best way to describe it, I'm just going
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: to read this like description of it because this is
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: just like it makes my head spin. This app provides
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: you with totally random coordinates within a set radius. You
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: then choose if you'd like to adventure to the point.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: It's been said by the random dot community that breaking
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: out of what's called your probability tunnel can bring about
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: serendipitous experiences and provide great fun while journey journeying into
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the world around you. So I mean to me, that
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: just sounds terrifying, honestly.
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, because we know what we know about like the
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: world and like our paranoid because of true crime.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but to be fair, like if I was a teenager,
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, I probably wouldn't have done this, but like Robert,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: I could totally see him and his friends have doing it,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: have been doing this in like high school.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: I definitely in high school if they had this, my
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: friends and I we definitely would have done.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: This, right, Like, I feel like a lot of high schoolers,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: like I could see why this is appealing and fun
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: and it kind of reminds me of geocashing, if you've
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: ever done that, but instead of searching for actual like
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: treasures or a scavenger height hunt items to find, you're
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: basically looking for something you've manifested. And manifestation is like
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: a big part of this. And let me say, like,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: I totally believe in manifestation and the like power of it,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: and like, I think it's totally a real thing and
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: can lead to some really great outcomes, but it's kind
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: of crazy that they turned it into an app almost.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: So the app has you set an intention, and this
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: can be anything from getting answers to like a big
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: problem or seeing paranormal activity or anything you have an intention,
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: and then once you set your intention, the app will
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: give you basically a random set of coordinates within a
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: radius that you set to go find whatever you're searching for.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: And there are definitely success quote unquote success stories. So
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna tell you about a few that I found
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: because I was like, I need to figure out like
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: what types of things people are finding. Keep in mind,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: these are all from like Reddit or TikTok, like people
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: experiencing it, so you know they're.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Talking about it.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they could be embellishing or completely faking it, but
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: a bunch did have like photos or videos with it,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: so you know, take it with a grain of salt.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: But some of them were kind of weird. The first
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: one I read when I was researching this, I was like, yeah, okay, sure,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: a man had set his intention of finding a dog
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: and he found a stray dog, which like, okay, there
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: are like dogs that are there are stray dogs. Depending
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: on where you live, there are stray dogs around, and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: this time you were like paying attention, so of course
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: you're going to see a dog and find a dog.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: So I was kind of like, okay, not so not
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: so sure. But then I kept reading more stories and
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: some were very creepy. One girl asked to find something
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: mystical and she was thinking about fairies, and the app
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: led her to a fairy statue, so like, that's kind
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: of weird. One man that he said he was like
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: very skeptical. His intention was treasure, and he found a
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: very rare luna moth laying on the ground near the coordinates.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: He was given.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: And this is like a beautiful white moth that like
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: it's very rare to see one. So I thought that
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: was you know, that's treasure. That's interesting. And then one more,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: This one, this one really got me because I watched
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: the TikTok video of it and it was weird. She
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: it was a girl that had basically chosen between two
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: colleges like a little while ago, you know, making your
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: college decision, and even though she had made the decision,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: she was like still kind of unsure and like uneasy
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: about it. So her intention was closure and reassurance. And
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: the school that she had decided on was Kansas University.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: And at her coordinates, it was like a random road.
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: You know, it looked like in like the Midwest or
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: something where there were you know, a bunch of farms
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that, and she was just stopped on
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: a random road and she saw a giant k U
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: like the letters K you carved into the lawn and
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Kansas University KU. Yeah, and like that's a random thing
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: to see, like the lester is KU carved into a lawn.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah, that is kind of I don't know that one.
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: It's like hard to believe that it was just something
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: she saw and it wasn't like a.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Man lodgeta set it up or something.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, right.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: So anyway, that is what rando nodding is, and now
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: I'm going to explain how that plays into this case.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: A group of teens were rando nodding in Seattle, Washington
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: on June nineteenth, twenty twenty. And of course, because this
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: was a big TikTok trend at the time, they were
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: recording it. And I've decided not to share the username
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: of the person who posted the video, mostly because they've
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: gotten a lot of backlash for it, and like, i
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: just don't want to share it, and I'm going to
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: talk about the backlash later, but if you really want to,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: you can find it online, like it's up there, but
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: I'm just not going to.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: Share it here.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: So the app basically took this group of teens to
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: like a beach in Seattle, you know, quote unquote beach
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: just like the waterfront of Seattle. And it was on
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: the eleven hundred block of Alci Avenue, which is a
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: point of the beach across from Pike's Place Market, so
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: like the main area of Seattle, but across the way.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: I tried so hard, I looked everywhere to figure out
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: what the group had like set their intention as for
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: because you know how you like, you set an intention.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: So I was trying to figure out what it was
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: and I could not find it anywhere.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: I heard that it was money that they wanted to find,
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: like money or treasure or like well something along those lines.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Something like that. Okay, yeah, I could not find it.
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: And I don't know if that's just because you know,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: they kind of just most of the articles I read,
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: because they weren't like explaining all about what randon nodting was.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: It was kind of just like they did an adventure
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: app so they didn't really explain it, but that would
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: make sense, And I feel like that's kind of a
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: big piece to this puzzle. And like how the case
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: unfolded beuse, like what were they looking for? How did
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: they know to go towards the thing that they found?
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: But I guess if you're looking for anything, no matter
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: what your intention was, if it was money or a
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: treasure or whatever, and you see something random like this
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: sitting out of place, you would probably go towards it.
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: So I guess it's not that weird. So anyway, they
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: found a black suitcase on some rocks along the water
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: and thought that that was what they were supposed to find,
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: and of course they were excited that it quote unquote worked,
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: and they were joking about like that there would be
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: money inside, So that would make sense if that's what
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: their intention was, but of course this is a true
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: crime podcast, so we all know that it was not
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: money inside. When they opened it up, they immediately noticed
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: an extremely foul smell and they had a bad feeling.
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: They were using a stick to like poke it open.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: So as soon as the flap, like the top of
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: suitcase open, they saw that it was filled with garbage
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: bags that looked like there was potentially something dead inside.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: Of course, a lot of people that saw this video
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: thought that it was fake or set up, but turns
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: out it was not.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: So once this group of teens.
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: Saw the garbage bags, they stopped messing with it immediately
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: and called the police, which like props to them because
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I feel like some teens like wouldn't have done that.
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, I think because of the foul smell that
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: probably helped, but like if it didn't smell bad, they
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: probably would have tried to open it up and that
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: wouldn't have been good. So you know, it props them
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: for at least, you know, they called the police and
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: did the right thing by stop, you know, they stopped
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: touching it and everything.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: The police actually.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: Took a few hours to get there, and they've been
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: like majorly criticized for this, but honestly, to be fair,
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: like they're in a big, busy city and they had
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: these teens calling saying that they found a suitcase washed up,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: and it wasn't even if they said that they thought
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: there was a body in it. Like I think that
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: they just said they found this suitcase, maybe that it
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: smelled bad, but you know, there wasn't like a big
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: urgency to go look at a suitcase, and they didn't
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: even know if it was true. So I'm guessing that
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: they like got there as fast as they could, but
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: it wasn't like, oh my god, I just found a
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: dead body. You need to come right now, because they
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: didn't know technically, they still didn't know.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: What was inside.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: And I mean, at least they did show up and
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: didn't just completely write them off. And they eventually did
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: show up and they you know, blocked off the scene
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: and went down to.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Open the suitcase.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: When they opened the suitcase and the garbage bags inside,
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: they found two sets of human remains. So the reason
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: that I said earlier that the person who posted the
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: video got a lot of backlash was because one he
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: actually posted it, and two he didn't remove it at
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the family's request. Yeah, and this was actually like everything
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: happened the day before the video was posted, so that
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: means by the time he posted it, he knew that
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: there were human remains in there and that somebody had died.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: It's not like as he was waiting for the police,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: he posted the video and then and didn't really know
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: what it was going to be. Like that I could
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: see like, okay, you posted it, but then you should
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: take it down.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: But he knew that there were human remains.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and like just the fact that he was posting
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: about two human beings that had been killed and like
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: stuffed into a suitcase is just I think that that
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: speaks to today's environment in the world we live in.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: Like going viral, especially with TikTok, now is such a
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: big deal that kids will willingly post a video of
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: murder victims on TikTok knowing that it would get views.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: And I mean, at least it wasn't the actual bodies,
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: but damn, really, like, just show some respect. Not everything
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: is about being popular, right, and like the worst part
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: is it's like, Okay, you posted it and then the
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: families asked you to take it down and you still
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: refuse for a while, Like that makes me so bad.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: That's the Yeah, that's the rough part is that you know,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: it's one thing if like people were like, oh that's gross,
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: that's disrespectful, take it down, but their actual families contacted
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: him and he still refused to take it down.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And it just also goes.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: To show like how desensitized like we are too, because like,
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: how could I true, I don't think I could post
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: something like that. I think I would have too much
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: fear and just I.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Don't know, no too. I know.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: Eventually, after the families of the victims like begged and
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: begged for the videos to be taken down, it was.
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: And it's very unclear if it was the original poster
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: or if it was TikTok who took it down. But
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: it makes me mad that it even took time to
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: get it taken down because TikTok is like notorious for
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: blocking and removing videos that should didn't be removed, while
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: other videos that should are still there. Ext Like I've
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: had videos removed because I used the word help in
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: the caption because I was asking for help on which
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: dress to wear, like or because I was drinking even
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: though I'm twenty four. Yet this doesn't get removed.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: I had a video taken down and it said that
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: there was there was adult content and nudity.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: There was literally zero adult content for nudity.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: It was like ten seconds of the True Blood intro
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: and it's it's weird, but there was no Like I
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: was like, yeah.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: I was so fresh.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: I was like, f TikTok, I'm done.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, that's that's not good.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: And TikTok had actually said at one point that the
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: video wasn't subject the video wasn't subjected to removal because
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: it didn't violate any guidelines, like technically any of their
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: guidelines it didn't violate and they actually told the family
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: that and refused to.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Remove it for a while.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: That's insane, because you know, it's getting people to the
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: app and watching the video, so of course they're gonna,
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: you know, do everything they can to keep it up.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: But that's just so messed up.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: So anyway, rant Over the video eventually got removed, and
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: now we're kind of like done with the teens and
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: the TikTok Randonautica thing, because now we're into full on
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: investigation mode. The police identified the bodies as twenty seven
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: year old Austin Wenner and thirty five year old Jessica Lewis.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Austin and Jessica had been in a relationship for eight years,
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: and their family said that they had a strong relationship
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: that had gone through their ups and downs, but they
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: were inseparable. Jessica was described as being a ray of
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: sunshine and just an incredibly caring person. She worked at
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: an adult assisted living home for people with disabilities. She
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: had four children and they were all older, and none
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: of them were Austin's children as far as I could understand,
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: So they were all like high school, middle school age
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: or maybe a little bit younger, but old enough to
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: know what was going on. Austin was described as being
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: a very loving and adventurous person. He loved camping, trucks, dogs,
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: and music, and he actually went by cash or cash
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: money on his social media, which I just love that.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: I think it's so great. It was also reported in
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: some places that Austin was a father, but it's not
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: confirmed anywhere, and if he was, we don't know how
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: involved he was, so you know, that's kind of just
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: a little side note, and just to be thorough, there
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: was an Austin Winner in the Seattle area that had
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: a drug possession charge, but again it has never been
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: confirmed by the family or police that it is true
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: or that it's you know, this man that was this victim.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: But he did have a few misdemeanor charges, but when
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: I was looking into them, they were all very small,
• 18:01
  Speaker 2: like jaywalking or walking across the street at a red
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: light or you know, something like that. Nothing you know,
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: major or violent or anything like that. Nothing that's relevant
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: to this case at all. Both Austin and Jessica were
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: killed by gunshot wounds, and they had been dismembered before
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: being put into the suitcase, which he probably could have
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: figured out because it's a suitcase. But still it wasn't
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: that big of a suitcase. Like I was trying to
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: avoid seeing the video and photos, but it was near impossible.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: When looking up articles about this case, it was not
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: a very big suitcase. From one source, I found that
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: the medical examiner said that they had been shot about
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: ten days before they were found, but many other sources
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: said they died just a few days before they were found.
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: And I think that's the part that was true, but
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: this does come into play later.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: So just keep that in mind.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Jessica was shot seven times and Austin was only shot once.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: So to me, that really does feel like it was
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: like a targeted murder of Jessica and Austin was killed
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: like just because he was there, you know, kind of
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: just a casualty of what happened. But that was kind
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: of just initial thoughts that a lot of people had,
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: and as you'll see as we go into it, it
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: doesn't really seem like that's what happened, right, So as
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: investigators started looking into their deaths, they thought that it
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: was odd how not hidden the bodies were, Like, yes,
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: they were in trash bags in a suitcase, but it's
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: not like they were buried or you know, sent out
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: in the middle of the lake.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Like.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: They were found in a pretty high traffic area, and
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: some people speculated that maybe the killer wanted, like actually
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: wanted the bodies to be found. Again, don't know if
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: that's true, but that was just another thing that investigators
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: thought was odd. Of course, police started by looking into
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: both the teens who found the bodies, and the creators
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: of the Random Nautica app, especially because the Random Nautica
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: app is so like, people are like, is it set up?
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: Is it somehow created? Like, so they were really looking
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: into that. But after talking with like the app developers
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: and everybody, they ruled that out pretty quickly and ruled
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: out the teens really quickly as well. Thankfully, after that,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: the police were able to find the suspected killer not
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: too long after. Jessica and Austin were renting a house
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: from a man named Michael Lee Dudley who was sixty
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: two years old and he was from Bury in Washington,
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: Bury in Washington. I probably should have looked up how
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: to say that, but Jessica and Austin were paying fifteen
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: hundred dollars a month and apparently they had kind of
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: been struggling to pay rent, which like understandable. You know,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: Jessica had four kids, Austin may have had a kid.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: Plus they have to support themselves in an expensive city,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: so you know, yeah.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: That's pretty expensive.
• 20:45
  Speaker 3: They were renting a room right from him.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they were renting a room in a house.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: And also this was in twenty twenty, so, like, I
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: don't know if they I know, Jessica, I don't know
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: what Austin did for work, so you know, they may
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: have been hard ruggling with money or you know, even
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: just having to pay for more childcare and stuff like
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: that if their kids weren't in school, like you know,
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: who knows, but they had been struggling to pay rent.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Neighbors actually heard an argument from inside their place on
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: the evening of June ninth, where Dudley was telling the
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: couple that they needed to move out, and according to
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: a Medium article quote, the neighbors say they heard a
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: male voice pleading just let me leave, please don't do this,
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: and shortly after they heard gunshots. And that argument was
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: ten days before the body was found. So that's where
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: that that timeline comes in from medical examiner. And I'm
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: not sure why it got changed from a few days
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: before to ten days and if it had to do
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: with this fight, But from the research that I did,
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: I think that it was more likely that it was
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: a few days before, so it would have been you know,
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: probably about a week after this our argument. But you know,
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: the gunshots being heard doesn't necessarily mean that it happened
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: right then, because gunshot a lot of things can sound
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: like gunshots. So, but there was definitely an argument, and
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: they were definitely arguing about paying the rent, and Dudley
• 22:20
  Speaker 2: wanted them to move out.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 22:23
  Speaker 2: So from this point forward, everything in the case moved
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: pretty quickly because when investigators searched the house, they found
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: blood and bullet holes in Jessica and Austin's room, despite
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: the fact that the house had recently been cleaned and painted.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: So he clearly tried to cover it up and did
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: not do a very good job. And Dudley was arrested
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: on August ninth, two months after the bodies were discovered,
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: and at that time, his bail was set to five
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: million dollars.
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: What a piece of shit, I know, right, so mess up?
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Let do that I know? Over rent rent?
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So it's still unclear what exactly happened. We don't
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: have an actual motive or an actual timeline. We don't
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: know if the two were reported missing before they were found,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: and there also haven't been any other suspects named. But
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: it is something that investigators are looking into, like if
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: Dudley had any help, and I think a lot of
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: people believe he did have some help. We do know
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: that Dudley had a rough past. An ex girlfriend that
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: was with him from twenty twelve to twenty sixteen said
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: that he was very smart, well connected, and had been
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: abusive to her in the past. She said quote, I
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: could see the evil in his face as she was
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: describing some of the physical abuse she endured, including being
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: assaulted while he was holding a gun. So he clearly
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: had a gun. And he was actually arrested in twenty
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: sixteen for assault but was eventually let out and who knows.
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: In March twenty twenty one, Dudley was denied a bail reduction,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: which his attorneys tried to get him since he had
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: been sitting in jail for six months while the State
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: of Washington still had yet to complete evidence discovery. So
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: at this bail reduction hearing, Gina Jashki, Jessica's aunt, made
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: a statement for the family, and I'm going to share
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: that here because not the whole thing, but some of it.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: It does provide a little bit more like information and
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: context than we previously knew about the investigation. And it's
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: just easier to share the direct quote than trying to
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: paraphrase it, because I don't want to miss anything. So
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: she said in this statement quote, medical examiners concluded that
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: more than one person had helped assist the disposal of
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: my niece and her boyfriend. To date, nobody else has
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: been charged except Mike Dudley. The week he was arrested,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: somebody contacted me. They were crying and absolutely petrified that
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Mike Dudley was going to get out of jail and
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: come kill them. Convince them to contact the detectives on
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: the case. So Mike Dudley's affluent family has already tried
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: to sell his house as an undisclosed location where less
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: than four months prior the scene of was the scene
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: of these horrific murders, to help him make bail. He
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: and his family. He has family enclosed ties to California,
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: and upon his arrest, an ex girlfriend voiced her concerns
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: of him getting out of jail as he was quote
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: well connected. Besides the safety impossible, intimidation of potential witnesses
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: or accomplices, his history of telling others how he wants
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: to kill his neighbors or other people should be enough
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: to make sure he's not released back into the community.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: So that was just a little quote part of it,
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: and thankfully he was denied a bail reduction, and the
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: ex girlfriend actually said that she was kind of she's
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: like been worried that through all of these connections he
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: has that he could even raise the five million dollar bail.
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: So it seems like he's just very well connected and he,
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: you know, the medical examiner did conclude that he had help.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Likely.
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: I'm guessing I haven't been able to see like the
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: actual report because it is like an ongoing investigation, but
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: I think it's just because I would guess the way
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: that the bodies were dismembered probably took more than one person.
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: He clearly has these connections and that's really terrifying. And
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: he's good at intimidating people, which is just another reason
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: he shouldn't be let out because he could totally intimidate witnesses.
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: Wasn't he said to be like linked to like cartels
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: or mobs or something along those lines.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, I wouldn't be surprised. I don't think I saw
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: that anywhere, but I wouldn't be surprised.
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's scary.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So the.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: Most recent update that I was able to find on
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: the case was how the families were remembering Jessica and
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: Austin one year after their deaths, they are trying to
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: remember their happiness and they are very thankful for all
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: of this, for all of the support, despite it being
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: very distressful to have that video going viral. They were
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: also thankful for all of the attention the case Scott
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: because it helped lead to a quick arrest, and also
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: just support for the entire family during this tough time.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: You know, Jessica left behind four kids and they had
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: family that they were close to, so they were thankful
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: for the support that came out of the TikTok video.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Just would have been nice if they had taken it
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: down when requested.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Really, So, the.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Trial is still upcoming, and I will definitely do an
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: update depending on how it goes. I might just do
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: like a quick update or a full episode, depending on
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: how it goes. And I'll also post any recent news
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: that comes up on our Instagram and Twitter, so you
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: can follow us there at Inhuman Underscore podcast because I'll
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: update more regularly than we will in the podcast feed.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: But that is the case of the viral TikTok murder
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: of Jessica Lewis and Austin Wenner. It is so heartbreaking
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: and crazy, but honestly, it is incredible that their bodies
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: were found because even though it was a high traffic
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: area like they may have eventually washed away and never
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: been found. So as devastating as it was that they
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: were found like that, at least they were found and
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: the person who murdered them will have to pay exactly.
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Wow, that's a crazy story.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: So yeah, that is all for today you guys.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed and we'll be back with another
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: case on Thursday. And until then, keep it human. We'll
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: see the next one. Bye.